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Can City of... save superheroes?


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A lot of the MCU and DCU problems are self made due to rehashing the same stories, altering the original origins and characters from the comics, and relying more and more on special effects rather than actual story telling to carry non-existent plots and shallow characterizations. I stopped watching when things got overdone and lost any sense of originality or compromised my sense of the characters from when I was reading about them in ten cent comic books.

 

CoH universe is a different animal as it were just as the CrossGen comics were and I don't see either of the latter saving either of the former from their inept profiteering type management. 

 

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20 minutes ago, Go0gleplex said:

A lot of the MCU and DCU problems are self made due to rehashing the same stories, altering the original origins and characters from the comics, and relying more and more on special effects rather than actual story telling to carry non-existent plots and shallow characterizations. I stopped watching when things got overdone and lost any sense of originality or compromised my sense of the characters from when I was reading about them in ten cent comic books.

Yeah, they are almost as bad as those comic book writers churning out monthly rehash of....hmmmm....wait.   Errr, I had a point here.

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Superheroes don't need saving. Superheroes do the saving. At least, that's the general idea.

 

They are an idea as old as humanity, from Gilgamesh, Heracles, Perseus, Sigfried et al. Incredible beings with extraordinary abilities, defeating even more horrific monstrous foes, often with a moral at the end of the tale.

 

And truly there's nothing wrong with the Superhero genre as it stands in pop culture. It's just that the MCU raised the bar so high it couldn't manage the expectations it set itself. We had 20 movies creating this awesome super-team that was set to save the world and they shit the bed when they delivered Endgame, and clearly have lost the sense of direction they had when they brought us Avengers and Age of Ultron & GotG.

 

Warner bros haven't come close with their DC offerings and even the X Franchise got worn out and delivered its death knell with Dark Phoenix.

 

It's not that Superheroes are bad - they are kind of niche - and Marvel got the world and his dog wanting to see the denouement of the Avengers arc which was disappointing in the extreme and they've failed to follow it up with anything meaningful. There'll likely be a pause and we'll get some junk farmed out to us, and then some bright spark will have an idea, get the budget to bring their dream to life and suddenly everyone will be saying "Yay, superheroes! Aren't they brilliant?"

 

It's not the superhero problem it's just long running franchise fatigue syndrome. It happens a lot. Take Star Wars, take James Bond, take any story produced over many years and they have highs and lows.

 

City of Heroes will simply be the candle in the window letting the folks out there know there's always a bright flame for those who want to find it.

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There's a fine line between a numerator and a denominator but only a fraction of people understand that.

 
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22 hours ago, Hedgefund said:

Yes this is from a content farm and reads like it, but I was amused that the article wonders if this game can "save the genre".  No pressure or anything.

 

https://www.cbr.com/franchise-fatigue-answer-city-of-heroes/

 

This game isn't going to "save the genre".  Not even close.  Better writing and a major focus shift to quality instead of quantity will. 

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There will likely never be another phenomenon like the Iron Man through Avengers Endgame movies ever again.

No matter whether you liked, loved, or hated it, you've got to admit that much at least.

There are far too many grown men these days who seem to make a living out of crying about comic book stories and how they have suddenly become political.

I would counter that argument with the cover from Captain America #1...

 

783503.jpg

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Those times you saw no footprints, I had Fly toggled on.

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5 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

It's just that the MCU raised the bar so high it couldn't manage the expectations it set itself.

 

I think it's more they went for the cash grab to churn out as much as they possibly could to strike while the irons hot.  They definitely focused on volume instead of writing decent, cohesive stories and focusing on character development.  Part of that was their desire to compete in the streaming service wars and cranked out as much crap as fast as they possibly could to have as much content on Disney+ as possible.  Coupe that with hiring writers who didn't know the first thing about the comics or the characters they were writing for was a huge, huge, HUGE mistake in my opinion. 

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Superhero fatigue and the demise of the MCU is what is saving superheroes. 90% of superhero movies are trash that don't do the stories justice. They are just the Hollywood summer blockbuster movie paint-by-numbers formula wearing the dead flesh suit of an intellectual property they bought. The vast majority of audiences just want flashing lights and loud noises to distract them from their miserable lives and they only need a fresh coat of paint to convince themselves they are experiencing something new. "Superhero" is that fresh coat of paint that is now starting to wear thin. Now that mainstream audiences are becoming numb to it, it can revert back to what it actually is: a niche audience who appreciates long-term storytelling and world-building combined with good artwork. The cattle have chewed their grass and moved on, now maybe we can get back to growing something that's actually good.

