Wolverine and Expectations

I saw Wolverine this weekend (of course - I want to support my own industry) and I was very pleased. It caused me to reflect a bit on Stan Lee and the other creators of Marvel's heroes. Have there been new superheroes in the last few years? Sure. Can you name any? Maybe you can, if you are a geek like me, but for the most part it is the originals that people remember. Why is that? There were superheroes before the X-men. Lots of them. There were superheroes before Spiderman. Superman and Batman have been around a long time, but others have come and gone and nobody seems to have displaced these heroes.
Why? Two reasons. In Superman's case he was first. Nothing like him had really been seen before (except in the book Gladiator). Batman was also a first in that he was "dark". Dark for the time is not dark now, but when Batman came out he was dark.
We don't have the advantage of being first, but neither did Stan Lee. Stan Lee simply exceeded all expectations. He took a genre and made it new againby making superheroes as people like you and I, or at least people we would recognize. People expected "just another superhero comic book" and instead they got Peter Parker who kicks butt as Spidey (and is funny as hell) but as Peter Parker he has trouble with school, girls and holding down a job. You have the X-men who save the world once a month but also struggle with a type of racism against mutantkind. It was new and poignant and exceeded everyone's expectations.
So all you and I have to do to add to that pantheon? Take what is familiar and make it new again and not in a gimmicky way but in a sincere way that speaks to readers.
Sounds simple (it's not), it's achievable (but it takes work)...so let's get to work.

A list of cool metahuman movies with no spandex anywhere

I love superhero movies. I collect superhero movies. Some of my favorite movies about superheroes are not really about "superheroes". What the heck does that mean? Well, obvious superhero movies are Batman, Fantastic Four, X-men, Spiderman, Blade, Iron Man, Superman, Hancock, Watchmen...all of these are awesome, in my opinion, but there is another genre of superhero movie. I'll let the list be my example.
Here we go...
Jumper (Teleportation)
Push (Telekinesis)
The Matrix (The awakened people have all kinds of superpowers)
Next (PRecognition)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Kind of a standard superhero movie...cool nonetheless)
Star Wars (Jedi Knights are like Knights, Wizards and Superheroes all rolled into one)
The Transporter Movies (Martial arts and mad driving skills. Almost seems like hyper reflexes)
Fire Starters (Pyrokinesis)
The Shining (Telepathy)
Eragon (Dragon Riders are like super heroes in a fantasy setting)
Harry Potter (Magic and superpowers seem pretty similar sometimes)
Terminator (Terminators are like superheroes gone bad)
Dracula (Same comment as Terminator)
Frankenstein (The monster has mega superpowers)
Van Helsing (He's like an older version of Batman)
Underworld (All of them)
Resident Evil
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I could probably come up with more by going to my movie cabinet, but my point is this: For those of us who love the superhero/metahuman genre, we don't always have to wait for the next comic-inspired film to find superheroes. Sometimes they are right in front of us just disguised as something a bit different.

Peace!