Back when I was a little kid, as opposed to the big kid I am
today, Saturday mornings were dedicated to waking up at ungodly early hours of
the morning, waking parents to make you cereal, which to they’ll never forgive
and never forget and sitting down to watch our favourite caped crusaders and
masked heroes on the TV. Every week we’d sit and watch how cartoon Batman would
beat cartoon Joker, or how animated Superman could possibly save the day this
time and it was perfection in my opinion. But the animated television versions
of our favourite heroes are of late getting a very different treatment.
With the huge popularity and fan following that DC’s live
action show Arrow on the CW network
DC comics have added a number of new titles to their roster of live action
shows. Batman prequel Gotham, Supernatural
thriller Constantine and the red blur
himself, Flash being highly
anticipated from the company’s archive of comic history and wowing fans with
teasers, trailers and Comic-con appearances all hinting at what each show has
to offer. But television isn’t the only place where our heroes have hit the
screen with great success.
This coming year we have Avengers
2: Age of Ultron to look forward to with bated breath. Marvel has created a
truly successful franchise of big screen heroes with their film Avengers and
solo films for the iconic heroes, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the
Incredible Hulk. The Joss Whedon directed Avengers
Assemble went on to be the 3rd highest grossing box office film to date.
This success has even gone on to encourage the latest gamble from DC in announcing
this year the production their own superhero team up film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film that will be going on to
lay the foundation for DC Comics’ own Marvel style large scale film continuity
for the whole of the Justice League!
But it has to be asked, why is that today’s audience prefers
the grittier realistic live action films and television shows as compared to
the animation that stole the hearts of our childhood? One argument I’d
personally support is just that, many of us we were fans of such heroes as
Batman, Iron Man, Superman and Hulk when we were but children, but now we’re
fully grown adults. Maybe some of us only by law rather than mentally but it
stands that we have matured with age and through holding onto our passions our
love for our heroes has matured equally. From the Saturday morning cartoons of
Batman and Robin our love has developed into appreciated the dark nuances of
The Dark Knight, Man of Steel and the gritty yet hugely successful portrayal of
the Emerald Archer from the talented Stephen Amell.
This change in tone can also be seen in our comics book
storylines today. The dark storylines such as Batman’s Red Hood and Death of
Robin storylines, Marvel Zombies, Kick-Ass and many more show that graphic
novels are not the tame hero-saves-the-day stories of our fond youths anymore.
They instead show a darker and grittier side to our characters in a way that
peaks our interest. Therefore it’s my belief that our interests in how the
genre of superheroes is presented to us have not exactly changed suddenly but
have matured along with us, its passionate fanbase.
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