There's nothing inherently wrong with the origin story. Rather, the problem, in most cases, is that, more often than not, it doesn't need to be told, especially in a movie when you have, on most occassions, 90 to 110 minutes to tell a complete story. I felt it worked best in Batman Begins. In every other comic book movie, it seems like evil rises conveniently after the hero gains his powers or becomes the hero. Evil exists only because the hero, who needs an external antagonist to have a purpose, exists. However, in Batman Begins, villainy creates Batman. There's a history to this world; evil existed before the hero, not because of him. Gotham's decadence ultimately leads to Bruce Wayne's path to becoming Batman.
In The Dark Knight, do we need the Joker's origin? The answer is simply no. It didn't make a damn difference because audiences are told what they need to know and nothing more: The Joker is crazy and he's f*cking up Gotham. It might make an interesting story, but ultimately it's extraneous. The current Batman series is the only one with a justifiable origin story because it's the only one that needed to be told in order for the story to work rather than simply being extended exposition.
Superman Returns almost had it right but Bryan Singer just couldn't resist the urge to include all those pointless scenes of Clark Kent discovering his powers. It poses the question, "Does the world need Superman?" but never fully realized the potential that a question like that can offer. Metropolis seemed perfectly fine without Superman, then he returns and conveniently here comes Lex Luthor's evil plot.
Topic: Superman Reboot (Read 37708 times)
