The bad guys are the best part
Are superheroes boring? I only ask because it seems as if the most interesting superhero movies and TV shows being made aren’t about heroes, but anti-heroes these days.
Recently, Venom, who is the nemesis of Spider-Man, was a hit at the box office while bad-guy Thanos stole the show in Avengers: Infinity War. The biggest pain in the @ss to the X-Men, Deadpool, is the most successful movie film series FOX has going right now while Punisher, the antihero of the TV series Daredevil, was successful enough to be spun out into his own series.
Boy scouts are boring
I think part of this trend is that we’ve had ten years of superhero movies and we know what the hero’s going to do. It’s no surprise that in Infinity War Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) fought to stop Thanos in his evil quest. And the same goes for Captain America (Chris Evans) who’s the world’s oldest Boy Scout who’s biggest change from his last movie was that he grew a beard. But the bad guy of the piece Thanos (Josh Brolin) is another story entirely. He’s a blank slate of sorts and is unpredictable. And because of this his character is interesting while the heroes have grown a bit stale and complacent.
Even if he’s trying to kill half the universe.
The same goes for the latest season of Daredevil on Netflix. Not to knock the regular cast, but the best part of the series this season are the two villains with the return of Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) and new baddy Bullseye (Wilson Bethel). I think it’s because we’ve “lived” with the heroes of Daredevil for three seasons and we know what they’re going to do. Matt is going to be dour and Karen is going to be intense and Foggy is going to be grouchy. But what will Kingpin and Bullseye do next? Who knows, and that’s exciting.
Look no further than the Deadpool movies for more of this. The most unpredictable character in cinema these days might be Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) who does things like chopping off limbs and murdering people while making wise-cracks to the audience. These are all things we could never see either Iron Man or Captain America doing and I think that’s why those two characters feel old and stodgy while Deadpool feels fresh and new, even with all the bloody, gruesome killing.
I think the people behind the Marvel movies sensed this and created an anti-hero team of their own, Guardians of the Galaxy. Lead by Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War while both Iron Man and Captain America were lining up to do battle with Thanos, the only reason the Guardians got involved in anything was because they were answering a distress call but weren’t planning a rescue but were planning on stealing the ship of the people who sent out the call.
Actually, Guardians of the Galaxy are more good than bad. If the Guardians aren’t anti-heroes, then they’re superhero adjacent which is still pretty interesting.
In fact, the same goes for the most recent Venom movie. In the comics the title character is a guy out to literally kill Spider-Man, not minding if he has to “off” a few regular civilians to get the job done. But in the movie version as played by Tom Hardy, he’s crusading journalist who’s trying to stop the Venom symbiote from hurting people, and eventually the two end up joining together (haha) in order to do some good.
Crazy hot
One thing I do find fascinating is that while audiences have begun turning towards movies with anti-heroes for their entertainment, I’ve never seen an outright villain be the lead of a movie, with one exception — Suicide Squad.
This DC movie that’s about jailed villains who are forced together to go on a suicidal mission is the only superhero movie I can think of where the leads are, as Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), puts it, “…the bad guys.”
While they might be “bad guys” they’re doing good as they’re forced to work with the government to go in and rescue someone from a demon-infested city.
I can only imagine that more and more anti-heroes will be introduced to the box office as the sheen begins to wear off on the outright heroes. And that’s not a bad thing, change is good.
Movies
Alita: Battle Angel trailer
What To Watch This Week
Monday
Based on the novel by John Le Carré, the mini-series The Little Drummer Girl is set to air over three nights starting tonight on AMC.
Tuesday
The theatrical hit of late summer Mission: Impossible – Fallout is available on digital download today.
Wednesday
Several movies are set to premiere on Wednesday this week, the day before the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. First up is a new version of the well-worn story of Robin Hood and second is an animated sequel to Wreck it Ralph with Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Friday
The latest season of Mystery Science Theater is available on Netflix today.
Saturday
Insomniac Theater — very early Saturday morning TCM is airing two of the craziest, and that’s saying a lot, movies from the 1980s with the E.T. rip-off Mac and Me from 1988 and the completely bizarre and rarely seen The Garbage Pail Kids Movie from 1987. Coincidently, Mac and Me will be the focus of one of the episodes of MST3K.
Saturday afternoon TCM is set to air the 1958 Steve McQueen classic The Blob.
The Reading List
- “Go For Broke”: The Story Behind the Most Decorated Military Unit in U.S. History
- Lost Disney ‘Oswald’ film found in Japan
Cool TV Posters of the Week
The Orville poster 
The Passage poster