Revenge of the Movie Retcons

Revenge of the Movie Retcons

Why does Hollywood insist on changing so many thing and why are most of those changes stupid?

Editorial Opinion
By superherostuff - Jul 01, 2010 03:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Other
Source: SuperHeroStuff.com

There is one thing in the comic book movie universe that seems to incense fans world wide when somebody finally decides to make the jump to the big screen, the dreaded retcon. Perhaps you're not familiar with this term, we doubt it here at SuperHeroStuff.Com, but for the sake of consistency retconning is the 'art' of rewriting a previously canonical part of the story line to fit whatever purpose is best at the moment. These little bumps to screenwriters are enough to send even the most passive fan into overdrive. Look at how many people freaked out when they announced Heath Ledger was the Joker, everybody thought it was going to be '10 Things I Hate About You' the sequel. Now, this isn't really a retcon, but it shows that people take their comic concepts to a near fanatical level and even the mild threat of a change is heavily scrutinized. While preparing this list, we noticed that there is more retconning in the Marvel Movie universe so maybe you guys can help us a little bit here! So, without further time wasted, let us just jump right into our brand new list for you guys. SuperHeroStuff.Com’s most hated movie retconning! (Overly dramatic music)

Well, our first section was really a couple but I decided to condense it so that this article wouldn't turn into 'Why Wolverine Origins was the worst movie ever'. There were so many little things that made this movie such a glaring slap in the face to Wolverine fans. We'll start with the minor details; The Blob. We here at SHS were under the impression that the Blob was actually a mutant whose power was based on his 'protective karate blubber'. Unfortunately for the movie, The Blob decided to go all emo and crawl into a 100 gallon cylinder of Hagan Das when Logan left him high and dry. So instead of an unstoppable mutant, we have somebody with an eating disorder and a problem with co-dependency. Talk about stealing the wind out of somebody's sails! Speaking of stealing the wind from somebody; poor Gambit. Now, I am a Gambit fan and I knew they were going to butcher the character, but sweet mercy children of the internet. No accent, no confidence and about two minutes of screen time (which was probably only 10 seconds off the trailer). The biggest thumbed nose to you Wolverine fans? The adamantite bullet. There was once a song that said love is a bullet from me to you, straight to the heart; but this one should've killed. We all know that Wolverine lost his memory after the adamantite grafting, the mental anguish and physical pain would've killed anybody else, but all it did to Logan was make him feral and without his mind. In the movie though he just wakes up pissed off. The Adamantite bullet seemed a little bit too close to the story of the Werewolf and I'm sure you guys did a face palm that'll echo across the ages. Poor, poor Wolverine!

Speaking of bad ass characters that hadn't the proper justice done to them, VENOM! The whole origins of Venom in Spiderman involve 'it' crashing out of the sky. Now, I'm not going to pick where Venom came from because there is different versions, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't that straightforward. They might as well had Spiderman snatch the suit out of one of those costume machines (which is actually closer to one of the origin versions then it just falling out of the sky). Another major beef is that the Eddie Brock was a skinny little man, and not that the ripped out rage-a-holic that I’m sure you guys have become ever so fond of.

Now, we really should have an entire article based on the Fantastic Four, but we've decided to have cherry pick on some annoying little caveats that seems to span both movies. Dr. Doom as the Dark Lord of the Sith! Oh wait, am I getting my movies confused? I'm pretty sure Dr. Doom was hurling force lightning like it was going out of style, like he was engaged in a duel to the death with Yoda and not the Fab Four. Living Armor? Hell, they might as well have rewritten the whole bloody thing and just said 'loosely based on concepts created by Marvel involving four people'. You guys see the weather today? Slightly chilly with some slight Galactus in the air today will give way to a nice, boring evening. Galactus was a freakin’ cloud, people! A CLOUD. Did the screenwriters even bother looking at any of the Fantastic Four background? Galactus goes from scourge of the universe embodied to the last plague of Egypt. Neat.

The Hulk can't even really catch a break. He's always pissed, and nobody seems to like anything that is done to him on the silver screen. If I was Bruce Banner, I would probably just crawl into a hole and die. Especially if Nick Nolte is added as your father, then made into some weird version of Absorbing Man, and then some bizarre connection involving gamma radiation and children. That's like a trifecta of retconning that results in a congealed mass vomited back into our eyes. Maybe that was a bit too detailed and spite filled, but it does sound really cool! Kaleidoscope of mind numbing stupidity would probably fit better. Looking back, had they casted Gary Busey in Nick Nolte's spot, I may have been willing to forgive the pure crazy sauce. Hulk should've smashed that part of the script!

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LEEE777
LEEE777 - 7/1/2010, 3:45 PM
THE HULK is just GREEN!



