When Mark Millar speaks, comic-book aficionados usually listen. Without the celebrated Scottish writer there would be no Kick-Ass or Kingsman: The Secret Service, while it’s no surprise that the X-Men movies have taken a distinct upward turn since Millar took on the role of creative consultant for 20th Century Fox’s roster of Marvel-based comic adaptations (we’ll say no more about Fantastic Four).
Writing for Games Radar this week, the creator of Superman: Red Son and Wanted reveals his new comic-book series, Huck, was inspired by the idea of fashioning a simpler style of heroism to recall the benevolent superhero stories that once populated comic book stores. For most of us, 2013’s Man of Steel was an encouraging Superman reboot almost but not quite ruined by its Transformers-esque almighty clusterbomb of a denouement, in which Kal-El and Zod smash their way through Metropolis like two mad buzzing wasps accidentally trapped in a jelly-filled lunchbox. But for Millar, the moment when Superman breaks his fellow Kryptonian’s neck to end the villain’s reign of terror led to a painful epiphany about the modern state of superheroes.
I got the logic of that scene and it absolutely made sense within the context of the movie, as the villain had taken down half of Metropolis and killed hundreds of thousands of people. But even so. This was Superman. This was like seeing Sylvester the Cat finally getting his hands on Speedy Gonzales. Elmer Fudd blowing away Bugs Bunny. I loved Superman as a kid not because of his edginess or his potential for a fatal solution, but because he could do anything he wanted and still chose to be nice. This was always the moral of a superhero comic to me.
And so, Millar created Huck, a character he reveals has just been picked up for a movie deal (in case anyone wonders what this piece is doing on a film blog) in order to reset that balance. The character is described as a small-town gas station attendant with learning difficulties, as well as unidentified special powers, who has made it his business to do one good deed per day for the rest of his life. Millar also says he was inspired by the feelgood vibes of Guardians of the Galaxy, which he reminds us outscored all other superhero movies, including the rather more furrow-browed The Amazing Spider-Man 2, at the box office in 2014.
So might Huck, with his cheerful 1950s demeanour and positive outlook, be the antidote towards the brooding superhero zeitgeist of the past decade? The real question might be, do we need an antidote at all?
I’m a fan of Millar, but his comic books are written for people who read lots of comic books, while the best superhero movies are designed to appeal to filmgoers who may have never stuck their head in a copy of 2000AD, or read Civil War. Most critics of Man of Steel were more concerned at its tonally uneven feel – the way Zack Snyder worked so hard to create a sense of real-world dynamics before embarking on a sudden switcheroo for that monstrous car crash of an ending – than Zod’s death.
Likewise, Guardians of the Galaxy may have been full of happiness and joy by the end. But it also features an opening scene in which a small boy suffers through the sudden death of his mother and subsequent immediate abduction by aliens, without which audiences might not have warmed so strongly to Chris Pratt’s cocky Peter Quill/Star Lord.
I’m all for introducing a new slant into comic-book movies, and Millar’s self-reflexive, meta-infused approach to creation has brought us gems before, notably with Kick-Ass. But the jury has to be out as to whether Huck is the right way to go on the big screen. Frankly the idea smacks of anti-intellectual bigotry – the all-American fondness for celebrating hokey, goofy “good ole boy” dumbness – which gave us not just Forrest Gump, but much of Adam Sandler’s early Billy Madison and The Waterboy-era fare. No wonder Hollywood is interested.
More power to Millar for daring to go a different way, and there’s certainly an argument to be had that darker superhero movies have rather played themselves out. But let’s just hope the writer’s desire to bring back the nice doesn’t end up letting in something really rather nasty through the back door.
