The great thing about the Hulk is that he’ll never end a sentence with a preposition.
No one really liked Superman Returns. It wasn’t gritty enough, the optimism inspired by the original movies failed to be relevant anymore to a modern audience , and it failed to make Brandon Routh a star.
And yet, this movie remains one of the truest adaptations of comic books to movies. Besides telling a story in which a hero develops his character instead of fighting over a MacGuffin, Superman Returns understands the concept of flight from the perspective of comic books.
This is all from feet.
When you’re flying in a comic book, the position of your feet don’t matter unless the laws of physics demand it, such as rocket boots as seen in Iron Man. Superman could be able fly around in a cross-legged lotus position and it wouldn’t make any difference.
However, it does make a difference. The position of feet is terribly important to comic book characters because the position of the entire body is important to establishing the illusion of flight.
While it’s easy enough to make a guy look like he’s flying, it’s not easy to make audiences believe in the illusion. Superman Returns succeeded at this by showing us the positions a body would “naturally” go through when attempting make the softest landing possible. Even though people (and their super-powered equivalent) don’t have the power of flight, we know exactly what such a fictitious experience would be like from the flying scene between Superman and Lois Lane.
Director Brian Singer used the iconic, static images of comic books and translated them to the moving images of movies with restraint. The bent ankles of Superman and Lois Lane showed us that they weren’t just suspended from wires, legs dangling in the air, but rather truly experiencing the power of flight and reacting to the situation.
Comic super heroes depend on the iconic static image for the lasting appeal. It’s the reason why they can say such hackneyed dialog and always land in a clichéd three-point landing: because its cheesiness is what makes it good.
There’s been a lot of superhero video games; the one I enjoyed the most was X-Men: Legends just for its crazy, over-the-top action (choose Nightcrawler for the win). However, it’s video games like Marvel Super Heroes that provide better adaptations than comic book movies because it better understands the need for iconic poses, the primary delivery system of cheese in comic books.
Marvel Super Heroes retains this essential cheese factor by allowing its characters to linger at the end of their punches and kicks, giving them a fraction of a second to display poses familiar to any comic cover (or variant). With every press of a button, the player is creating a comic book moment as they play, each panel passing by at fractions of a second.
Comic book movies are saddled with movie stars that require close-ups as they deliver exposition in-between CGI setpieces. It’s directors like Singer who understand the power of comic books and deliver iconic comic images that are as indelible as a static image.
Poses matter to comic book heroes, while feet are hard to d. Just ask Rob Liefield.
How far I got in ten minutes: Got my ass kicked as Psylocke and Captain America
Would I play this game once this year is over: Probably, but Marvel Super Heroes vs Capcom is better
The good stuff: Psylocke is a ninja, but still manifests her psychic power with a pink butterfly over her eyes
The bad stuff: A jingoistic Captain America
Day so far in the Year of the Play-a-DayStation: 17
Play-a-Daystation 