Marvel’s The Avengers and The Dark Knight: Bitter rivals or benchmarks in comic book media?

 The Avengers and The Dark Knight: two movies that have set the world on fire when it comes to comic book movies. 

The Dark Knight acted as a sequel to a re-telling of the Batman story in film and, in turn, took the world by force with a captivating story, and compelling characters, acted out masterfully by an all-star cast.  Yet, the driving force of the movie was none other than the villain of the movie, Batman’s most iconic archenemy, The Joker, played excellently by Heath Ledger.  This would be Heath Ledger’s final role before his untimely death, but if he had to end his career on a high note, this was it.  Not only did he prove to be one of the best iterations of the Joker, if not the best (Jack Nicholson and Mark Hamill still hold a great place in my and other hearts), but the movie’s characters all gelled with his and Batman’s characters very well.  Oh, and the movie did draw some of its adaptations almost specifically from the graphic novel, Batman: the Long Halloween, which stands as one of the best crafted stories in Batman’s legacy.  However, in my view, what makes this movie excellent is not so much their attention to comic book detail.  I believe this movie works exceptionally well because if you were to remove the comic book aspects from the film, the film still stands well as an ordinary film.  I love the depth in story and ideas that are postulated by the film as well.  It really makes you think.   Sometimes, there are individuals that just do bad things for the sake of watching chaos.  If so, how do you stop these people?  If you are the hero, how long can you remain that hero until you are seen as otherwise?  Will people literally turn to wrongdoing and chaos if things look very grim?  What sacrifice would you make to do what’s right, even if it means forsaking your principles for a short time? It is a great film first, and a great comic book film second.  In a way, it transcends the comic book movie genre.

Marvel’s The Avengers acts an all-encompassing sequel, taking the exploits and developments of the heroes of 5 different Marvel films and puts them all together in one adventure, combining their efforts for a greater cause.  This is the very first Marvel team-up film, in the sense that it’s the first time in history that stars of other comic book films appear together in the same film to a large capacity.  I don’t count X-men because the X-men themselves are a team.  This film took five films under Paramount pictures and Marvel Studios and continued them in one big film about how their abilities and exploits cross over and play out together.  This movie works on many levels to say the least.  For starters, it feels and looks like an actual comic book that has come to life.  Many comic movies try to be something other than the subject matter as a marketing ploy or because the developers don’t really care for the comic book itself, but about other things.  Joss Whedon, like Christopher Nolan, treats this exactly how you’d read it in a comic book.  While Nolan took a different path with TDK, Whedon played it by the book and doesn’t miss a beat.  Another winning point for this movie is that it has charm, and lots of it.  It makes you feel good about being a part of the experience.  It’s not stiff, stuffy, or overly serious.  It has a nice touch to it that makes it joyful to watch it and be a part of it.  But, I think the biggest point as to where it works is that it gives every character something to do.  There’s a definite balance between the characters and their usefulness.  You don’t see too little or too much of one or another person.  There’s a perfect synchronicity between everyone involved.  You know what each person does, and why it works in each situation.  This is helpful in part due to the fact that the main players have had movies released and made before this movie, giving you all the back story and character development on a singular level that you need to go into the movie.  And, even if you didn’t see them, the movie gives you a quick primer on what these people are all about as the focus is what these characters are about and seeing if they can work together.  There isn’t as much depth, thought-wise, as in TDK, but there doesn’t need to be.  Only one idea comes to mind:  can people who have been used to solving problems alone with their amazing abilities co-exist as a team when it is most necessary?  That’s all you need.  Not every comic book film has to be that thought-provoking, really, as not all comics are.  Maybe all that is needed is a great story about good versus evil without having to delve too deep into the human person or psyche.  Now, if you were to say that this is a just a “big, dumb, action movie as a comic book film”, you’d be right, but, you’d be wrong.  It’s not dumb, in any sense, for even though there are some plot holes, as in most films, there is a flow, necessity, and structure to any and everything that happens.  Take that, Transformers!

