bigdamnhero

Okay, that's fair.
 
Also fair. Tho the problem of Hollywood being scared to try new things so they keep giving audiences the same things over and over because they've worked in the past is hardly unique to superhero movies.
 
I think to some extent that's also a reaction to the superhero movies of the 80s and 90s, where the heroes were very 2-dimentional and the villains were far more interesting, culminating in Batman & Robin where the heroes didn't even get top billing. (Not that there weren't plenty of other problems with that POS...) Then along comes a Spider-Man, followed by Batman Begins and Iron Man, all of which were critically praised specifically for humanizing their heroes and helping us understand why they chose to do what they do. See above re doing the same thing over and over because it's worked in the past.
 
That said I agree it's overdone and time for them to mix it up a little. Heck, I'm just happy we've now had 2 Marvel movies in a row that didn't end in CGI mook smackdowns.
 
I haven't seen it ...but you make a compelling argument!

I'm OK with villains dying in the Marvel movies, as long as the heroes lose all their Karma.

I'm not exactly a lurker but...
 
My current Handle was the name of one of my World of Warcraft Characters, a goblin mage. Lately I use it all over the net (including on the paizo forums and Steam). A cantrip is a mischevious or playful act, or a trick; in gaming parlance a cantrip is a weak or minor spell. I misspell it's past-tense on purpose because I like the way it looks as "cantriped" better than "cantripped".
 
The first tabletop RPG I played was a mix of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D, and I was 4 years old when I rolled that character; my mother was the GM at that table.
 
The first tabletop RPG I ran as GM was 3rd edition D&D.
 
I am not currently playing in any games (the last game I played in was a pathfinder campaign). I am currently running a Pathfinder campaign, but I have run a few HERO campaigns as well over the years.
 
The HERO System has been my favorite gaming system for almost a decade now. I currently use the Champions Complete/Fantasy HERO Complete rulesets (which I consider to be as distinct an edition as 5th revised was to 5th). You will most frequently see my name show up in threads regarding rules questions or character building. One of my hobbies is writing up characters and concepts from the shows I watch in HERO system.

Sure, but you know what a big part of what made Star Wars work so well?  Darth Vader coming back.  You know a large part of what made the prequels suck?  Killing the most interesting bad guy in the first film.

The demands & publishing aims are different between a feature cinematic film and a monthly comic book. The film realistically will be produced a limited number of times, eg a trilogy. A monthly comic book needs 12 issues a year in perpetuity.
 
Thus: villains in a feature film can be killed off as another can take its place. The villains can be memorable. Trying to come up with 12 new villains each year to sustain publishing a comic book is a tough ask, eg over a decade that is 120 new villains. So writers "cheated" and let the villains "go" so they could return later, thus cutting down the burden of creating so many new villains for the heroes to defeat.
 
Basically the trope of returning villains was created as a necessity of publishing so many issues of a title with a feature character. Films don't have this issue (pardon the pun).

Yeah we had a similiar problem a while back.
There was a Flyer with a clue in the city-marketplace.
All players were unable to read or write
.....

From last night's FH game. Our Heroes are hiking overland, accompanied by their 10 retainers - Egyptian sailors/pirates the PCs beat up and converted a few weeks ago.
 
GM: Your Egyptian sailors are unused to long distance walking, and several of them have bad blisters by day’s end.
[everyone looks at the miracle worker]
Priest: I’m not wasting a miracle on blisters.
Warrior: Fine. [makes Medic and PS: Herbalist rolls to get them back on their feet]
 
[1 minute later, following some mediocre Survival Rolls...]
 
GM: Unfortunately today’s hunting is less successful, and you don’t really have enough for everyone to eat their fill...
Priest: Oh I’ll totally spend a miracle on dinner!

And here I thought he was big because he got bit by a radioactive giant.

I think that's very accurate.  That's why they don't often even wear costumes, or have code names (except in DC, so far).  Iron Man is the only guy with a costume and code name, but he instantly gave away his ID and changes the costume several times each movie.  That's why the villains are just disposable bad guys, not repeat villains.  Excellent point bigdamnhero.  No wonder you're so damned big.

