Why Man of Steel Might Just Be Your Father’s Favorite Superhero Film Ever

When Man of Steel opened theatrically, I pretty much avoided all of the posts, columns, and chatbacks debating the merits or de-merits or even the general quality of the film. That was deliberate on my part. I have to say that it was hard not joining in, but my evasion was for two reasons.

First, I honestly figured there was enough already being written about the film that I wasn’t sure what I could provide that wouldn’t seem derivative of stuff others had already said. One of the dirty little secrets of online writing is that most of us like to have something unique to say about whatever it is we’re going on about – otherwise, what’s the point? Why belabor the issue? Why ‘waste the bandwidth,’ as they say?

Second?

Well, as I’ve often maligned in this space, I’m a bit older than most who do this for a living and/or as a hobby. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been reading comics since the early 1970’s; because of that, there’s very little that happens in print that, to some degree, I haven’t seen before. I’m not putting down the current crop of comic scribes – I’m only saying that I think it’s really hard for them to deliver an entirely original ‘sizzle’ these days.

Furthermore, I don’t chat online about superhero movies all that much mostly because I’ve found that most fans with internet access are die-hard Marvel lunatics. Spider-man. Iron Man. X-Men. Wolverine. That whole scene. I’ve always been more of a DC guy. DC first, and I enjoy some Dark Horse stuff. Plus, Dynamite has some solid titles these days. But Marvel? Meh. It just never floated by boat.

Because I’m a film geek, I can appreciate their films. I – probably more than most – usually ‘marvel’ over the technical aspects of making movies, and these Marvel properties are certainly breaking new ground by building an entire cast of characters upon which more and more franchises can be erected. I’m not a big fan of CGI-heavy effects sequences, especially those rendering superheroes, largely because I don’t think the technology is seamless enough to fool every pair of eyes. It’s like in The Wizard of Oz – once you know there’s a man behind the curtain, is it really all that magical?

Anyway, I read some commentary the other day about how Thor: The Dark World was quickly overtaking Man of Steel’s box office take, and I decided maybe the time was right to chime in with something from my own perspective on the whole DC versus Marvel argument, something that might better explain why DC films will likely never gross as much as Marvel’s.
The short answer? It all boils down to their respective audiences.

My take is that adults tend to identify more with DC characters, and they’ll usually see a film once.

Young adults, teens, and children tend to identify more with Marvel characters, and they can sit through stuff ad infinitum. Adults can, too, if they choose, but they tend to prefer doing that on the couch with home video.

DC’s trinity – Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman – have been around a stretch longer than any current big dog in Marvel’s stable. Age is not necessarily a reflection of quality, but it is one factor worth considering when trying to understand the cultural mindset behind that character’s creation. (This was something wholly lost on the author who was arguing Thor’s presumed cultural ‘greatest’ over Superman’s smaller box office take.)

For example, Kal-El and the world’s greatest detective are, largely, products of the 1930’s, created to give their readers something to look forward to besides the Great Depression. They began when life was hard for practically everyone, and their creators essentially wanted to transport their audiences away from their own hard knock lives entirely into a fantasy world where Good would always – always – win over evil. That was the unspoken guarantee the writers made with their readers: “you give us your pocket change, and we’ll take all of your cares away for however many pages we can.” Greatness was as much a given as it was a worthy pursuit but never at the loss of justice. Certainly, it worked, as Batman and Superman remain champions for even today’s highly jaundiced audiences.

By contrast, while Marvel Comics started in 1939 (under another name) it didn’t find prominence (and true staying power) until the mid-1960’s when writers like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby began fleshing out characters like Iron Man and the Fantastic Four. Culturally, the United States was all wrapped up in a Cold War. Events like Vietnam were taking root in our national consciousness. JFK was assassinated. Necessarily, these characters were designed to suffer the consequences of their era – David Banner was a scientist whose work turned him into the Incredible Hulk; Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider; Steve Rogers was transformed by a serum into Captain America; etc. – and, as such, they were all considered ‘mutants’ for their time. They were victims of their own greatness; but, because they were products of their generation, they were also gifted with all of the psychological hang-ups that went hand-in-hand with living in their modern world.

In Superman’s origin era, we were always the good guys.

In Spider-man’s origin era, even our greatest scientific pursuit came with great risk, and those risks made mutants like Spider-man possible.

And Peter Parker wasn’t going to let you forget it!

That’s why I’ve always struggled with Marvel’s approach. (No, no, I don’t begrudge them their stories; in fact, there are several characters I genuinely love to read, mostly the ones that don’t get all existential in the middle of a beatdown.) Why do I want to sit two hours to hear Parker lament about how he didn’t want to be a hero? Either shut up, Parker, or give me the damn suit! I’d be happy to save the day! In fact, I found myself many times wishing Batman would show up, toss Tobey Maguire into the wood chipper, and then beat the smirk off Willem Dafoe’s face!

Erm, Green Goblin, I mean.

So far as I see it, this whole kerfuffle of DC versus Marvel really boils down to one thematic issue: Marvel superheroes manage to trounce the bad guys in spite of their differences whereas DC superheroes triumph over evil because of their differences.

That’s why I suspect your parents will probably love Man of Steel.

Mostly, it posits a return to a very traditional Good versus Evil story – one complete with the classical structure of the hero who needs to find himself on that journey – without all of the psychological trappings of the modern wounded psyche. In fact, Man of Steel might become their favorite superhero film ever assuming they can get past the woefully miscast Amy Adams as the worst Lois Lane in DC history.