Yeah, thats all I've got! : P

P.S. Hats off for saying that about Borigins, very true, heh heh!
cchriswake13
cchriswake13 - 7/1/2010, 3:45 PM
Baraka pool
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 7/1/2010, 3:48 PM
Baraka cruel!
chasesuperremey
chasesuperremey - 7/1/2010, 3:49 PM
LOL
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 7/1/2010, 3:56 PM
Thanks for a well-written and interesting article.

I could rant for hours about how much I despise Hollywood's arrogant insistence on changing characters, ruining costumes, and destroying origins. It is a primary reason that I vastly prefer animated superhero films to live action ones for the most part. Animators are artists themselves, and have a lot more respect for source material than hack writers and directors who are writing or directing a live-action comic book movie more becuase the job was assigned to them by their bosses at the studio than because the character is a lifelong favorite that the writer/director really wants to bring to the big screen. On rare occasions, you'll get an exception like Jon Favreau, who is a longtime Iron Man fan and showed his love for the character in his films.

JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 7/1/2010, 3:59 PM
Brilliant article guys! :) You've highlighted the things about each of the above mentioned movies that really made my blood boil when I saw them! The worst one though? It's gotta be what they did to Doctor Doom.

As much as I enjoyed this article, I now feel angry looking back on all these things! What idiots sat down and thought that it would be a good idea to make ANY of these changes!? Oh no - I feel a verbally abusive rant (aimed mainly at Fox) coming on, lol!
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 7/1/2010, 4:01 PM
Lets face it... HOLLYWOOD does suck!

They always gotta LAME it down and have their own personal take!

If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it!
SoulAllFlush
SoulAllFlush - 7/1/2010, 4:03 PM
good article - a little incomplete though. the changes in Fantastic Four, for instant, should be looked into. For example, why did the creative minds feel Galactus needed to be de-anthropomophised (made without human characteristics or personality), or the changes to Doom. We all know the creative minds and the actors didn't want a CGI thing - but these other areas should be explored.

I've forgiven Raimi for Venom, he didn't want to do Venom and should not have been forced to. And now the Venom fiasco means we're getting an unnecessary and largely unwanted reboot.
JoshuaBooya
JoshuaBooya - 7/1/2010, 4:05 PM
They took The Hulk movie from either the ultimates or the house of M so it was a real story line not a retcon. The rest is pretty accurate accept for Dr. Doom, he does have some mystic powers and lightening was probably the most acceptable for fans.
BryEL
BryEL - 7/1/2010, 4:05 PM
Hehehe, this was quite enjoyable to read.

@Josh - Doctor Doom will always remain as the #1 travesty to me.
ManOfIron
ManOfIron - 7/1/2010, 4:05 PM
I pity the Baraka Fool!
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 7/1/2010, 4:08 PM
LEE: What I dont get is why they make these changes! Surely they look at the comic books before writing the scripts and making these decisions!? I get why they have to change some stuff and dont always mind it when they alter characters (the brilliant Sam Rockwell playing a younger Justin Hammer for example) but why the [frick] do they do things like what's mentioned above!?!

Thank God for Marvel Studios. At least they've given us two great Iron Man movies and plenty of excellent looking films to look forward to..!
lalosuper3001
lalosuper3001 - 7/1/2010, 4:08 PM
How about the fact that the Phoenix is an entity from space, and not that it had always been dormant inside Jean Grey?

LEEE777
LEEE777 - 7/1/2010, 4:12 PM
JOSH @ HOLLYWOOD has a BIG HEAD dude lol!

They think they can do better in 5 minutes, than what has worked for like 60 years or so! : P

Yeah MARVEL STUDIOS still [frick]ed us with SLJ lol, so its part of HOLLYWOOD too!

Saying that though, I still trust MARVEL STUDIOS than any other studio, oh and WARNER BROS too, tho they too hit and miss!
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 7/1/2010, 4:12 PM
BryEl: The way they managed to distort and destroy everything I liked about Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four still keeps me up at night, lol! :P I wouldnt put it past them to announce a FF/Star Wars spin-off...