That's because to you (and me), these are superhero stories. To the studios, they're action movies that happen to star superheroes, and they're not going to "arbitrarily" define a fundamental action movie trope just because it happens to conflict with a bunch of comics books. I'm not saying I like or agree with it. But from their perspective it's far from arbitrary.

That's because to you (and me), these are superhero stories. To the studios, they're action movies that happen to star superheroes, and they're not going to "arbitrarily" define a fundamental action movie trope just because it happens to conflict with a bunch of comics books. I'm not saying I like or agree with it. But from their perspective it's far from arbitrary.

The first two are in my queue, but haven't gotten to them yet. Humans sounds interesting, so I may add it too.
 
I've been catching up on Sleepy Hollow, currently nearing the end of Season 2. I enjoyed the 1st season, but missed the start of Season 2 and just never got back to it. Not a great show, but a fairly entertaining one as long as you don't mind some deliberately over-the-top Romance dialogue between Crane and his wife. But some of the visuals are really well done. The plot is totally bizzaro, as you might expect from a series whose central premise is that Ichabod Crane, who was a spy for George Washington during the American Revolution - which was actually an occult war trying to stop demons from conquering our world - anyway Crane pulls a Rip Van Winkle and wakes up in 2013 and he's being chased by the Headless Horseman who is British RedCoat with an assault rifle who is also one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, and he's partnered with a local cop who's descended from a long line of Witnesses, and oh yeah his wife is a witch and she's trapped in limbo and their son is

I would like Spider-Man Homecoming to include a handful of villains early on to just appear in kind of a montage.  Nobody too big or important, just guys in costume getting captured by Spidey.  Give the audience the sense that there are more guys out there than the other movies have shown.  Have a 30 second clip of him catching various criminals, some of whom are wearing some outfit and displaying some kind of power.  Then get on with the rest of the movie.
 
They could do it with thinly-veiled Suicide Squad knock-offs and people who caught the joke would think it was funny.

The thing is, The Winter Soldier IS a Cold War political thriller. It is directly modelled/ inspired by that genre, especially 3 Days Of The Condor, which started Redford.
 
As Redford was eager to be in a big budget Marvel franchise film as it is a new way to make movies and his grandkids asked him too, his appearance in the Winter Soldier is a tip of the hat to him & Condor.

The 1975 Pilot of the Wonder Woman TV show pretty much covered all the elements of her December 1941 comic book origin story.
 
Major Steve Trevor intercepts a German Bomber over the Bermuda Triangle and bails out over Paradise Island.  The Queen decides to hold a contest to see which of the Amazons will return him to the outside world.  Diana in disguise wins the contest and becomes Wonder Woman.  After delivering Steve to the Hospital she breaks up a bank robbery and displays her ability to deflect bullets with her bracelets.  A crooked Theatrical Agent convinces her to put on a show so she can get some money.  In the comic he tried to steal all the money and run out on her, but on TV he was a Nazi Agent.  Diana becomes a nurse to watch over Steve, and in the comics she buys the idea of a nurse named Diana Prince who is going to join her husband in South America.  Steve learns that another bomber is heading for America and rushes to the airfield to intercept it.  On TV he is captured because he trusted his secretly Nazi Spy secretary, but in the Comics he shoots down the Bomber but has to bail out without a parachute.  Wonder Woman saves Steve in the comics from the fall, but on TV she learn about the Nazi Bomber from Steve's Secretary by using the magic lasso.  Afterwards on TV Diana becomes Steve's new secretary.
 
She doesn't get tied up until the next episode.

If they fell to the bottom of an icy canyon and died upon impact or the felt into the Arctic Ocean and drowned, they're still dead as a result of Superman's actions.  Actions he didn't need to take since all three of them had been depowered and could easily have been captured and brought to justice.

If I could, I would like to divert the discussion of idealism and ethics in comic-book characters for a moment to Marvel's recent Civil War movie. In this movie we see Captain America portrayed as a man of strong convictions and principles, an inspiration to people around him; but also a man who's imperfect, who makes mistakes (as he admits himself). Those mistakes weigh on him, but he doesn't give up the fight because of them, because he knows the consequences of his not acting would be worse.
 
