In the last decade or so, we've seen some pretty monumental events in cinema history. The Avengers have assembled. Spider-Man has fought Green Goblin to the death, defeated his arch-nemesis Eddie Brock, and married the woman of his dreams. Adrian Veidt saved the world from itself; Ozymandias was right! Bane broke the bat, and soon Superman will be breaking the world free from General Zod's vengeful clutches. Even Star Trek had its moments: Lieutenant Commander Data made the ultimate sacrifice in Star Trek Nemesis, and J.J. Abrams ensured that the franchise would "live long and prosper".
Needless to say, it's been a pretty awesome decade...or so.
So what is the issue? If you didn't notice this article's icon, the logo for the recently released video game: "Injustice - God's Among Us", notice it now. It's integral to the point I am attempting to make here (note: I'm not going to bold the word, "Injustice" every time I use it, try to keep up.)
Injustice, in a nutshell, could/would/should/is the titular DC Comics fighting game that everyone has waited for. It was created by the developers of arguably the best and one of the most famous fighting game franchises of all time: Mortal Kombat. While it bares some resemblance to its big brother franchise in terms of style, Injustice stands apart on its own. It features a huge roster of DC characters spanning the entire universe, including a couple surprises for die hard fans.
So far, Injustice features a roster with alternate costumes from the most popular story arcs of all time. My personal favorite is the "red hood" costume for Joker. To this date, Lobo, Batgirl, and Scorpion are the downloadable characters. Zod is next. Ed Boon recently revealed that a whole new slew of characters are on the way, by popular demand.
It is a no-holds-barred balls-to-the-wall fighting game featuring the biggest stars of the DC Universe. Despite it's success in the market, gamers across the interwebs cannot seem to stop their incessant complaining and bellyaching about the roster and other features in the game. You will see everything from, "there's too many Batman characters", to "Where is Martian Manhunter?! DAMMIT", and even a dash of "The story is weak" (despite being cowritten by DC, meaning it's an official DC storyline). I don't know about you, but that's some pretty harsh criticism coming from the mouths (keyboards?) of gamers who claim to or should be true fans of DC Comics or comic books in general.
Let's take a moment to analyze the world around us.
'Man of Steel' posters and merch are all around us. Tee shirts, action figures, posters, terribly cheap dolls baring a slight resemblance to Henry Cavill, are literally everywhere. You would think that it would be a comic-book fan's heyday. But...it's not. What have I seen? The fans aren't beating their way past unsuspecting customers to make it to the toy section. The weekly-release comic-book section in the local book store isn't completely empty. In fact, it's pretty well stocked, if not shuffled a little. The only soul in sight might be a lonely nerd, sitting on the floor reading some manga. Seems pretty normal to me. So riddle me this: if comic books and comic book movies are so popular now, why would so many people be so unhappy about the DC fighting game we've been dreaming of, and probably the only one we will get?
This morning, I read a reply to a comment I posted on a popular gaming website. This user in particular, claiming to be a hardcore DC Comics fan, claimed that my support of the Batman characters in Injustice was a sign that I myself must not read comic books or be a fan. He couldn't have been more wrong. If I'm not in that darn book store every week with a stack of new comic books that I'm going to buy and read at home, the good Lord can strike me down as I type this. How could our opinions be so radically different? The answer lies in the simplest of ideas: comic books and comic book movies are popular, but the real fans have not joined the party. The evidence is overwhelming: join any internet based community and take time to read the comments. Nobody who is a true fan would ever make claims like this. This type of attitude leaks into our own internet community as well. How often do you fight amongst yourselves, right here on CBM.com, about whether or not a movie is a good movie? Don't even get me started on movies like 'The Dark Knight Rises'. The amount of hate towards that movie makes me sick to my stomach. Nobody, not even myself, has any idea how much work goes into making a movie, not to mention developing a good enough story to please everybody. But let's not go there, let me bring the point home.
The way I see it, the same people that are complaining about things like "Superior Spider-Man", the fact that Injustice has a huge chunk of Batman characters, or anything of the sort are the reason why comic books and their adaptations will never be as mainstream as we like to think they are. I'll never forget the day that my father first saw the trailer for 'Man of Steel'. His exact quote was, "What, they're making another one?". My father is the ultimate example of the casual movie goer. He was surprised that another Superman movie was even being attempted, and he has no interest in seeing it. The message is pretty clear: the casual audience is holding us back, and we need to support the game developers, comic book writers, and film makers who are struggling to please us. Then we can show the whole world how awesome OUR world is, full of super heroes and dreams of a reality better than our own.
Note: I would like to add this is only my opinion. Any hateful or otherwise mean-spirited comments will not be tolerated. My point remains that we are shooting ourselves in the feet by tearing down everything we have a problem with. That being said, your opinion that 'The Dark Knight Rises' was a bad movie is perfectly understandable. Your arguments against something like that may even be stronger than most, but these are the end of days people [so to speak], and this is what we're going to get. Personally, the fact that we even have a big budget DC fighting game like Injustice - Gods Among Us makes it ten times better than the game might actually be.
UPDATED RESPONSE: So, after reading and arguing with some of you in the comments, I want to clarify some things. First off, I did not mean to offend anybody. Second, I need to apologize again because I am going to offend some of you again, probably. What I'm saying is basically this: if you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Plain and simple. If you waste all of your time buzzing around the internet like a little hate fly, talking about how much everything sucks, why even waste your time? Why would you log onto a website like this if all you do is talk about how much you hate everything?
I want to concede on my point a little, to show you I am honest. I have problems with movies too. Take 'The Dark Knight Rises' for instance. I think it was a phenomenal movie and I will always defend it and keep the poster up in my room that came with the trilogy pack. But on the other hand I also think that Nolan's attempt to honor Heath Ledger's memory, his last minute Robin toss-in, his blatant misuse of the Tali Al' Ghul mythos, and his popcorn-friendly demise of Bane to overall be a cheap shot in the nuts to all the Batman fans. Granted, the trilogy is wrapped up nicely and Tom Hardy shows again that he is a colossal badass. I mean, c'mon, he has kicked both Captain Picard's ass and Batman's ass (see 'Star Trek Nemesis'), that's worth something! But why in the world would he choose someone that looks so much like Heath Ledger, only to turn him into a barely-realized version of Robin as a half-assed nod to the fans? Why not include the obvious storyline where Talia becomes the mother of Damian Wayne, opening the door for Nightwing? Why Nolan WHY?!
See guys, I am not stupid. All I'm saying is if you want to be a real fan and be a part of the solution, you need to realize that true comic book fans are still a subculture because they don't join in with the masses. They're still with these series, and they still love their favorite superheroes on the big screen and in the video game realm. Don't get me wrong, there's been some terrible adaptations. Movies like 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance', and games like 'Batman Dark Tomorrow' can be banished to the underworld for all I care, and I'm sure all of you agree. But if you're anything less than neutral at this point, then you're not a fan. You're a hipster, a bandwagon jumper, here today and gone tomorrow.
The casual audience is holding these things back, not because they're casual, but because the "fans" are refilling the ranks of the casual audience every day with their harsh criticisms.
If you have a problem, go ahead and have your problem. Shout it from the rooftops, but remember that any real fan would be happy to just have a movie or a game based on the comics. Hell, I still think Topher Grace was an awesome Eddie Brock -- those wonderful fifteen minutes of Venom made the whole thing worth it.