Brainstorming: Superheroes

[ZeroVotesProductions]

So I've been wanting to write something in the vein of superhero for awhile now. However, I'm usually stuck with dramas because I find them incredibly simple to write. I've also been somewhat intimated to go into writing a superhero script for several reasons. Primarily because I wouldn't know where to start. I don't want to pull a superhero from a comic book and throw him onto the screen. I want to create a superhero fresh for the cinema (I believe there was a thread discussing this awhile ago). The main issues though that face me are:

1. How big do I want this Universe to be?
2. What will my superhero's limitations be?
3. I will never make this without some serious studio support (I'll write it fine and dandy, but in the end it'll just be a pretty stack of paper sitting on my shelf)

These issues have always driven me away from the genre. However, I just saw Hancock (that's a thread in and of itself. I have some very powerful things to say about that movie, but I want to organize my thoughts first.) Hancock, as far as I know, is a superhero created completely for the screen. There is to my knowledge no previous basis for Hancock and the mythology they created for him was sound. The character, the villains and the story were all decent. The ending pissed me the hell off but once again for another day.

Now with Hancock, there is very little chance for a sequel. With this new superhero I think I would want to at least create a Universe in which further stories could be told. If not about the same person than at least with similar characters referenced. So I suppose the purpose of this thread is to utilize the creative minds of this community.

What are your thoughts?
Can this be done?
More importantly should it be done?
If so - what powers should I bring to the table?
How large should the Universe be?
How would it all begin?

Also if anyone does feel that this can be done and wants to give it a go and work together on it - I'd be open to that concept as well.

[malir]

I think it can be done and I think it should be done. Where comics are snipits and heroics, books are mentally oriented, and movies are visceral, it's good to have superheroes in each realm to show the concept more completely.

With the last three questions i have to ask about you as the writer. Do you want to be formulaic? or do you like to buck a little and how much?

Powers? That is the question, and I think that needs to be considered on your universe. Batman wouldn't work very well in the Spider-man Universe and Superman wouldn't thrive in the world of the Toxic Avenger. So you need to consider mood of the piece and how you want to combat it.

This is just my humble opinion but i'm always game to spitball.

[ZeroVotesProductions]

Personally, I like superheroes that have a bit of a human element to them. Hancock's character, is a good character. Heroes that suffer not just with the weight of their responsibilities but with who they are. Heroes that can struggle and lose sometimes, even die. I'd like to create a darker realm in which they can reside. Where the audience isn't 100% certain their hero is going to come out of the situation in one piece or alive at all. Where it's not the supporting roles that are the cause for worry, but the protagonist himself. Where maybe the villains aren't out to destroy everything, but just somebody that's got a bit of a twisted view on how they should behave.

I think if someone was to create a superhero strictly for cinema, then that character, that story, and the universe in which they exist could not be formulaic. There would be a great deal of risk involved in making it.

[Sharkey]

I'd be inclined to make a superhero twist. A superhero that works for the good of a tyrannical government against freedom fighters. Make him an anti-hero.

I'm not sure if that's been done before, but I'd say it's a possibility.

[bailish]

Personally, I like superheroes that have a bit of a human element to them. Hancock's character, is a good character. Heroes that suffer not just with the weight of their responsibilities but with who they are. Heroes that can struggle and lose sometimes, even die. I'd like to create a darker realm in which they can reside. Where the audience isn't 100% certain their hero is going to come out of the situation in one piece or alive at all. Where it's not the supporting roles that are the cause for worry, but the protagonist himself. Where maybe the villains aren't out to destroy everything, but just somebody that's got a bit of a twisted view on how they should behave.

I think if someone was to create a superhero strictly for cinema, then that character, that story, and the universe in which they exist could not be formulaic. There would be a great deal of risk involved in making it.

Who's your target audience? Most superhero movies target young males.

[Kandiman]

Personally, I like superheroes that have a bit of a human element to them. Hancock's character, is a good character. Heroes that suffer not just with the weight of their responsibilities but with who they are. Heroes that can struggle and lose sometimes, even die. I'd like to create a darker realm in which they can reside. Where the audience isn't 100% certain their hero is going to come out of the situation in one piece or alive at all. Where it's not the supporting roles that are the cause for worry, but the protagonist himself. Where maybe the villains aren't out to destroy everything, but just somebody that's got a bit of a twisted view on how they should behave.

