Remake Hell Vol.2 : Comic Book Heroes

| Print | E-mail Written by J.D. Gillam Thursday, 14 July 2011

Remake Hell - by Jon Gillam

In the world of media, there are many different types of reimagining. Many different ways of starting from scratch. Perhaps the easiest, certainly the cheapest, is in the world of comics.

Nowhere else is it possible to press the reset button so readily, and nowhere else - except for Hollywood itself - is it done with such regular abandon. This is clearly illustrated by the recent announcement that DC comics plans to relaunch every single one of its characters in September with a brand new issue #1. That means that no matter how old the character, or regardless of their previous story arcs, all of them will be reset. All 52 of them! So, continuity isn't the most important thing in the world of comic book heroes.

If you are not a comic book fan, or even a casual reader, think how frustrated you feel when your favourite film gets rebooted or made over again. Then multiply that by a large, unknown number. Then you'll appreciate exactly how a comic book fan feels.

It is therefore quite apt that comic book characters are now being remade by movie studios. But it wasn't always this way. Oh no…….

A long time ago - well, maybe the 80s - comics were considered the kingdom of geeks, and in some quarters that thought process continues. Unlike the summer blockbuster season of today, superhero and comic book movies were rare back then.

There was the camp 60s TV series of Batman starring Adam West as the titular caped crusader that were available on Saturday morning repeats. Before that, there were the old black and white serials of Superman, Flash Gordon and The Phantom, amongst many others.

But any child, or even adult who had grown up reading the adventures of the DC and Marvel characters, was hard pushed to sate their appetite for spandex outside of the confines of the four colour weeklies or repeats of the earlier shows - unless they had a secret fetish wardrobe that is!

Then, in 1978, Richard Donner and Warner Brothers seemed determined to change the malaise surrounding these heroic characters as well as all of their respective villains as well.

His big budget Hollywood version of Superman took the public by storm, making a very healthy profit on its budget of $55m - and $55m was a lot of money 30 years ago. The film made people realise that these characters could be bought to life and be taken seriously. It no doubt helped that the film was actually very good.

Strange then, that during the 80s, few companies were willing to take a risk on another title being as successful. Maybe the special effects budgets were too daunting, but apart from the Superman sequels and the poorly received Supergirl, there were slim pickings for comic fans once more.

Dolph Lundgren as Marvel's The Punisher was not a good superhero film, probably because it was more of a revenge movie, which the main character is known for. No, 1989 belonged to the big screen debut (no I don't count the 1966 Batman: The Movie with its shark repellent Bat-spray) of Bruce Wayne and his dark alter-ego.

With Tim Burton, we had another director that understood the character and made a deliciously dark movie that satisfied both the fans of the comics and the cinema going public. His sequel, Batman Returns, was just as dark, if not darker, and introduced Michelle Pfieffer in a latex catsuit. Yum!

From here, Hollywood started to really take notice and realise the potential box office clout of these previously one dimensional characters - at least on the page. To list the movies that were released in the 90s would take up serious column space, so let me list some of the better ones.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stayed true to its pizza loving roots, The Crow was an excellently powerful movie from Alex Proyas and Blade made you think that Wesley Snipes was born to play the role - that opening rave scene was amazing. Watch it again today with a decent TV and sound system and see what I mean.

There were early attempts with low to no budget adaptations of Fantastic Four (by Roger Corman no less) and Captain America, both of which did not receive a cinema release.

With the late 90s release of Blade, Marvel finally tapped into the goldmine that they were sitting on. With DC having both Superman and Batman in their staple of characters, they were well ahead in the race, but the house of Stan Lee was about to make a statement of intent. And so into the 21st century we strode, oblivious to the so called terrors of the Millennium Bug, and these heroes and villains joined us.

The Noughties - well what else are we going to call them? - brought forward a deluge of superhero releases. Again, a quick recap is in order.

We saw big budget versions of Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Hulk, Daredevil (still a guilty favourite!), Iron Man and X-Men. That was just from Marvel.

