Throwing the "S" - New Catch Phrase for Comic Book Movies That Don't Make Sense

Throwing the "S" - New Catch Phrase for Comic Book Movies That Don't Make Sense

As part of our new Super Bloopers section--where we nitpick comic book movies for errors, omissions, problems, bloopers, continuity and just plain stupid stuff, we have come up with a new catch phrase in the vein of "Jumping the Shark." Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... "Throwing the 'S'."

Editorial Opinion
By Galactus - Nov 24, 2008 12:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Superman

OK, this is probably the all-time stupidest thing ever to happen in a comic book movie. Since when did Supes get the awesome kryptonian power to throw his "S" emblem and defeat villains with what looks to be a fruit roll-up?

In Superman II, where he is having the final fight scene with General Zod and his co-Kryptonian criminals in the fortress of solitude... right out of the blue Supes rips off his "S" emblem and chucks it like a frisbee at Non. The thing expands out like some sort of cellophane netting and captures the dude... For a few seconds. So this extra super power isn't even very good.

This isn't even the only super blooper in Superman II. I've neglected to mention his Multiple Supermans power, or the finger beams that Zod, Ursa and Non possess, or the power of kiss amnesia that he uses on Lois Lane at the end of the movie so she forgets that he's Superman. But since the cellophane "S" is the absolute most stupid thing ever, we will be using it in the future to describe when ever a comic book movie franchise "jumps the shark." Example: Boy, Spider-Man III really "Threw the 'S'" with too many villains in it.

Check out the outrageous scene with this little clip, and let us know what you think of the new catch phrase...



By the way, even without their powers, where the hell did they go? Zod, Ursa and Non must still be stuck in the basement of the fortress of solitude!

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IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 11:33 AM
Agreed Beta. The most ridiculous "super-power" to happen in a movie thus far...I'm sorry to the Supes fans, but these movies are abominations...ALL 6 of Them. The only Superman movie to do him ANY kind of justice is Doomsday...in which there also many travesties to behold...But definitely better than any live action thus far..or Supergirl, what a great masterpiece that was.

Now, nitpicking is ok when it comes to certain things a la "Throwing the S", but I feel somethings should be left to the fantasy realm and how they apply there. Such as the Spiderman bit, He spread himself out to slow down so he COULD land on Doc Ock. That's my take. Not that you care, i'm sure. But, it is after all, a comic-book movie. If someone can get bitten by a radioactive spider, or have bad-ass tentacles attached to his nervous system, a little play on physics is ok.
Demonwolf
Demonwolf - 11/24/2008, 11:47 AM
Um....what is the 6th Superman movie? Are you counting Superman vs. the Mole people?

Actually never mind, I see. You are counting Doomsday. A suck-tacular movie.
CrookedJaw
CrookedJaw - 11/24/2008, 11:50 AM
true that, spiderman 3 was ruined cuz of all the crap
ReikoLJ
ReikoLJ - 11/24/2008, 11:53 AM
Throwing the S. hehe Love it :D

JohnnyKrypton
JohnnyKrypton - 11/24/2008, 12:06 PM
Don't foget "fix-it vision," with which a Kryptonian can rebuild the Great Wall of China buy staring really hard...(S IV)
Shaman
Shaman - 11/24/2008, 12:12 PM
Well, astoundingly, i know something that even tops the special olympic throw of the "S"... even though it was "made" to be laugh out loud ridiculous... ORGAZMO takes the cake in my book....aaaaaaannd i'll leave it at that!

