1. Katie says:

    Um, did you even watch The Avengers? A major component of Captain America’s battle plan is trying to keep the alien invaders  to a few blocks as possible to avoid more damage and loss of life. In fact, many of the Marvel movies have this component of heroes protecting people as they defeat the villains, instead of just trying to defeat them at any cost and ignoring the surrounding damage and casualties. Off the top of my head I can think of scenes from Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers: Age of Ultron that illustrate this.

    I’ve only been casually following your posts as Superman is one of my least favorite superheroes. I don’t know how justified the backlash against Man of Steel is because I have not see the movie. But I believe the reason other superhero movies, like The Avengers, have not had this same backlash, is because they have clearly shown the heroes trying to prevent destruction instead of causing it.

    • Just in case my meaning was unclear, I’m a huge The Avengers fan and a fan of the MCU as a whole. (Austin Gunderson, however, is less of a fan.)

      I agree that the film — and Age of Ultron, more overtly — show the heroes trying to get civilians out of harm’s way. But my point was not “no one cared”; rather, I’m saying that if the issue is “buildings fell and people died, and that’s horrible,” then The Avengers did not follow through. The film ended only with everyone happy because the world was saved. But in fact, despite the heroes’ best efforts, you know thousands died in what later stories referred to as “the battle of New York.”

      And that’s what war is — a sad, tragic thing in which people die.

      Is a movie responsible for showing all the tragic consequences? Or should a movie be faulted for choosing only to emphasize the happy ending? I don’t believe so. (Austin may have a different view.) But what I am saying is that fans have been proving themselves inconsistent. Arguably Man of Steel shows a greater level of destruction and — while still being more pulpy as a super-action thriller — makes audiences feel the brutality of it. And the sequel promises to explore this even more, and will likely lead to this new-formed hero (with friends) finding far better ways to fight supervillainy and minimize civilian casualties in the future.

      Remember: Captain America was a super-soldier. Without him, Iron Man, Thor and the rest may not have thought first to get the civilians out of harm’s way as best they can. Also remember: Superman was on his own and against a far superior force. Man of Steel didn’t offer a “fun” alien battle. It wasn’t ever meant to. But for me, that actually makes it “fun” in a different way — in a more-serious and more-challenging way. I do make room for both kinds of super-storytelling.

  2. dmdutcher says:

    I think you probably would like X-Men: Days of Future Past better, Stephen. It did the themes you like, without it feeling forced. X-Men first Class, to a lesser degree.

    Speculation:

    Superman gets under luthor’s control, turns bad, batman gathers justice league to stop him. They have almost the entire league there, and unless they are there for cameos during the credits, they’d probably all fight superman at some point. Luthor gets revealed as the main baddie, they realize they all were wrong, and beat up him and whatever allies he gets/big heavy he uses.

    Hoping it’s not going to be a mess.

What do you think?