DC countered with the re-emergence of Batman after the risible efforts of Joel Schumacher to kill the character off, with copious amounts of neon, villains that were played so far over the top that they started to almost eat the scenery and perhaps most dastardly, those nipples! Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were the first real (and good) examples of the remake of superhero movies. Again, the character was taken back to his dark roots and Nolan created a successful trilogy (to be concluded with The Dark Knight Rises next year).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vak9ZLfhGnQ

Superman Returns was another DC attempt to reboot a character that had gone slightly off of the rails with the last two 80s sequels. It could be argued that, as a result of the fact that it ignored the two final 80s efforts in the series and placed itself straight after Superman 2, that it wasn't a remake, but in re-jigging the existing movie franchise, it is a reboot. Perhaps for the very reason that it pretty much trod old ground, following on directly from the original sequel, instead of trying to do something new with the main character (ignore Superboy, or whoever that kid with the piano was supposed to be!), it didn't do as well as the Batman restarts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IOoyrfi0s

So, Clark Kent is being rebooted yet again in Man of Steel, which is being directed by Zack Snyder, who already gave us the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead which really wasn't too bad at all. Man of Steel is also being produced by Christopher Nolan, so that bodes well, along with the news that Russell Crowe has been added as Superman's dad, Jor-El. Also, the news that everybody's favourite villain, General Zod, will be making an appearance must be whetting the appetite of fans of the Kryptonian character.

Perhaps the only concern is the fact that it has been confirmed that the film will be another origin story, even though pretty much everyone should know that by now. But, Batman Begins also had an origin story, and that was covered quickly and painlessly. So here's hoping that Nolan's involvement will help to lean the project towards that in some way.

Obviously, this isn't even taking into consideration the two successful TV series - The Adventures of Lois and Clark in the 90s and Smallville more recently. So remakes can also be created on the small screen, but with superheroes, there still has to be a significant budget for the special effects and these terrestrial offerings seemed to deliver on most points.

Ang Lee's Hulk took a critical beating, even though it made back over $100m more than its budget. Fans just didn't like the slow burning storyline. So Marvel rebooted the big green machine five years later with The Incredible Hulk, which didn't fare much better financially but the fans preferred this second version and I have to agree with them. Apart from the silly final fight, I thought it was a much better version than the brooding 2003 movie. And this was all long after the original TV series with Bill Bixby that played like The Littlest Hobo crossed with Kung-Fu with a bad temper.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1726152985/

Of course, Marvel has really pushed the boat out with their superhero team-up, The Avengers, out in 2012. Obviously not a remake, but it'll be interesting to see what Joss Whedon does with the Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye all in one movie. And the Hulk is being played by a different actor for the third time in three films, Mark Ruffalo replacing Ed Norton, who in turn replaced Eric Bana. So for that character at least, it kind of is a reboot.

Sticking with Marvel for a moment, Spiderman is also to be rebooted, with the release next year of Mark Webb's (really, could there be a more aptly named director?) The Amazing Spiderman. It's a shame as it would have been nice to see what Sam Raimi could have done with the franchise after his frankly disjointed part three, and it also means that we'll probably get another origin story again. But to take Peter Parker back to school might be interesting to say the least. There are some changes to the character that may upset some fans of the movies. For example, Spidey will now have artificial web-shooters on his wrists, instead of the organic ones in the first trilogy, but then this will please the comic fans, as this was how it was originally worked in the comics. There will be roles for Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Ben Parker and Aunt May respectively - perhaps a nod to the Batman franchise giving roles to well respected actors? Oh, and surprise, surprise, Spidey will be swinging out of the screens at you in 3D.

You could consider that X-Men: First Class is a reboot of sorts. Sure it is a prequel, but if it is as financially successful as Marvel hope, you can't tell me that they won't make more films in that series leading off from that, and there is no way that those films will follow the canon set up by the original trilogy.

Currently idling in development hell, but not for long I'm sure, is The Wolverine, a reboot of the character from X-Men who had his own origins movie already. To be fair, he is one of the more interesting superheroes out there, what with the ability to not age and heal himself incredibly quickly, so maybe there is another tale to be told for him. Directors are announced for this project almost weekly, at the time of writing James Mangold holds the torch, so let's see if that goes through.

Unsurprisingly, DC has countered Marvel's Avengers project by announcing their own super-team movie, Justice League of America. Although when we'll see that, who knows.

