#My favorite Deadpool storyline is The Good the Bad and the Ugly

[batfamfixation]

Fun fact: I have read every comic book appearance of Deadpool up until 2021. I don't just mean his comics and team up comics, but also every comic issue he has "guest starred" in. All of them.

[aacomicscorner]

Clark Kent and Ben Grimm as the Jumping off Point of their Respective Universes

So I’ve been thinking a lot about where the morality of Superhero comics have gone in the past 80 years since Action Comics 1, and I think something that’s very interesting about that is how you can see both the DC and Marvel universes having a similar progression, with Marvel simply going through the early stages much faster, and DC somewhat following behind somewhat dragging its feet, somewhat jumping in out of nowhere. But both of them start off with a similar concept: A guy who will always do the right thing. 

 Now ultimately, Clark Kent didn’t really start out perfect, I know that. But the interpretation of him that we all know now is the version of Superman that does things the right way every time. He doesn’t like that he can’t punch Lex Luthor out, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. (You can’t ignore that part of his image comes from being made more like Captain Marvel to compete with him, especially since he was eventually written by Otto Binder.) He’s one of the few Heroes who survived the Comics Code, and those were actually some of the stories where the Big Blue Boyscout is more of a dick. However, for a very long time, the most popular hero in the world is a guy who likes helping people with a smile on his face, and while he has complicated feelings about his place in the world and what his powers mean from a surprisingly early point, there is no truly Morally gray or Black action that defines our boy when he’s in character. 

I feel like before I get into the Ben Grimm introduction there are a few things I should say for clarity. 1. I was named after Ben Grimm, so I have a lot of affection for him and that’ll color this little essay more than I want it to I’m sure. 2. Some people might feel that Captain America is a good fit for this idea, but I disagree. Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for Timely Comics, and he didn’t save his company or change the way that comics were being written in the way the Fantastic Four did. 3. Marvel Comics was different from DC from the moment the Fantastic Four were first published, and that starts off the development I’m getting at. 

The Fantastic Four are at their core an ensemble. They are three interesting, dynamic characters and Johnny Storm, who are a family before they’re a team. The Justice League had worked together for years, but they were still a bunch of Golden Age or Silver Age dudes (and one gal at any given time, maybe two here or there) who all acted like slightly different versions of either Superman or Batman. The Fantastic Four start off with four characters very distinct from each other, and one of them distinct from the rest of comics. 

While Sue Storm became a great character, unfortunately she got the poor treatment most women got in early comics as a woman who’s trait that made her most different was that she was simply not a man. That changes, and not long after she’s introduced there are some small moments where she feels like her own character, but its not for a long time that a writer makes her someone other than a mother figure or Reed’s girlfriend/wife. Reed is interesting early on, and he develops much quicker, but at the start he reads somewhat like the other genius superheros available at DC. 

Ben Grimm was something completely new. For the first time outside of a horror story, a superpower was a curse. The nicest guy in the entire world, the guy who would do the right thing and always help the people he cares about, gets turned into an ugly rock monster. What’s more, in comics to that point the thing (no pun intended) that didn’t look human, was super strong, and spoke like a bad mobster impression? Always the bad guy. Ben Grimm “Talks like dis,” but is a sweetheart who wants people to be safe. How unfair is it that a selfish kid like Johnny gets to have a power that lets him protect himself, shoot fire balls, and fly in a way similar to his company’s grandpa’s company early star? That’s the point. 

Superman can do anything, and he chooses to do the right thing. The world has cursed the Thing, people are afraid of him, and he chooses to do the right thing. Both stories and both characters have a lot of nuance added on by writers joining the narrative over the years but are ultimately that simple. When Superman has the chance to kill Darkseid? He won’t. When Ben has to choose between being human again or helping save the day? That handsome Yancy street mug will have to wait. And just like Superman before him, everyone loves Ben Grimm. 

Ben is a favorite of readers and writers at Marvel for years. He’s similar to Superman in the end result sure, but while Clark is your friendly smiling guy, Ben Grimm’s grumbling all the way. Yeah, he’ll save the world, but then something gets worse. What a revoltin’ development. Its new, its something that hadn’t been seen and people could relate to the guy who it felt like never got a break. So from there, the Fantastic Four are THE BOOK before another one comes along. When Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, or the Avengers as a whole show up? Sorry kids, the Fantastic Four you aint. They’ll handle Galactus, you can handle Count Nefaria. What drops the FF and Ben with readers, is a character pretty similar to him in concept but boldly original in the same way as Ben was when he showed up. Spider-Man.

