I enjoy superhero films, but one thing I’ve noticed over the years is the plethora of origin stories with regards to superheroes: Batman, Superman, X-Men (i.e. after X-Men 3), and Spiderman. It seems that with every reboot, an origin story must be in the works.
Each iteration is almost the same but with differences in the cast, direction, villains, etc. It makes me wonder if in each one, are the filmmakers trying to enlighten or educate us on something new about the superheroes? What knowledge was missing from the last iteration? Did they acquire new powers or abilities? Is another origin story necessary to inform us of who the superheroes are or why they exist?
Batman went through 4 different iterations already beginning with Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Christopher Nolan, Zach Snyder, and now Matt Reeves (the 5th iteration in The Batman). Each director brings a certain style, and each actor brings a distinct look and attitude to Bruce Wayne/Batman. Spiderman went through 3 iterations already starting with Sam Raimi, Marc Webb, and Jon Watts. Like the Batman films, each director brought their own style, and each actor brought a distinctive personality to Peter Parker.
In addition to all the comics and animated shows on these characters, it seems redundant to retell their origin story again and again. Irregardless of the redundancies, perhaps the bottom line is to reboot the franchise for future sequels. It’s as if the storyline cannot move forward until a new cast and team of filmmakers have started at square 1. If a new cast and team of filmmakers came on board–another reboot (square 1 again).
I find them unnecessary, to be honest, since each origin story has already been told. It might look newer and fancier with the newest special effects and CGI, but it’s essentially the same story all over again.
Fallton Havenstonne 