Hello Hollywood : Save Our Superheroes

Hello Hollywood,

I am Darren and I really like superheroes and superhero movies. But I see that they’re in trouble so let me talk to you about it for a bit.

Focus on the characters

You guys remember Rocky right? You know that won an Oscar and why it’s a symbol of the American Dream? Why we cheered for Rocky and felt our hearts drop when Rocky didn’t win? Because we knew he was fighting against the odds, against people’s expectation. We knew how hard he fought and how much was at stake. We were invested with the character so we were invested in the fight. The same applies for superheroes. If we want the hero to win more than “so the bad guy goes bye bye” we root for him more, the emotions rise and fall higher. That’s why it hurt us when Captain America was punching Bucky. That’s why it hurt us when Black Widow has to fight Hawkeye when she is an aunt to his children. If you focus on the characters, those who don’t just want fights get a reason to watch your movie.

Make the villains good

As much as we want to spend time with our favourite heroes we also want to feel a sense of fear and hate to our villains. It makes it feel so much better when they are defeated. At the same time, we need to feel for this villain too. Threatening to destroy the galaxy is starting to get really underwhelming. If there’s tragedy with the character this leaves a bittersweet feel that makes it more interesting than good vs bad. Think of the most popular villains. Vader, Khan, hell even Loki, had a tragedy and a great plan. This is a perfect formula that few movies, ahem marvel, have not gotten. So please. fanboys want our heroes adapted well but we want our villains fleshed out as we dreamt it too.

Work different formulas

Superhero films have little change to their formula. Hero has troubles, fights villain but fails, and after regrouping and recovering there is a big fight where the hero wins. Try changing this up please. One great example is Chronicle, where a broken teen uses his powers not only irresponsibly but also turn evil when he is truly broken. The thing about powers is that it doesn’t always end with the good one winning. Look at our daily lives and you know we have crazy people with too much power. I appreciate what you tried with Civil War and Batman V Superman but in the end we still had a vilification and a goodness triumphing story line. Work with it. Let the villains win. Let the villains form a team (good job suicide squad). Let heroes be pitted against one another (Daredevil vs Punisher well done now go tell your Civil War brothers to feel ashamed). This also means some non comic book superhero films can be added which add a new taste to the series, don’t be afraid to fund them if they’re good!

If you can’t (or don’t want too), you can try to change the tones and genres. Like how Marvel did Phase 2 with a different genre each, like the Winter Soldier being a spy movie and Thor being a fantasy. If you guys do this well this fans get superhero movies of every type on screen just like the variety on paper.

Don’t rush a universe

Look. I get it. Universes mean money and money is great. And I love shared universes too. But don’t rush it. Build the characters, get people to like them individually. That’s how you get them interested to see more. Flashing lights on a cctv doesn't make me excited for the flash in justice league but knowing his character and powers would if he had a solo movie. That’s why deadpool was great. Cause they didn’t try squeezing in as many Xmen or references it just made us love the character.

Studios stop being selfish

Guys. Really. IDK how your profits work but causing your competitor to have a loss does not mean you win. A lousy Fant4stic isn’t better than a good Marvel Fantastic 4. If you guys can work contracts to have them all exist in the same universe, you guys split the profits and everyone wins. Look at spidey and how after all this time we are hyped for Spiderman again, earning both Marvel and Sony money. Money! Great isn’t it!

Stop spoiling your movies in your trailer

Guys. If people wanted to watch Batman V Superman or a Captain America movie, they would go regardless of trailer material. And if they didn’t want too they won’t. These movies are a brand and people just need to get a sense of the movie. You don’t have to show scene after scene, spoiler after spoiler. How cool would it be if we didn’t expect Vision and got him? That type of surprise gets people hype through word of mouth after release which works way better than just a shot of his eyes after the trailer. Showing an entire fight scene is just disrespectful. That could have been in the movie and enjoyed in a theatre. But no, you guys just had to tell people that there is gonna be a fight in the Avengers movie!!! Wow! Shocking!

Hollywood we live in the golden age of superhero movies. But if you don’t change and don’t change fast, we are all gonna get superhero fatigue and your precious million dollar franchises are gonna go bye bye. So please, for all of us, save our superheroes.

Cheers,

Darren Does Movies

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