Suffering from Success

Suffering from Success

It could all be worse

Editorial Opinion
By Doughdzm - Mar 18, 2014 12:03 PM EST
Filed Under: Other

So it happened again. There I was sitting atop a mountain bellowing into the wind. I was calling for rain when out of nowhere. I hear my name being called. As I look up, I see a shimmering horn and the flames of the Flaming Unicorn. I spoke to the unicorn and told him how I ran and spread his enlightenment unto the gentiles, and that he had been right about his assessments. I saw the unicorn shed a conrete tear that caused an earthquake the other day. And the unicorn said unto me "Dough, dont you see. Do you not see whats happening ? Soon they will all be sissies and Jar Jar Binks. Keep up the good fight Dough Im out...... As I saw the unicorn flap his massive flaming wings and set fire to the mountain top as he flew away. And I watched until it hit me what he meant. Why have we not had an R rated CBM since the Punisher. Where are the dark superheroes? Where is the blood and gore ? So now I give you the gift and the curse........



The Gift of CBMs are that these are the people that we grew up reading and only dreamed about seeing on the big screen. When Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher and that cheesy Capt.America were all we had. Now look at Cap all grown up with special effects (concrete tear). Now we get to see the Avengers finally better than the X-men and all whole genre that is larger than Batman. There was a time when the only hero that could translate into a viable movie was Superman and Batman. And Superman started heading in the wrong direction with his epic battle against nuclear man. Now look we have an expanded universe and look forward to so much from our CBMs. Now we follow the genre like sports fans and football players. We are truly in a Golden age for comics all over again. People who never ever read a comic are now involved. Comic characters are now on main stream TV, used in commercials and even have sites dedicated to them. Comic books have evolved within the last 10 years faster than any genre I've ever seen. I mean we love it, but with love comes hate and we shall soon hate it..



The curse. The curse is on the way faster than a weed head to a brownie. With all of the things we love about CBMs it is wearing thin. It's becoming formulaic. Enter hero and origin story, add a little bit of comedy, scenes where they discover their powers, and a pinch of love story. Rinse,wash and repeat. Now with the success of the genre that means that these movies have to be kid friendly. So we wont get the heroes that diehard fans enjoy. There will be no Lobo, Deadpool is out of the question (unless they do that garbage X-men guy (face palm) ). No punisher, A weak Ghost Rider, and various other watered down characters. Star Wars fans can understand when Lucas came back with a corny vengeance witha Jar Jar Binks. With great success comes great selling out. It is difficult to not to acknowledge the direction things are going in. Look at the heroes they will be introducing I mean we have an Ant-Man movie coming out for comics sake. Pym is probably irrelevent after we find out he doesnt create Ultron. We couldve gotten anything,but I mean Ant-Man. That is a pure cash grab. No comicbook fan would ever have told you they wanted an Ant-Man movie. Marvel will clean cut everything and soon DC will follow suit. WE even saw a cash grab with the Old Spawn and its good ole G rating. I would love to see a comic roll out like Breaking Bad, Lobo in a walking dead type show, Or Punisher in something like the Wire. If you think about it there are so many comic characters that they could explore. But with studios promoting the same heroes like Batman went so far as to have a show that he wont even be in. The audacity of these people. That wouldve been a great show for Nightwing to be in and evolve with a dark edge and give us something different. We do have a gritty show in Arrow, but I mean its Green Arrow people. Again not necessarily a fan pick, but in hindsight it was a safe bet if it wouldve failed they could've said "hey it just the Green Arrow guys". But you get my point. Soon things will be Disney and have a toy. I just want a comicbook based show that doesnt have a toy with it. or wont come in a Happy Meal. It's just my interpretation of the situation. Until the unicorn comes and hollas at me again, Yall chime in or out

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QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 3/18/2014, 12:52 PM
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 3/18/2014, 12:55 PM
Seriously though, are these dreams your having? Or are you really seeing unicorns?
Pedrito
Pedrito - 3/18/2014, 1:06 PM
Things have always been that way with successful products. Companies will want to cash in.
Star Wars had amazing action figures 30+ years ago, with multiple collections. GI Joe was made entirely to sell toys 25+ years ago.

Now it's happening with comic book based material. To some, it must feel like your favorite indie rock band becoming famous to the mainstream. You'll see them adapt to maintain their new, wider audience, but you don't HAVE to hate them. At the core, they're still the same, or close enough. What can you do? Be a hipster about it? Nah, what for.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 3/18/2014, 1:23 PM
@Doughdzm
In all seriousness, I would love to see a proper R rated CBM. The only ones that I have liked are Blade, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Sin City, The Crow, A History of Violence, 300, and Dredd.

I mostly blame Marble Stoodious, for the lack of R rated CBM. They have Disneyfied their films so much, that it has become the norm and expected. They have made so many kiddie films, that if anybody try's a different formula, they are accused of being too dark, serious and sucking the "fun" out of the movies. If Marble ever does a Punisher, Ghost Rider, Blade or Daredevil film, they are just going to end up Disneyfying them. DC was trying to do R rated films with their Vertigo line but I'm afraid that thanks to Marble, they are going to follow the money too.
tonytony
tonytony - 3/18/2014, 1:25 PM
havent you seen beyond the trailer? box office equates great movie. if you want gritty and unformulaic then wb have been doing that. look at 300 or v for vendetta. in todays age marvel are disnefying everything with colours and action comedies that cheapen the heritage of some of these characters( mandarin anyone?)
Pasto
Pasto - 3/18/2014, 1:31 PM
You are one brilliant user. Did you know that? I really do love you.
Alphadog
Alphadog - 3/18/2014, 1:38 PM
You think that taking a popular thing like Breaking Bad and making a superhero version of it is being brave? Really? And I wanted an Ant-Man film by the way so there's one. The could be amazing visuals with him. It should be an adventure film but since they're doing 60s and present I hope that the 60s part will focus on the adventure element.
Pedrito
Pedrito - 3/18/2014, 1:41 PM
"I'm afraid that thanks to Marble, they [DC] are going to follow the money too."

