Brought to you by our leading architect, city planner Lex Luthor.
Now there’s a step down from President…
AT the risk of really stretching things, I disagree with the general idea “Yeah, let’s modernize this hero or that hero!”
Wonder Woman does not need to be gritty. Campy probably won’t sell, but dark, gritty, emo, or even troubled is really obnoxious. Hell, look at Iron man: He works because he’s not some “realistic superhero”. He’s a realistic character who is a superhero. He has numerous character flaws, but he doesn’t brood about them. He’s realistic at being human; and that his superheroic life has consequences. Even characters like Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye have a lot of fun just trashing things, beating the badguys into a pulp, and saving the world in the process.
Likewise, the “new, realistic” Superman is just kinda boring. I don’t really want to see Superman brood. I don’t even really want to see Batman brood (however, they may manfully look over their respective cities from a high rooftop and ponder the immense responsibilities of the Battles They Must Win once per movie). I definitely don’t want to see Wonder Woman brood - I want to see her pick up a sword forged by Hephaestus and chop a monster’s damn head off, and then hop in her invisible jet to drop by the Watchtower to put Cheetah away into some superprison. Hell, I’d rather see her apologize for being late to a Girl’s Night Out party than brood.
This doesn’t mean you can’t have more serious moments, but the supposedly “modern” superhero takes aren’t mature. They’re just the emo cousin to the bloody-handed 90’s idiocy which thought that murderous psychotics was “grown up”. I mean, this is Superman. Dude can fly, carry an ocean liner, and shoot lasers from his eyes. He can afford to crack a smile. Wonder Woman can gleefully pound creature of ancient myth into the dirt. Batman can… err… umm…
Alright, he doesn’t really smile. But two out of three ain’t bad, and this is the guy who jumps off skyscrapers and is sometimes known as the Goddamn Batman.
And there’s the big issue. These are superheroes. I don’t have a problem with the zany costumes, the codenames, the mythology, and the human elements, too. They’re all important and I want to see it all - and have fun at the same time. As far as I’m concerned, this is where the Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel go wrong: they’re half-afraid to embrace the complete superhero. And this is where Avengers goes right: it’s utterly shameless, not afraid to dismiss its own egotism and embrace the pulp nature of the story.
“I am a lawyer. I own a bowling alley. Two separate things.”
I heard that a Metal Men movie is forthcoming.
Did you catch the J. Michael Straczinski one-shot with Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) having a girls’ night out? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. One of the best one-shots ever ever.
And, yes, Wonder Woman should not be moody. She’s a bright light of reason. She can be fierce, but never hesitant.