The dark turn of superheroes is certainly not new. Those comics they were written mostly in the seventies, after giving a twist to the traditional paladins, to engender a new caste more in keeping with a society that no longer read conflicts in black and white. And the first film adaptations came in the ’90s, with “The Crow” (Brandon Lee’s death during filming made the film a movie legend) and the “dark-man” by Sam Raimi (played by Liam Neeson), about a disfigured scientist who becomes obsessed with revenge. Today that avenging spirit is what drives “The Batman” (the caped man himself makes it his motto), and other superheroes willing to seek justice by their own hands without the limits of the more sympathetic versions of the 50s and 60s.
dark
“batman” has become the biggest box office hit of the year. And the movie might as well have set a new standard for success: darker superheroes.
And not just in a metaphorical sense. Almost 100% of the film takes place at night. Robert Pattinson’s vigilante superhero does his job in heavy rain, dark rooms and a bunker-like nightclub. And one of the few daytime sequences in the story takes place at a funeral, almost by contrast. “I am the shadowsBatman mutters in a voiceover before materializing in a crypt-like subway station to beat up a gang.
For the filmmakers who inherited a film franchise defined by darkness, the job was to take the three-hour movie to a new level. And while fans and critics have debated whether the film needs such a level of darkness, its filmmakers believe this mood works especially well on film. “If you sit in a theater for a long period of time, there comes a point where your eyes adjust.
The narrow color scale of the film helps to distract the viewer less from the story,” says “The Batman” cinematographer Greig Fraser, author of “Zero Dark Thirty,” and 2022 Oscar nominee for the somber look from the sci-fi movie “Dune”. “The Batman was the most difficult lighting job I’ve ever done,” he said. An illumination that was compared with that of others serial killer thrillers David Fincher’s “Se7en” and “Zodiac”.
It’s that the Dark Knight is here also chasing a serial killer, the Riddler, and borrows from “Joker,” the 2019 hit (it garnered 11 Oscar nominations, a record for a comic book movie), the dirty look from 1970 movies dedicated to killers with mental illnesses.
avengers
In tune with “The Batman”, a Marvel superhero who has often been compared to the Dark Knight arrived at Disney+ -on March 30: “Moon Knight”. Created by Doug Moench and Don Perlin in 1975, the character has had more than one comparison to DC Comics’ most famous hero (sorry Superman), just as Thanos and Deadpool were based on DC creations like Darkseid and Deadstroke respectively.
In this case Moon Knight is embodied by oscar isaacwho had already been part of the Star Wars universe and now makes his debut in the Marvel Universe (MCU for its acronym in English) with a complicated superhero: he has dissociative identity disorder, and his different personalities include Marc Spector, Steven Grant and Mr Knight.
Steven is a shy Englishman living in London, and learns of his dark past: Marc was a mercenary who was in turn possessed by the Egyptian god of the moon, Khonshu. “He is a solitary superhero, who would get along with the Hulk”, Isaac spoiled and everyone is already speculating about the appearance in the series of Mark Ruffalo, who has already confirmed that he will reprise his role as Bruce Banner/Hulk in “She-Hulk” , which will be released sometime in 2022 after Ms. Marvel. “Moon Knight will be in the MCU the next 10 years. He is a very interesting character.
He is probably the most interesting character for any actor. Oscar has done a great job. People already like it, even from the trailer. I think the program is going to resonate”, finished the director Mohamed Diab. A superhero that will surely interact with others recently released by Marvel/Disney: the Black Knight that Kit Harrington will play (the Jon Snow of “Game of Throne”, and the Jared Leto’s Morbius (who had already embodied the Joker in the DC universe). Nocturnes.
“Moon Knight”, who first appeared in the comics in issue 32 of “Werewolf by Night”, in which as a mercenary he takes on the mission of capturing a werewolf, only came to his own magazine in 1980 with stories of supernatural court. A genre that relates it to the “Ghost Rider” who embodied Nicholas Cage (the incarnated demon who could return in a reversed version), and with “Morbius”, the vampire who is one of the villains of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, and who follows in the footsteps of “Venom” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”.
In this case, the Jared Leto-starring film (which hits theaters March 31) is another addition to the gallery of antiheroes Sony is building, a relationship adjacent to the MCU thanks to the franchise. spider-man, which excites fans for the possible bridges with the series and movies that Disney now concentrates. Morbius, who has already appeared in the post-credits scenes of “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”, follows an atypical vampire, who combines the rocker spirit of David Bowie in “The Hunger”, with the elegance of the bloodsuckers of Anne’s novels. Rice (the one from “Interview with the Vampire”).
“I have always loved vampires. I love Anne Rice novels.. One of the first movies I saw was Dracula, in black and white. Since then, they have always caught my attention,” Leto pointed out. “Although Morbius is not exactly a vampire, he has some of his qualities,” he continued, explaining the plot of the film and the character, a kind of hybrid that has been infected with a disease that changes him. The film adds Matt Smith, Adria Arjona (Ricaro’s daughter), Jared Harris, and Tyrese Gibson, and links to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man universe through Michael Keaton, the villain of “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” .
gloomy
Jared Leto crosses the comic house like this after having participated as the Joker in “suicide squad”, the franchise based on Batman that stars the murderous clown’s henchman: Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). With a sequel in 2021 under the direction of James Gunn (the one from “Guardians of the Galaxy”), the story in turn had a recent spinoff: the acclaimed “Peacemaker”, which premiered on January 13 on HBO Max.
With John Cena as the protagonist, “The Peacemaker” appears as a goofy, Trumpist version of Marvel’s Punisher who appears as a critic of the world of superheroes in general: the burly Cena, a former WWE wrestler, is comfortable being the caricature of that universe. The Peacemaker is placed in the custody of an elite team, tasked with carrying out assassinations to prevent further danger. Team made up of Danielle Brooks who reappears in a leading role after her outstanding participation in “Orange is the New Black”, and Chukwudi Iwuji (“This is how they see us”) at the helm.
With 8 applauded episodes, it is expected to have a second season in 2023, while the third season of “TheBoys”, the Amazon Prime Video series of psychopathic superheroes, which has just released the trailer for what will be the new installment of the adaptation of the comic book written by Garth Ennis, which stars Billy Butcher (played by Karl Urban), a that mercenary who seeks revenge, against a reverted Superman who raped his wife. Line that sums up the extremely dark turn of a genre that was entirely adapted to adult audiences.
by RN
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