I was reading this article here: (link) and got stuck on the first paragraph.
Origin stories (mainly superhero films) have a very natural structure that go something like: Hero has noble heart, but is overlooked and downtrodden by some kind of embodied big bad (For Wolverine it was his dad, for Spiderman it was life and school bullies.) Hero undergoes change – could be anything, a freak accident/a spiderbite/a traumatic event that unlooses latent powers and suddenly hero’s world is changed enough to be freed from the embodied big bad.
It’s a structure we can all relate to. But we have had a great many origin stories through remakes, flashback scenes, then prequels, then more remakes (Fantastic Four!). Have we had enough of them yet?
The article said something about heroes are ‘best defined by the origin story that made them who they are.’
I think that’s an untrue statement – partly because I believe what makes heroes who they are is how they use their powers and the adventures they have afterwards/how they are tested. I would like to move beyond the prequel story.
This topic suggestion could lead to interesting points on the overall structure of film's take on so-called "origin stories" for superheroes that have undeniably become so prevalent from Batman to Spiderman, throughout decades even. Since the heroes in question are already well-established in the public eye, another question could also lead to who is truly benefiting from endless origin stories: the audience or the film industry exploiting them for a quick easy buck? – dsoumilas9 years ago
This could be about two separate things: origin stories and their reuse in main-stream cinema. While the first option could lead to some good comparisons (mainly with the structure of video games) the second begs more questions from a business and industry perspective. They aren't rehashing these origin stories because they want to, particularly. They're most likely doing it to start a new series and, of course, for the cash out. Honestly, the second option could be a very very appealing piece, especially with DC making a come back on the theater-front. – Travis Cohen9 years ago
I have a note on the side of origin stories but not whether they are necessary to character development. In the last month Magic the Gathering released a set called Magic:Origins. They remade five planeswalkers with flip sides of their before and after state, and the pre-release packs had challenges for players to strive for which reflected the struggles of their chosen planewalker colour. This could be a great thing to explore and explain in an "overuse of origin stories" article because the popularity has it spreading recently into other genres of things aside from comics and books! Origins was a neat twist, but now that you mention it, it seems to be part of a growing trend right now. – Slaidey9 years ago