Origins

If you want to know someone, what question do you ask? "How do you do?" "What do you do?" "Where are you from?" A friend of mine takes a novel approach: "So, what's your story?"

To know someone, it's not enough to get some facts together. You need to understand what their life has been like. Why they choose what they choose and do what they do. And to know that you need to know how they came to be what they are.

The same is true for getting to know characters, and the why and how are especially true of superheroes. People in relatively ordinary situations reveal themselves over time, their quirks and habits congealing into a coherent identity. But the whole point of superheroes is that they are not in ordinary situations.

Superheroes are characters, just like in any other type of story. The best heroes are not those who are very different from the rest of us, but those who are the same. What makes this kind of story work, and why I enjoy them so much, is it puts relatively ordinary people in unthinkable situations, forcing them to grow and change into who they really are. In a superhero story there can be good guys, bad guys, and a whole lot of degrees in between, but the one thing no one can be is wishy-washy. Superheroes are born of extraordinary constraints, and constraints create choices.

I think it's because these kinds of stories are so tied to the constraints that makes the origin story so central to superheroes. It's not so much that the fact that this person can do things no one else can demands justification; we encounter uniqueness in people all the time, and it's not like other movies don't exaggerate reality. No, we need to see the origins of superheroes because the things that bind them to be heroes are why the choose what they do. The origin story is the superhero's story.

Just in case you aren't convinced yet, consider this: the fact that Peter Parker got bitten by a radioactive/genetically engineered/totemically possessed spider is not why he does what he does. Peter Parker is Spider Man because when he tried to just be a dude, his uncle was murdered. Peter believes what he does about the spider because he experienced what he did about his family. With or without magic pixie dust, that story would have been the origin of something.

A few weeks ago I found a 5 issue origin story for the superhero Daredevil at the thrift store, written by Frank Miller no less (you may know him for the original graphic novel of 300, as well as his directing work on Sin City and The Spirit). Really well done. I'm sure it helps that Miller was a regular writer for Daredevil in the early 80s, but he seems to get why the character does what he does. Miller knows Daredevil's story. And most really don't get it, 'cuz was that movie ever bad!

All this is to say, I guess, that I really like superhero stories, especially origin stories. I like getting what a character is about, knowing what they'll do next because I know who they are (as opposed to be because of a rehashed plot). I'd love to see movies of characters like Thor, Punisher, The Spectre, Daredevil, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and a whole bunch of others. But the creators have to know the characters, understand what they are about. And to do that, the creators have to be able to tell the origin story. So here's hoping for a host of awesome Superhero Origin movies in the future!

Here's some good (or at least entertaining) origin movies / comics for you:
Batman Begins
Unbreakable
Batman: Year One
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
The Matrix
Darkman
Iron Man
Heroes: Season 1
Here's Hoping on the Wolverine Movie!

PS- This made me laugh.