Post by Toph on May 13, 2012 18:53:36 GMT
One of the most frustraiting things, is when a terrific property is given a poor adaptation into another medium, or sometimes even worse, when it's not given a chance at all.
On another board (Toyark), there's a lot of discussion that DC does not have any marketable characters, where as Marvel has tons, and that's why they're doing so much better.
That's something which I strongly dissagree with. I feel DC has a ton of characters that could hold their own just as well as Superman or Batman, and become just as recognizable as Ironman, or Captain America (Both of which were considered c-list characters 20 years ago. Extremely obscure X-Force villains had better chances at getting toys than they did).
I feel if Warner Bros. put any faith behind their properties, and put them into the right hands, then Flash, Green Arrow, Wonderwoman would be every bit as successful as Dark Knight, and Ironman.
On top of that, with Ultimate Spiderman feeling like it's scraping the bottom of the barrel, it's really made me think. What properties out there do you feel could be adapted into either film, animation, or live action TV? Doesn't have to be Marvel or DC, only used those as examples.
Batgirl- An animated series, I think batgirl is recognizable enough to hold her own. And if written by writers who understand how to make strong female characetrs, she could easily be a role model for boys and girls both. In this series, Batman is present, but takes a back seat. He's more of force... an omnipresence.
Main characters:
Batgirl/Stephanie Brown- A collage freshman, Steph is no stranger to the viglante game. In her highschool days, she was enamored with tales of Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. With them as inspiration, she created The Spoiler, and using her gymnastic skills, managed to foil many smalltime crimes. However after nearly getting herself killed during a mob hit gone wrong, she was forced to give it up. When she discovers that teacher of her Criminal Psychology class, Barbara Gordan was the former Batgirl, it reignites that fire in her. Against Barbara's will, she dons her new mentor's cowl, and takes up the mantle of Batgirl.
Oracle/Professor Barbara Gordan- The former Batgirl, Barbara was paralized by the Joker, one fateful night. Since then, she has dedicated her resources to becoming the Oracle, and being a bbehind the scenes player in coordinating Gotham's, as well as many other city's viglantes. At first, she forbids Steph from using Batgirl, and refuses to have anything to do with her.
However, after being discovered and captured by the criminal mastermind, and her villainous counterpart, the Calculator, she reluctantly desides to mentor and train Stephanie, after she's rescued by the new Batgirl.
Huntress- A close ally of Barbara, Huntress reluctantly agrees to train Stephanie how to fight, and how to not get killed. Usually ends up having to bail her out if she gets in over her head.
Robin/Tim Drake- The third "Boy Wonder," it doesn't take long for Robin's path to cross with the new Batgirl's. Sent by Batman to "test," her, Drake and Brown become fast friends. Through the course of the series, Tim is eventually inspired to spread his own wings, and follow in the original Robin's footsteps, by creating an identity for himself and becoming Red Robin. "Red Robin...? We'll work on it, Timmy." As Steph would reply.
Ultimate Spiderman- Simply because the actual USM is so sub-par, and doesn't live up to the name. For Spiderman's personality, I draw mostly from the USM comic. I do go my own way on a few elements though.
Main Characters:
Spiderman/Peter Parker- A high strung highschooler, Pete lives an extremely stressful double life. Tends to get freaked out easily. Really takes to heart his uncle's saying "With great power, comes great responcibility." However, he's still a rookie, and ends up getting by by the skin of his teeth. Spiderman came into his own and came under everyone's radar when he successfully put the kibosh on the villainous CEO, Normal Osborn.
Black Cat/Felicia Harding- Intially given the Super Soldier Syrum by the Kingpin, he threatens her scientist father to force her to doing his dirty work, becoming a catburgler. When she's ordered to take out Spiderman, she's moved when he offers to help rescue her father instead.
Firestar/Angelica Jones- A young homeless mutant, thrown out of her house and family when her powers first manifested, she's still eager to do the right thing, pretecting a world that hates and fears her. She feels a kinship to the eqally ostricized Spiderman because of that fact. Eventually, she's taken in by Aunt May.
Goblin/Harry Osborn- Peter's childhood best friend. He blaimed Spiderman for the destruction of his father, and doned the technology to create the Green Goblin. Using it, he set out to kill Spiderman and get revenge. However, when he unmasked Spiderman and discovered his true identity, he realized that Pete wouldn't lie to him. Turning himself around, he vowed to use this same technology to make up for his father's sins. Aunt May also takes him in.
Mary Jane Watson-- Pete's longtime love interest, and childhood friend, she, Pete, and Harry grew up together. After discovering Pete's identity pretty early on, she's been his best support in keeping his double life a secret from Aunt May,a nd their school mates. While their relationship may be rocky, she always has his back, and never lets on how badly his double life stresses her, or the nightmares she faces.