Ben Grimm is my second favorite Superhero, Spidey’s my first. This isn’t the place to get into it, but just like Ben he has every bad thing that can happen to him happen, and after letting a crook run past him in his origin story, he tries to do what’s right no matter how hard it makes his life from that point on. What sets us on our path with him is when Gwen Stacey dies. Comics can be serious now, superhero comics can be emotional. Most importantly, comics can get dark. 

Gwen Stacy died in 1973 and it sparked a lot of darker storylines in comics trying to follow the leader in some cases, and in others stories that were now free from scrutiny. It’s no real coincidence that Wolverine debuted in 1974. He joined the X-Men in 1975, and hated authority, loved drinking and smoking, and was a violent animal compared to Marvel’s tame roster. I love Wolverine, in fact as a disclaimer, I love every character mentioned so far in this essay. What Wolverine did however, I don’t love so much. 

The careful planning and work that went into Wolverine did not go into the characters that tried to ape his style. Chris Claremont and John Bryne, and later Frank Miller all handled him with care. Your Punishers and your Ghost Riders and your Deadpools don’t have that when they’re introduced. (Punisher was introduced before Wolvie but only as a Spider-Man villain.) There’s suddenly way more guns in comics, or rather way more guns being used by “good guys”. The Anti-Hero is the new Hero. Things get so bad across the X-Men and really almost everywhere else that characters like Lobo pop up, or you have Gail Simone reinventing Deadpool so that someone can make fun of theses characters. Lobo is a parody of the badass tough guy vigilante so over the top it stops being a parody than becomes one again. Deadpool’s a character reinvented to make fun of himself. 

However, all this aside, the other big shift is the graphic novel. Graphic novels were taken as a great opportunity for comics to be taken seriously by the people writing them. Most of the ones in the eighties are like that, very serious, very dark, and luckily very good. Watchmen is spectacular, The Dark Knight Returns is a very good Batman story despite being a bad Superman story, and God Loves Man Kills is a half optimistic half heart breaking story for the X-Men. Readers and critics agree dark is good for comics. 

The Superman of the 40s doesn’t look normal standing next to Azreal or Jason Todd as Red Hood. Ben Grimm seems like an oddity next to Cable and Shatterstar. The good guys are seen as boring by a lot of people, and while we’re lucky that Superman hasn’t fallen to the side, it seemed like Ben Grimm was in danger of just that until a few months ago. Luckily, a lot of newer characters like Moon Girl and Ms Marvel are much brighter, and the DC Rebirth reboot has given us a lot more smiles on the page for Supes, Wonder Woman, Batman, and pretty much every hero really. The right thing might be the right story people want to read again, and that means that for comics’ big two, their moral centers might just get the credit they deserve again. And that’s a hell of a thing. 

[daniel--berry]

Worst to Best Superhero Movies I’ve Seen

31) The Amazing Spider-Man

I hate this movie. I laughed throughout the entire film. “The lizard” could not have been a worse super-villain. I sort of liked the yellow Spidey-eyes, I guess. Emma Stone gave a nice performance. Can’t write anything else about it.

30) Doctor Strange

This is one of the only movies on the list I fell asleep during. Some of the visuals were pretty original, but the storyline was like a terrible version of Kung Fu Panda. Maybe if they casted Jack Black instead of super-boring Benedict Cumberbatch (I loved you in Sherlock baby, don’t be offended), Doctor Strange could have had a little charisma. I think this is the only movie on this list that made me upset after watching it.

29) Suicide Squad

What is this movie, some kind of Suicide Squad? Maaaan, what a great cast in such a forgettable movie. Here’s the thing though, I liked it more than most people did. I think whatever-her-name-is was a charismatic (though definitely not funny) Harley Quinn. Jared Leto wasn’t super offensive as the Joker, I looked forward to his scenes, but he looked like an idiot, like a twenty year old with temporary tattoos. What is this guy, some kind of Joker?

28) Thor

I can’t remember this movie. It was probably better than Suicide Squad though. Oh yeah, there’s that part where he throws his coffee on the ground and yells “Another!”. Haha, that was pretty funny.

