Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

[radical_jojo]

A couple of days ago, Andrew and I rented Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. Neither of us had seen it, and I'm just going to hazard the guess that most of you probably haven't either. Thus, though it's not a brand-spankin'-new release, I feel it might not be inappropriate to offer some thoughts on the matter. Oh, and there are thoughts. Also,

Comments

[morningxafter]

i actually downloaded this shortly after it came out because i am a bad person.

while i'll admit there are some major continuity errors between character back-story and overall character development, i really enjoyed the film. it's certainly not the best of the Marvel Animated Features lineup, in fact it's very much down at the bottom, but it's actually pretty entertaining!

[radical_jojo]

There were elements of this film that I did like very much, but it was hard for me to enjoy it because I was so distracted by the awful treatment of the female characters. =(

[morningxafter]

i didn't really notice, but perhaps that's just because i'm a guy and im biased that way. :P

[radical_jojo]

And that's why I post things like this. :P

[rgspiritwalker]

As you probably know, RJJ, most of my comic knowledge is dated way back 1960-80. As I look back along memory lane, I remember very few female superheroes being put in leadership roles. Heck, only a fraction of them had their own comicbook. So ironic, since at the time the industry considered themselves to be so ahead of the times. Now, my memory could be failing, so forgive me if I'm mistaken, but it seems like DC may have been a little more advanced than Marvel in this area. I remember more women superheroes having their own books in DC than Marvel. Even so, they still seem to have been way more subservient in their roles than their male counterparts. Frustrating...

When was this movie produced?

[radical_jojo]

It was released in 2008! That's what's so frustrating!

I wouldn't waste my time talking about social issues going on in the work of an older era. What did happen in the past is irrelevant to what should happen in the future. But this is a new, current work, produced at this time. It's been twenty years since the superhero narrative became self-aware, where we started formally analyzing and critiquing the medium from the inside. And Next Avengers is a work that is not set in the past, but in the future...so there's no excuse for this kind of storytelling that implies that the accomplishments of women are worth less than those of men. =(

[rgspiritwalker]

2008?! Pretty sad. Still, social issues going on in the past seem pretty relevant to me when the same bad message is still being presented TWENTY YEARS LATER.