Comments on: Auteurism vs. Superhero Synergy

By: Superhero Legacy

Superhero Legacy — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:44:22 +0000

The synergy that will be created with The Avengers appears to have needed several variables to go right in order to be produced. That’s easy to see now that it’s actually going to hit theaters, but that seems to have been a huge risk. Iron Man and Iron Man 2 could have been flops, and so could Thor and Captain America. Any type of writer/actor’s strike, or financial struggles by Warner Brothers could have jeopardized actors’ willingness to be part of projects spanning several years. That being said, being a huge superhero fan myself, I’m pumped to see The Avengers finally come together.

Re-booting movies may get old after a while, but it has obviously been successful with the Nolan Batman series, and it appeared to work with the second Hulk movie. It’s just too bad that not all superhero franchises can be branched off into several characters’ stories like X-Men (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class). This would prevent the need for re-boots.

I would also be happy with a movie about a lesser-known team. I believe that a Teen Titans movie is actually in the works.

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:19:52 +0000

The rebooting sounds okay in and of itself for the same reason that it’s worked with Bond. But, learning from Bond, I hope they don’t foolishly believe that they can tell the story of becoming every 4 years; getting on and doing it will become important at some point (after all, how many times do we really want to see Peter Parker bitten by a spider?)

By: Josh David Jackson

Josh David Jackson — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:56:24 +0000

I remember hearing two years (or so) ago that DC was considering taking a Marvel-like approach with some of its less iconic heroes (After solo outings, The Flash and Green Lantern form a Batman- and Superman-free Justice League–or something like that). Though I think the idea’s now dead in the water, it does suggest that a studio’s approach (auteurist, house-style, or otherwise) may depend on a hero’s franchise power and name recognition with the general public.

By: Derek Kompare

Derek Kompare — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:32:53 +0000

We can only armchair speculate at this point, but we’ll know for sure how this panned out within 3-4 years. I’m leaning towards the DC approach, because it allows them to more easily maintain simultaneous versions of the characters and universes across different media properties. This way, each feature film can be seen as a singular event, rather than a continuation. Moreover, they can still attempt team-based films; it’s just that the teams will be from lesser-known properties (e.g., I’d love to see a weird Doom Patrol film, or even a version of Teen Titans).

I’m also certain that Batman will of course be rebooted again down the line. It just may be a while, and depends on all sorts of things.

By: Jennifer Smith

Jennifer Smith — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:44:56 +0000

You mention Marvel's "house style" as the driving force of the continuity between their upcoming films, but I have to wonder if those films won't wind up being more auteurish and as wildly different in tone and style as DC's output. It's hard to imagine Kenneth Branagh directing a Thor film that will resemble Iron Man tonally, and the rumors that Joss Whedon, whose style has always been very distinct, will be helming (and possibly script-doctoring) the Avengers movie indicate that Marvel may be looking more for different voices within their shared universe rather than a restrictive overarching style. I agree, however, that the concept of the shared movie universe may not ultimately benefit Marvel. The diehard fans of the comics (myself included) will delight in the synergy, but I can't imagine the ties will matter much to the average moviegoer. The Avengers movie will be the true test -- it's always possible that, say, the newly-converted hypothetical Thor fan will see that movie despite a disinterest (or lack of knowledge) of Iron Man or Captain America. And in that case, the differences between the films will ultimately be a boon for attracting diverse audiences. I assume that's what the studio is hoping for, at any rate!