# Dear Marvel and DC, please shorten the origin stories in your movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083 "2019-09-12T01:49:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/21 "2019-09-12T17:37:00Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > From a writers perspective, other than the origin story what drama is there? A super hero is super, they are not easily injured or killed. Their interpersonal conflicts between superheros are as interesting as a Real World episode. > > They are dumb, but the origin story is the only actual story, the rest is T&A and explosions. You create drama by giving the hero problems, and by having them face off against smart villains, something superhero films have had a hard time creating. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/22 "2019-09-12T17:51:44Z")
Anybody who thinks that Captain America needed yet another origin movie doesn’t watch [Svengooli.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MlQHU-n8M) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/23 "2019-09-12T18:02:55Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Anybody who thinks that Captain America needed yet another origin movie doesn’t watch [Svengooli.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MlQHU-n8M) I have seen this movie and it is indeed bad. Probably the most amusing part is when Captain America, super soldier, super hero, a man at peak human condition, tries to trick Ned Beatty by pretending to be sick and hopping out of the car. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/24 "2019-09-12T18:25:32Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > As a movie, as a story, of course Ant-Man was better. For Endgame any drama and character development was done in the ten movies that came before the finale. And finale is all Endgame was. I was being sarcastic right up to the point where you agreed with me. You seem to have the idea that there is only one good type of story and that a movie that tells any other type of story is therefore bad. I disagree. I think most people would disagree. There are many different stories that can be told and they can all be told poorly or well. Personally, I think the central point of the superhero genre is the characters being superheroes. If you’re not going to show them in situations where they need to use their superpowers, why make a movie about superheroes? You might as well make a movie about normal people. And from that point of view how the character acquired superpowers is irrelevant to the plot. If you’re making a legal thriller, you don’t need to show the protagonist going to law school. The audience already understands what a lawyer is and how a person becomes one. The point of an origin in a superhero movie is that the audience doesn’t have that same familiarity; you might need to explain how the character came to be where he is. So an origin story can be good. But you can tell an equally good story about a superhero and never explain their origin. You can even defy what I said above and tell a good story about superheroes and never show them using superpowers (James Gunn did that with _The Specials_). ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/25 "2019-09-12T18:46:09Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Anybody who thinks that Captain America needed yet another origin movie doesn’t watch [Svengooli.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MlQHU-n8M) It was a very good movie. I also think that many, many movie goers were not comic book readers. FTR - I’ve been reading comics since the 70s, and I’ve never seen Svengooli. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/26 "2019-09-13T18:44:23Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > It was a very good movie. I also think that many, many movie goers were not comic book readers. > > FTR - I’ve been reading comics since the 70s, and I’ve never seen Svengooli. Sven has been on in one incarnation or another since the 70s. Now he’s on MeTV on many cable systems. Here are his bits from Frankenstein. The humor has always been lame. It’s part of the charm. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIb8pgilTc) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/27 "2019-09-13T19:05:17Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Sven has been on in one incarnation or another since the 70s. Now he’s on MeTV on many cable systems. Here are his bits from Frankenstein. The humor has always been lame. It’s part of the charm. > > [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIb8pgilTc](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIb8pgilTc) “Svengoolie” was, until recent years, pretty much a Chicago thing. The character is played by a Chicago-area guy named Rich Koz, who has hosted a cheesy movie/comedy show on various Chicago stations for decades. His show is currently on WCIU, which is owned by the same parent company as MeTV – and, as you note, MeTV now runs the Svengoolie show nationally. Koz was a fan of the original [Svengoolie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_G._Bishop) (played by Jerry G. Bishop), who also hosted a similar movie show in Chicago in the early '70s – Koz’s character was originally known as “Son of Svengoolie” (with Bishop’s permission), and eventually dropped the “Son of” portion of the name (again, with Bishop’s permission). /hijack 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083/28 "2019-09-13T19:49:37Z")
Actually, I think that _most_ of the Marvel movies (including _Ant-Man_) were better than _Endgame_. But then, I also thought that the first _Avengers_ was better than most of them, so the point remains. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-marvel-and-dc-please-shorten-the-origin-stories-in-your-movies/840083.md?page=1)