Daredevil/Matt Murdock- The Man Without Fear has been active for many years, with taking down Kingpin being his top priority. However, as of late there are several rookies with very little idea of what their doing, screwing things up. On separate occasions, Spiderman, Goblin, Firestar, and Blackcat have all screwed up different chanced he's had to bust Kingpin once and for all. Understanding that they all mean well enough, and have the raw talent to be something great in their own right, Daredevil gets tired of their meddling and eventually gathers the four up, to train them himself. To work as a team, and to become better on individual levels.
Supporting cast:
Nick Fury- Figured out the identities of all these young rookies almost immidiately, and has had SHIELD watching them closely ever sense. Feels a personal responcibility for Peter Parker, as his mother was once one of his top agents, and feels responcible for the deaths of both his parents, leaving him to be orphaned at a very young age. He has diverted resources to help protect and maintain Parker's identity, more than he has for any others. See's the potential for something great in Peter. While having gone most of Peter's life without the two formally meeting, he has always been a background player in Peter's life.
Aunt May Parker- A sharp cookie, it didn't take long for Aunt May to figure out Peter is Spiderman. Innitially hated Fury, and blaimed him for her Neice's death, she and her husband Ben took Peter in and raised their nephew as their own. She has since begun to come around and stopped blaiming Fury for things beyond his control, and accepted his help in providing a safehouse for Spiderman and "his amazing friends."
Kingpin- The main villain of the series, Kingpin is the "Nick Fury" of organized Crime. He has his hands in everything, but at the same time, extremely difficult to prove he has connections to anything. One of the most popular New York socialites, he keeps his approval ratings and opinions of him high, by building hospitals, donating to orphanages, and showing a lot of humanitarian work. Fury knows he's as corrupt as it gets, and all his charity work is just a cover. Small cost to him for the fortune he makes through illigal means. But even Fury has a hard time making anything stick to him. Instead, he allows Daredevil to keep trying to bring him down, and allowing Daredevil to take the political heat if he fails.
-I followed some of the themes the actual USM cartoon has set up, such as other teenaged rookie heroes. But used ones that make more sense to the spiderman franchise.
I would have used Iceman, Kitty, and Torch, but felt that Marvel would probably prefer to leave them more attached to their respective X-Men and F4 properties.
Scaled back the presence SHIELD has, and decided to use the very underused Daredevil (Who has a simular shtick as Spiderman) to be the group's mentor and trainer.
Fury and SHIELD still has a presence, but they work more in the background.
Also feel that Kingpin is one of the more underused Marvel villains, and with strong ties to both Spiderman and Daredevil, as well as removing Osborn before the series even starts, Kingpin makes a lot of sense as the omnipresent main villain.
On another board (Toyark), there's a lot of discussion that DC does not have any marketable characters, where as Marvel has tons, and that's why they're doing so much better.
That's something which I strongly dissagree with. I feel DC has a ton of characters that could hold their own just as well as Superman or Batman, and become just as recognizable as Ironman, or Captain America (Both of which were considered c-list characters 20 years ago. Extremely obscure X-Force villains had better chances at getting toys than they did).
I feel if Warner Bros. put any faith behind their properties, and put them into the right hands, then Flash, Green Arrow, Wonderwoman would be every bit as successful as Dark Knight, and Ironman.
On top of that, with Ultimate Spiderman feeling like it's scraping the bottom of the barrel, it's really made me think. What properties out there do you feel could be adapted into either film, animation, or live action TV? Doesn't have to be Marvel or DC, only used those as examples.
Batgirl- An animated series, I think batgirl is recognizable enough to hold her own. And if written by writers who understand how to make strong female characetrs, she could easily be a role model for boys and girls both. In this series, Batman is present, but takes a back seat. He's more of force... an omnipresence.
Main characters:
Batgirl/Stephanie Brown- A collage freshman, Steph is no stranger to the viglante game. In her highschool days, she was enamored with tales of Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. With them as inspiration, she created The Spoiler, and using her gymnastic skills, managed to foil many smalltime crimes. However after nearly getting herself killed during a mob hit gone wrong, she was forced to give it up. When she discovers that teacher of her Criminal Psychology class, Barbara Gordan was the former Batgirl, it reignites that fire in her. Against Barbara's will, she dons her new mentor's cowl, and takes up the mantle of Batgirl.
Oracle/Professor Barbara Gordan- The former Batgirl, Barbara was paralized by the Joker, one fateful night. Since then, she has dedicated her resources to becoming the Oracle, and being a bbehind the scenes player in coordinating Gotham's, as well as many other city's viglantes. At first, she forbids Steph from using Batgirl, and refuses to have anything to do with her.
However, after being discovered and captured by the criminal mastermind, and her villainous counterpart, the Calculator, she reluctantly desides to mentor and train Stephanie, after she's rescued by the new Batgirl.
Huntress- A close ally of Barbara, Huntress reluctantly agrees to train Stephanie how to fight, and how to not get killed. Usually ends up having to bail her out if she gets in over her head.
