Posted: 18 February 2018 at 2:30am | IP Logged | 6
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"Soap opera characters are played by actors who age."
And sometimes they're recast because the actors aren't aging fast enough! A lot of babies suddenly become teenagers and a lot of teenage characters suddenly become 20-somethings--all to open up story possibilities!
But I'm not the one who included soap opera elements into Marvel comics, that was Stan Lee! And he was right! I was always at least as interested in what was happening in Peter Parker's private life as I was in the super-heroics of Spider-Man. And a lot of that was tied to his aging and time passing.
Honestly looking at the big picture, I don't want a 16 year-old Spider-Man. I don't even want a 19 year-old Spider-Man. I'm perfectly happy with a 25-28 year-old Spider-Man! Younger than most of his fellow heroes, but not a kid. I enjoyed Ditko's kid Spider-Man, I can't see anybody else matching that.
Most of Marvel's big guns don't need to be kept "forever young." Tony Stark could be 50 and it wouldn't hurt anything (in many ways it would make sense), Bruce Banner should be at least 45 (it's weird to see him still being drawn as 30 years old--he NEVER should have looked 30 years old), Steve Rogers was always younger than he seemed (taking into account only his unfrozen years) but he always acted older (and his Super-Soldier serum would keep him spry no matter how much he aged), I always thought Reed Richards was at least 45 (and it surprised me when his 40th birthday was celebrated), and time passing doesn't really matter for Thor, Dr. Strange, Nick Fury, Sub-Mariner, the Silver Surfer, and more. I think aging the characters just a FEW years (maybe 10-12 from when they started) would just add depth and story possibilities.
On the other hand, FREEZE everybody at DC! Besides Superman and Batman, I would love to see Green Lantern, Hawkman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and even Wonder Woman made more "written in stone." Batman can have 1,000 great stories where absolutely nothing has to change in his life--Alfred takes care of the mansion, Bruce Wayne is a playboy, Commissioner Gordon is in charge of the police, and Batman goes out every night to fight crime. It's only when they throw in a city-altering earthquake, a broken back, a crippled Batgirl, a dead Robin, an obnoxious son--things like that--that Batman gets ruined a bit. A similar argument can be made for Superman and his status quo. I WISH Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the rest had a timeless set-up like those two. Time passing for the DC heroes always seems to ruin things.
Edited by Eric Jansen on 18 February 2018 at 2:34am
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