News:

Welcome to our site!

Main Menu

Justice League

Started by SGOS, November 16, 2017, 04:09:01 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Baruch

Quote from: SGOS on November 18, 2017, 02:36:14 AM
I intuitively figured out that the fast red guy must be "the Flash."  Somehow I was aware of that character.  I recently read that Moamoa was going to play Aqua Man, so I was kind of up to speed on that one, even though I'd never heard of Aqua Man.  And Cyborg?  I thought they just invented some new guy on the spur of the moment because they were short of a six man team.

Suicide Squad did get hyped, but came across pretty flat to the critics, much for the same reasons you noted.  It made more sense to me after I watched it a second time on disk.  The problem was that it didn't make sense because the story was disjointed and didn't flow, so it took a second watch for me to figure it out.  If it wasn't for Harley Quinn, I don't think I would have bothered watching it a second time.

You must not remember the TV show The Flash ... from 1990.  And I did see him in a few comics when I was young.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Blackleaf

Quote from: SGOS on November 18, 2017, 02:36:14 AM
I intuitively figured out that the fast red guy must be "the Flash."  Somehow I was aware of that character.  I recently read that Moamoa was going to play Aqua Man, so I was kind of up to speed on that one, even though I'd never heard of Aqua Man.  And Cyborg?  I thought they just invented some new guy on the spur of the moment because they were short of a six man team.

Suicide Squad did get hyped, but came across pretty flat to the critics, much for the same reasons you noted.  It made more sense to me after I watched it a second time on disk.  The problem was that it didn't make sense because the story was disjointed and didn't flow, so it took a second watch for me to figure it out.  If it wasn't for Harley Quinn, I don't think I would have bothered watching it a second time.

I find it funny how we're supposed to believe that these characters are supposed to be on the same tier as Superman. "What if Superman decided to kidnap the President," they asked. Well, in that case, what is a girl with a baseball bat going to do? Superman can reflect bullets, ain't none of them gonna hurt Superman. And then they were hyping up the new Joker, who I was unconvinced of from the beginning, but he has only about five minutes in the actual movie. Like, WTF? They were making it look like he was going to have such a huge presence in the movie, and he's barely in it. There wasn't even enough time to decide if there was anything redeemable about the new interpretation of the character, or if he was just completely annoying.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

SGOS

Quote from: Blackleaf on November 18, 2017, 12:03:23 PM
I find it funny how we're supposed to believe that these characters are supposed to be on the same tier as Superman. "What if Superman decided to kidnap the President," they asked. Well, in that case, what is a girl with a baseball bat going to do? Superman can reflect bullets, ain't none of them gonna hurt Superman. And then they were hyping up the new Joker, who I was unconvinced of from the beginning, but he has only about five minutes in the actual movie. Like, WTF? They were making it look like he was going to have such a huge presence in the movie, and he's barely in it. There wasn't even enough time to decide if there was anything redeemable about the new interpretation of the character, or if he was just completely annoying.
The actor who played the Joker didn't do much for me in the Suicide Squad, but he plays a brief role in the new Blade Runner as Tyrell, the owner of the Tyrell Corporation.  In that role, he was truly foreboding and gave me the creeps.  I'll be watching for him in the future to see where his career takes him.  I think he has potential.

Hydra009

Quote from: Blackleaf on November 18, 2017, 12:03:23 PM
I find it funny how we're supposed to believe that these characters are supposed to be on the same tier as Superman. "What if Superman decided to kidnap the President," they asked. Well, in that case, what is a girl with a baseball bat going to do?
The huge disparities in power levels really pissed me off, too.

In Suicide Squad, you have a guy who can climb walls really well, a guy with a boomerang, a psycho girl with a baseball bat and a revolver, a sane woman with a magic sword, an amphibious guy with a wrestler physique, a marksman with wristguns and an AR-15, and a literal goddess.

Half these people don't technically even have powers, and the few that do vary from mildly superhuman to god-like.  That's far too wide a spread.