Robin/Tim Drake- The third "Boy Wonder," it doesn't take long for Robin's path to cross with the new Batgirl's. Sent by Batman to "test," her, Drake and Brown become fast friends. Through the course of the series, Tim is eventually inspired to spread his own wings, and follow in the original Robin's footsteps, by creating an identity for himself and becoming Red Robin. "Red Robin...? We'll work on it, Timmy." As Steph would reply.
Ultimate Spiderman- Simply because the actual USM is so sub-par, and doesn't live up to the name. For Spiderman's personality, I draw mostly from the USM comic. I do go my own way on a few elements though.
Main Characters:
Spiderman/Peter Parker- A high strung highschooler, Pete lives an extremely stressful double life. Tends to get freaked out easily. Really takes to heart his uncle's saying "With great power, comes great responcibility." However, he's still a rookie, and ends up getting by by the skin of his teeth. Spiderman came into his own and came under everyone's radar when he successfully put the kibosh on the villainous CEO, Normal Osborn.
Black Cat/Felicia Harding- Intially given the Super Soldier Syrum by the Kingpin, he threatens her scientist father to force her to doing his dirty work, becoming a catburgler. When she's ordered to take out Spiderman, she's moved when he offers to help rescue her father instead.
Firestar/Angelica Jones- A young homeless mutant, thrown out of her house and family when her powers first manifested, she's still eager to do the right thing, pretecting a world that hates and fears her. She feels a kinship to the eqally ostricized Spiderman because of that fact. Eventually, she's taken in by Aunt May.
Goblin/Harry Osborn- Peter's childhood best friend. He blaimed Spiderman for the destruction of his father, and doned the technology to create the Green Goblin. Using it, he set out to kill Spiderman and get revenge. However, when he unmasked Spiderman and discovered his true identity, he realized that Pete wouldn't lie to him. Turning himself around, he vowed to use this same technology to make up for his father's sins. Aunt May also takes him in.
Mary Jane Watson-- Pete's longtime love interest, and childhood friend, she, Pete, and Harry grew up together. After discovering Pete's identity pretty early on, she's been his best support in keeping his double life a secret from Aunt May,a nd their school mates. While their relationship may be rocky, she always has his back, and never lets on how badly his double life stresses her, or the nightmares she faces.
Daredevil/Matt Murdock- The Man Without Fear has been active for many years, with taking down Kingpin being his top priority. However, as of late there are several rookies with very little idea of what their doing, screwing things up. On separate occasions, Spiderman, Goblin, Firestar, and Blackcat have all screwed up different chanced he's had to bust Kingpin once and for all. Understanding that they all mean well enough, and have the raw talent to be something great in their own right, Daredevil gets tired of their meddling and eventually gathers the four up, to train them himself. To work as a team, and to become better on individual levels.
Supporting cast:
Nick Fury- Figured out the identities of all these young rookies almost immidiately, and has had SHIELD watching them closely ever sense. Feels a personal responcibility for Peter Parker, as his mother was once one of his top agents, and feels responcible for the deaths of both his parents, leaving him to be orphaned at a very young age. He has diverted resources to help protect and maintain Parker's identity, more than he has for any others. See's the potential for something great in Peter. While having gone most of Peter's life without the two formally meeting, he has always been a background player in Peter's life.
Aunt May Parker- A sharp cookie, it didn't take long for Aunt May to figure out Peter is Spiderman. Innitially hated Fury, and blaimed him for her Neice's death, she and her husband Ben took Peter in and raised their nephew as their own. She has since begun to come around and stopped blaiming Fury for things beyond his control, and accepted his help in providing a safehouse for Spiderman and "his amazing friends."
Kingpin- The main villain of the series, Kingpin is the "Nick Fury" of organized Crime. He has his hands in everything, but at the same time, extremely difficult to prove he has connections to anything. One of the most popular New York socialites, he keeps his approval ratings and opinions of him high, by building hospitals, donating to orphanages, and showing a lot of humanitarian work. Fury knows he's as corrupt as it gets, and all his charity work is just a cover. Small cost to him for the fortune he makes through illigal means. But even Fury has a hard time making anything stick to him. Instead, he allows Daredevil to keep trying to bring him down, and allowing Daredevil to take the political heat if he fails.
-I followed some of the themes the actual USM cartoon has set up, such as other teenaged rookie heroes. But used ones that make more sense to the spiderman franchise.
I would have used Iceman, Kitty, and Torch, but felt that Marvel would probably prefer to leave them more attached to their respective X-Men and F4 properties.
Scaled back the presence SHIELD has, and decided to use the very underused Daredevil (Who has a simular shtick as Spiderman) to be the group's mentor and trainer.
Fury and SHIELD still has a presence, but they work more in the background.
Also feel that Kingpin is one of the more underused Marvel villains, and with strong ties to both Spiderman and Daredevil, as well as removing Osborn before the series even starts, Kingpin makes a lot of sense as the omnipresent main villain.
