Interesting article on WB and their superheroes...

I agree with most of the points of the article but it does skip a somewhat big issue, when the characters are not outright portrayed correctly. I think we can all agree that today's audience wants some of the silly notions of superhero movies and such removed, but more importantly what needs to be done is give people a good story with good strong characters. Why did the Dark Knight films work so well? The actors and story were true to the characters. We didn't care if Bruce Wayne wore a costume or had a super slick Bat-mobile. We had good story and characters that people attached too.

Why did the WW pilot fail so badly? It abandoned the traits of the character. Forget whether or not you liked her costume, the story was just bad and WW was at the center. WW tortured and killed people while ignoring the law, she was made into the head of a company apparently while she also at the same time apparently wanted a secret identity. The character who is supposed to embody the spirit of truth, a noble warrior, and strong character was presented basically as crazy. Same can be applied to other WB projects which haven't worked. Either the story failed or the character failed. I didn't really have that much of a problem with Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern, but the story was just so dull. Combined with apparently second hand effects (which matter for a character who is supposed to be making things with his magic ring) I just felt no need to have any attachment to anybody. Superman Returns had a bit of both. Characters come off wrong such as Stalker Superman and the story has issues, why are we repeating the first movie?

Its a good article but needs to remind people that costumes and what not aren't the only problem, abandoning the core of your characters and having a poor story is the major one.

SGfan made some really good points. You can approximate the costume and not offend most modern viewers and mostly please the fans, but if you don't get the character dead-on right then it'll fail.

Example from Smallville of Laura Vandervoort wearing a "Non-costume" -- she sure looks like Kara Zor-El to me:

velorian.net/kara_lv2.jpg

To that point, the Wonder Woman pilot that failed could have depicted another Amazon, or most any alien superwoman for that matter, but not Wonder Woman. She and Superman are paragons of virtue. They don't compromise or bend. Their will and their morals are as steel-hard as their bodies.

To our other discussion about Ms Marvel perhaps in Avengers-2... I think her problem (like that of SG) is that she's too strong for the big screen. Hollywood isn't ready to pit a stunningly cute blonde like Ms. Marvel against the Hulk (as much as we'd all like to see it). Comic's lore would say she has a good chance of beating the Hulk, and that's never going to fly. He's the ultimate kick-ass.

sgfan05 wrote:
Its a good article but needs to remind people that costumes and what not aren't the only problem, abandoning the core of your characters and having a poor story is the major one.

shadar wrote: To that point, the Wonder Woman pilot that failed could have depicted another Amazon, or most any alien superwoman for that matter, but not Wonder Woman. She and Superman are paragons of virtue. They don't compromise or bend. Their will and their morals are as steel-hard as their bodies.

That's an interesting thought. I'm more open to "Prometheus" or the new "Star Trek" because they were clear there would be both similarities and substantial differences so my expectations were changed. I wasn’t open to the DC 52 reboot and they gave warning – but I’ve probably been less vocal with my displeasure with it because I knew what was coming.

I sat down for the WW pilot thinking they would surely do the WW I knew and liked. Big mistake – however – if it was just an “Amazon” show – maybe I would have liked it more.

…things will never be the way we remember it. If someone dares to re-use something rather than re-invent they have an extra burden to be true to the character. Reboots less than 25 years old are not an easy out after all for writers...