Thank you Trey Parker and Matt Stone! Together with Will Ferrel, you are the Saint Trinity!!!
IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 12:24 PM
Orgazmo...Totally, ridiculosly AWESOME movie. Absolutely over the top, and hysterically asinine.
Inohaku
Inohaku - 11/24/2008, 12:28 PM
HAHAHA! Throwing the S, finger rays and amnesia kiss were strange and cheesy indeed, but still loved the movie, my personal favorite. Always wondered what the heck happened to Zod, Ursa and Non. They should have Lex help them regain their powers in a future sequel. That would guarantee spectacular fighting sequences with the current technology available.
Jib7z
Jib7z - 11/24/2008, 12:35 PM
I always loved the Family Guy parody of that scene. Superman throws the S, whatever gets caught by it, stands up and says "That was a minor inconvenience" and Superman says "Yeah, showed you!"
Shaman
Shaman - 11/24/2008, 12:46 PM
Oh it was NON that got caught by it just like the actuall movie... which makes it even more hillarious because he can't speak or just basically sounds like chewbacca in the "movie" LOL.
Shaman
Shaman - 11/24/2008, 12:49 PM
OOH actually, another movie that is cool yet ridiculous is METEORMAN... man as a kid i loved that movie!!! I even saw it in theaters LOL :P It was cheesetacular! Not to mention that Don Cheadle was a great bad guy in that movie :))
IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 12:54 PM
That movie was AWESOME!!! See, Don Cheadle, kick ass. Totally cements my comment on him in the Iron Man II script section.
localman
localman - 11/24/2008, 1:01 PM
"Throwing the S" is a great phrase for stupid stuff in a superhero movie. And it points out one of many weaknesses in the older, almost deified, Superman movies. I recall walking out of both "Superman" and "Superman II," saying "where the f . . . did that new power come from? It ruined the movie!" Like Superman turning back time in the first one (after he was specifically told not to, but there were no consequences). Chris Reeve was great, the special effects were good for the time, but the writing simply stunk.

I can accept some changes for the sake of the movie . . . like Spiderman's webbing. But to come up with a "deus ex machina" power to come out of nowhere and never be used again -- that is just bad writing.
Shaman
Shaman - 11/24/2008, 1:33 PM
It makes me think of the time i read for the first time online a copy of the first issue of Action Comics featuring the introduction of Superman. It hit me like a ton of bricks how different the "mentality" was back then and how much we have evolved. Dude that comic sucked b@11s yet it is a classic! And i remember the first time i saw Superman 2 when i was a kid and the whole "throwing of the S". I actually FREAKED of a joygasm!!! Shit, i mimicked that move with my friends how cool i thought it was "wow he's got this new power where he..." The way it popped off his chest, the way his gesture unfolded when he threw it, the face he had on him when he did it that just yelled "TAKE THAT YOU CRIMINAL!!!", he knew he was gonna SAC that guy no matter what he did! He owned him with that "S". And yet...when i look at it today...it reaks. Of course to a grown up back then it was incoherently bad writing but to us kids it was unforgetably awesome!!! And now look at what they've done with our hero to this date... he can stop a mid-air plane from crashing, he can lift a Kryptonite full continent and throw it in orbit...he can even push a moon as my friend ION quaintly put...but he still fights like a girl. In fact i've seen girls in X-Men that could take him with both hands tied behind their backs.
MeltdowN
MeltdowN - 11/24/2008, 1:50 PM
I had the pleasure of watching the Richard Donner cut...even tho the whole flying around the earth backwards to reverse time theory leaves alot to be desired...and at least it got rid of the silly flying S thingy. To be honest, I still think the best Superman movie was the 1st one...I won't even go into Superman 4:Quest for Peace. As far as I was concerned, that not only threw the S, but bathed in it as well.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 11/24/2008, 2:29 PM
as soon as i saw juggernaut in xmen 3 i knew the movie had "thrown the s" although at the time i believe the phrase i used was.."what the [frick] is this shit"
IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 2:46 PM
I was highly annoyed they made him a mutant..then the whole Ultimate thing was brought to my attention, in which he IS a mutant, and the outfit looked amazingly similar. Plus, I just liked the movie as a whole. Maybe i'm just a whore of sorts, but I dug it.
TheDurkinKnight
TheDurkinKnight - 11/24/2008, 2:59 PM
I dunno if anyone mentioned this or not, but also the psychokinetic abilities that Superman and the Kryptonian fugitives possessed was a little dumb too!
IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 3:01 PM
WORD!
Shaman
Shaman - 11/24/2008, 3:03 PM
Yeah Superman 4 was like ...the "S" being thrown but caught flying through an air current and missing the target!!!

