Well, that's a lie. I remembered at 11.37PM Sunday but I was in the midst of trying to go to sleep and to hell with getting up. So. Today.
Captain America is far better than Superman
The DC fanboy in me utterly laments the fact that whilst DC can't seem to get it's shit together, Marvel knocks every movie under their wing out of the park. The Bale Batman trilogy, the best DC films, suffer from both being so straight-laced realism-heavy pieces they exclude the rest of the DC universe, and running out of steam by the end. The first two were fine, great even, but Rises petered out early. Let's not talk about Man of Steel and Green Lantern, okay? Blergh.
Instead Marvel is on an unholy tear, and when asked by my non-comic friends what they missed I have to knowingly nod whilst discreetly loading up Marvel's wiki on my phone. And it continued with Captain America 2: Winter Soldier.
After watching that film, I could watch an entire film of no action, just following Steve Rogers going about his daily routine being a decent bloke. That man is just so damn likeable. It's so damn refreshing. No 'grr, grr, dark, growl,' but 'well, it's the right thing to do, so I'll do it.' Steve Rogers is one of the few heroes to have a lack of character growth. Look at Tony Stark - an asshole, who had his life disrupted by being kidnapped, exposed to his corporation's corruption, and having his cell mate sacrifice himself for him, growing Tony into the hero he later becomes. Thor is a powerful ass, falls to Earth, learns to be less of an ass as Natalie Portman asks him to (a totally legitimate reason, by the way.) Steve Rogers? Decent guy, physically weak. Gets super-serumed up. Continues being a decent guy, only now with the ability to fight bad guys, so he does. He's the same guy, same good person, just buff as fuck now.
I mean, when asked about what he likes about modern-day times, one of the first things that comes to mind is that 'no polio, that's nice.' I mean, he could be biased as he looked like he'd suffered from it, but hey! Look at all these people, with no fear of polio! Isn't that an awesome thing, really? And that's how he thinks.
Captain America is really easy to get wrong. Example:
Yeah, that's what a bad writer can easily do with Captain America. Be a 'my country, right or wrong, best in the world, deal with it mofo.' Yeah. The real Cap doesn't sell that line. If his country is wrong, he'll fucking say so. It's an amusing problem for extreme right-wingers - he's Captain America, so you can't criticize him, yet he stands opposed to what they stand for.
That's not saying that the Cap is a smiling simpleton. No. He can tease, and mock. He can be awfully abrupt when he's unsure about people's trustworthiness. He's a balanced character. Shock!
So Captain America bounces around this film, in bright colours (props on bringing back the WWII costume which is badass and not the goofy Avengers version) being a great person, in a film that's a load of fun and do you see this, DC? Do you see this? The Cap is bright red, white, and blue, has a fun film and is making a shit tonne of money whilst grim and gritty Man of Steel barely limped over it's budget.
And this is the Batman fanboy speaking here!
Anyway. Why the Cap is better than Superman. Should of probably got round to that earlier.
Both have very similar characters: the good guy. They do good because it's right. They both represent America at it's finest. They both lead and inspire people to greatness.
Of course, a handicap that effects both of them is that they're a little too perfect. Flaws makes interesting characters, and both of these guys don't really have any flaws. It's kinda the important thing about their characters - the supermen, and how they interact with a world that's as true as them.
But the Cap bleeds.
Oh, sure, you can right a good story about Superman pointing out his admirable restraint. He could take over the planet umpteen times over, but doesn't. He could kill, but doesn't. But Superman has the options. Hell, if shit went wrong, movie Superman could just turn back time. He's invulnerable. He's so powerful, he rarely suffers any consequences. Superman. Is. Boring. It's not like he's capable of losing.
In comparison, the Cap has to get it right first time. If he doesn't, he has to live with his failure and the consequences. He doesn't have superpowers coming at the wazoo. He's got his strength, and a shield powered by pure brilliant bullshit. He's not invulnerable, so when he's trying to not kill anyone, he's doing so at great personal risk to himself. He can't waltz up to a dude bouncing bullets off his abs and stare at him until they realise they're fighting a living god, and the pointlessness that entails. Nope. The Cap is better than a mortal, but not an immortal. He bleeds. He had risk. Yes, he'll win, because the hero always wins, but there is a tension to it that Superman doesn't endear. In the final act of Captain America 2, the Cap had to try to save the world with a couple of bullets lodged in his gut, along with a smattering of bullets in other limbs. Which, you know, fucking hurts. Heroism through strife - not something Superman regularly encounters.
I came out of Captain America 2 wanting to read comics featuring the Cap for 20 minutes, before remembering I have no reference point and as a sixty year plus character more than a handful of bad writers would of got their hands on him. But still, 20 minutes! That is 19 minutes and 43 seconds more then what Superman ever conjured up in me.
If we go just off the movies, which is admittedly my main reference point, my constant slams to Man of Steel and lavish praise to the Cap's recent film would show my colours clear here. And Metacritic agrees with me here, which is important, as it backs my argument up.
Yes, and fine, in a stand up fight Superman would trounce the Cap. Duh. He's Superman.
No comments:
Post a Comment