Suspense (With a Little Suspension of Disbelief)

So... suspense. You thought I was trying to dodge that bullet, huh?

First of all, curious that THE GUY WHO HATES HITCHCOCK is so hung up on suspense, or rather, his perceived lack of suspense in comic book movies. True, in a lot of these movies – especially the ones you know are destined for endless franchising – there is the assumption that our main guy isn't going to croak. But is that all that suspense boils down to? What about the suspense in how – or if (not always a given) – he'll win the girl (probably not), alienate all his friends, save the girl, or the kitten, or the subway car full of people, and take down the big baddie. There are a lot variables there, and I think, especially with the increasingly dark bent contemporary comic book movies are taking (in, yes, an increasingly bleak American landscape), that c.b. movies are willing to go to some surprising places.

Case in point....

Spoilertastic, after the break:

Never would I have expected Jean Grey to commit symbolic hari kari in X2. (Of course, when I did a little Wikipedia wandering after the movie, I realized the comics had already covered her death/Phoenix's birth, many times over.) X-Men: The Last Stand dropped a couple more bombs by offing Prof. Xavier and Cyclops, if I remember correctly. (I've only seen it the once – in an omigod-i'm-so-excited Thursday at 11:59pm screening at the Alamo Village – and I don't plan on seeing it again. In other words, thanks, Brett Ratner, for shitting all over my favorite franchise.)

Sure, the X-Men are an anomaly – there are lots of 'em, so a few are bound to get offed. The majority of comic book movies starring, you know, a single -Man, are probably not going to have said -Man go curtains on us. And, yup, just like I said, he's 100% for sure going to save the world.

But at what cost? You scoff at these films for having no emotional content, no depth, but I'd argue that that's largely where the suspense – and the pathos – of comic book movies lies. Our superhero friends most likely won't lose their lives in the process, but the emotional self-sacrifice – that's where the good stuff is. In their double lives, in the misunderstanding of their friends, families, government, media, etc., the normalcy they must give up in order to serve and protect.

By the way, you know Indiana Jones is never gonna kick it, either. You want to write him off, too?