Our question this week concerns our favorite spandex-clad characters teaming up on the silver screen:
{democracy:157}
Discussion to follow!
Birds of Prey: I could see Hollywood going for this premise -- a group of hot, scantily clad women kicking ass and taking names. What's not to love?! Plus it's already been a television show, which means studio types are more likely to take a risk since, hey, it was on the teevee and that means someone else once thought it would be good.- Doom Patrol: What made "Doom Patrol" great was the sense of gloom and the darker edge that pervaded the series at a time of predominantly primary-color, fantastical super characters. I think the success of "Dark Knight" definitely shows audiences are ready for this kind of story again. The characters are compelling and interesting and would translate well to the big screen.
- Justice League: The main problem I've always had with the idea of a JL movie is the difficulty of getting the audience to suspend disbelief when there are five or six different super-powered, spandex-wearing characters on-screen at the same time, each created individually at their time and not conceived of as part of a team. It has the potential for a cacophony of silliness, all the different colors and personalities and backstories clashing together in an unintelligible mess.
- Legion of Superheroes: While the Legion would have a lot of the same risks as a JLA movie (too many characters), at least they were all intended from the beginning to be on the same team. Plus the science-fiction element lets you do a lot of things people won't swallow in supposedly real-world, modern-day storytelling. Finally, the Legion is a childhood favorite of mine, which means it ought to be done regardless. So there!
- Metal Men: Like the Doom Patrol, the Metal Men have a decidedly melancholy edge that I think would play well to modern audiences. With current CGI and 3D effects, I think their stretchy, shape-changing powers would be fun to see as well, and the hot Platinum would help put teen-age male butts in the seats.
- Nick Fury's Howling Commandos: Like "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", only good and with Samuel L. Jackson being totally bad-ass. Sign me up!
- Superman & Batman (World's Finest): On the face of it, you'd think this team-up would never work in any medium, as the characters are so different. But in the good versions of this pairing, that's what makes the stories work -- light versus dark, law versus justice, violence versus ... well, Superman's pretty violent too, when you get right down to it. Unless you're talking about "Superman Returns", which featured not nearly enough violence. But I could see this working well on-screen.
- Teen Titans: Teenagers, dressed scantily in the case of at least one buxom female member, cool cyborg guy, at least one character well established in the public consciousness ... this could work.
- ThunderCats (ho!): Here's the pitch the aspiring film-makers give to the Hollywood powers-that-be: "You know how big Avatar was? Imagine MORE cat-people, only this time with swords and space-ships! And the toys already sell well!"
- West Coast Avengers: I just put this in for my buddy Rob Rogers. I'd rather gouge out my own eyes with a spork than see this, frankly.
Out of all those, I think the one I would most want to see would be a really cool, hard-edged, Legion of Superheroes with more of a military sci-fi styling. I love that comic, which isn't surprising since sci-fi and super-heroes are two of my favorite things.
How about you, what would you pick?