But this movie places him in a situation where the issues of right and wrong aren't clear-cut, where it isn't initially obvious what the "right thing" to do is. Cap struggles with whether or not to compromise his principles for what he keeps being told is the "greater good." But once circumstances lead him to make up his mind, he has no more doubt or hesitation. That was true during the famous airport fight scene, and I was struck by the contrast between Cap and Tony Stark when they confronted each other. Stark is nearly breaking from the stress of what he's trying to do; Cap is calm and resolute, sure of what he needs to do. The kind of man you can believe other people would follow.
 
That's how you make these larger-than-life idealistic characters interesting and realistic, yet still inspirational. You present them with issues that test their beliefs, but see them overcome the challenge and stand firm in the end.

How did I come up with my handle?  My favourite champions character is called "Silver Paladin" (basically a British version of Tony Stark/Iron Man) - swapped round and using the chemical symbol/latin for Silver.
First RPG played?  D&D just after going to grammar school.  Haven't played D&D in a loooong time.
First RPG you GM'd?  Traveller with LBB.  Still do Traveller off and on.  Wrote a fair amount and reviewed a lot else for the first version of Mongoose Traveller.  I didn't actually start playing Champions until I was at uni.
What are you currently playing?  Coming back to RPG (and Champions) after organising and running a re-fight of the Battle of Jutland for the Museum of the Royal Navy.

How did I come up with my 'handle.' a go to fantasy male character name
What was the first RPG you played? d&d in 2005ish or hero 
What was the first RPG you GM'd? Hero a home brewed campaign
What are you currently playing? see above 

I just want to say that I approve of this Freudian slip or pun, whichever it is.

We interrupt to bring you this important message from a sponsor:
 
Catherynne Valente (@catvalente): "I hate how many superhero movies could be resolved by the application of preschool conflict resolution techniques. #batmanvssuperman"
 
https://twitter.com/catvalente/status/779869931974295553

Not directly related to the MCU, but...
 
This month's issue of the Atlantic has Hillary & Trump yelling at each other on the cover. So naturally I flipped it over...to find this ad on the back cover! Coates writes for the Atlantic, but still kinda cool
 
Age of the Geek, Baby, Age of the Geek!
 
Edit: Sorry, it looked auro-rotated before I uploaded it.

I just remembered another funny moment from two weeks ago. Low-fantasy game set in "real" Medieval Europe circa 1000 AD. The PCs are in Constantinople, and 2 PCs have wandered off on their own: a Welshman and an Irishman. I figure this is the perfect opportunity to introduce a key NPC, so as they're passing through the forum I describe a crowd that has gathered to hear some guy preaching, and describe his appearance and how he's mesmerized the crowd, and I take a breath to start in on my prepared monologue...
 
Player 1: "Wait, what language is he speaking?"
GM: "Um, well he's preaching to the masses so it has to be in Greek...Crap, neither of you speak Greek do you?"
Player 1 & 2: "Nope."
Player 3: "I speak Greek."
Player 4: "Me too. Shame we're on the other side of town..."
GM: [sigh] "Well whatever the hell he's saying, it sounds important. Sure has the crowd worked up. No idea what it's about tho."
Player 2: "Dodged THAT plot hook!"
 
And that, children, is why most Fantasy RPG settings have some sort of common tongue!

Wow Darkness, you are really passionate about this topic. If I may be so bold, might I suggest that those on the opposite side of the discussion feel just as strongly about their opinions. I agree with much of what you are saying, but I don't think either of us are going to convince anyone to change their mind. Don't get so wrapped up in it. Just an observation and suggestion.

From last night's FH game. Our Heroes are hiking overland, accompanied by their 10 retainers - Egyptian sailors/pirates the PCs beat up and converted a few weeks ago.
 
GM: Your Egyptian sailors are unused to long distance walking, and several of them have bad blisters by day’s end.
[everyone looks at the miracle worker]
Priest: I’m not wasting a miracle on blisters.
Warrior: Fine. [makes Medic and PS: Herbalist rolls to get them back on their feet]
 
[1 minute later, following some mediocre Survival Rolls...]
 
GM: Unfortunately today’s hunting is less successful, and you don’t really have enough for everyone to eat their fill...
Priest: Oh I’ll totally spend a miracle on dinner!