Now, I could go on and on about both films, but the reason for this blog is not to fully dissect each film but to postulate an interesting question.  There is no doubt that both films were enormously successful.  On a domestic level, both movies have made the most money for any and all comic book films and are both within the top 10 most grossing domestic films.  On a worldwide level, The Avengers is within the top 10 with The Dark Knight about 6 places after it.   Albeit both are relatively high, one would say that TDK’s success is the reason why The Avengers is succeeding, as both movies can be seen as the benchmark of how a comic book movie should be.  However, The Dark Knight is vastly different on many levels when compared to the Avengers.  One movie is about a group of people while one is about a single hero.  One is more thought provoking while the other is a general action film that doesn’t need much thought, but gets that same level of care as the other when it comes to attention to detail and development, so it’s not just some throwaway movie full of flash and style, but no substance (like Battleship).  However, I distinctly remember The Dark Knight being successful and amazing as a film that various film developers considered looking to it as a means to make other comic book films, as well as other adaptations, specifically video games.  People thought a “grim, gritty, more realistic” approach was what was needed for future adaptations.  The problem: not all adaptations work that way, or should.  They tried to do this with Mortal Kombat, and while a bevy of people initially appreciated the idea of Scorpion being a detective working with Sonya and Jax, a la Law and Order, other purists cried foul, and wisely so.  In the end, when the final product came to pass, it remained closely ingrained with its original story.  It was received rather positively, but not completely.  Thank goodness for the release of The Avengers as it showed people that you don’t have to be like The Dark Knight to have a successful adaptation, even if TDK did use the “dark” approach and used it well.  This begs the question or questions.  As both movies go in two different directions when it comes to adaptations, both can be seen as benchmarks in comic book movie adaptation.  However, do they really need to be compared as to which is better?  My answer: no.  They are both good for different reasons and with different motifs.  Having said that, with The Avengers pulling away in films, and the third Batman movie looming, one has to wonder: can it be possible that the movies aren’t ultimately compared?  And if not, which path will Hollywood follow suit with?  Will we get comic movies that are only dark and dreary, trying to provoke thought when they might not need to, or will we get action-filled, charming, moment-by-moment character pieces that draw on well-placed action and charm and not a lot of thought?  Will we get more Batman and less Avengers, or vice versa?  I really hope this isn’t the case.

This is actually very reminiscent to the comic book industry in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s.  Alan Moore and Frank Miller created two graphic novels that stand as two significant forms of literature, one of which was adapted into film.  The novels were Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, respectively.  They received tremendous praise in and out of the comic book industry to the effect where the industry had been served notice in a way.  The game had to be stepped up.  However, the message sent by these comics was missed, if not by a large margin.  People thought these comics were successful because they were more adult-themed, dark, gritty, and violent.  They failed to see that they were good because of those things along with the fact that they were well-written, and very introspective, like The Dark Knight.  What came of that were a more darkened style in popular comics, the introduction of dark characters, and some changes that may or may not have been well-received.  I can remember just how mad, in hindsight or not, people were with the inclusion of Venom to Spider Man.  Then, there was the advent of artists that took this dark and edgy style and made it their bread-and-butter in comic book creation.  I’m talking Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and the like.  They would go on to bankroll their careers during this era and became very rich, to the point where they branched out and created Image comics.  But, that’s a whole other topic.  The idea here is that they took a provocative piece of work and, instead of taking all the aspects of its success into play, took one aspect and milked it for what it was worth, not considering subtext or substance.  But it made money, and even made life-long comic fans out of most of us.  I wouldn’t put it past Hollywood to attempt the same thing.  In fact, they did, or attempted to.

