There’s a lot of talk around the proverbial water cooler regarding recent movies, TV shows, comic books, and etc., and why they seem to fail in various capacities. This is a bit of strange topic, as most of those people referencing information to back up their “well it sucked/was great because” argument are pretty much full of shit. I am probably one of those people. Regardless, I still go see these movies and complain about storytelling faults to my friends and coworkers. I cared enough to write this article, in fact.
I kept trying to figure out what makes new content hard to swallow, and I think I have a decent list. First and foremost, there seems to be an inability to move on.
I know, it’s not easy to move on. I’m almost certain I’m still caught up on a relationship that ended several years ago. I’ll get past it. If you look at the most popular film and TV characters and franchises in recent memory, you’ll find a pretty fascinating trend: repetition. James Bond, Dracula, Frankenstein, Captain America, and Batman to name a few.
James Bond Movie Count — 26, with more on the way.
Number of Frankenstein Movies — Over 50 (and that’s not including the influence on other films)
Number of Dracula movies (where a character is named Dracula) — Over 40
Captain America and Batman are a little different, as it’s mainly who’s behind the shield or under the cowl that keeps popping back up, rather than constant incarnations of them (though that absolutely applies — Elseworlds, alternate universe/timelines)
These examples go on and on, but I’m going to stick to one I know pretty well:
Batman is still Bruce Wayne. That doesn’t seem like a problem at a glance. I love me some Bruce Wayne. He’s angry and brooding and completely incapable of committing to meaningful relationships. He’s a lot like me, just with more money and a better excuse (he’s a fictional character whereas I am a real human man).
Nobody notices this as a problem because it’s just accepted that Bruce Wayne = Batman. You ask someone on the street who Batman is, they’ll probably say Bruce Wayne. Or Christian Bale, depending on how much they like to be wrong. Turns out this is kind of a problem though, because Bruce Wayne/Batman debuted in goddamn 1939 (Detective Comics #27, in all his purple-gloved glory). I’m writing this in the wonderful year of 2018. Using advanced mathematics, that’s a near 78-year career as an angry crime-fighter. Per the Social Security Administration (I’m very serious about this), the average life expectancy of a human male is 84.3 years if he were 65 today. I put all info together in a fancy equation (using numbers AND letters) and I come out with a very retired Bruce Wayne, provided he’s even still alive. He gets into a lot of fights.
Now, DC Comics loves skewed timelines. There’s no definitive way to confirm how old Bruce is, but the consensus is (after reboots, retcons, and more) he’s currently mid to late 30s. This allows for Dick Grayson (mid-20s), Jason Todd (early 20s), Barbara Gordon (early 20s), Tim Drake (late teens), and Damian Wayne (fucking 10) to be around and active as they are in their respective bat-capacities. Prior to the reboot and arguably at the height of Batman’s ability, Bruce was mid 40s and had a penchant for being taken out of commission whenever the story needed spiced up. One particularly interesting vacation came in the form of Darkseid seemingly obliterating him with his Omega Beams (eye lasers for the layman), though we later find out it just sent Bruce back in time to somehow become a time bomb? I’m not clear on how that worked, I skimmed that story. During his absence, Dick Grayson was essentially forced to take on the mantle, to become The Batman. He’d work alongside Damian and become arguably the most interesting Dynamic Duo since Bruce and Dick. You’d think this would be the natural progression of things, right? The sidekick eventually takes over for the hero. Something like that allows for interesting future stories. Dick as Batman would mean he’d handle things differently, as Bruce and Dick were constantly at odds when it came to Bruce’s methods. In fact, depending on who took over the cowl, each of the Robins would have handled being Batman differently than the last.
Sadly, this didn’t last long, as Bruce soon returned and assumed his permanent role as The Goddamn Batman. This translates to the films and TV as well, as every iteration of Batman on screen has been Bruce Wayne with few exceptions. These exceptions are interesting circumstances, but realistically just a twist on more of the same. One was Batman Beyond’s Terry McGinnis, a teenager in the distant future mentored by Bruce Wayne, though is later revealed to be essentially a situational clone of Bruce to engineer another Batman. He’s even made with Bruce’s DNA! Another is the Flashpoint Paradox Batman, who is a twist on the traditional origin, with Bruce being killed in Crime Alley, leading Thomas and Martha down their own respective paths as Batman and The Joker.
How to fix it:
Pass the Torch
It’s simple, we kill Bruce Wayne.
That’s all there is to it. One of the Robins will take over, and if they don’t, someone else will. Bruce has had a good run, and he’s a wonderful Batman (obviously), but it’s time for him to move on. Either retire or be killed in action. I fully doubt he’ll ever willingly retire, as it’s repeatedly taken insane physical or emotional trauma to even get him to sit still, but with Bruce out of the way, it can be argued the rest of the DC Universe would fundamentally change. They’d all have to cope with the loss of the one guy that always knew what to do, even when he doesn’t know what to do (it’s a thing, Google it). To reiterate, this would allow for new stories, new interactions, and new outcomes. Could you imagine Dick Grayson or Jason Todd as Batman going up against The Joker? I can’t. I want to be able to, but aside from assuming Jason would kill Joker, I’m hard-pressed to know the outcome. These things have been explored in stories like Battle for the Cowl, but Bruce always returns! But that’s why it’s so exciting! Someone could write that! I could write that! You could write that! This works for all villains and heroes. Batman is automatically part of any team featuring Justice in the name, so he gets to talk to everyone and apparently know everything. We get some cute little interactions during Dick’s time as Batman, but for the most part, this is criminally underutilized. Killing Bruce Wayne allows the characters and the audience a breath of fresh air. And he must stay dead. Just as Disney won’t let me buy the fucking Lion King as it’s locked in the Disney Vault, Bruce Wayne Batman needs to be off limits.
Take this formula (death, retirement, passing the torch) and apply it to some of my other examples:
Kill James Bond, or better yet, have him retire. Retiring him would spit in the face of all the danger the character has been in. He goes through all this supervillain nonsense, only to retire happy? Better still, make him the new M, and mentor future 00 Agents. I personally don’t like the idea that agent 0010 is literally double-oh-ten when 010 (oh-one-oh) sounds better.
For Frankenstein’s Monster — Explore a more perfected experiment, and modernize the scenario to show how modern populations would react to such an inhumane idea (UNDEAD LIVES MATTER!!). But make sure the experiment is inspired by Dr. Frankenstein’s myth. So it’s not Frankenstein’s monster, it’s Frankenstein’s Legacy.
For Dracula, he’s been done to death. Let’s leave Dracula alone. Underworld was fine and Dracula Untold isn’t getting a sequel, so we don’t get a fancy new Dracula in the modern age unless we look at crap like Blade: Trinity.
These characters and others just like them are icons for a reason, and I totally understand that. I know why they keep getting brought back, I just think we can do better and we deserve better. Nostalgia is great and tributes are cute, but what’s next?
We should explore that.
