I will buy Doc Savage and John Carter, but the other two are more than a bit obscure.
also
You also just described Batman. And Spider-Man. And James Bond. And Bugs Bunny. And, really, just literally every IP ever. Because writing good stories in general is hard But the claim is that Superman is a particularly difficult character to write good stories for, and that’s just an absurd claim on its face.
Maybe to you, but not to a Science Fiction fan in the mid-1930s. Aarn Munro appeared in five issues of Astounding just 3 years before Action Comics #1 was published. And Gladiator is widely considered the seminal work in Superhero fiction.
From your wikipedia cite:
I agree with your point. I think that what some people are trying to say is that a lot of stories that work for most superheroes don’t work as well for Superman. A typical superhero story is one where a bad guy sets up some bad situation (robbing a bank, holding someone hostage, threatening to blow up the moon, opening a portal to Hell) and the superhero tries to respond, and after some dramatic fighting and struggle the superhero comes up on top.
For Superman, for the most part he can take care of the threat with little effort, unless you use a cliche like kryptonite (and you can’t just have everyone carrying that around all the time). So that usual story doesn’t work as well.
Now. I think you just have to write a different story. And frankly, it’s probably going to be a better story. The “bad guy is a threat and good guy punches them until they are knocked out” story is kind of inherently bad anyway.
So in a way, by naturally guiding people away from that tired comic book trope, you’re steering the writer toward something better. I’d argue that it makes it easier to write a good Superman story.
Which explains why so many of the stories revolve around just keeping his identity a secret.
Absolutely. And that’s more interesting (IMHO) than, “I can zap this guy with laser eyes and save the day within seconds, end of story.”
So Gunn is launching his own line of DCU movies with this one, but we are not abandoning existing characters, right?
Peacemaker exists and could technically meet this Superman, right? I mean, so could the Margot Robbie Harlequin?
But Batman…that won’t be Ben Affleck. Wait, or Robert Pattinson?
I’m confused what is in and what is out. I remember Gunn saying he told Gal Gadot she is still Wonderwoman.
I mean, if there’s ever a question of whether you want Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, the answer is “yes”.
Gunn is doing a full DCU reboot.
I think this is a grey area. AIUI, Peacemaker is moving to Gunn’s DCU from Snyder’s DCEU in his second season. But Creature Commandos implies the The Suicide Squad might have taken place in the DCU, but Gunn has confirmed it was set in the DCEU, so who knows?
Batman and Wonder Woman are being recast.
I’m taking the MST3K approach - I’m repeating to myself, “It’s just a show, and I might as well relax.”
I’m a bit disappointed that the cast includes characters like Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, and Green Lantern. I’m very fond of the Superman “Family”, Lois, Jimmy, Perry White, and, in a pinch, Supergirl. All of these characters get short-shrift when you haul in other superheroes who are just being tested to see if they can carry their own movie.
While I find said revolving door to be more than a bit offputting in a suspension of disbelief sense. DC has been the biggest offender by far of course (absent the 3 Hulks of course), but this is the what, the 4th actor playing Superman on the big screen since Reeves hung up his tights, with several cameos by other actors, including (ahem) Nicholas Cage? And close to another half-dozen on the small screen?
Yes I am well aware of James Bond and Dr. Who, but the latter has an in-universe explanation, while the former has kind of danced around said issue without ever really resolving it on-screen.
How many actors have played Spiderman?
Basically, everything Gunn did in the old DC universe is in, everything else is out. So, Peacemaker season 1 is canon (and Cena is staying in the role) and the second Suicide Squad movie, where they fight Starro in Corto Maltese, happened, but everything else (incl. Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman and Justice League) are all out.
Outside of Peacemaker, I don’t think any casting has been confirmed yet, other than (obviously) the casting in the new Superman movie. Affleck is definitely out (he apparently has no interest in returning) and it’s still up in the air if Pattinson’s Batman will be folded into Gunn’s DC universe, or will be its own thing while he casts someone else as Batman in his movies.
Well, unless the question is, “Do you want a Wonder Woman who can act?”
Three in the main movies. Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland.
What about Danny Seagren and Nicholas Hammond?
What makes Superman difficult is when a writer/editor doesn’t seem to understand the particular limitations of the character from a writing perspective. A lot of superheros have a quirky story limitation because they have super powers.
If a writer understands that (with a few rare exceptions) the best Superman stories tend to be stories more about Clark Kent than the latest way some enemy uses Kryptonite to nerf Superman’s powers (for the Nth time) he’s no harder to write for than any other superhero character.
One thing that made Spiderman such a popular character was how so many of his stories were about his struggles to make a mundane living and/or how his superheroing interfered with his Peter Park identity. Many of the best Daredevil stories are ones where he’s still dealing with the world as a blind man, albeit a blind man with certain compensating abilities most blind people don’t have but he’s still seriously visually impaired.
You are correct, writing good stories is hard in general (hence Sturgeon’s Law) and in an industry like comic books where the product has to be churned out on a monthly basis that’s an additional challenge. But writing for superpowered people, especially the “flying brick” and “physical god” level, if the writer doesn’t understand how to make such a character interesting the script tends to fall flat.
I haven’t seen her in anything else, so I have no idea how well she can play any other role. But she’s excellent at playing Wonder Woman, specifically.
My brother had a bunch of World’s Finest comics in the '80s (where Superman teams up with Batman). I went back and read some as an adult, and they all seemed to involve either (a) magic or (b) kryptonite. So I think it’s certainly fair to say that those particular story writers were having problems coming up with other alternatives.
I remember that in an interview Adam West (the Batman of the 1960s) mentioned an incident when the late Bill Dozier, one of the producers, cut Adam West down to size:
"When I was on the cover of Life magazine, he called me into the office and said:
“Adam, I want you to see something”, I hadn’t seen it yet, he threw the magazine down in his desk in front of me. I looked at it and I looked back up at him, and I was kind of -I guess- self-satisfied in a way. I just stood there and looked at him with a little grin.
And he said: “Oh wait a minute, don’t forget there have been 12 Tarzans, Adam”.
Yep, already that many back then. The most famous, Johnny Weissmuller, was the 6th one!