>> Superhero 1 Supervillain 2
As we dust off the latex and prick up our ears for Batman Begins, Robin Fuller takes a look at the origins of Hollywood's DC comic superhero franchise to find out why the villain always seems to steal the show and leave the superhero crying into his cape.
1988: Hollywood is drowning in a quagmire of cinematic incompetence. But two young DC comic fans don't give a Thatcher's. Emerging from a film theatre into a rain-sodden urban dystopia, grinning like jokers, a war of words erupts between them. Who turned in a better performance, the man in the bat suit or the A-lister with a grin the size of Grenada?
Critics, comic and movie fans love to argue over who turned in a more memorable and gifted performance: the man behind the villain or the man behind the superhero? But the villain always emerges triumphant from this ancient debate, even if the superhero ultimately triumphs on the big screen.
With a stronger performance by A-listers playing the supervillains, a bigger share of the FX budget defining the villain physically and the best lines of dialogue, the bad boys steal the show every time. The origins of this observation can be traced back to two genre-defining moments in the history of the DC superhero film franchise.
Superman
Krypton's number one offspring burst onto Hollywood screens in 1978. Seventeen years prior to being close-lined by a tree during a horse riding accident, Christopher Reeve was a cinematic nobody. But at 6' 4" and built like a Kryptonian sh*t-house, Reeve physically mirrored the 'Man of Steel' in the DC Comics.
Innocent newcomer Reeve effortlessly characterised Clark Kent, a bumbling figure of ineptitude and alter ego of Superman. The acting talent of Reeve, coupled with the Tardis-like interiors of Metropolis' phone booths, assured an equally effortless transformation from suited and booted Clouseau parody, to upright defender of the peace and airborne bodyguard of Reagan's kids, Kal-El.
But Reeve's Superman had his computer-aided wings hastily clipped by a scene-stealing performance in comic villainy from Gene Hackman as criminal mastermind and bald-headed megalomaniac, Lex Luthor. Minus the tights and visual effects, Hackman played it method and maniacal, somehow making psychopath Luthor likeable, despite his plans to 'cut a new A-hole' in the San Andreas Fault.
Whilst Reeves was a physically perfect incarnation of the comic book hero, Hackman's multicoloured performance overshadowed his own. Reeve often found himself relegated to leading puppet for the effects department whilst Hackman enjoyed the best lines courtesy of The Godfather writer, Mario Puzo's script: "There's a strong sense of good in you Superman. But then, nobody's perfect." Reeve settled for playing 'is it a bird, is it a plane' above cardboard skyscrapers against blue screen horizons.
1980: Superman 2 was in the cinemas and once again the villain in the story drew the critical praise and grabbed the attention of the fans.
A masterwork in screen villainy came from Terence Stamp as General Zod, a militant menace forcing both Reeve's Superman and the US President to their knees. Cast as a sadistic violator of humanity from Superman's home planet Krypton, Stamp was entirely believable in his performance as a man devoid of mercy. He even upstaged Reeve's pants on tights get-up with a camp PVC and Crimplene combo that would have looked stupid if it wasn't the '80s.
But Reeve got more chances to develop his character in Superman 2, such is the role of the actors who play the superhero from one sequel to the next to represent the developing wants, aspirations and weaknesses of the hero's alter ego. In the second film, Reeve's Superman received a lesson in love when he sacrificed his powers to be with onscreen crumpet, Lois Lane.
But Stamp's softly spoken acts of sadism upon the American people, aided by a large portion of the film's effects budget, enthralled the audiences. The A-listers who play the baddies get one shot at dazzling on screen. Stamp, like Hackman, gave their board-treading best, whilst the producers helped them along with the best lines and effects.
Mark Hocking, 32, a comic fan and disciple of the Hollywood's superhero franchises for 15 years comments: "The actor playing the supervillain has a lifespan of 90 minutes. They always get killed or kicked off the planet. The best character actors and A-listers are picked for the villain because they have to bring that character to life in the shortest possible time. That's why you get the superior performance that lasts in the memory."
Reeve momentarily upstaged the villain in Superman 3, but it was a case of 'if you can't beat them, join them,' that merely re-enforced the idea that the villain in the superhero movie is the best role an actor can assume. After a severe dosage of Krypton exposure, the Man of Steel turns into man on fire. Reeve's upright and honourable protector of the weak goes all Oliver Reed and drinks himself to oblivion at a Metropolis bar, before going all Dirty Den with a high school sweetheart.
Budgeted at $55 million, the first Superman film alone made $300 million worldwide. The global box office success of the Superman franchise made it clear to Hollywood studios that cinema goers wanted more superhero sagas with even bigger villains.
Batman
So in 1988, Tim Burton, curly-haired mad professor of Hollywood Gothicism, brought Batman to the big screen, generating even more box office revenue than the 'Man of Steel' could muster before him.
Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego, was a far cry from the bumbling innocent of Reeve's Clark Kent. He was a dark and troubled figure in a twisted dystopian fantasy, driven to avenge the murder of his parents by Jack Napier.
