So a friend asked me a few days back what according to me was this summer's most

successful comicbookmovie?
I told him - Man of Steel!!
And he's like - Dude you serious?? And I was like yeah sure! !hich led to a "retty long
back and forth debate about this summer movie season in general! It was an interesting
discussion and I thought I needed to "en down my thoughts so here it is!
#his summer has been "retty much a hit-and-miss in terms of $uality in general! #here
were few genuinely good films the rest meh! %loated blockbusters with insane budgets
and obscene effects but little in terms of storytelling& !hen Steven S"eilberg announced
a few days back that 'ollywood was heading for a s"ectacular im"losion the words
seemed "ro"hetic at best! %ut this summer has "roved that his words are dangerously
close to fruition& It's telling of the kind of business model that 'ollywood follows when a
western like (one )anger costs u"wards of *++ million to make! I mean seriously??
!hat were they thinking??
Anyways coming back to the to"ic in hand the controversial "roclamation that Man of
Steel is the most successful comicbookmovie of the summer! ,ow for anyone else
successful would mean the to" bo--office grosser! .nfortunately for me I use that word
in a different conte-t! I'll e-"lain it a bit later! #he to"-grossing film of the summer is in
fact another comicbookmovie Iron Man / gul"ing u" nearly 0&/ billion worldwide! So it
would make sense to say that IM / is the most successful film of the summer! In fact I'd
go so far as to say that both IM / and M1S are "retty close in my definition as
successful! %ut the only reason I "ick M1S is because of how successful it has been in
generating a heated and "olari2ing debate across social media regarding it's storyline
and "ortrayal of the character! 3oing in to M1S I guess everyone had a rough idea of
what they were getting into - a %atman %egins style reboot of the Su"erman saga! %ut I
guess no one was $uite "re"ared for the e-ecution of the said idea through certain bold
creative choices in terms of storytelling! Some found it too dark too brooding and going
against the character's mythos and ethos! #here have been countless to"ics devoted to
this debate so I won't waste words on discussing the same! #he "oint is everyone is
"olari2ed in their o"inions about the film! #he casual audience is disa""ointed that it's
not the great master"iece they e-"ected with ,olan's name being hy"ed right left and
centre by !%'s marketing team! #he critics are outraged that this isn't the boy-scout
Su"erman they grew u" with! #he geeks are outraged that the critics are outraged!
Su"erman's comic writers themselves they are baffled with the creative decisions taken
in the film! And then we have "eo"le like Ma- (andis who go on a 4+-minute rant on
everything that's wrong with M1S! ,one of them are wrong mind you! #hey all have the
right to their o"inion and they are correct in voicing them! %ut the "olari2ing debate the
film has generated strengthens my original argument that M1S has been successful in
creating a definitive re-inter"retation of a 56-year old character and successfully
trans"lanting the idea for the new generation! Does it change the fact that M1S is in fact
not that well-made a film? It doesn't neither does it e-cuse it's faults! %ut I commend
3oyer ,olan and Snyder to have taken the risks they did and "ut out a character-
defining "ortrayal of the greatest su"erhero of them all!
7unny thing is I actually think IM / also has been "retty successful in this regard!
8hanging the Mandarin character might have been a sla" in the face for comicbook fans
and geeks in general but I a""laud them for having the balls to go with such a flagrant
bait-and-switch! It did not break the movie for me in fact that was one of the genuine
sur"rises that I en9oyed in the film! %old creative storytelling might have lead to fan
outrage but together IM/ and M1S have taken in * billion at the global bo--office and I
think that is the crucial "oint here& .nins"ired and la2y writing will lead to bombs like
(one )anger and :acific )im ;even though I loved the film< but taking unusual risks will
actually "ay off! .nfortunately 'ollywood being what it is will take a com"letely different
view of things and will "robably think that the only reason IM / and M1S worked was
because of some formula-driven "lotline and built-in character audiences! If 'ollywood
has to take anything away from this summer's bo--office it's that they should revise
scri"ts to chuck out the generic "lots and infuse new life to them by taking the story into
com"letely unknown territory! 8hange the game hollywood! Damon (indelof recently
commented that 'ollywood scri"t-writing and movie-making in general nowadays
revolves around =trailer money-shots=! Add to that his comment about =If the budget is
above 0++ mill you have to save the world= and that is as close to the bitter truth as it
gets! )egardless the only way 'ollywood can save itself from the doomsday "ro"hecy
of Steven S"ielberg is if it com"letely reboots it's own internal machinery! >ou do not
make good films by being la2y! It takes hard work and clever ingenuity from everyone
involved to make a successful film! #ell you what if in the ne-t iteration %atman actually
used a gun to kill someone and they had a good reason?story to back it u" I am all for it!
Is it blas"hemy? ,o! Does it com"letely go against the character? >es! Does that make
for shitty storytelling? I couldn't tell you yet! %ut damn would it be fun to hear the internet
break down in nerd-rage! And this coming from a self-confessed %atman fan! %ut
maybe 9ust maybe we shouldn't 9ust hold on to one version of the characters! #he 9oy of
reading comics?su"erheroes in general with their nearly a century of history behind them
is discovering a new inter"retation of the character! !hy can't everyone hold on to their
nerdgasm and give new versions a shot??