27) Deadpool

Haha, he uses bad words! But it’s a superhero movie! This movie will serve best as the first R-rated movie a 12 year old sees behind his parent’s back. This is the other one I fell asleep during. 

26) Thor: The Dark World

This one’s interesting. I actually like this movie a lot, in theory. Visually, it’s one of my favorite Marvel movies. You could even say that if I made a MCU movie, it would look a lot like this one. Again, in theory, this is cool. It made Loki an anti-hero after the Avengers, which I think is a great choice. Unfortunately, this is a big piece of shit. And it will make you (unjustly) dislike Natalie Portman. 

25) Wonder Woman

Wow, I thought I’d love this movie. I’ve always thought Wonder Woman was a great character. Gal Gadot is almost perfect for the role. But man, what a boring story. Way too much time is spent on an ugly island, and the rest of the movie is a fish-out-of-water Crocodile Dundee rip-off, with Tumblr-friendly British humor. Haha, that English woman’s accent is sooo British! No thank you. A DAMN boring movie! 

24) The Amazing Spider-Man 2

We’re starting to get to superhero movies that I actually sort-of enjoy. This is my second favorite Spider-Man movie, but that’s out of the three ones on this list. I think this movie ruined Jamie Foxx’s career. Spider-Man has never looked better, though. Definitely the best Spidey-suit. I’m a sucker for those huge eyes. I walked out of the movie wanting to see a sequel, to be honest.

23) Ant-Man

I don’t remember this one, but I remember laughing a lot. Doesn’t Ant-Man work at Baskin Robbins or something in this? Oh yeah, and Michael Douglas is in this. I love that guy!

22) Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

What a STUPID title for a movie. Nothing felt natural here. Did I mention that I hate the title? Here’s the thing, some of the elements of this movie work great. People made fun of the “Martha” twist, but I liked it, as well as Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman. But again, nothing was natural about this story. The tone shift is so dramatic from Man of Steel, and yet it’s supposed to be a direct sequel. Henry Cavill’s Superman isn’t memorable. Jesse Eisenberg’s lines were badly written and he never seemed like a real human being. Still, I didn’t hate it.

21) Thor: Ragnarok

Such great ideas here. Pairing Hulk and Thor for a comedy? Wonderful. Jeff Goldblum as a charismatic (gay) planet emperor is my favorite new MCU character. More of him, please! Why so low on this list? Hela sucked, as all Thor villains do. But man, she sucked the worst. The goddess of death? She just looks kind of goth, and never does anything too death-y. I like how the fire monster destroys the Thor world (what’s it called again?), and to the movie’s credit, it doesn’t treat this like an earth-shattering moment. Because let’s be honest, we never gave a fuck about that place.

20) Avengers: Age of Ultron

Ok, yes. This movie has aged pretty badly. But there’s a lot to like! Vision is a graceful, hot, AI legend right out of the gate. Lots of nice seeds are sown here, but it’s too bad that Ultron was a big dumbass who didn’t know how to execute any of his angsty plans. His “age” lasted about a day? Day of Ultron. Still, Tony Stark deserves to be put in prison by now.

19) Guardians of the Galaxy

As far as nailing a tone down, this movie did it best. You can call this movie airtight in its execution. The only negative is that every following Marvel movie felt like it had to be just as funny as this one.

18) Man of Steel

I love me a serious superhero film. I think this movie is best described in pros and cons. Pros: Henry Cavill is the best onscreen Superman yet, Michael Shannon made an otherwise goofy role kind of believable, the special effects are the best I’ve ever seen in a superhero film. Cons: None of this matters, because you’ve just never seen a more boring plot to a film in your life.

17) Batman

There will be no disrespect for the classics here. Every good superhero movie owes it all to Batman. This movie nailed it in every category. Jack Nicholson’s weirdo Joker was all-too-perfect, and the goth-horror scenery was inspired. Best of all, Michael Keaton made the idea of a gay orphan dressing up as a bat pretty relatable.

16) Superman

They haven’t quite gotten it right until 2006, but more on that up the list. This is the best Superman will ever be, because the character really just doesn’t work in the modern day. Christopher Reeve gives a romantic, gosh-golly version of the comic character, and it’s pretty damn good. Also, Marlon Brando’s Jor-El is haunting and gorgeous when he speaks. Another classic.

15) Batman Begins

Blah blah blah, gritty, dark, blah blah blah. Reinvented superhero movies, blah blah blah realistic.

