Sperg about comic books here

[Tragi-Chan]

I thought it was a half decent movie and really only paled to shittiness by comparison to the original. But nobody has done a really good adaptation of anything by Alan Moore really. Similarly, V for Vendetta was a reasonably good popcorn movie, but nowhere near the level of the original, plus it gave us that stupid mask.

The thing is that Alan Moore, for all his faults, writes specifically for the comics medium. Lots of the story and background is told through details that you can only get if you have time to scrutinise each panel. Inevitably you're going to lose something in a movie. TBH, I think Alan Moore's comics would work better in a TV format, and I think if Watchmen were being adapted now, that's how they'd do it.

From the first trailer everyone knew it was going to be bad. Wigger Joker with silver grills and "damaged"'tatooed on his forehead sealed the deal. Taking a character that's supposed to be based on dark humor and making him Vanilla Ice's illegitimate son was never going to end well. No real reason to get salty over it.

I blame The Dark Knight. Not that I have an issue with Heath Ledger's performance in itself, but now everyone feels like they need an OMG SO KRAZY villain without having the talent either in front of or behind the camera to pull it off.

I kinda wanna buy a dead shot figure just to have a tiny will smith.

Small Willie Style

 

[Lachlan Hunter McIntyre]

Jack Nicholson was the best joker.




Say what you want about the cheesy 80s and 90s Batman films, at least they weren't Edgelord: The Motion Picture.

 

[feedtheoctopus]

I don't know why Hot Topic: The Movie has gotten so many people this excited, gotta be honest.

I blame The Dark Knight. Not that I have an issue with Heath Ledger's performance in itself, but now everyone feels like they need an OMG SO KRAZY villain without having the talent either in front of or behind the camera to pull it off.

God this. Every new incarnation of the Joker I feel is trying to be more dark and depraved than the last, more weird and sadistic. And it's not doing any justice to the source material, it's just being unsettling for the sake of being unsettling. You can tell the studio played up Jared Leto's antics for that reason too, they were marketing the movie off him being a depraved weirdo.

I don't mean any disrespect to the source material when I say this, but superhero comics are for kids, man. That isn't to say adults can't like them or that ALL of them are, but you have to have a limit on the messed up bullshit otherwise you just kind of ruin what's fun about these characters. One of the reasons I hate the Nolan movies is they took themselves so seriously that I ironically thought it was just kind of stupid.

 

[smellymarine]

Have DC even made a good movie or comic in the last 10 years anyway? Why is this flop a surprise after Batman VS Superman?

All-Star Superman?

Jack Nicholson was the best joker.View attachment 121464 Say what you want about the cheesy 80s and 90s Batman films, at least they weren't Edgelord: The Motion Picture.

Cheese is good. I would much sooner watch any of these

Spoiler

a hundred times before Snyder trying to make a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime into a grumpy tortured hero.

 

[Lachlan Hunter McIntyre]

All-Star Superman?

Cheese is good. I would much sooner watch any of these

Spoiler

a hundred times before Snyder trying to make a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime into a grumpy tortured hero.

Exactly. Batman only works as camp, something that isn't taken seriously. Adam West was the best Batman, full stop.

 

[LordCustos3]

Have DC even made a good movie or comic in the last 10 years anyway? Why is this flop a surprise after Batman VS Superman?

Well, DC put out Batman Begins at the same time as the first shitty Fantastic Four movie. V for Vendetta the same year that X-Men:the Last Stand came out; and put out Watchmen the same year as X-Menrigins Wolverine....
sooooo, I guess the secret rule is DC and Marvel can't both put out a good movie at the same time. Whenever DC gets its act together, Fox has to shit in the punchbowl to keep the Awesome-to-Awful ratio in balance.

EDIT:

Comic book geeks are under the delusion that corporations are interested in something other than sales

Oh, here's something else I've noticed, and I think it explains part of why Suicide Squad was marketed the way it was....
Notice how for a couple years now, each studio has followed a "grim/serious downer 'thinkpiece' (about famous heroes being grim and serious)" superhero flick with a "silly, lighthearted 'fun' (about obscure characters nobody cares about)" superhero flick?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier was followed by Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron was followed by Ant-Man

even Fox got the hint and followed the buzzkill of X-Men: Days of Future Past with Deadpool.

