Joe and Anthony Russo walk a fine line these days on the Avengers: Endgame front. Between making Kevin Smith weep like crazy and fielding continuing title issues, they’re still editing down the movie from a three-hour run time. Well that, and they’re still discussing the feather in Phase Three’s cap, and to those ends, they’re actually relieved that there’s one character that they’ll never have to adapt. And this character, Superman, has proven to be more than a challenge within the DCEU.
Superman is apparently on hiatus, as well, given that Henry Cavill recently (and somewhat unexpectedly) revealed that he was finished with the role, a move that coincides with a restructuring ahead for much of the DCEU. For their part, the Russos seem relieved that they only have to adapt dozens of other heroic characters and can merely observe the “difficult” Man of Steel from afar, as Anthony Russo told Business Insider:
“The more powerful a character is, the more difficult to deal with that character on a narrative level. As storytellers, and the way we explore characters, we always look for vulnerabilities in characters because that’s where characters become interesting. They’re superficially interesting in their strength, but they get much more depth when you find where they don’t have that kind of strength. In general, the more powerful a character is, the more tricky that is.”
Joe Russo was quick to chime in. “He’s a very difficult character,” he added. “You have to find an emotional flaw or weakness in the character in order to make them vulnerable.” Indeed, the DCEU has its work cut out for them if they ever want Superman back onscreen in a profitable manner, and Warner Bros. is currently focusing much of its superhero juice on not only Wonder Woman 1984 but James Wan’s Aquaman, which will hopefully (thanks to Jason Momoa’s unquenchable enthusiasm) begin to lift the lingering aura of grittiness left over from the Zack Snyder era.
Really though, it’s telling that the sheer volume of the Avengers is much easier for directors to cope with than one arguably flawless superhero. After all, a crying Captain America and an underdog go a long way to demonstrate what comic-book movie audiences want in 2018 — heroes with struggles that are worth rooting for, whereas the “perfect” one is a pain in the directorial butt.
(Via Business Insider)