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Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

So, with ComicCon came a lot of announcements regarding super heroes (obviously) and in particular, super hero movies. Warner Brothers announced that their next project will be Superman/Batman and that they will follow that up with the Flash. Marvel Studios revealed the title for their next Avengers movie: The Age of Ultron, and for anyone familiar with the Avengers comic book universe, they will know exactly what that means.

There are also a lot of upcoming super hero movies, like Wolverine, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and such.

Basically, this is a thread for anyone as interested in super hero movies as I am.

Will Flash work or will it be Green Lantern all over again?

Who should the Worlds Finest go up against? For those who don't know what Worlds Finest is, that's Batman and Superman. Will they maybe go up against one another?

If Avengers 2 is about Ultron, will that mean Thanos is taking a break from super-villainy, or is there room for both of them? Also, what will it mean to introduce Ultron before the Ant-Man movie (which I am assuming will introduce Hank Pym, the creator of Ultron). Will they change it and have Stark create Ultron instead?

 

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

I'm really excited for the Flash. He's one of my favorite superheroes ever with his wit and ability. I'm nervous for him though. Humor can sometimes be hard to pull off without it being cheesy and I'm interested in how they will do his power. He's the fastest man alive so how good will the effects be when he starts running.

Fingers crossed.

The Batman/Superman movie is also one I'm excited for. I doubt that the entire movie will be them going against each other though. I've read plenty of storylines where they meet and at the beginning they are enemies/rivals. After they figure each others identity though they seem to respect each other and fight a common foe. Who that foe is I don't know. Maybe Lex and Joker but I doubt it. Hope it's a good villain that can give them a run for their money.

Really liked the Avengers, Captain America, and Spiderman. Thought they were really well done. If they keep to the formula they had before I'm sure they will do fine.

Really excited for these movies.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Lex would be a good enemy for the two of them. He is of course Superman's nemesis, but he also rivals Batman in intelligence, wealth and technology. However, if they fight against two villains, I think Joker would be a bad idea. Great villain and all, but instead of having two masterminds, the one working with Lex should be more of a physical threat, someone who can trade fists with Superman. The hero duo is composed of Batman, who is a tactical genius, and Superman, who is able to move the moon with his bare hands. The villain team should be composed similarly. A tactical genius and a strongman.

Metallo maybe? They'll probably introduce kryptonite in the movie, so Metallo could symbolize an embodiment of that, and he too is an interesting adversary for Batman (since he is sort of a freak of technology, which is much more in Batman's field than Superman's).

 

Also, regarding Flash, I've been thinking a lot on a good villain for the movie. I hear a lot of people demanding Gorilla Grodd, and as cool as Grodd is, I think that would be a bad idea. Why? Because this movie is going to be Flash's origin story. With that come a lot of necessary steps.

1. Introduce Flash before he becomes the Flash (Wally West or Barry Allen? I like both so I would settle for either one).

2. Introduce his friends, family and most likely the love interest as well before he becomes Flash.

3. Set the premise for the transformation (the lightning doesn't come out of nowhere, it's part of a lab accident. Before the accident occurs, there needs to be an explanation of what the lab was actually doing).

4. Transformation.

5. Discovering his abilities.

6. Costume. When Flash superspeeds, he vibrates through solid objects (kind of like Shadowcat in X-Men) and that means clothing as well. He wears his costume because he can't vibrate through it, and therefore, he doesn't have to save the world naked.

7. There also has to be an explanation for why he uses his powers to become a super hero. Not everyone would just do that, and go risk their lives to save people simply because they have the power to do so. There has to be motivation for his heroism.

Then he can become the Flash. Now I can finally get to why Grodd doesn't fit with Flash's origin story. Because introducing Grodd takes a long time as well. Here are Grodd's steps:

1. Establish Gorilla City before they learn of humans and before humans learn of this alternate evolutionary path. Preferably, Grodd is also established in this environment, so you see how he is before he learns of humanity.

2. Humans and Gorillas learn that the other exists (and no, I'm not talking about the gorillas we all know are real. These are gorillas that have evolved our intelligence, but still have the appearance of our ancestors, or similar ones anyway). There has to be visible human reaction to the gorillas as well as gorilla reaction to the humans.

3. Grodd's opinion of humanity has to be clear as well. He views them as an error in evolution.

4. Whatever technology he will be using also has to be established. He finds a crashed alien ship and salvages advanced technology from it. Sometimes he has devolvers that convert humans to apes (although the fact that he supposedly calls these devolvers is ridiculous based on his established ideology), sometimes he has a mind control device. I don't care what he has, but he will have to have something if he is to fight a hero faster than light.

5. Grodd acts out against humanity. Whether Flash comes and stops him or this time or if he gets to complete one crime so Flash knows what Grodd will be trying to accomplish in those other ones is optional.

Of course, these steps aren't written in stone, but it should give people a clear vision of how long it will take to establish those characters. And here I can finally get to my point: Introducing Grodd at the same time you introduce Flash will take too long. The movie won't even properly start until an hour or so has passed OR they skim through it, in which case the characters won't be properly established, which can easily ruin the movie.