Soooooo, DC -- late as always -- followed the frownfest of Batman Scowls at Superman with quirky obscure Suicide Squad

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

Oh, here's something else I've noticed, and I think it explains part of why Suicide Squad was marketed the way it was....
Notice how for a couple years now, each studio has followed a "grim/serious downer 'thinkpiece' (about famous heroes being grim and serious)" superhero flick with a "silly, lighthearted 'fun' (about obscure characters nobody cares about)" superhero flick?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier was followed by Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron was followed by Ant-Man

even Fox got the hint and followed the buzzkill of X-Men: Days of Future Past with Deadpool.

Soooooo, DC -- late as always -- followed the frownfest of Batman Scowls at Superman with quirky obscure Suicide Squad

Literally everything DC does is a 'too little too late' game of catchup with Marvel. Didn't Marvel already have an Avengers movie by the time they came out with Man of Steel? At this rate, the new Spawn movie we're never getting is going to outperform them. Think about it, we're getting a Justice League movie before getting a Wonder Woman, Aqua Man and Green Lantern movie. What would Cyborg's movie even look like? Does he even have any of his own villains? It would literally just have to be a Robocop ripoff.

 

[Donald Duck]

I don't know why DC directors and some actors feel the need to do this. the guy playing aquaman also said this shit. Why are you making fun of Marvel when your movies contiue to be polarizing and making nowhere near where they should.

I actually find it hilarious whenever they do that and then the movie they made that they were oh-so confident about (enough to talk shit about their rivals) doesn't do anywhere as well as they thought it would or the film just outright bombs.

But yeah... that's one major problem with DC. They're so obsessed with catching up to and beating Marvel, that they've completely neglected to actually make a good movie first that would justify having sequels and crossovers. That's why all the DC movies feel so bloated, rushed and underdeveloped.

I don't mean any disrespect to the source material when I say this, but superhero comics are for kids, man. That isn't to say adults can't like them or that ALL of them are, but you have to have a limit on the messed up bullshit otherwise you just kind of ruin what's fun about these characters. One of the reasons I hate the Nolan movies is they took themselves so seriously that I ironically thought it was just kind of stupid.

And that's the other problem... they take themselves far too seriously and keep trying to apply the "grim-dark, grounded and gritty "realism" nonsense, which might work for Batman, onto every character they're adapting. They've turned Superman, who is supposed to be more like Captain America in the Marvel movies... into an emo dumbass I couldn't give two shits about, to the point where my only reaction to the ending of BvS was to yawn and roll my eyes.

The movie looked like a teenage edge lord made it from the trailers. It gave me the exact same kind of "oh you're going to fucking hate this" vibe Batman v Superman did, so I don't want to see it.

That's my reaction too when I saw promo pics of Jared Leto's Joker and Margot Robbie's Harley... they're trying too hard...

What would Cyborg's movie even look like? Does he even have any of his own villains? It would literally just have to be a Robocop ripoff.

I'm still scratching my head as to why Cyborg is even in Justice League at all.

 

[Womacker]

Being frank, you should use Superman's Kansas upbringing and Pro-American values to be a major point of his character (a more extreme thing of what he has in comics like Batman Returns). I would like to see a personality like Reagan on him. Charismatic but still maintains an air of authority about him.


Superman should have acted like the Dad who knew what was best for America, not a blatant Messiah complex.

 

[Francis York Morgan]

I'm still scratching my head as to why Cyborg is even in Justice League at all.

Because DC felt they needed a black superhero in the Justice League. Reading those comics, Cyborg is so out of place among the rest and it's clear that they have no ideas for the character beyond "he's the black guy of the team" for their marketing.

As for Suicide Squad, this is the second time people are having a major chimpout over a summer blockbuster this year. The question is if WB will go the Sony route of trying to drum up some controversy with gender/identity politics. As we saw with the Ghostbusters film, it might help with the first week but a shitty movie is still going to be a shitty movie.

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

Why are DC animated movies good but their life action movies suck?

 

[Womacker]

Why are DC animated movies good but their life action movies suck?

They have had years of experience there from like Batman TAS but not in making movies.


On a side note, if you want grimdark DC, gimme a cyberpunk synthplayin Batman Beyond movie. Return of the Joker was so great that I would gladly buy a ticket if they could match that.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

Why are DC animated movies so good but their life action movies suck?

Because DC doesn't give nearly as much of a shit when it comes to the animated movies. They don't hit theaters, they don't draw a mainstream crowd, they barely advertise the product, ect. It's not nearly as important for the animated films to do well compared to the live action ones, because live action is where people start taking the film seriously and it's also where the film starts getting expensive. You better believe they start throwing back the Pepto-Bismol when they have to compete with Marvel on the mainstream market, so of course they're going to micromanage and focus group the Hell out of it.

