When people talk about the great superhero movies, it's a bunch of names everyone knows that get passed around. Superman the Movie, Superman 2, Batman (1989), X2: X-Men United, and Spider-Man 2. But for the majority, the contest for best superhero movie comes down to a battle between two relatively young movies: The Dark Knight, and The Avengers (not the Sean Connery one).
But why are these the most popular? Why can no one agree ultimately on which is better? Why does the Fan Dumb on both sides feel the need to constantly be at war with each other? Why do so many people argue in favor of TDK, when Avengers was one of the highest-grossing movies of all time? And which one is the better film? Okay, that last question is purely opinion based, so that's not really one that can be definitively answered. But nevertheless, I shall attempt to tackle all of these today, and then proceed to ignore the inevitable backlash from the cults of Whedon and Nolan, assuming any of them actually bother to read this poor excuse for a blog.
The Dark Knight is often regarded as the movie that proved superhero films could actually have good stories, and be grounded in reality. While its predecessor, Batman Begins, attempted this, it didn't ultimately achieve the same heights as the sequel. But why? Where did BB fail, but TDK succeed? Well, I think the obvious answer is the villain. Let's be honest, if you remember any Batman villains at all, The Joker is at the top of the list. Not to mention the fact that Nolan and Ledger worked out an absolutely brilliant place to take the character. I have seen many, many villains in film, but I can honestly say, The Joker ranks right up there with Hannibal Lecter as one of the best and most memorable. Even if Ledger hadn't died, he'd still have been a serious contender for the Oscar. The man has practically been martyred for the film now, and it's had a huge effect on its popularity. It also does raise some good questions about how we deal with criminals in the real world, and at what point has the battle against crime escalated too far? How do we keep ourselves from going too far? And where is it that we finally draw the line? This was a huge part of the movie, and it is a great debate. Essentially, TDK did for superhero movies what Watchmen did for comic books, or at least something very similar.
So if TDK has so much going for it, why do so many people argue in favor of Avengers? I think for that one, you need to look at the reasons people love that movie, and what made it different from TDK. When people explain why they love Avengers, they often say the humor, the characters, the action, and essentially the fun. Avengers is a very fun movie. Most of the comics fans who love it say that it's like the comic was actually on the screen. I think that's really the tipping point here. TDK is all about taking Batman and The Joker, and changing them to apply to the real world. Avengers is more about taking the world of the comics, and subtlety tweaking it just enough that it seems semi-plausible in the real world, but still maintains the spirit of fun and adventure from the comics. Avengers openly embraces its origins, whereas TDK tries to steer away from them. Both worked extremely well. The difference is, you watch The Dark Knight to see something that, theoretically, could happen in our real world, but we certainly hope it won't. But when you watch The Avengers, you're here to see something from a world that we absolutely do not live in, and yet, in a strange way, want to. Because the possibilities of the world of the Avengers are way beyond anything in our world. Anything can happen, and given enough time, it probably will.
So, where do I stand on this debate? Well, prepare for controversy everyone, because what I'm about to say is probably going to upset someone. I think The Dark Knight is better than The Avengers. But, I think Avengers is a much more enjoyable movie. While TDK does have some good enjoyable bits, it's just nowhere near the sheer fun of Avengers. And it's not just the action, the humor and character bits in Avengers really outdo TDK. Sure, TDK had very realistic characters, but can anyone seriously tell me they would rather watch Bruce Wayne than Tony Stark? Come on. The Avengers is at its core, everything we loved about the comics come to life. Both movies transcended the boundaries of superhero films, but in different ways. TDK deconstructed the superhero movie, and showed how these concepts would likely work in the real world. Avengers reminded us why we fell in love with superheroes in the first place, and how they can be adapted to suit our needs as a changing audience. TDK changed the unrealistic into the realistic. Avengers took the realistic, and found a way to coexist with the unrealistic. That's why Marvel's The Avengers is my favorite movie. It's a movie that encourages us to dream of the impossible, and find a way to make it happen.
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