Superman, one of the most recognizable heroes, if not the most recognizable hero of all time, is known by almost all who have in some way involved themselves in movie or comic knowledge. Since his creation he has been featured in multiple movies and comics that involve him in the "Universes" that were created by DC, putting him side by side with other popular superheroes in situations that typically involve fighting evil. These movies that revolve around the DC universe Superman and other heroes take place in are some of the most popular movies recently, such as "Justice League", or "Batman vs. Superman". But does Superman deserve the popularity and position he is in? Superman's character has too much power and too little flaws ruining the purpose of any superhero or villain he stars with in a movie, making him incompatible with any other characters in the DC universe.
Superman's character is much too powerful. In his movies, he is portrayed with powers such as flight, super strength, super speed, near invulnerability, and even the power to reverse time. Now does that sound like a character we'd be on the edge of our seat, wondering, "Will this be Superman's end?". Of course not. Take sports for example. One of the best parts about them is you never know who's going to win. If you were to watch every boxing fight knowing who's going to win, what would be the point of watching it? It ruins the fun. And with all of this power, the rare times when he loses a battle is because of one weakness. Superman has no conflict. Every superhero needs a good weakness. When you look at Batman, his weakness is The Joker, a villain who's character finds enjoyment in making Batman's life difficult, and shows the worst in Batman. These characters relations make for the perfect Hero vs. Villain situation, and both characters in a way feed off each other. Joker's decisions will change the way Batman is as a person and change the way he looks at himself. You need that conflict in a Superhero movie. But Superman's greatest weakness? Kryptonite. Yes, a crystal. That is Superman's greatest enemy. He is a near invincible character, but if he makes contact with that crystal, he's basically dead. This makes for absolute minimal conflict. Whereas a character like Batman that has a weakness like The Joker has to make big decisions that reflect on their personality, and who they stand for, Superman just has to stay away from a crystal. Characters like Batman, Spiderman, and Iron Man all earned their spots as heroes through their conflicts growing up. Superman was just born with these powers, making him unrelatable to those who watch media involving him. Superman makes other heroes pointless. The point of a big superhero movie such as "The Avengers" or "Justice League" is to show different heroes put together in the same environment in which they need to combine their powers to defeat one big evil. Movies like "The Avengers" execute this well, and make sure to involve the different heroes in their films and bring purpose to each character so all are seen as important. Without this, the use of other heroes is useless. In the movie, "Justice League", the heroes revive Superman after an evil force tries to end them. Then, Superman does the rest of the work in the movie to save the day. The thing is, really any character could've revived Superman in that situation. If they wanted to, they could've made that film a standalone Superman movie, and just had some random civilian come across Superman and revive him. This is ironic, considering the posters text says "You can't save the world alone". Although Superman reigns as one of the biggest characters in superhero history, with the decline of quality in movies, his popularity might begin to die. His standalone movies aren't the issue here, but to compete with big Marvel films like The Avengers, DC will need to make the right decisions to change this character for the better. Because of these character decisions they've made for superman, he has made for a character unpairable with other heroes.
0 Comments
|
AuthorHi, I'm Canon Stringer. Archives
October 2018
Categories |