Do We Need Origin Movies?

So, I was watching Aquaman (not a bad movie by the way) at some point in December and it got me thinking – “why are origin movies still around?” I know the obvious reason so don’t tell me, they introduce the character and allow them to develop throughout the movie and bla bla bla. I know all of this but follow my train if thought for a second please (I’m not mad I promise).

Comic book movies have been prominent since the beginning of the MCU in my opinion, the first

movie was Iron Man in 2008. Now that obviously was an origin story and ever since then I feel as

though origin movies have followed a similar pattern. The protagonist either discovers their powers or builds it, they either don’t want anything to do with them or embrace them, fights the baddie initially and loses (this usually comes with a low point in the movie), accept their place as the hero and then beating the baddie. This train of thought leads me to think “Has the MCU made it so that team movies are the only exciting ones?” The answer to this is no. It’s probable that that is how some people think but I don’t think so. It’s certainly how Warner Bros’ feel because they rushed JL (disgusting film). We just need better effort. Team movies, of course are where the money is and that is where the effort will be put in. I know all of this, but I want better origin movies, sue me.

I want more expansive plots. In Black Panther we saw the cliff, we knew T’Challa was going to get thrown off the cliff, we knew he wasn’t dead, we knew he was going to defeat Killmonger. I haven’t felt like the bad guy has had a genuine chance at beating the good guy since Thanos and Zemo. Aquaman, which is the film that started my whole thought process, had a good third act but we always knew he was going to win. I understand that the good guys will most likely win but we deserve some stakes. We are so used to origin movies that you need to do something outside of the box. It’s been 11 years since the first origin movie (that counts), there are a million and one comic book stories about every character, there is so much to work from, just a little more effort. People have told me they genuinely don’t care about origin movies unless they’re universe shifting like Captain Marvel and a lot of it comes with the idea that they know what will happen. We deserve more. (see, I’m not mad)

Written by Joseph "Jigga" Agagwucha for The Nerd Council