I have to agree, Juggernaut in X3 was created for that movie as if they asked nuns to write the script. Research people... research!

But don't worry Ion, you're not the only whore on board the X3 fanboat, i liked it too regardless of the inconsistencies probably for the same reason i liked Superman Returns. I think it was you ION who said it best: Kelsey Grammer as the Beast was a monument!
Shaman
Shaman - 11/24/2008, 3:07 PM
I'm psychokinetically wipping my butt as we speak.
Superman1980
Superman1980 - 11/24/2008, 3:19 PM
Can somebody answer this for me? During that terrible scene the 4 of them start doing this disappearing thing, right? Am I wrong or is it true that when Zod casually leans against the 'real' Superman Supes then grabs Zod's arm and says something like "you never were very good that" or they make some reference to being in school together or something like that?

enigmaiv
enigmaiv - 11/24/2008, 3:39 PM
This is why i said tht Bryan Singer missed a golden opportunity with Superman Returns. When Zod, Ursa and Non all slide down the ice wall, IMO it was assumed they ened up frozen. Some kind of way the could have had them come back into the story line, possibly towards the end, setting up for the next movie.
Inohaku
Inohaku - 11/24/2008, 3:58 PM
Totally agree w/ enigmaiv. There were actual rumors of Jude Law doing Zod, don't know why never materialized. I hope they do it regardless.

Superman1980, just saw it last night on cable and Sups says something like "once again you are wrong". Got to see the Donner cut...
Wrigs
Wrigs - 11/24/2008, 4:18 PM
How about in Superman 4 when the the Nuclear Man pounds Superman under the surface of the moon. As Superman struggles to pull himself out, his head finally emerges as he gasps, sucking in a big lung-full of "air". You know, cause the moon has a ton of "air"
BuckyB7588
BuckyB7588 - 11/24/2008, 4:25 PM
Usually I also am okay with "bad" superhero movies because they don't follow the script; i liked X3 and Superman Returns, but this S thing...I don't know man...it was funny when I saw it on family, but it was even funnier when I saw it in the movie, that takes skill.

And "throw the S" is probably the best phrase ever. Ever.
IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 4:26 PM
The moon DOES have tons of air...and it's made of cheese. He should have just ate his way out.
Wrigs
Wrigs - 11/24/2008, 4:35 PM
Now I think I know what went wrong. Cheese is a terrible surface on which to build a Large Hadron Collider. Especially dark cheese...
IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 4:44 PM
Yes, very true. But I didn't build the LHC on cheese, Superman is building "something" on the Moon, the LHC is still in SwitzFrance. Sorry to make that unclear...
warpath15
warpath15 - 11/24/2008, 4:50 PM
I don't like the "throwing the S" phrase because it doesn't even describe what you are talking about. A blooper is when something happens by accident, or that is unintentionally (such as when a stormtrooper hits his head on a bay door) or something which was intentionally put into the movie, but would not have been had the writers paused to think about whether this created continuity errors (such as when the clock in a room say 8:00 one minute and 10:00 the next, or when Doc Oc throws Spidey forward and then Spidey lands on him even though that is clearly physically impossible, even for a half man half spider.)

But throwing the S? That was NOT an accident. That was NOT a blooper. There was nothing unintentional about it, and it was clearly something that the writers and the director and the producers thought about. It's not as if they played the scene back and said to themselves "oops looks like Superman accidentally threw an S. Oh well, let's just leave it in."

No. Throwing the S is not a BLOOPER. Throwing the S is just stupid writing. The writers gave Supes another power. The ability to throw his S. Throwing the S should refer NOT to bloopers, but to stupid moves by producers/writers/directors.