Getting back onto topic, the latest announcement doing the rounds is Warner Brother's surprise revelation that they are going to reboot Batman. Again.

Huh? Nolan's third episode of his opus hasn't even finished filming yet, and they declare that they are going to reboot again? Surely, that is taking the idea of remakes to a whole new level of insanity. Granted, the JLA movie will need a new Batman, as Christian Bale has already stated that his apparently asthma suffering owner of the night will have its last outing in the third film. But to announce the reboot of a vastly successful character before the current story arc has already finished is nothing short of madness. Isn't it?

Maybe not, and this is why this month's column is dedicated to our caped, cowled and super-powered chums.

As I stated earlier, remakes and the comic book industry do make fabulous bedfellows. In what other medium do you have the amount of rebooting that you get with comics?

If you followed just one character religiously since his or her inception, you would probably be more confused than an idiot staring at a carton of orange juice because it says concentrate on the side.

The superhero genre is rife for re-imagining due to the fact that it is not set in reality. We have had multiple universes (try following the multitude of X-Men spin offs and tangents that have been released without losing your mind); clones; characters rising from the dead - even the most famous ones such as Superman, Batman and Captain America; turning them into zombies (see Marvel Zombies where all your favourite superheroes become the flesh munching undead!) among other high concept ideas.

It stops the titles becoming stale. After all, reading a monthly comic about a hero overcoming evil every time would become kind of dull after a while, but most of all superheroes, more than any other type of character in the entertainment industry, are there to allay the fears of the present economic, political and social situations. Look back through history and you'll see links to the wars of the day, to political unrest, racism, and a myriad of other ills and issues that graced the front pages of the newspapers.

They all go through phases and weave in and out of favour dependent on exactly what they stand for.

For example, after 9/11, revenge characters did well for a short time. But the cinephiles soon grew tired of these bleak offerings and yearned for more entertaining features.

Now, more than ever, the studios are releasing more and more superhero related movies. On top of the Marvel and DC universes the indie titles are beginning to get a look in. Companies such as Image, IDW and Dynamite (you have to read their take on the superhero genre in The Boys to believe it!) are also making names for themselves in the same pool as the big boys. Kick Ass proved that a superhero doesn't have to actually be about a hero with super powers and has a sequel in the works. Hellboy had a couple of great movies from Del Toro and if you go into any comic shop these days, there seem to be as many indie superhero titles as those released by Marvel and DC, which is a good thing.

It offers another tilt on the genre that the two major players may have missed. DC characters seem to be mostly do-gooders with a strict morale code, who refuse to kill the bad guys, but prefer to bring them to justice, even though justice is proven again and again not to work.

Marvel characters are normally genetic mutants due to an accident that gives them their powers. As a result they are more prone to darker character traits and are at odds with their abilities.

So, while all these properties continue to turn a profit, expect your multiplexes to be filled each summer with more superhero movies over the coming years.

By this Christmas, we should have received the reboot of Judge Dredd, simply titled Dredd (and this time, he's keeping the bloody helmet on!) and 2012 will give us The Avengers, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rise and The Amazing Spiderman, two of which are reboots. The as yet untitled reboot of Batman is due 2015.

You also have reboots of Daredevil, Punisher (which will be the fourth attempt), Catwoman and The Crow lining up.

Personally, I'm waiting for the official announcements of reboots of Blade and Wonder Woman (which is idling in development hell, especially after a recent aborted attempt at a new TV series), which must be due soon, what with the monthly rumours doing the rounds.

One thing is for sure - the superheroes that work best on the big screen are the ones that can adapt to the changing climate of the world in which they exist. Look at the characters that were originally created in Action Comics in the 40s compared to their versions of today and you will see a lot of major differences.

So the reboots are there to allow us to see the characters in a different light, or to change a stale or crazy franchise that has lost direction (Spiderman and Batman, I'm looking at you in particular).

It's just that movie reboots are a bit more expensive than their printed counterparts. Hopefully, Hollywood will allow these different versions the space to be realised.

If The Avengers is a hit, what chance Marvel Zombies?

********

Now for some audience participation.

What upcoming remakes would you like to see covered?

Let me know your thoughts and I'll see what I can do!

Until next month…………..

JD

{jcomments on}