14) Captain America: The First Avenger

This is the heart and soul of the MCU, and one of the most unique out of the series. Still feels important even in the third phase, and has a lot of great messages that I am too lazy to write. Great movie, and Chris Evans as Captain America was the best casting choice since Robert Downey Jr. Nothing but greatness here.

13) Iron Man 2

Do people really think this is the worst of the MCU? Not by a long-shot. But oh my god, Tony Stark is just such a war criminal. And Mickey Rourke is delightful! I love that part where Iron Man empties his bladder into his own Iron Man suit. Did Superman ever do that shit? Fuck Superman!

12) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

My ass has seen a lot of superhero movies, but I don’t think my ass has smiled more watching one of them. Ummmm, what a fucking great movie? With a fucking great plot? And, like, a great villain for fucking once? A truly lovely film.

11) The Dark Knight Rises

A marxist superhero film? No wonder it’s not the fan favorite. But I love it just the same. The funeral scene at the end is beautifully acted by all involved. Yes, Bruce Wayne died, but it didn’t feel cheap. Catwoman driving the batpod? An icon of cinema. A great ending to a great blah blah blah, not as good as The Dark Blah blah blah.

10) Marvel’s The Avengers

What a moment for a little thirteen year old nerdfuck like me. It leans on the immature side of the MCU, yes. But it’s damn near perfect filmmaking, and by far the most accessible superhero movie to date. Hulk Smash!

9) Iron Man 3

We’re getting into real personal-favorite territory here. Shane Black’s Christmas superhero film is hated by a lot of people, but don’t worry, they’re all just sweaty ugly nerds with untouched genitals who don’t realize that Fu-Manchu proto-Asian wizard stereotypes aren’t exactly the best material for a 2013 film. Man, I adore this movie. It’s a perfect blend of comedy (not too much) and drama (not too much), with an infusion of self awareness that appeals to a cynical guy like me.

8) Superman Returns

This movie really understands Superman. It’s too bad it was overshadowed by Batman Begins, because this movie has a lot to offer. No, it isn’t action-packed, and yes it does star Kevin Spacey (gross) as Lex Luther, but the romanticism and themes of a post-superhero world are rich with wonderful dialogue and the best onscreen Lois Lane yet. Forget the Kryptonite iceberg at the end, Superman’s journey of finding himself is surprisingly great material for a film, delicately directed by Bryan Singer. Wait, is that TWO pedophile boy rapists in one film? Yikes, you know what.......never mind. 

7) Captain America: Civil War

The re-watchability here is astonishing. It’s not even an Avengers film, and it’s still easily the best Avengers film. And yet, it stays its course as a personal story of loyalty and sacrifice for the titular character. It’s totally a Captain America movie. Also, can Tony Stark just get fucking imprisoned already?

6) Iron Man

Easily the “coolest” superhero movie ever made. I can watch terrorists get blown up by lasers all day! A true classic, and still feels just a little more legitimate than all the other MCU films.

5) Spider-Man: Homecoming

A relatable protagonist? A relatable villain? An evil psycopath? (Tony Stark). What’s not to love? It might not have “amazing” in the title like those other fuck-your-mom Spidey movies, but it most certainly is. (Amazing, I mean).

4) The Dark Knight

Blah blah blah joker, blah blah blah Heath Ledger, Christopher Nolan. Blahblahblahblah dark, reinvented the genre, blah blah blah.

3) Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Yes I’ll say it. Here we have the best story in a superhero film to date. And to disguise all the intellectual themes of post-terrorist society, individuality, corruption, the pointlessness of patriotism, and homoeroticism, we have just enough kick-ass action scenes for your average brain-dead male to get a kick out of it too.

2) X-Men: Days of Future Past

I’m a sucker for time travel, and fuck me if this didn’t deliver 100%. This was my first X-Men movie experience, and I still think about it about once every couple of weeks. I don’t even want to write about it because I get embarrassed by my love for this movie.

1) Logan

The world’s changed. All the mutants are dead. Patrick Stewart is a senile fuck. Wolverine’s claws hurt when he tries to bring them out. Jesus Christ, there’s so much here that I can’t believe it’s a real movie. There’s just something about seeing a grizzly Hugh Jackman in a bloody t-shirt that really grinds my gears. It’s tragic, it’s beautiful, it’s expansive, and it feels like the last superhero movie that ever needs to be made.