Ahem
The title isn’t clickbait. When you see Lex Luthor, people see a billionaire tyrant. What do I see?
A determined human. He built an empire solely to kill Superman, his only aim, even when he knew Superman is an alien and the most powerful being on Earth. He even came close to defeating him. This reckless pursuit of a goal is what makes a human, human. Humans are fascinating creatures; they won’t let another being define their fate.
I think the reason God doesn’t show himself is because humans would make it their goal to find him and build a weapon to incapacitate him. God fears our determination not to be ruled by anyone. Lol. I honestly feel anarchy is a human’s default setting. Push a human to the extreme, and he’ll fight back and make it his purpose to grind you into dust.
We’re all tiny in the grand scheme of things, but we accomplish so much once we put our minds to it. Surely we’ll reach a point where there’s an abundance of everything.
But superhero movies are made so that you root for the superhero. So why make a villain likable?
Luthor wasn’t likable. I just liked his tenacity.
For this, you might call me a fascist. Well, to each his own. But I appreciate tenacity, single-mindedness, and determination—going to any extent to achieve your goal, no matter what obstacles you have to crush, even if you destroy multiple lives along the way. It makes people great.
Freedom fighters who gave up their lives are a good example of that.
Humans shouldn’t shy away from pursuing their goals. Community sentiments be damned.
Anyway, a better approach would be to find people who relate to your goal and make a group—better chances of achieving it.
Okay, coming back to superhero movies: I think Avengers was the last franchise to create real excitement. Now all the new writers and producers have forgotten that superheroes need super problems to solve, not human problems. Seeing Superman get beat up just feels sus. Like, you call him “Man of Steel,” and then we see him getting pounded by a cloned being? Bruh. Making superheroes relatable isn’t the goal of the movie. Making them great is. That raw power is missing from the whole premise.
Captain America’s portrayal by Chris Evans was the last truly well-written superhero portrayal. Nothing comes close. That role was done ideally and sincerely.
I find the whole schebang of “humans need to be saved from themselves“ bit condescending, bro we built nuclear power, we have sent robots into space, maybe try a little less condescension and more efforts into writing a better script?
Maybe my frontal lobe has developed too much, and I no longer find superhero sagas interesting. But I still read a lot of fiction and fantasy and find that interesting. So why not superhero movies? You might think I don’t like political statements in movies. Well, no. Everything is political—I don’t really care.
Also, giving franchises to James Gunn reminds me of this meme.
He makes everything too rainbow-y. But his movies make money, so good game, Mr. Gunn. I think he should spend more time making villains truly unlikeable. Sometimes he makes the whole premise around a person pressing a wrong button and now the world is in peril and the Superhero now has to save it?
Or maybe I’ve just become desensitised to villains and evil behaviour. Maybe I’ve lost my childish sincerity, and now I see the world for what it is: everyone has their own agenda, and everyone is evil.
Or maybe I’m right about the whole superhero gimmick becoming boring and old.
Maybe we need new directors and producers to make superhero movies. Maybe we can make one about how a villain actually manages all his logistics. Like, does he have a Jira board? Does he follow Agile? Scrum methodologies? Well, idts. A villain just uses his determination. He has a goal, to destroy. The superhero, though, has no real goal or purpose if not for the villain. Like, would the superhero clean beaches if there were no villains trying to turn humans into lizards? We don’t know.
Maybe all I’ve written here is BS and I’m just overthinking. Maybe not. I use “maybe” a lot. I’m doubting myself too much. I need to stop and become confident about my opinions.
Also, if you notice, Lex didn’t try to kill the Justice Gang, just Superman.
What I’m saying is: if you want something done, then do it. Don’t whine about it not being done. Have some agency. Like, I wanted to whine about this superhero gimmick, so here I am whining. Let’s go!