I think if someone was to create a superhero strictly for cinema, then that character, that story, and the universe in which they exist could not be formulaic. There would be a great deal of risk involved in making it.

Who's your target audience? Most superhero movies target young males.

Yep. Female superhero with large chest = money.

Although, Tank Girl bombed... hmmm...

But in general, think Lara Croft, Wonder Woman...

[zeller]

Young males may be the target audience but that doesn't necessarily mean we want to see a super heroine instead of a super hero. Why? Because we'd rather imagine we were that super hero who gets the girl and has all the powers, not some shmuck trying to make a Super Heroine fall in love with us. That just doesn't work right in the mind.

Keep your super hero male. Or, create two super heroes, one male, one female, and gradually introduce the audience to the possibility that there is more than one super hero in this universe you've created. Kinda a twist.

This thread makes me think of Unbreakable. Easily one of my favorite super hero movies.

[TwistedPixel]

This thread makes me think of Unbreakable. Easily one of my favorite super hero movies.

I thought the same thing as well.

The reason I liked Unbreakable is because the Superhero was just some guy. He was more human than anything else. Just a man. I like the idea of extraordinary things happening to ordinary people. Now don't get me wrong, superheros that are from other planets, created from science/technology, or ... whatever ...are cool their just not as interesting to me.

The target audience will always be young males. You could go either way as far as creating a Hero vs. Heroine. Young males will want to be the Hero while wanting to be with the Heroine and vice versa with the female audience.

You could do a lot with a story like this. The only problem would be the cliche aspect. It's a thin line between a cool story and a cheesy one. I mean when you hear about a new "Superhero" movie you can already guess whats going to happen. You pretty much already know what the story's about. You just go to see how it happens.

[ZeroVotesProductions]

I like Sharkey's idea a great deal about focusing on an Anti-Hero. That's a good fresh idea that would be a good flagship film for this Universe. Not to say the other concepts aren't excellent, that's the beauty of creating not just a superhero but a Universe for them all to exist in. Something many writers and director's will be able to dabble in.

Yes the target audience is always young males, but hopefully the novelty of the idea would attract a larger audience if just to see how we did it. The hero vs. heroine thing shouldn't be that big of a deal. There could be various movies focusing on one or the other. Though movies with a heroine instead of a hero tend to flop so it would require a great deal of effort.

What are your opinions on origins? I agree with Twisted Pixel that the heros should begin as just some guy and then become something more. Focus more on evolution rather than aliens.

[TwistedPixel]

Young? Middle aged? Old?? Does he age?

From a secluded environment? Middletown, USA? Bustling City?

It's hard to decide

I guess for me it would depend on how I want to tell the story. Do you show him growing up, unaware of his powers? Possibly have people close to him know? Show how he develops.

Do we drop the audience right in the middle with him already developed or beginning to evolve and take the story from there?

Unfortunately, all of these options feel like they have been done before. Sometimes repeatedly.

What I would like to see is something from a completely different angle. Something that would make people make that face and say "What?" Something like, not literally of course, having him come from some remote village or tribe in the Rainforest. Secluded from "civilized eyes". His tribe knows of his powers, as does he. They possibly see him as a gift from their God/Gods. He does all the standard stuff in everyday life, hunt, gather, whatever they do in the Rainforest

Then have the life changing event happen there. His people send him out to the world for the benefit of man-kind? His people get annihilated leaving him alone and angry? Not sure how to fit the Anti-Hero in there. I don't know, just thinking as I type.

[ZeroVotesProductions]

I have an idea for a hero story that I've been tossing about for a few months, and have started heavy into recently. Most of the powers we'll be dealing with have all been done before. Most of the stories in one vein or another have been done before. We all know this is the primary issue with superhero movies. It is no longer in what the story is, but how it is executed. At least I think so.

I'd introduce my hero as a young man just coming into his powers. He is impervious to damage. He can get sick, he ages. He just can't get hurt. Despite the fact that very few people know this, as an angsty teenager this still makes him feel alienated from the world and he tries to kill himself. Jump ahead to his regular life where he is a normal person that can do some extraordinary, but rarely does. He uses this for his own benefit and occasionally the benefit of others. He does not want to draw attention to himself. He is neither a good guy or a bad guy, he's just a guy. Then we introduce the villain. Another hero that wants to utilize our protagonist's powers in creating a sort of "league" of super heros. Though this one would of course be considered "evil" confrontation ensues.