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I've changed my mind.

Comic book stories should never change at all. Ever.

Put all characters in their appropriate stories, without changing any of the dialogue, costumes, or characters involved.

Let's get back to legitimate, historically accurate comic book stories for every movie.

Marvel can present the new "old" X-Men!(I just know that yellow and blue look will be a fashion trend in the late 2020's for sure!)

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Those times you saw no footprints, I had Fly toggled on.

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15 hours ago, Mopery said:

I've changed my mind.

Comic book stories should never change at all. Ever.

Put all characters in their appropriate stories, without changing any of the dialogue, costumes, or characters involved.

Let's get back to legitimate, historically accurate comic book stories for every movie.

Marvel can present the new "old" X-Men!(I just know that yellow and blue look will be a fashion trend in the late 2020's for sure!)

 

Top marks for sarcasm.

 

But despite your overt facetiousness I think you might be on to something - there is comfort in consistency - that's one of the reasons MacDonalds and other fast food outlets offer the same product ranges across continents; because when you buy your quarter pounder with cheese you know what you're getting. Similarly you buy Superman or Spider-Man comics, you should know what you're getting.

 

To a large extent you do and that's one reason why new universes and imprints were created to explore other stories featuring those characters in a different setting and background. Hence, for example the Ultimate universe and Marvel Knights.

 

There's space to cater for all tastes and that's a good thing.

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There's a fine line between a numerator and a denominator but only a fraction of people understand that.

 
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CoH Homecoming could easily gain hundreds of thousands of new players. Just need to advertise and promote the game. Gotta promote it to people who have nor played before and those that never played an mmo, which is millions upon millions of potential players.

 

Each of us players should post on social about CoH Homecoming and that should help too

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On 1/31/2024 at 12:18 PM, Go0gleplex said:

A lot of the MCU and DCU problems are self made due to rehashing the same stories, altering the original origins and characters from the comics, and relying more and more on special effects rather than actual story telling to carry non-existent plots and shallow characterizations. I stopped watching when things got overdone and lost any sense of originality or compromised my sense of the characters from when I was reading about them in ten cent comic books.

 

CoH universe is a different animal as it were just as the CrossGen comics were and I don't see either of the latter saving either of the former from their inept profiteering type management. 

 

It has always been used as a propaganda push in one form or another but now the psy ops are much larger. People do not understand how things get planted into our subconscious and I am not just talking about woke stuff here.

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No. City of Heroes cannot "save" the superhero genre.

 

It's not really endanger to begin with, but I suppose that you're specifically talking about the MCU and DCCU. They're movies that were watched by billions of people world-wide. Not anymore though, which is why superhero movies are now failing at the box office.  The 100k or so people who might end up playing Homecoming aren't going to be able to buy enough movie tickets to change that. Period. It's simple math.

 

But the genre itself isn't going to cease to exist.

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Being constantly offended doesn't mean you're right, it means you're too narcissistic to tolerate opinions different than your own.

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I literally don’t think ‘superhero fatigue’ is a thing. It’s a made up excuse that studios use when they put out shit films.

 

If you craft solid storylines and adventures properly people will show up, regardless if the cast is in full blown period costumes or spandex and tights. There is no ‘superhero fatigue’. There is a ‘creative/quality deficit’ when it comes to Hollywood and its writers.

Edited by RicoRaynn
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21 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

But the genre itself isn't going to cease to exist.

 

...anymore than the western is going to cease to exist.  Folks use to say westerns were dead, little to nothing was made, then the movie Silverado came out.  If anything, it simply revealed that the market had previously glutted, watering down the product.  Given time and lack of product gave room for westerns to focus on quality work rather than quantity, and the genre became great again.

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3 hours ago, Xalon said:

CoH Homecoming could easily gain hundreds of thousands of new players. Just need to advertise and promote the game.


Whatever you're smoking, ain't no place in the world that it's legal.

Unofficial Homecoming Wiki - Paragon Wiki updated for Homecoming!  Your contributions are welcome!
(Not the owner/operator - just a fan who wants to spread the word.)

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