Throughout the past 15 years, the mainstream has seen an abundance of comic book movies filled with orphans, tragedies, drama, character change, and emotional conflict. Albeit riveting and interesting, we haven't had much of a creative exposure in recent years. More specificaly, we have seen plenty of origin stories filled with homologous story telling.
I'm not saying that a movie can't have an orphan driven by rage or a sense of justice, I'm just saying that audiences will get bored quick if studios continue to release their comic book films Hollywood polished and in standard chronological format.
Movies where the telling of the origin story works.
Batman Begins (2005): In the beginning of the movie, we see a series of flashbacks which jump through the life of Bruce Wayne up to his monumental decision to embrace the identitiy of The Batman. Creative and almost Tarantino-esque, we get a quick look the the origin of the direct Batman mythos. Granted, Bruce did have to finish training at the League and decide how to become Batman, but at least we didn't get 30 minutes of a little kid doing kid stuff up until his parents got shot.
It should be noted that the Superman origin story in
Man of Steel (2013) followed the same story telling formula as
Batman Begins; not entirely creative since it was used in
Batman Begins, but still refreshing, all comic book movies considered.
Watchmen (2009): Throughout the entirety of the movie, we are shown, through a series of irregular flashbacks and very human exposition, the origins of Rorschach, Silk Spectre II, Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian, Ozymandias, Nite Owl II, most of the Minutemen, and various adversaries. At no point in the movie, did any of the flashbacks take away from the plot at hand; rather, it added to the story. Requiring no previous movie to have set up its characters, this goes as one of the greats in my book (among other reasons as well).
And finally, what I believe to be the best example of a creative take on the origin story...
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014): I know this character has an origin story... *shudders* bear with me. 18 minutes into the movie, Steve visits the National Air and Space Museum (his exhibit really should belong at the National Museum of American History, unless the President decided to be cruel about him crashing an airplane into the ice...) to see his exhibit and reflect on his place in a world he still does not yet agree with. The 4 minute sequence at the museum and with Peggy summarizes the events and plot significance of
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Also, various other moments throughout the rest of the movie help to explain the apparent death of Bucky Barnes and his history as The Winter Soldier. You can watch just
The Winter Soldier, and not need to see
The First Avenger or
The Avengers.
Movies where the telling of the origin story fails miserably
So, so many comic book movies have failed at the telling of the origin story; therefore, I will present the most recent and perhaps the most relevant example.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012): The movie begins with a generally normal teenager, Peter Parker (a loser who happens to be handsome, athletic, smart, and well dressed). Peter likes a girl, he stalks her, his uncle gets shot, he is motivated to take action and becomes a vigilante, he makes an awesome Spider-Man suit with no practical on-screen explanation, and defeats the generic (thanks to bad editing) bad guy. Pretty standard movie, no real surprises except for the creative twist of his parents being responsible for his powers. There's just one little problem that brings the entire movie down......we have already seen an origin story for Spider-Man...
10
YEARS
PRIOR
I know it has to do with Sony being able to retain the rights to the character, but we are fans, and we don't give a shit about rights and money, we just want good and creative movies with a reasonable amount of years between reboots.
In conclusion, future comic book movie franchises should take a lesson from films like
Captain America: The Winter Soldier and
The Amazing Spider-Man, and try to be a lot more creative in telling the origin story of the character.
Got a favorite comic book movie that does a good job with the origin of your beloved character? Maybe a really terrible one that left you wanting to have a solid nerd rage? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Be sure to check out my
other editorial, which includes a summary of what I believe
Captain America 3 should be about.