Once seeing the success of The Dark Knight, the idea that a reboot was needed became very popular.  However, the dark and edgy nature of the film became the focal point because it worked so well with The Dark Knight.  Yet, they missed the point as to why it was that way.  It was a provocative piece of film that was introspective while dark and edgy.  Like the aforementioned graphic novels, it set a precedent for how great a film can be as a comic book film.  So much so, that, The Dark Knight’s success was paramount to the addition of more nominees for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.  Yes, it was done to silence the fans who complained about TDK’s absence, but in hindsight, it gave comic book movies a great deal of value.  Now, if you’re going to make a comic book film, you can see how a good one is made by looking at The Dark Knight.  However, instead of trying to make the movie gritty, realistic, dark, and edgy, without considering the other aspects of the film, take the comic book film, stick to the subject matter, treat it with respect and care to the best of your ability, and you’ll have an  awesome film.   That’s why The Dark Knight works.  They take the subject matter and don’t steer too far from it, but close enough to make it seem like a Batman film.  However, the movie takes cues here and there to give it a life of its own, like the portrayal of the Joker and Batman’s reaction to it along with his inner battle to make the right decision about his vigilantism.  However, it would be easy to miss all of this and focus on the dark aspect only since that is Batman’s biggest selling point, or at least has become such over the years.  Thank goodness for Marvel’s plan to make their string of movies that lead to The Avengers, starting with Iron Man.  That showed that you don’t have to be The Dark Knight, but if you keep an eye on the subject matter, and do it a modicum of justice, you’ll have a solid movie for purists and non-fans alike. 

That’s the key to the success to The Avengers and The Dark Knight: embracing the subject matter, treating it with some respect, and not trying to steer away from what makes the comic work.  In other words, bring the comic to life, and if you have to put a spin on it, do so, but don’t stray from it, at least not so dramatically that fans will cry foul.  Batman needed a reboot because both Batman Forever and Batman and Robin were abominable.  The characters were treated horribly, the story was hokey, and the actors didn’t try to make them any better.  Joel Schumacher will never be seen as a competent director again, if he was seen as one to begin with.  When Batman Begins and The Dark Knight came into play, the fans rejoiced because the movies returned to form, and the actors did a great job holding it together.  Christopher Nolan could not have been happier.  After the success of X-men and Spider Man in film, Marvel took to task the creation of their studios for movie production, in an attempt to not only profit off of it, but to add a more accurate spin to the movies they are overseeing.  Even though X-men and Spider Man had successful movie franchises, they are or were still wrought with negatives that caused both franchises to reboot.  I’m talking creative differences between the director and the studio, with or without Marvel in the middle.  Both mentioned franchises are owned exclusively by the studios that were given to them, which gives them carte-blanche to do whatever they want with their franchises.  This is something Marvel agreed to, and in the end, it didn’t do the franchises any good as the movie quality dwindled.  When Marvel made the decision to get into the movie making business, they made sure to get whatever franchises they could to start a closer knit relationship to the movies they make with the stories they are connected with in the comics, making for a story or cues closer to that in the comics.  This would make some of the more dedicated fans happy, and in turn, new fans interested.  And, as you can see with the results and reviews, it has worked immensely.

Marvel and DC have two great movies to hang their hats on as flat-out success stories and could literally use them as a means to attempt any other film endeavor they choose.  However, if they do, they have to see why each movie succeeded initially.  Both movies gave the fans compelling moments, amazing scenes, great acting, and something to remember as they left theaters.  While the approaches are different, the response was very much the same.  Now, does this mean every movie should be another TDK or Avengers?  No.  All it means is that it’s best to stick with what brought you to the dance and not try to re-invent the wheel.  Superman shouldn’t be dark and gritty, Spider Man should be making jokes, and the X-men should act as a team with equal precedence and still have to worry about the more serious issues, and so on.  You have a library of great forms of character development, stories, and ideas to adapt from in comics.  Don’t shy away from it.  Embrace it.  Make it your own but remember why it works.  Now, it’s time to get my tickets for the final Dark Knight film under Nolan’s direction and count the days until DC attempts to “assemble”  the other major super team that comics revere as the mightiest of mighty.  Oh, it will happen.  You will see black cowl and the red cape next to the golden lasso, a red blur, and a green ring or arrow in a film together.  It’s just a matter of when.