 

[Skeletor]

Exactly. Batman only works as camp, something that isn't taken seriously. Adam West was the best Batman, full stop.

Disagree about Batman, bc I think the Arkham games nailed it, but all the other DC heroes are 100% camp. That's why shows like The Flash and Arrow are able to pull it off. Stop pretending that Justice League is some serious grownup shit and just give us a silly Aquaman movie.

 

[AngeloTheWizard]

Disagree about Batman, bc I think the Arkham games nailed it, but all the other DC heroes are 100% camp. That's why shows like The Flash and Arrow are able to pull it off. Stop pretending that Justice League is some serious grownup shit and just give us a silly Aquaman movie.

I slightly disagree even with that. I don't think it's about camp and I don't think it's about being silly, I think that people need to be able to read the comics or watch the movies and come away with a good feeling-that there were heroes, there were villains, the villains did bad things and the hero saved the day. We can all leave feeling happy when the good guy punches the bad guy a lot. Silly movies can accomplish that-look at Guardians of the Galaxy, it took itself seriously for about 5 minutes, then Chris Pratt started dancing through ancient ruins. Look at Ant-Man, it was funny, but there was also a big bad guy that needed punching, and lots of it.

If we got an Aquaman movie where he stuck to his characterization in Brave and the Bold, where he was a loud and boisterous bruiser style of character, I think it would be pretty well received. Just imagine like 20 bad guys coming up to Aquaman and he shouts "why, I'll take you ALL on!" and then there's a big fight scene, that would be fun!

Bottom line, superheroes need to be fun. Because people like fun.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

I slightly disagree even with that. I don't think it's about camp and I don't think it's about being silly, I think that people need to be able to read the comics or watch the movies and come away with a good feeling-that there were heroes, there were villains, the villains did bad things and the hero saved the day. We can all leave feeling happy when the good guy punches the bad guy a lot. Silly movies can accomplish that-look at Guardians of the Galaxy, it took itself seriously for about 5 minutes, then Chris Pratt started dancing through ancient ruins. Look at Ant-Man, it was funny, but there was also a big bad guy that needed punching, and lots of it.

If we got an Aquaman movie where he stuck to his characterization in Brave and the Bold, where he was a loud and boisterous bruiser style of character, I think it would be pretty well received. Just imagine like 20 bad guys coming up to Aquaman and he shouts "why, I'll take you ALL on!" and then there's a big fight scene, that would be fun!

Bottom line, superheroes need to be fun. Because people like fun.

They just need to not suck.

 

[Shadow Fox]

I'm more of a Marvel guy than a DC guy, but I like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow and would love to see a DC cinematic universe that can rival Marvel's and thought this film could have been good. Sadly, it looks like I'll have to make do with the MCU for now (which I love but admit is not perfect and needs to shore up some of their weak spots IMO). Ah well, bad movies are a dime a dozen, and there's plenty of other shit to look forward to.

Also, I must say the discourse around superhero films right now is total shit: 99% of discussions turn into a DC vs Marvel debate.

We will always have the DCAU, my friend.

And all this sperging about shitty DC movies and no mention of this?

Spoiler

 

[QB 290]

I hate to drag the attention away from Spurging about shit movies, but what comic series does everyone want to have to have a movie spinoff. I'm personally rooting for SAGA or seconds to be adapted at some point, but what does everyone else think?

 

[smellymarine]

Being frank, you should use Superman's Kansas upbringing and Pro-American values to be a major point of his character (a more extreme thing of what he has in comics like Batman Returns). I would like to see a personality like Reagan on him. Charismatic but still maintains an air of authority about him.


Superman should have acted like the Dad who knew what was best for America, not a blatant Messiah complex.

Personally, I'd like to see an aw-shucks Christian Supes. It'd make sense with the small-town Kansas childhood and Lex Luthor's characterisation as essentially a Euphoric with money.

I hate to drag the attention away from Spurging about shit movies, but what comic series does everyone want to have to have a movie spinoff. I'm personally rooting for SAGA or seconds to be adapted at some point, but what does everyone else think?

Assuming it was made with an actually competent team (and they could resurrect Christopher Reeve), I'd say Kingdom Come.

 

[Womacker]

Personally, I'd like to see an aw-shucks Christian Supes. It'd make sense with the small-town Kansas childhood and Lex Luthor's characterisation as essentially a Euphoric with money.

So they should go full 1980's conservative superhero with him? I would like to see near-Bibleman supes.