Summary
DC Studios,James Gunn, and seemingly all of Hollywood are counting down the days untilSuperman’s release later this month. The famed director has been doing the rounds as of late, and he believes three specific superhero-related scenes never need to be shown in movies ever again.
Superhero films have come a long way since 1978’sSuperman: The Movieignited the fledgling genre. A host ofSupermanfilms followed in the wake of the original’s success,theBatmanfilm franchise became the hottest thing since sliced bread, and numerous imitators tried and failed through the late-’90s. Then, Marvel’s triple-headed monster ofBlade,X-Men, andSpider-Mankickstarted a brand-new wave of superhero films that is still being felt to this day. Think of all that has happened since Sam Raimi’sSpider-Manstormed out of the gates in 2002: Christopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogy made Batman cool again,Iron Manlit the MCU’s fuse, the DCEU came and went, and theSpider-Versefilms proved superhero animation could take the box office by storm. The past fifty years have seen dozens upon dozens of superhero films, with three heroes in particular getting more adaptations than any other: Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man. Coincidentally, James Gunn believes there are three scenes pertaining to those heroes that no one needs to see in a film ever again.
Gunn recently sat down for an interview withThe Timesand went into how there are simply some scenes that moviegoers don’t need anymore.“There are three things I don’t ever need to see again in a superhero movie,“Gunn claimed.“I don’t need to see pearls in a back alley when Batman’s parents are killed. I don’t need to see the radioactive spider biting Spider-Man. And I don’t need to see baby Kal coming from Krypton in a little baby rocket.“The esteemed director is 100% correct here, as audiences don’t need to seeevery superhero’s originto get their character. Moviegoers have seen those specific scenes numerous times on film (and in print and on television), so what are they adding to new projects, if anything at all?
James Gunn Believes Audiences Don’t Need To See Everything About A Superhero’s Origin Story
Everybody knows that Peter Parker got his superpowersafter he was bitten by a spider. We saw the scene in 2002’sSpider-Manand 2012’sThe Amazing Spider-Man. Tom Holland’s version of the character from the MCU luckily hasn’t been given that scene in live-action, but a flashback is always possible. Similarly, everyone also knows that Batman’s parents died and that Superman is an alien from another planet sent here as a baby. Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman are the three most popular superheroes on the planet, and they’ve been the three most popular superheroes on the planet for decades.
“We have watched a million movies with characters who don’t have their upbringing explained, like when we see Good Night, and Good Luck, we don’t need to know the early life of Edward R. Murrow to explain how he became a journalist. Who cares?” - James Gunn
There have been comic books, television shows, movies, radio dramas, video games, and every other form of mass media you can think of describing the origins of these characters for much longer than the majority of people reading this very sentence have been alive. Why does every specific incarnation of these famous heroesneed an explicit origin story? Audiences are more intelligent than Tinseltown often credits them for being, anyway.
In this particular instance,James Gunnis undoubtedly in the right. Now, let’s just hope hisSupermanfilm is up to snuff.