Granted, Marvel has some issues in this department as well.  In the Avengers, Black Widow and Hawkeye have noticeably weak abilities compared to their teammates.  But generally speaking, Marvel hits this sweet spot where most characters are strong enough to take out gangsters or cops but not strong enough to destroy the world.  At least, not directly.  Most heroes are on a roughly comparable playing field.  That's why Civil War felt more or less balanced.  Black Panther could fight Winter Soldier and it wasn't immediately obvious who would win.

But Superman VS Batman?  Not much of a contest.  And I assume Justice League had a similar problem.  I suppose you can write a way for the big guns to be indisposed to give the second-stringers a chance to shine.  But at that point, you're no longer following one team, but two.

Cavebear

Quote from: Hydra009 on November 18, 2017, 12:34:47 PM
The huge disparities in power levels really pissed me off, too.

In Suicide Squad, you have a guy who can climb walls really well, a guy with a boomerang, a psycho girl with a baseball bat and a revolver, a sane woman with a magic sword, an amphibious guy with a wrestler physique, a marksman with wristguns and an AR-15, and a literal goddess.

Half these people don't technically even have powers, and the few that do vary from mildly superhuman to god-like.  That's far too wide a spread.

Granted, Marvel has some issues in this department as well.  In the Avengers, Black Widow and Hawkeye have noticeably weak abilities compared to their teammates.  But generally speaking, Marvel hits this sweet spot where most characters are strong enough to take out gangsters or cops but not strong enough to destroy the world.  At least, not directly.  Most heroes are on a roughly comparable playing field.  That's why Civil War felt more or less balanced.  Black Panther could fight Winter Soldier and it wasn't immediately obvious who would win.

But Superman VS Batman?  Not much of a contest.  And I assume Justice League had a similar problem.  I suppose you can write a way for the big guns to be indisposed to give the second-stringers a chance to shine.  But at that point, you're no longer following one team, but two.

I would disagree with you about Black Widow and Hawkeye.  Black Widow stayed ahead of the Hulk on a rampage, and is a world class athlete, gymnast, acrobat, aerialist capable of numerous complex maneuvers and feats, expert martial artist.  She is also a master of psychological manipulation and tactics.   She also carries electro-static energy blasts that can deliver charges up to 30,000 volts.

Hawkeye is an exceptional fencer, acrobat and marksman, having been trained from childhood in the circus and by the criminals Trick Shot and Swordsman. This includes considerable strength, as a supervillain found out when he tried to use the superhero's 250 pounds-force (1,100 newtons) draw-weight bow and found that he could not draw back the string to launch an arrow. 

Hawkeye has also been thoroughly trained by Captain America in tactics, martial arts, and hand-to-hand combat. Hawkeye excels in the use of ranged weapons, especially the bow and arrow, and carries a quiver containing a number of customized "trick arrows". 

Both are among the group of non-super-powered humans capable of holding their own against those with such powers.  They would not be members of the Avengers otherwise.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Hydra009

#20
Cavebear, I'll refer you to my ol' standby - could a gangster with a TEC-9 plausibly take them out?  If so, they're probably not durable enough to survive many missions against planetary threats.

While kicking and punching might work against street-level threats, it might not work so well against Demagorg the God-Eater or any other threat capable of outmatching the world's militaries.  Plus, it seems kinda dumb to send heroes specializing in arrows/bullets against villains vulnerable to neither.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb9l988kqL4

Cavebear

Quote from: Hydra009 on November 26, 2017, 12:05:11 PM
Cavebear, I'll refer you to my ol' standby - could a gangster with a TEC-9 plausibly take them out?  If so, they're probably not durable enough to survive many missions against planetary threats.

While kicking and punching might work against street-level threats, it might not work so well against Demagorg the God-Eater or any other threat capable of outmatching the world's militaries.  Plus, it seems kinda dumb to send heroes specializing in arrows/bullets against villains vulnerable to neither.

Against an army of street-level threats, street-level threat killers are very useful.  Which allows the more potent heroes to focus on the non-street-level threat threats. 
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Cavebear

I admire DC for creating the concepts of Superman and Batman.  But I love Marvel more for complexity and angst.  And, quite frankly, wit.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!