Jeff Bridge’s character in the first Iron Man movie was closer to the ideal Lex Luthor than any of the Superman movie versions to date.
Oh, I agree. My wife hears this everytime I go to a superhero movie. Especially the last Spider-Man movie. But have you seen The Return of Captain Invincible? Alan Arkin’s a superhero, Christopher Lee’s the villain; they both sing. (I’m being generous.) It’s a camp romp, not a great movie, but it’s fun. Oh, and the songs are by Richard O’Brien (of Rocky Horror Picture Show).
It’s because he’s a Methodist, silly.
I don’t even like Superman and I think this looks awesome.
I obviously grew up watching The Adventures of Superman. The first half-hour episode dealt with the origin story. They never referred to it again (unless they were explaining where kryptonite came from).
So, with The New Adventures of Lois and Clark and Smallville, and the animated shows on Nickelodeon, yeah, there’s really very little chance anybody’s who interested won’t already know.
The problem with Superman can’t be fixed. He can’t be hurt so he can’t really be scared. He is not brave so he’s not a hero in anyway that matters.
I have no doubt that the next thing out of Jonathan’s mouth is something along the lines of, “No, of course you shouldn’t have let them die. [kicks tire again.] Just, be careful, son.”
The thing is, the origin story isn’t just “how a superhero got his powers” anymore. Everyone knows those tales. It’s “How a person with powers became a superhero.” Which can change a lot depending on who’s telling the story. Man of Steel basically covers the same ground as Superman the Movie, but it looks like a completely different story.
Supe needs his cape. That’s where he stores his Clark Kent clothes.
Put me down for the same bet. It looks like a crapfest to me.
Yeah, that was one of the things I liked about The Hulk: the entire origin story is told during the opening credits, total runtime was maybe 2 minutes.
Jonathan is frightened for his son. He is afraid that if Clark attracts the attention of the Authorites, he will be living out the rest of his life as a lab rat, if not first blasted and scraped into specimen jars.
As for the origin, recently (last five years maybe?) they had a one-page, four panel, eight-word origin for Superman. It went like “Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple.” I felt that was perfect.
I thought that was a sequel to Hulk with Eric Bana as Bruce Banner. Thus picking up with Bruce on the run trying to find a cure. The origin story was the previous movie.
Man of Steel looks pretty. I have high hopes.
Here. From Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, 2005.
Nope - no official connection between Hulk and The Hulk. However, The Avengers is a sequel (of sorts) to The Hulk, despite the change in actors. Iron Man,Iron Man 2, The Hulk, Captain America (the First Avenger), and Thor are all the precursers to The Avengers.
Spacey wasn’t playing Lex Luthor. He was playing Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor. In respect, he was absolutely brilliant. Whichever idiot (studio chief, writer, director, whatever) asked for that is a complete buffoon, however. Truth be told, the entire movie is a very expensive and not well done homage to the old movies - without understanding what made the first two good. For what they were, they were well-acted and well-directed. it’s the idea itself which is flawed.
I’m excited but cautious. I mean, they keep making these comic book movies more and more edgy, darker and darker. If they get any edgier, we’ll all leave the theater cut to ribbons.
I personally like the origin stories. It’s generally the biggest change that character undergoes. Oftentimes the origin story is the best bit and the rest just seems like, “Oh, now we need something for the character to do in an elongated action scene…” Once the character arc is over with it all seems quite pointless (which is how I felt about Captain America).
The latest Spiderman’s origin story only felt pointless because that entire movie was pointless. We didn’t need another Spiderman movie. We don’t need another Spiderman anything. If they can’t come up with novel superheroes themselves, why not at least take advantage of the wealth of superheroes already in print?
I’m hoping for good things, but I have serious doubts after Sucker Punch. That movie may as well have just been a video game. It felt like I needed a controller in my hands to enjoy it. And it’s a ridiculously sexist movie.
I liked Watchmen though. But that’s probably because the source material is so good. I have my doubts about Zack Snyder these days. Seems to be all style and no substance.
You miss the point. He’s invulnerable like Mr. Incredible… he may be indestructible but those things he cares about are not, and there are too many of them (people, places and things) to protect all at once. Most brilliant line in a brilliant movie: “I’m not strong enough!”
The Incredible Hulk 2008 has been mentioned (again, not a sequel to the 2003 Hulk).
Also: Batman 1989, origin only told through a few brief flashbacks.
One reason why I’m looking forward to the upcoming movies from Marvel Studios is because they’re taking a chance and doing some movies about superheroes that AFAIK haven’t been used in movies before.
“Phase 1” of the Marvel plan was Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Avengers.
So when I was reading about their plans for more movies I totally expected “Phase 2” to just be Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, and Avengers 2. But apparently they’re also making Guardians of the Galaxy. And then later they’re making Ant-Man, and Doctor Strange. Now I’m not a comic book reader and I don’t know anything about those comics or those characters - but that makes me excited to see a new comic book movie with characters that haven’t been on screen before (“Rocket Racoon”? WTF? Hopefully it’ll be awesome but I’m not sure how they’ll do it).