Pixel, once again I really like the idea you've kicked out. Develop it! Run with it, create the character! Why not?

[TwistedPixel]

Pixel, once again I really like the idea you've kicked out. Develop it! Run with it, create the character! Why not?

Yea, It could be fun. Hell, maybe even just as an exercise. That's the problem though, so many ideas, so little time.

I like where you're headed with this one. It may just be me but I love the "average joe" themes. Maybe because we, as an audience, can relate more to the character because after all most of us are just "average joe."

Keep us updated!

[Phil Friel]

This thread makes me think of Unbreakable. Easily one of my favorite super hero movies.

UNBREAKABLE was one of my favourite superhero movies as well. I've always been a big fan of the ultra-realistic, ultra-gritty school of superhero movies and/or graphic novels. The "What would it REALLY be like if we had superheroes in the (real) world" approach - sort of like a cross between UNBREAKABLE and THE WATCHMEN.

I've always liked the scenario of the new race evolving to replace the tired old human race, like in the X-MEN. The beef I had with the X-MEN is that a new "race" of mutants (or homo superior) wouldn't be made up of millions of individuals all with wildly different powers, in which case, each one of them would belong to a completely different, separate new species of their own. They would all have the same, or similar powers, like humans, who all have pretty much the same abilities, although at different levels (some are smarter/stronger/faster than the rest). I'm thinking of the traditional sci-fi theme of a new race of humans with telepathy/telekenesis/teleportation powers as in the old sci-fi TV series THE TOMORROW PEOPLE, the classic sci-fi movie SCANNERS, or A.E. van Vogt's classic SF novel SLAN (new race of telepaths ruthlessly suppressed by the tyrannical ruling human regime).

Similar things have been done in comics before - back in the '90s Valiant comics had an excellent series called HARBINGER, with telepaths/telekenetics at all levels of ability battling it out in a homo sap world, and the two most powerful uber-telepaths (good vs evil) heading towards a confrontation. James Hudnall did something similar with his comic ESPERS. These were the opposite of camp superheroes, and were set in a real world, with not a cape or pair of tights in sight. The good telepaths vs bad telepaths and the whole mutants vs homo saps scenario gives for really good dramatic tension and intelligent plots, rather than a bunch of strange-looking dudes and dudesses in garish costumes flying around and beating up on each other for little or no logical reason other than "It Looks Cool".

On the other hand, if you want to go for mass audience appeal, you could go for the more comic book approach (as in SPIDER-MAN) or go down the whole comedy, camp, capes/tights route, as in THE INCREDIBLES, which I thought was a real fun movie, despite my inherent preference for the dark, gritty, realistic type of superhero scenario.

[ZeroVotesProductions]

I think the Universe I'd want to create would have a bit of both. Because if there were people with super powers then some would try to be normal and others would throw on the tights and capes. Flying around and nonsense like that. I think that trying to mix caped crusader and average joe hero would be an interesting and difficult task. If done right though, could be a very entertaining visually and intellectually form of superhero movie. Sort of in the vein of Chris Nolan's version of Batman. Very human elements, but inhuman heroes and villains.

[malir]

I haven't read everyone's posts so if i step on toes, i apologize but i'm a little pressed for time this evening but I wanted to toss an idea out there.

Bouncing from Sharkey's idea:

Right now a big thing in many countries is the fear of true globalization. There's been resolutions put for te EU to become a nation of states (envious one might think), and America has toyed with the idea with Canada and Mexico (even got our own currency called the Amero, yeah a little unoriginal there). Also, consider all the people protesting the world bank and the UN's attempts to become a government for new/liberated/war shattered nations.

One of my short stories many years ago which I didn't publish came about as a man forced to retire from the military because he had become afraid of what they would make him do, but then those in charge still wouldn't let him rest. I killed him in the end, but I loved how I raised the character from the ashes into a hero. Though, not a superhero but something along those lines just needs tweaking, like being in a foxhole and leaps on a grenade that the others believe is a dud but he knows the reality.

Sort of the rebirth through trial and error.

just a thought.