Comic book movies bring us a lot of joy, because they are universally accessible stories of good vs. evil. They serve us easily digestible fantasy worlds where the qualities we revere most in humanity triumph over those we detest, and remind us it’s OK to be fallible, cos hell, look at Tony Stark.
While the mask-wearing headline acts jostle for our attention, it’s too easy to forget those heroes who slip through the cracks; the guys and gals putting in the hard yards out of the spotlight. These characters may not be imbued with super powers, but they bring with them a sense of joy or selflessness, perhaps, or unreserved faith in the hero, or remarkable courage in the face of insurmountable odds.
Let’s raise a glass to the unsung heroes of the superhero movie. Let's raise a glass to the little guy.
This article contains spoilers.
Although she is eventually shoehorned into a perpetually-worried-support-role, Rose Byrne’s Moira MacTaggert nonetheless plays a vital part in X-Men: First Class. Her CIA agent is the first to alert Charles Xavier of the bubbling threat of the villainous Sebastian Shaw (said threat uncovered during a pretty fierce one-woman infiltration effort), and she remains a fierce advocate of the X-Men'scause in the face of skepticism and raging Sixties sexism from her higher-ups. Alongside Oliver Platt’s ‘Man in Black Suit,’ Moira sticks with the mutants throughout their first plight, which makes her eventual memory-wipe of the entire experience all the more crummy. Plus, she coins the name ‘X-Men,’ which surely counts for something.
Jonathan and Martha Kent are good American god-fearin’ folk, who, out of the kindness of their hearts, adopt little ‘Clark’ despite the innumerable challenges he presents as a super-powered alien from another planet who could kill them with one little bop from his baby fists.
While director Richard Donner speeds through Clark’s younger years, there is still much to admire in the Kents. They pass on the importance of hard work, protect his immature powers from exploitation, and imbue in him a very human, very decent set of morals. Most pertinent of all, they are proud parents who love their son as a regular child, perfectly articulated by Martha’s basic piece of parental advice as Clark leaves to explore his existential place on Earth: “keep warm.”
Rachel Dawes is a somewhat maligned character in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, perhaps because she's a little drier compared to Bruce’s blonder love interests pre-reboot, or perhaps because she simply can’t compete with the rest of Gotham’s colorful cast.
Yet any notion that she is a wilting wallflower is unfair. She is a vitally positive influence on Bruce – challenging him to check his morality from her adult introduction, and later performing more traditional acts of heroism, proving herself an indispensable part of the efforts against Ra's al Ghul's onslaught on Gotham in Batman Begins. Rachel maintains a heroic front even in the face of imminent death in The Dark Knight, going so far as to calm down a frenzied Harvey Dent whose life had been spared. She died as she lived – in the sidelines, but with class.
While occupying only a brief amount of screen-time, Thomas Wayne is featured more prominently in Nolan’s trilogy than in previous incarnations, painted as a notable surgeon, a loving father and husband, and a philanthropist who cared deeply about improving his city. His belief in Gotham is nicely juxtaposed in Bruce’s future father-figure ‘Henri Ducard,’ who believes Thomas “did not understand the forces of decay – cities like Gotham are in their death throes – chaotic, grotesque. Beyond saving.” His parents’ death and Thomas’ departing words to “be brave” are ultimately what drove Bruce to don the Batsuit.
Tasked with steering the law in a lawless city, Gary Oldman's James Gordon is the barefaced cop amongst costumed clowns and masked vigilantes, and upholds the law with practical momentum and a durable, unaffected faith in The Right Thing.
Jim’s acts of kindness and compassion throughout the trilogy are innumerable; amongst them, taking care of a young Bruce Wayne after his parents were killed, taking a bullet for the Mayor, and compromising his own personal happiness for the sake of the greater good (evidenced by his miserable family situation in The Dark Knight Rises.) The Dark Knight himself notwithstanding, Gotham City couldn’t ask for a more dependable hero than Commissioner Gordon.
Sure, these guys were a bunch of extras whose roles ultimately boiled down into broad Manhattan caricatures, but they also gave us arguably the most poignant moment in Sam Raimi’s Spidey trilogy when they saved a broken, battered web-slinger – their savior – from a deathly drop, tearing at our heart-strings further by carrying him overhead to safety (in a somewhat mischievous religious motif.) Their observation on Peter Parker’s youth - "he’s just a kid” - has surprising emotional resonance, arguably the defining characteristic of Raimi’s first two Spideys and a quality so missed in the third.
We ALL would have voted Harvey Dent, had he not been driven criminally insane by grief and unfortunate facial scarring. A true believer in heroes, Dent strives to become one himself, albeit on a drier, political level than his masked peers. It was his unique sincerity and untainted morality that enticed Bruce to cast him as Gotham’s poster boy, serving to inspire the masses as the city’s hero “with a face.” And lest his ultimate fall from grace has tainted him too much in our memories, don’t forget he took the fall for Batman with a false confession of identity, putting himself in prison to protect Gotham’s citizens from the tyrannical Joker.
We grew to love S.H.I.E.L.D’s Agent Phil Coulson against expectation. He could easily have become an unremarkable bureaucrat slumming it behind the charismatic heroes of the several Marvel movies he appeared in, a simple plot device to help stitch the cinematic universe together. Instead, Clark Gregg, and the many writers behind his various appearances, turns Coulson into a loyal friend and a refreshing voice of (sardonic) reason amongst the spandex-clad theatrics. His expression of fondness for Captain America – and the unadulterated heroism Cap represents – is one of the warmest moments in The Avengers.
Of course, in classic Whedon style, his brutal death at the hands of Loki is all the more painful because of our attachment. Yet he dies with conviction - the very thing, as he pointed out, Loki lacked - and in doing so provides The Avengers the motivation they need to actually, y’know, avenge. Audiences everywhere felt a wave of gratification when Tony Stark honors Coulson in his confrontation with Loki: “There's one other person you pissed off. His name is Phil."
Anybody we've missed? Hit us up in the comments.
Lucy O'Brien is Assistant Editor at IGN AU. You should talk to her about games, horror movies and the TV show Freaks & Geeks on IGN here or find her and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.
Source : ign[dot]com
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