WHAT SUPER HERO MOVIE DO YOU MOST WANT TO SEE?

author=Shinan
One thing I've noticed in superhero movies (and every other kind of movie too, but especially superhero movies) is that the all follow pretty much the same formula. Obviously you might say. But I find that the thing I like the most in every superhero movie are the character moments. People struggling with their powers and/or having fun with them. You know that fifteen minutes or so somewhere in the early second act.

The time I always shut down is during the final set piece. I've found a lot of review talking about how superhero movies try to top the last final set piece and how "Oh my god this one was pretty sweet". But even the well-reviewed ones (I heard people saying iron Man 3's final set piece was good) I find incredibly dull.

It's a bit weird how superhero fight scenes are the least interesting thing in superhero stories. Take for example the latest Captain America final showdown. How boring was that, with the guy that just had a jet pack for some reason. The interesting bits were the bits involving the Winter Soldier, but I would have liked that to have been solved in some other way than things exploding everywhere.

To be honest I started thinking more about this because I saw X-Men Days of Future Past and its final set piece was very non-violent. It was essentially a talky standoff and I really liked that.

Now some of this might because of the superhero comics. I tried to read some of that stuff earlier this year and found it similarly tedious. There'd be one or two pages of interesting stuff and then fifteen pages of people beating each other up. I found myself quickly flipping through pages to get to some story but all they seemed to want to do was kick the shit out of each other in increasingly similar ways.

I guess I just approached it the wrong way. Reading superhero comics for story is like watching porn for it.

I confess that comic books have been one of my passions for 25 years. No matter the financial ups or downs in life, I insist on continuing this one hobby.

Shinan, a series that came out in 2013 might interest you: All New X-Men. These books are heavy on story and character development and they balance the fighting well. Enemies aren't always kicking the shit out of each other (although that does happen from time to time...there are a few issues that dedicate themselves to fighting, but the way the stories are written, you feel like there's a reason for it), and at many points, they talk out their issues (though they don't always leave on good terms, and it's obvious that some of them are hoping for a fight, but the last thing the X-Men want is a mutant civil war). The fights that do take place work to be unique, based on circumstance and surrounding instead of the more traditional type of comic book fight. I honestly haven't seen a book this well done since Chris Clairemont worked on the X-Men in the early 90s (he also did some fabulous work on Superman, being the one that gave us the historic "The Death of Superman" and "Reign of the Supermen"). If nothing else, seeing young Iceman hit Thor in the face with a snowball in vol. 1, issue 14 makes giving this book a look totally worth it.