So by THIS definition, changing the squid ending at the end of Watchmen is a throwing of the S. (Or some people might say that putting the squid in, in the first place, was throwing the S.) Not a blooper. But a stupid move.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 11/24/2008, 4:53 PM
dont get me wrong i liked x3 too, but it could have been really great if they had a better script, plot and director! beast was class..but then angel sucked...too many characters all round really. and the way they killed of cyclops was just dumb, nobody gave a shit! but then again i think its a bit unfair the way people slate the movie, like the other two wer these amazing masterpieces. granted x2 was great, but does anyone remember some of the s throwing done in the first movie? mystique as the statue of liberty! the infamous "what happens to a toad" line that storm says. everything about sabertooth
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 11/24/2008, 4:56 PM
warpath,throwing the s is being used as the new jumping the shark..it just means when a once good movie or tv show does something that imediately makes it lose some credibility.
IonParallax
IonParallax - 11/24/2008, 5:22 PM
"You know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning?" "The same thing as everything else" ha ha ha ha ha...OMG That line sucked SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BADLY!
ComicMans1234
ComicMans1234 - 11/24/2008, 7:37 PM
DUDE I said it was a catch phrase first. over on the post on the video of the superman page. damn

anyways...I have already used this term is a sentence recently. I am awesome.
ManofBass
ManofBass - 11/24/2008, 8:16 PM
uhh, the whole point of this scene was to show off all the illusions...thats why the "S" dissapeared so quickly rather than keeping him wrapped up. Thats why the trio and superman were teleporting everywhere. Thats why they were trying to hit illusions of superman...it was all an illusion. Man, complainers piss me off...
parascythe
parascythe - 11/25/2008, 12:58 AM
how about captain america?

one of his abilities was "Throwing the 'S'"...if you know what i mean..

hahaha
parascythe
parascythe - 11/25/2008, 1:05 AM
dont you think x1, x2 and x3 was already a wolverine movie?

X1 - Wolverine babysits rogue and how he joined xmen
X2 - Wolverine vs William Stiker and touch of his origin
X3 - Wolverine saves the day...no leader because cyclops was dead and Prof X is dead-not-yet...
Shaman
Shaman - 11/25/2008, 8:09 AM
Well Warpath is semi right about the "blooper" issue, however the whole illusion part of the movie wasn't meant to SUCK in the futur so it's kinda like a blooper.

Superman 2 was a climactic showdown between Superman, the supertrooper, and three of his home world criminals. And that's why i always feel like DC's never giving us what we WANT to see!!! Who here really wanted to see their favorite superhero get bitchslapped around like a crashtest dummy and then winning at the end by using the "brain before brawn" routine. Shit, it was like "well if superman can't handle them, clark will". "Don't fight with your fists, fight with your words". Granted it was a good movie and i DO understand that THAT was the whole concept of the movie because Clark had gotten his ass handed to him in the diner, and so to not have to use brute strength to win the fight was the whole moral of the story but... you gotta admit, the best part of that movie was when he went back to the diner to kick the guy's ass at the end of the movie!

So we now know that he's smart, now let's see him kick some butt for a change. I'm tired of the underdog crap we're being fed! Which is why i liked the end of Superman returns regardless of how illogical it was. To actually see him lift that continent full of Kryptonite and throw it at the sun was COOL!!! THERE, i said it! It was like Superman saying to the Krytonite "I AIN"T YO BITCH!!!". It was the only display of brute strength we saw him dish out on the big screen!!! Sure the plane was a chalenge but he didn't sweat doin'it!
Shaman
Shaman - 11/25/2008, 8:28 AM
And as for X-men, Storm sucked major balls in the first one, had no role whatsoever in the second and that's why Halle Berry got mad at the execs and got them to write her a decent part in the 3rd one. The whole storm/toad scene sucked, the corny scene she had with the senator dying and everything...boring, but i luuuuuuuuuuved Magneto's retort to the douchetastic Cyclops in the statue: "A bolt of lightning on a copper conducter...i thought you lived at a school?" Now THAT was in yo face!!!

And yes, the whole X-men trilogy was a Wolverine story just how it should be. Take the most interesting character and make the story revolve around him... perfection! If the movies had revolved around Jubilee it would've sucked!
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