Superheroes and Supervillains

I just saw "Black Adam, and it is REALLY GOOD! Both action and character portrayal were well handled. In fact, I reckon "Black Adam" to be the best superhero movie since "Aquaman," which was the best superhero movie since the first "Captain America" film.
 
Thor is a public domain character as he is a mythological character. Marvel's name for him is officially Mighty Thor, so Mighty Thor would be owned by Marvel, but if someone else wanted to do a Thor superhero movie unrelated to Marvel, they could.

Daredevil was also public domain, at least his earliest version. I am sure he is now owned by Marvel in his current version.

MrBob
 
As for that, someone DID make a non-Marvel-connected movie about Thor. I haven't seen it, but I know it exists. It is titled "AL-mighty Thor," which is not the same as just plain "Mighty."
 
Copperfox said:
Public domain? You mean like Robin Hood, King Odudua of the Yoruba, Chief Tecumseh, the Three Musketeers, Miyamoto Musashi, Jean Valjean, or Sherlock Holmes?
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No, but I do love the idea of Sherlock Holmes and company being considered under the 'superhero" category.
I was referring to such characters as Red Bee, The Masked Marvel, Sky Wizard, Mister Wonder, Marvelous Man and Marvelous Woman, Professor Supermind and Professor Supermind Jr., Future Man, and The Black Owl, etc.
 
What would you be interested in knowing?

Not too much is known about some of them. Sky Wizard, for example, has only been seen in 5 comic issues since 1940, that I can find.

As for the first one I mentioned, Red Bee, he was actually adopted by DC Comics. They killed him off and he appears as a ghost ever now and then. I'm hoping he gets revived at some point myself.
 
Okay, let's start with the Black Owl.

The Black Owl is Walt Walters. He is the father of superheroes Yank and Doodle. When Walters dons the mask, his children are unaware of his secret identity at first, but they do become the first crime fighting family in the history of comic books. Walters is an athletic college professor. He discovers his sons are the heroes Yank and Doodle just before he decides to take up the mask himself. Along with some assistance from another hero, he invents an owl-like vehicle.

Unsurprisingly, given the time of his publication, chief among his adversaries are the Nazis of Germany, particularly as they abduct him and his family and murder his wife shortly after she gives birth to his twin sons, Yank and Doodle.

He has occasionally possessed the powers of a living black hole, but most of the time he is just a capable fighter with no powers.
 
The first superhero to be in a comic (it was a newspaper comic) is generally considered to be Hugo Hercules. That strip ran from Sept 7 1902 to Jan 11 1903 in the Chicago Tribune. He had super-strength as his name would suggest.
 
I lean towards Batman and Wonder Woman as super heroes.

Though when it comes to the Batman movies, I lean towards Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan. They set higher bars than Joel Schumacher.

And Wonder Woman really knows how to use a lasso and is not afraid to stand up for justice.

Super villains are kind of a tough one. I'd say the Scarecrow from The Dark Knight Trilogy. I think Cillian Murphy kind of took on a unique way of the Scarecrow. Instead of looking like a traditional scarecrow, he just pus on his mask and uses mind control and sprays his fear toxin to induce anyone's worst fears. Plus, I'm sure they had a season to bring him back two more times.

So for heroes:
Emeth (if you count him as a hero)
Batman
Wonder Woman
Eowyn
Aragorn
Obi-Wan Kenobi

Villains:
The Scarecrow
Rishda Tarkaan
The White Witch
Shere Khan
Scar
 
The thoughts of superheroes terrifies me. Imagine...after years of fighting crime against all odds...you decide to take off ONE WEEKEND to save your sanity and break the monotony. And during that one weekend a little girl is kidnapped and killed and her parents look at you like you're worse than dirt for not being there to save her. Every break, every nap, every night's sleep, every vacation, every afternoon watching a movie with your spouse, all paid for in human lives. God would never put someone under that kind of horror. You would get that thrill of wish fulfillment the first time you decked a pervert trying to kidnap a child. But when you couldn't take a hot shower without that *#&## alarm going off or the bat signal hitting the clouds or the phone ringing, you would begin to wish you were dead. And God knows that. And in his mercy he spares you being fast as light or tough as nails. His mercy. You should not have to be a demigod, and so you are not.
 
Superheroes are 1 on 1 or misses.

And of course, I don't think I've ever seen any other movie franchise that brings back the old villain, other than the Walden Narnia Trilogy bringing back the White Witch and the Dark Knight Trilogy bringing back the Scarecrow.

Yes, God's mercy spares you being fast as light or tough as nails.
 
I wonder if anyone at Walden Media asked themselves seriously if Lewis was too naïve about storytelling...or if he was too brilliant. The whole idea of an evil that simply CANNOT disappear completely is jumping all four paws into the chasm of dualism. As if somehow good could not exist without evil, but it could be held in balance. Today, any horror franchise "knows" that you can't end a movie well. There must be a crack in happily ever after. Honestly that is so predictable that I just can't enjoy the final battle, knowing as I do that there is a loophole for The Return of the Three Bears, or Big Bad Wolf: Resurrection.
 
Right on as always, Wise Badger. I am heartily sick and tired of horror movies, and many fantasies, where "balance" and "equality" really mean that evil is totally unbeatable, and good exists only to be trampled on.
 
Exactly. I guess that the villains getting their own movies has been popular lately. Maleficent, Joker, Cruella, and I think even the Scarecrow is getting his own movie. I don't really expect Narnia villains to have their own movies, though.
 
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While Lewis hinted that these villains may have had a backstory, I'm sure he'd be horrified if we suggested that only their circumstances made them who they are, and that they didn't choose the wrong thing for the wrong reason. These days if Hollywood did Paradise Lost, they'd have the Devil psychologically hurt by God never buying him a pony.
 
I haven't thought of that. The White Witch does kind of have a backstory in The Magician's Nephew, of how she originally came to be in Narnia. I wouldn't be surprise if Miraz reacted in bitterness and anger when Caspian X was born.
 
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