LEEE777
LEEE777 - 7/1/2010, 4:13 PM
DARTH VADER WINS! : P
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 7/1/2010, 4:14 PM
DOCTOR DOOM WINS! : P
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 7/1/2010, 4:15 PM
JOSH @ : D

dellamorte1872 @ LMFAO!
lalosuper3001
lalosuper3001 - 7/1/2010, 4:15 PM
DOCTOR WHO WINS!!!
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 7/1/2010, 4:16 PM
LEE: Lol, I get your point but at least SLJ was based off of an actual comic book!
lalosuper3001
lalosuper3001 - 7/1/2010, 4:17 PM
VICTORY WILL ALWAYS BE A TIE BETWEEN BATMAN, CHUCK NORRIS AND DOCTOR WHO.
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 7/1/2010, 4:18 PM
And am I the only one worried about the FF reboot being titled "Reborn" and the fact we've heard rumours that they want to tie them and the First Class characters in with each other? Sounds to me like we're gonna end up with an Ultimate inspired teenage version of the Fantastic Four! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Gose
Gose - 7/1/2010, 4:18 PM
Nice one SHS, Hollywood BATMAN is like IRON BATMAN to me, its like IRONMAN in a BAT design outfit.
Eviltwin
Eviltwin - 7/1/2010, 4:25 PM
Hey Josh and Leee
You're so right. They (studios) think they know better and think they know what the masses of sheep (the public) wants. But all they do is piss off the fans and turn off the broader audience by dumbing things down and giving everybody a low quality product. It's soooo sad to see all the time. It'd be good to see Marvel get back all the rights to their stuff to get it done right.

BTW, Happy Canada Day to all the fellow Canucks on CBM!!
Sorry, had too ;)
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 7/1/2010, 4:26 PM
JOSH @ Yeah, but its still a watered down version of the real deal! : P

As for FF, I'd rather FOX does FF 3 really, just like SPIDEY 4, coz by the time MARVEL gets 'em back, no one (JOE PUBLIC) will wanna watch yet another reboot the third time around! I mean Marvel Studios means nothing to the regular Joe Public, only to us fans!

Eviltwin @ Exactly man, exactly!

Joe Public will pretty much take anything thrown at them, why not throw them good stuff, instead of watered down xeroxed copied sh1t?

Happy CANADA DAY dude! :)

Eviltwin
Eviltwin - 7/1/2010, 4:36 PM
@Leee
To quote you:"Exactly!" LOL
These stories have been around this long and there is a reason for that. The source material is good. Plain and simple.

Too bad Marvel Studios means nothing to the public right now, but if they continue to put out quality movies, they might start to get recognized for their work in the public eye. To a point where joe public goes "Hey, I know that name now, I'll go see anything they put out. It looks interesting." One can hope, lol.

Thanks Lee! I saw your other Canada Day pic on one of the other posts too. Great stuff!
fanboiii
fanboiii - 7/1/2010, 4:37 PM
It's such crap we're going to be hit with a wave of reboots from the same garbage by FOX and Sony.

FOX hasn't made anything good. Sony only made Spider-man 1 and 2. Now they're rebooting everything with LESS talent than before. X-Men had an ensemble cast and now we're getting tweens. Same goes for Spidey.

Just when fans thought they'd see their favorite characters on the big screen, Fox and Sony are going to make sure they're bastardized and deformed until they declare bankruptcy.
MassExecutions
MassExecutions - 7/1/2010, 4:38 PM
Gotta be a toss up between the overall horribleness of Dr. Doom and the specific horribleness of the adamantium bullet. I mean, has wolverine got a permanent non-metal covered hole in his head now or what? So stupid.

@dellamorte1872 - Phhhftt! Doom is a master sorcerer (why am I compelled to use that word lately?)and a genius with super powerful armor. Doom WINS!
Eviltwin
Eviltwin - 7/1/2010, 4:43 PM
Hey Anil

Doom was a huge fail in the FF movies, no doubt. I did enjoy them for the most part though. Chris Evans as the Torch made the movies for me.

I like the 1st two X-films even with the changes, but don't get me started on the crapfest that was 3,lol.

Ya, Electra sucked, Ghost Rider visually was great, but Nick Cage was so wrong as Blaze (shoulda been Keifer Sutherland) and the video game style script blew chunks. Sam Elliot was good though.

Wolverine, wow, giant faceplalm there.

I'm looking forward to the Spidey reboot, just to see if they can build from the previous three movies's mistakes and give us something closer to the source material.
StevilNYC
StevilNYC - 7/1/2010, 4:44 PM
You can sorta hear a Cajun accent from Gambit but it's not the one we wanted to hear. I hated that his eyes didn't have the permanent Black with red pupils look, only when he charged the cards. I would have liked to have seen more kinetic energy in all it's pink glory. And since when does Gambit have the mutant power to throw cards without throwing them???
StevilNYC
StevilNYC - 7/1/2010, 4:46 PM
The Adamantium bullet is the new way to "nuke the fridge" or "throw the S"
caowens77
caowens77 - 7/1/2010, 4:55 PM
Well at least none of these are as bad as Superman lifting an island made of dirt & Kryptonite. Pretty sure that whole thing would've killed him in less then a second. But yeah the whole retconning of characters gets annoying after we've seen them screw stuff up left & right. Sometimes it can be alright, if done properly, but for the most part it just sucks.
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