I think the fact that ‘Black Lightning,’ ‘Luke Cage’ and ‘Black Panther’ have each made noise in their own way will only lead to different superheroes and different genres.
Certainly, your characters – whether they are superheroes are not – should have foibles. They should have problems; they should have things that their powers can’t solve. That’s what makes them nuanced, interesting characters. They can have intense motivations. They should have intense motivations to do what they do.
It sounds cliched, but superheroes can be lonely, vain, arrogant and proud. Often they overcome these human frailties for the greater good.
The problem for me is that ‘Watchmen,’ one of the great comics of all time, is a look at superheroes that has gone beyond the concept of or necessity for superheroes.
Times have changed. And as the audience changes, so do the superheroes.
I’m passionate about fantasy movies. I’m passionate about comic book movies. I’m passionate about superheroes. And movies about vengeance. And all of that – the stuff that I grew up reading.
As athletes, it is our responsibility to be role models. But we are not superheroes.
I enjoyed ‘The Avengers.’ I couldn’t do that kind of movie though. Superheroes aren’t my deal.
I think there’s nothing wrong with being fixated on superheroes when you are 7 years old, but I think there’s a disease in not growing up.
When I was a teenager, I felt my life was constrained by rules, school, my parents. I wanted to feel like I was empowered and different; that’s why superheroes, comics, manga, and video games filled my needs. When I got older, I realized power is not free; it comes with responsibility.
I have never met a superhero, but why are we so obsessed with superheroes?
There is a very diverse range of superheroes, especially with the Firestorm character. In the comics, there is a black Firestorm. But we still don’t see that many black superheroes. So what The CW is doing and what DC Comics is doing with this whole universe with diversity is absolutely amazing.
Superwoman is one of those superheroes that knows her power and is very comfortable in her power.
Most superheroes are young or in their 20s, and as you can see with Black Lightning, he’s in his mid-40s and he has a family, so that affects you a bit differently as opposed to being a young, single superhero.
I think supporting casts in comics are missing. I think a lot of the time in comics, all we have are people in costumes talking to other people in costumes, superheroes talking to superheroes and supervillains, and that’s it.
I’m happy I can sit home in my office and make up stories about superheroes. And I only have to deal with a pretty limited amount of people to get those comics produced.
A lot of superheroes today are a little self-righteous, and what’s cool about ‘Deadpool’ is that he seems like a guy that you could meet at the 7-Eleven down the street.
Firefighters and rescue workers are American superheroes.
I always revisit duality because I think it’s a conflict we all have. I think we all leave our house and go to work, and we put on the cape and become superheroes. That’s what we do. It’s how we move through life and handle negativity: you do everything you can to stay away from it.
I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I got to direct a movie involving three of my favorite things in the world: space operas, Marvel superheroes and raccoons.
Some of the greatest actors have turned superheroes into a serious business: Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in ‘Batman’; Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, the first venerable knights of the X-Men, who have now passed the baton to Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy.
For too long, history has imposed a binary condition on its black citizens: either nameless or renowned, menial or exceptional, passive recipients of the forces of history or superheroes who acquire mythic status not just because of their deeds but because of their scarcity.
The representation of gay characters on screen is important for us all to think about because there are sadly too few representations of gay characters on screen in mainstream cinema. If Marvel starts making movies about gay superheroes, then we’ll be in a really great place. We’re not at that place.
Now that we’re poisoned with the culture of superheroes, I think it’s important to laugh about it.
