The Heroes We Want? Maybe Not.

I’m not sure where I was when I heard it, or what I was doing. Hell, I don’t remember what I did yesterday, let alone all the way back to Comic Con. I just remember hearing the news:

“A Superman / Batman movie!”

Now, in the interests of fairness, I think I should mention that I’ve had “issues” with Batman movies over the last few years. And, I’ve had “opinions” about Superman movies, as well. But I love superheroes. I always have. I have always been attracted to what superheroes stand for. And, for the most part, I love superhero movies. But the news of a Superman / Batman movie didn’t brighten my day.

Why not? Simple: fatigue.

I’m tired of Batman. I’m tired of Superman. I’m tired of Spider-man. I’m getting tired of the Avengers characters, though not as much...yet. But I can feel it coming.

In Hollywood, we’ve taken the phrase “beating a dead horse” a little to literally. In fact, we now beat the horse to death, and then keep beating it. Yes, it’s always been that way, since the idea of sequels really took off. But I can’t remember a time when we were so quick to re-imagine characters. And I believe that’s the problem.

It was only a brief span of time between Spider-man 3 and the announcement of Amazing Spider-man, a re-imaging of the character. Only a few years between Superman Returns and the announcement of Man of Steel. What about the X-men reboot? We just finished the Dark Knight trilogy and before the Blu-rays were even cold, we were hearing of a new Batman alongside Superman in a movie.

Maybe it’s just me, but don’t we have anymore characters to work with? Or are we just content to keep re-writing the same stories over and over. Sure, this new movie might not be a re-imaging, per say, but maybe we can let this horse rest a little before we start beating it?

Look, there are a multitude of comics out there that have never been mined for cinema. I, for one, would love to see a Transmetropolitan movie, or (and I know I’ll catch shit for this) an Aquaman movie.

Or, and I shudder to mention this, maybe some...original characters? After all, wasn’t it Joss Wheden who said:

“I do feel like we are in desperate need of new content. Pop culture is eating itself at a rate that is going to be dangerous. Too many narratives are built on the resonance of recognition. That’s going to become really problematic. Even though it’s enormous fun to work on something I read as a child, I think it’s important for us to step back from that and create new universes, new messages, and new icons … so that 10 years from now we can reboot those.”

Batman and Superman may be the heroes that Hollywood needs, but are they really the heroes we want?

-Mike