The fix for the audience was the feeling that the hero might not have a full set of bats in his belfry. The certainty over which side he was playing for, good or bad, was slightly hazy too. The audience could enjoy the best of both super-worlds: a villain and a hero occupying the same character.
Michael Keaton was, like Reeve, a relative unknown and didn't resemble the archetypal superhero. Keaton was a gangly antithesis to the physical colossus of Reeve's Superman but able to introduce a character who was psychologically affected into becoming a superhero rather than being born one.
But however much Keaton's performance played with audience expectations, straying from hero to villain and then back again, cinema goers were blown away by the one true villain of the film, The Joker.
Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker attracted worldwide critical acclaim and a new Batman fan base devoted entirely to his grinning villain. Nicholson drew inspiration from past characters: novelist gone nuts, Jack Torrance in The Shining, convict with nut allergy, McMurphy in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and a demonic sex fiend in Witches of Eastwick, who was obsessed with his own nuts.
Jack was back and, as Time Out in 1989 rightly said: "Cackling, dancing, killing for sheer humour value and hogging the best one-liners, Nicholson pulls off the greatest criminal coup of the decade: stealing a whole movie."
Daubing a fine art museum in green paint to the sounds of Prince, forcing Gotham's population to choke on laughing gas, and 'reshaping' Jerry Hall's face to match his perpetually paralysed grin, the Joker had the last laugh.
Whilst Keaton's performance as the troubled Dark Knight was the best in the franchise, Keaton's bat was left hanging in the shadows whilst audiences applauded what they had come to expect from an A-Lister playing the villain.
And the studio heads continued to cast heavyweight A-listers as villains in the Batman franchise. A-listers were only too happy to seize the mantle of the villain, a one-off role that did not carry the threat of typecasting inherent with the superhero role.
Keaton's performance as Batman receded to a supporting turn. In Batman Returns, his screen time was smaller than his rubber codpiece. Three villains were pitted against the Dark Knight, insurance by Burton and reassurance for the fans that the green sequinned shoes of Nicholson's Joker would be filled, or bettered.
Christopher Walken injected the same sort of crazed capitalist character into Max Shreck as he did in the Bond outing, A View to Kill. Purring eye candy arrived in the feline form of Michelle Pfeiffer, bent over a saucer of milk in a PVC cat suit. Imagine that on a tin of Whiskers…
But Danny DeVito, Hollywood's very own comedy hobbit and gifted character actor, mesmerised as the star villain, donning the cupped hands of DC Comics' most famous aquatic adversary. DeVito played The Penguin, a man mutated into an arctic bird through years spent in a sewer, rejected by his parents and chucked in Gotham's murky waters: Moses style minus the love.
DeVito's performance was a wildly entertaining but equally saddening portrayal of a man twisted and bitterly affected by society's rejection of his deformities: Gotham's very own Elephant Man. DeVito's psychologically complex villain managed to grab the audience's sympathy, even though the character was planning to give Gotham a structural facelift.
The studios were also beginning to reward villainous roles with more effects and attention to costume. Keaton's muscular batsuit complemented his willowy physique, but the transformation of DeVito from short, balding Italian American to dinner-suited, feathered menace stole the show…again.
Keaton hung up his bat wings after Batman Returns; tired of seeing the world the wrong way up and watching his role become a warm up piece for the villains. And just in time. As the franchise hurtled towards a calamitous end with the critically slaughtered Batman and Robin in 1997, neither the plot nor the question over who would don the cape of Gotham's avenger really mattered anymore.
Batman was all but dead.
Fast forwarding to the 21st century, has the tide turned? The superhero film franchise is a box office superpower all of its own, with millions of movie fans clambering into cinemas to see good vs. evil on the big screen.
We have the X-Men, The Hulk and Spider-Man all bulking up cash registers in a cinema near you. A new Superman film is currently in production and The Fantastic Four is shortly due to hit the big screen. But the A-List villains are still turning in the quality performances and equally awarded a tidy FX budget all of their own whilst the heroes play second fiddle.
Recently, Brit actor Alfred Molina's performance as Dr. Octavius in Spider-Man 2 left Tobey Maguire's weak Spidey characterisation tied up in web knots. The X-Men wouldn't have mutated into such a box office monster if it weren't for Ian McKellen's 'Gandalf plays with magnets' star villain. But wait…. Hope springs eternal…
Do you smell burning rubber with a hint of George Clooney? As the 1997 bat suit is thrown on the fire, a new Batman is entering Gotham. Nearly A-Lister Christian Bale promises to give the Dark Knight a psychological overhaul as the franchise returns to its darker roots in Chris Nolan's Batman Begins. Encircling a narrative of parental homicide and retributive violence, the film promises to ditch the camp and slapstick elements of its cinematic heritage. Above all, the camera will be firmly fixed on the hero… Could Bale herald the return of the superhero to the limelight?