Superhero movie consistency

The quest for peace

By Cazzy Lewchuk, Staff Writer

Back when I was a kid, we didn’t have good superhero movies; we certainly didn’t have mega-blockbuster franchises featuring every mainstream superhero. When we were lucky, we got a bad Spider-Man sequel or something like Daredevil, featuring Ben Affleck as a blind lawyer/vigilante. The movies were rare, the special effects were small, and whatever the adaption was, it had little to do with the comic.

Around the end of the 2000s, superhero movies started getting better. We got classics like The Dark Knight and Iron Man, and the sequels and spin-offs that followed. Now Marvel continues to dominate the superhero movie business with a huge Avengers franchise. Whatever your opinion is on the quality of such films, the fact remains: kids today have more Halloween costume picks, action figures, and explosions on screens than ever. The same goes for the Transformers franchise. Action sci-fi blockbusters are raking in the dough.

It sometimes seems like nothing will stop comic book movies from dominating the box office for years to come—but that simply isn’t true. The latest superhero movies’ characters, settings, and continuity are causing confusion. In addition, studio rights ensure that movies will remain separate for years to come.

Take, for example, the Fantastic Four movies. The original came out in 2005. It was okay, and another mediocre sequel was spawned in 2007. The next year, Iron Man came out—a separate universe from Fantastic Four, even though they fight the same villains in the comics. A reboot/remake of Fantastic Four is now in the works—but it will be in a separate universe again from the beloved Avengers’ world. Confused yet? Most moviegoers are.

This is just one example. Most major superhero movies take place in separate universes because different studios own property for both the Marvel and DC worlds. This wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t mean having to reboot the series every couple of movies. It usually means we have to experience completely different actors, villains, and general plots every time a new Superman or Spider-Man flick comes out. Sometimes it’s a sequel, sometimes it’s a kind of sequel that ignores previous film developments, and sometimes it’s a complete remake. Why can’t we just have consistent movie experiences? We know Superman’s origin story. We know Wolverine is a badass. Do we really need four movies to repeat that fact?

Can’t we have Spider-Man and Iron Man in the same movie? Hell, I just want to see a Wonder Woman movie—or any movie with a female superhero as the lead. I want to see less confusing plot. I want more heroes to team up together. If the studios don’t get their shit together, soon there will be 10 universes across eight franchises and we’ll be too confused to spend anymore money. They just need to learn that we demand something we can understand—and nothing starring Ben Affleck.

Or perhaps we can see a dystopian war sci-fi—that Ender’s Game could be the start of many copycats.