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The 3 most important superhero films

A recent episode of one of my favorite podcasts, The Top 10 Show, hosted weekly by Matt Knost and John Rocha focused on their top ten favorite Marvel movies along with special guest, Marc Andreyko. During the episode, the trio discussed the excellent Marvel film, Logan, which led to some very interesting insight from Marc discussing why Logan along with The Dark Knight and Wonder Woman are the three most important comic book movies. I'd like to share and elaborate on Marc's sentiments.

Marc Andreyko, himself, is a long-time comic book writer and has had success writing for Doctor Strange and DC Comics' Manhunter among others; he loves the comic-book genre as much as anyone and has also received an Eisner award for Best Anthology with his comic, Love is Love. During this installment of The Top 10 Show March conveyed his thoughts on why these three films are among the most important among all comic-book movies because these films are based off comic books but are not really comic book films. Wonder Woman is a war film, The Dark Knight is a crime drama, Logan is a Western and all three just happened to be based off comic-books.

I very much agree with Marc's thoughts since most comic book films lie solely in the superhero genre by focusing on the tropes and themes of a superhero story. The previously mentioned films transcend the superhero genre. The Dark Knight is a crime drama that doesn't just focus on Batman taking down The Joker. In the film's early stages Batman even states that taking down the Mob is more important than one man in clown makeup. Now of course, The Dark Knight, features superhero elements such as an exciting highway chase sequence and our hero taking down multiple bad guys at once but also includes courtroom drama and tense mob scenes that could fit in Goodfellas. 

Wonder Woman is the one I am most skeptical about in terms of standing apart from the superhero films. While the film does take place in World War I for the most part, there is also a great deal of comic-book moments such as an ancient prophecy in the first act that will ultimately relate to our hero and even an explosive, over the top climatic showdown with the God of War, Ares. However, Wonder Woman does prove to be a very good war film by demonstrating the horrors of World War I as German soldiers even make their way to the shores of Themyscira, Wonder Woman's home. Diana a.k.a. Wonder Woman isn't just fighting in a World War to defeat the big baddie in Ares; she's fighting because she experiences all those suffering from the horrors of war such as crying woman and her child in the trenches causing our hero to lead an inspiring charge into No Man's Land. Wonder Woman is, of course, an incredibly important film as it shows Hollywood that a female-led comic book movie can be awesome and perform at the box office which Wonder Woman did in superb fashion.

Perhaps my favorite Marvel movie, Logan is the story of an old warrior devoid of hope and purpose minus taking care of the most dangerous mind in the world in a very sick Professor X. Logan pays strong homage to the classic western film, Shane, from featuring the main character being the title of the film to featuring a monologue from Shane itself.  Logan mostly feels like a Western because of the freshness the film brought to the superhero genre by presenting grizzled, physically and psychology damaged characters who don't fit with the standard formula of superhero movies. Logan forgoes the superhero genre and does so with flying colors.


Marc Andreyko has provided excellent insight on the comic book genre and I highly recommend checking his appearance on the latest episode of The Top 10 Show which you can find on the Podcast app as well as the SK Plus YouTube channel.

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