Apparently, DC started out as a pro bono organization. But now they want to be for profit. That's quite tragic indeed. Damn globalization!!
Doughdzm
Doughdzm - 3/18/2014, 2:25 PM

@Pedrito you are totally out of context. Im not talking about the characters they have already made. Im referring to the characters we will not see that can only be done with an R rating to do the character justice.

@tonytony they can do direct to video movies for the R rated characters. They will keep doing the kiddie movies as long as they're successful

@Markofthedemon Exactly. We seen them try to make a PG13 Ghost Rider and saw what happened. Epic trash. A character like that cant be watered down. Blade got it right, that was the closest adaptation I ever saw in a CBM. And he was a lesser known character at that.
Doughdzm
Doughdzm - 3/18/2014, 2:30 PM
@Alphadog you sir are a hater and a downright awful human being. Breaking Bad type show with a comic character would be dope
Alphadog
Alphadog - 3/18/2014, 2:52 PM
@Doughdzm I'm most certanly not a hater. I never said that I wouldn't like to see a superhero version of Breaking Bad, just that that wouldn't be audacious. It would hopefully be good but it wouldn't be taking a risk.
Doughdzm
Doughdzm - 3/18/2014, 3:42 PM
It would be risk taking. It hasnt been done. Imagine a Nightwing series thats Dark and gritty with Grayson using his superior cunning and intellect to whoop some azz. Imagine an Inhumans show like Game of thrones. Or a Punisher show like the wire where he is tapped intop the city through Chip. Not exactly like the show per se. but a serious action/drama comic show thats not as Campy as Shield but well written as the series I just mentioned
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 3/18/2014, 6:04 PM
At some point, you might see a Punisher or someone similar in an R rated film. A hero that is really more aimed at older teenagers or college kids and adults. But you will never see, nor should we ever see, any halfway mainstream comic hero in an R movie. I've heard people say they want Daredevil to be R rated. Why? Why make a movie that kids will want to see, but won't be allowed to see? And Nightwing? Little kids would love to see Robin all grown up, fighting on his own. Why make a movie they can't see, just because you want something more "dark and gritty?" No, these movies are for everyone, not just you. You can put a little darkness in, and lots of action, but keep it to where kids, who really love these characters, can watch it.

This is just more of the selfishness of adult fanboys who always whine when they don't get things exactly the way they want. I loved TDK, but it bothered me that there were scenes that were probably too extreme for 6-9 year olds, who love Batman and want to watch him but can't because Nolan wanted to be so dark and realistic (specifically, I'm talking about the way they did 2-Face. To me, that was too scary for little kids. Yes, it was a PG-13 film, but a cbm needs to be closer to PG than to R. And 2-Face can be done without being that scary. Other people would probably consider the Joker's scenes too scary too, but I don't think younger kids would've understood them enough to be bothered by them.) No, I don't want more Batman and Robin, but Avengers did a good job of having really good action, but not being too extreme for kids. That's what we need.

Ultimately, there won't be many R-rated cbms for one very, very good reason. Because they won't make as much money as a PG or PG-13 cbm.
Doughdzm
Doughdzm - 3/19/2014, 9:01 AM
@dethpillow Are you insane or hungry for attention. Do you read or just type Geesh. What a waste of good air. Its not about what I want. Its about the options available. Do you stop to think what the basis of comics are. It is a Super powered villain vs. A super powered hero. Using Super powers to stop each other. Look at TDK there was no cursing but excessive killing. Would you let your child watch that. Have you ever wondered why James Bond is PG 13 but never marketed to children. If they are going to blur the line which I think is more dangerous than actually drawing one. Why not do an adult CBM as opposed to making one and for general audiences that children should not be watching any way
Geotheleo
Geotheleo - 3/20/2014, 2:27 AM
I have never seen such long comments, I'm going to be go. Be productive
Doughdzm
Doughdzm - 3/20/2014, 7:35 AM
@dethpillow your are one peculiar individual. But you're you and I respect people true to themselves. The basis of this editorial is first to make the statement Marvel is leading the pack, so they have the power to guide the genre if they chose to. Now the suffering from success part comes in when you look at what they are choosing to do. Ant-Man believe it or not is a cash grab. They are not taking a chance with AM. It is the same formula of White guy makes discovery,gains power,stops people who try to steal powers by using the powers. The safe bet will always be the same. An R rated CBM is just as necessary as a female lead or a non white guy. See these are not safe bets there are alot of factors outside of the studios control when you change the variable. That is why we see an Ant instead of a Panther. As long as they play it safe and stay within the box. They are suffering from success. No new boundaries are needed, no chances will be taken like when it was initially founded. As long as the formula works why try anything different. This is what will water down the genre. And when all of the juice is out of the berry. Then they will take those chances. When the formula no longer works. Look at DC they took a chance with GL which couldve been epic but they failed. So the light hearted Superhero film was shelved and we see the darker toned,less jokingly incarnation such as TDK or MOS. There hand was forced as opposed to that being what they wanted to do. If they keep pandering to the people and trying to please everybody we will always get the same formula rinse wash repeat
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