This does not mean an origin story has to start with a lame villain. Quite the contrary. Many successful origin stories are successful and have good villains. But if we look closely at them, we see that the villains are usually highly connected to the hero, and therefore, they can be established alongside the hero, sharing scenes with the hero, saving valuable time and getting the audience to the good stuff they were waiting for much sooner.

In Batman Begins, the main villain was Ra's Al Ghul, whose character was established while Bruce Wayne's character was established, during his training. Scarecrow was then introduced as Ra's Al Ghul's right hand.

In Spider-Man, Green Goblin (or Norman Osbourne should I say) had a lot of scenes with Peter Parker. Why? To minimize the scenes away from the hero without limiting the necessary introduction this important character needs.

Same with Amazing Spider-Man. The scenes Curt Connors was established in usually involved Peter Parker.

The only exception I can think of to this is Lex Luthor in the original Superman movie. They didn't even meet until the end, but he still manages to be properly introduced.

Anyway, I think Zoom would be an ideal villain for a Flash origin movie. Grodd could be a very good villain for a sequel, where Flash's character has already been established and we can view Grodd's origin story in between Flash fighting crime (or maybe a minor villain before the big fish...or big ape...shows up).

What do you people think? Zoom? Grodd? Some other villain maybe?

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Also, sorry for the long post, but apparently I have more opinions on the upcoming Flash movie than I realized.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

I'm leaning toward Zoom. He has a personal history with Wally and I love stories when heroes and villains are connected like that. It's like in the Batman movies. I never thought that scarecrow was as interesting as a villain than say Ras. Ras and Bruce knew each other long before they were enemies and it was that kind of dynamic that made them go up against each other interesting.

And to be honest, I'm not really feeling Grod. I know he can be awesome and all but I'd rather see the Flash go up against a human. It's more interesting to me that way because if I saw him in the movie I would be like, "Dude, he's fighting an ape."

Couldn't really get into it.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

To be fair, Spider-Man fought a giant Lizard in Amazing Spider-Man and it totally worked (or I thought so anyway). You're right that it could be very silly if handled incorrectly though.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Good point and, yes, it did totally work. I suppose I didn't mind the lizard so much because I saw him when he was a human before. If done correctly though I guess Grod could be just as good(If not better).

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Grodd and Zoom are in my opinion Flash's most interesting villains. Then again, compared to the other Justice Leaguers, Flash doesn't have a very interesting rogue gallery.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Batman: Ras, Joker, Bane.

Superman: Lex, Darkseid, Doomsday.

Green Lantern: Sinestro

Wonderwoman: Cheetah?(Maybe) Ares and Hades.

Green Arrow: Deathstroke.

Yeah, Flash is a little weak compared to theirs.(And these are the ones I'm naming off the top of my head)

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

I don't think Deathstroke is a Green Arrow villain. I know he is a villain in the Arrow series, but those use a lot of non Green Arrow characters. Then again, I don't know what comic Deathstroke showed up first in, so for all I know, it could have been Green Arrow.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

I just said his name because they seemed to have a special dislike for each other. I think I read some storylines when they were up against each other a lot so I just assumed. Then again, some could argue that deathstroke is a bat family villain(Batman and Nightwing each have fought him on more than occasion).

Actually, now that I think about it deathsroke seems more like a heroes villain than anything. What I mean is that every hero seems to have a certain disdain for deathstroke so I guess no hero can truly claim him as their archenemy(As opposed to like say Joker who we all know is Batman's nemissis.)

Getting back to the point, Flash rogue gallery still doesn't really compare to his justice league pals enemies so I guess Grod and Zoom with henchmen like Mirror Master or Captain Cold would be a good idea for the movie

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Oddly enough Deathstroke was originally a teen titans villain. They sort of bounce him around to various heroes nowadays though. Makes sense seeing as he's a professional assassin that travels from contract to contract.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Yeah, while I lost any fondness for comic books long ago, I do like the movies they are making from the genre.   :)

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

I actually agree. I read some of the more recent comics and developed a strong hatred for Iron Man in doing so. The comic book version of Iron Man, anyway. Still love the movie version of him.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

I have always been a big fan of Flash, ever since the Justice League TV series. I'm kind of worried that they'd try and make him dark and gritty (like they did with superman). While I enjoyed the superman film, a dark and gritty flash doesn't seem right, nor can I imagine it without laughing. 

Would be amused if Captain Boomerang was the villain, but I doubt it. :P 

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

He could be a minor villain, but yeah, he's not really intimidating enough to be the big threat Flash is facing in the movie.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Mirror Master could work , I think. 

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

He could. Captain cold also might work.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Mirror Master and Captain Cold could work, but they are kind of like Spider-Man's Shocker. They could work in a movie, but ultimately, they would fail to bring in a grand scheme of any kind. Like Shocker, they are just common criminals with advanced tech that buffs them up to super villain status. They would still have to be changed a lot to bring in a good plot like Zoom or Grodd could do. Captain Cold (or Mirror Master) could however be cool as a henchman to the mastermind behind the plot, whoever that might be.

Any other Comic Book geeks out there?

10 years ago

Like scarecrow in Batman begins? Yeah, I could see how that could work. More villains but at least they actually DO something and not just be a lame first fight that the hero simply beats up on.