Comic Book Movie Bad Guys Survival

[Keropi]

I haven't seen as many comic book movie adaptions as some of you have. I was wondering about something.

Is it only a recent trend (the last three years) that comic book movie adaptions might not actually show the villain actually dying? Maybe they only show him disappearing into something or the thing he was in explode or whatever. It seems to me it would make more sense to end the movie that way so that if you ever wanted to you could try to bring the character back.

If you made things too graphic with the way how the bad guy died, it would make it more implausible bringing them back (if you ever wanted to). I would think you would most hate to more-obviously kill off the heroes main nemesis. If you would wish to bring back any villain I would think it would have to be your nemesis.

Are there any older comic book movies out there where they seem to have made the villain's death deliberately vague?

In regular action movies usually the death of the main villain is really obvious. You see them get squashed by a two ton weight or something.

[wELCOME cONSUMER]

I just woke up, so I may be a bit foggy-headed. But it seems heroes with a rogue's gallery worth of villains are the preference of studios. Something like 300, for instance, is not because no sequel is possible.

Instead, someone like Superman, Batman and Spider-Man are preferred because there are tons of villains to work with. Spider-Man's villains die on screen, only to be replaced by a new one in the next installment.

Luthor did not die in Superman, but how could he? He's the nemesis (enemy who cannot be defeated, not to be confused with the average villain). Batman used to kill the bad guys directly on screen, back when Burton was in charge, mostly because it's well-known that Burton does not read comics. Some villains cannot be defeated easily, if at all. Ra’s Al Ghul is immortal, for instance.

Superman Returns was more of a natural disaster flick, like Richard Donner's films. So, the villain was earth itself. In the case of Zod & Co., they were trapped within the phantom zone. But Superman isn't big on killing. Batman goes over the edge sometimes, while Spider-Man is usually the victim of bad circumstances.

A movie like The Punisher is developed with the notion in mind that it's going to be ultra violent and over the top. The body count has to be high.

I like movies that commit to killing off certain characters. Mostly because it's easier to develop a decent sequel if you don't have tons of actors to bring back. Usually someone dies (in real life) or feels they are above making a comic book movie, and won't come back for additional installments. Or, worse yet, you hire Halle Berry and she demands more money.

[Keropi]

It made sense for Spiderman's old-time traditional nemesis to die because he had been dead for so long in the comic books. Also he could easily be replaced by you know who.

Because the villains died in the earlier Batman movies they had to resort to using the less popular villains as time went on. Wikipedia says that fans objected to Batman killing people. I can't remember the old Batman movies anymore. How did Batman kill the Joker at the end of the first movie?

If some comic book movie villains aren't "obviously killed off" they could be brought back being played by another actor later on. The Spiderman movies screenwriting was pretty good. I suppose one could say that the Spiderman movies could even use one of Spiderman's second rate villains and the movie might still come out good.

I suppose it comes down mostly to how good a screenplay is and not how good the villain is. Although a good villain can make a screenplay a lot easier and fun to write.

[wELCOME cONSUMER]

If you can manage to make Doc Oc cool, anything's possible. The lameness of the villain or source material is surmountable if the modern adaptation is properly written. But mainly, there has to be a villain, movies without them, like The Hulk, didn't do as well because there was not enough conflict. People want a villain as big and popular as the hero. Otherwise, it just doesn't work. X-Men was so damn cool because Magneto rocks.

Burton made Batman kill Joker because he's an idiot. According to that film, Joker killed Wayne's parents. Ok, so in turn, Batman kills him. Then, where is the motivation in being Batman anymore? Case closed, problem solved. Effectively, Batman would no longer be Batman.

People often do not subscribe to actors replacing others in roles they are familiar with (except Harry Potter, no one seemed to notice there for some reason). It's better if the entire cast can return, if necessary. Nightcrawler didn't come back because Alan Cumming had a lot of problems with the director, for some reason. But he was all blue, would anyone notice if another actor replaced him?

I was watching the Hellboy cartoon the other day and thinking about how Ron Perlman truly embodies the character. Even with make-up, if someone replaced him, it wouldn't be the same. He is Hellboy for me, no one else will do.

[RoboFlonne]

Only idiots leave their enemies alive. Only the weak thinks there is an alternative.

[Keropi]

In many really old movies (excluding the Western genre) villains would often "lose" by being arrested. But by the early 1980's after seeing so many criminals we thought were probably guilty go free, seeing criminals only getting arrested is no longer satisfying.

So usually these days if we have a really disgusting villain they usually end up dying at the end of the movie (being arrested is not satisfying enough). They fall off tall buildings, get smacked by fast moving objects or they get squashed. The villain might die in spectacular fashion such as...I dunno....Die Hard 2?

[RoboFlonne]

Whatever is more efficient is fine with me.

[wELCOME cONSUMER]

Is it me, or does Robo seem bitter today?

Keropi, I agree with your observation. Seeing the bad guys do time is simply not enough. We want the cosmic and biblical justice of the death penalty, cleverly "executed" of course.

Speaking of Die Hard, the villain in part 1 died in a pretty awesome way, in slo-mo no less.

[RoboFlonne]

Bitterness only makes you stronger then you were before.

Dying is never truly perfect. It's the satisfaction of administering the killing blow.

[kymaera]

Is it me, or does Robo seem bitter today?

Check to see if the switch has been flipped from "Good" to "Evil".

[Cloud]

When was this exactly?

[RoboFlonne]

"Evil" is Good the difference is only a matter of preference of perspective. Hate is the purest form of love isn't that right cloud?