Between comics and movies, I’ve probably seen over a dozen versions of the Batman’s origin story. There were retellings of “who he is and how he came to be” prior to The Dark Knight Returns in the mid-’80s, but since then it seems like that’s the only story the writers know how to tell.
Every couple years, somebody’s gotta put a new spin on Superman’s origin, too. And Spiderman. And the Avengers. And the Justice League. And the Hulk, etc., etc., etc. All Hollywood and the Big Two wanna do is constantly reboot their I.P.s. Probably because it’s so easy for a lazy, talentless woketard to “put their stamp” on a popular character by simply tweaking an old story so familiar that fans could recite the plot points in their sleep.
Wait…I’m not being fair. It’s doubtful that the lazy, talentless woketards edit the old threadbare origin stories. They probably have A.I. do it.
Anyway, all the Reboot Mania has caused me to ponder the utility of origin stories.
I became a fan of Batman, Spiderman, the Flash, Iron Man, Hawkman and Captain America long before I read any of the origin stories. Eventually, I would have become curious about how they got started, but not knowing wouldn’t have diminished my enjoyment.
Why, as writers, are we compelled to provide detailed backgrounds of characters that our readers don’t need and never asked for?
All that to say: Threat Quotient is an ensemble superhero epic introducing two squads worth of brand new characters…but there are only two origins depicted. A third origin is revealed in one of the sequels, but beyond that, I plan to resist the urge to write more.
My rule of thumb is: I’ll worry about origin stories about the time I begin considering T-shirts and action figures.
I understand that a fan base of 200-300 readers is big enough to find success as an independent creator. However, I don’t consider it big enough to make selling merchandise worth the time and effort.
Whether or not you would like T-shirts and action figures, go read Threat Quotient for free, and subscribe to Tales of the Earthbound. But don’t stop there–like, share, and tell folks about it. I just published Episode 3, and post episodes weekly.
You get more of whatever you support. What are you supporting?
Thanks for reading!
I’ve thought about origin stories a fair bit because I was planning on doing a video about it for my YouTube channel, which I might still do should I get the time. Here’s my take.
In addition to all the usual information any story has to convey, the superhero story has three additional elements which have to be covered which are unique to the genre. These are: character quality before powers, how powers are acquired, nature of the powers.
The first one is pretty obvious. We need to know how the character behaves prior to judge how their powers change them. It’s different in each story but the function is the same. Peter Parker is an irresponsible teenager, who at first tries to use his powers for personal gain (the wrestling bit). Whereas Steve Rogers is already heroic at heart but lacks physical prowess, and is chosen for the Super Soldier serum for his obvious courage.
The second, how powers are acquired, is a plot fundamental. Peter gets bitten by a radioactive spider, for example. If powers are innate, such as with Superman and Wonder Woman, this part covers how they came to their calling, Kal-El is sent from Krypton, Diana comes to Man’s World, and so.
The third part is the most important. The reader has to know powers and power levels to gauge risk and threat in the story. If Superman is knocked out and falls off a high building, he is going to survive, he is indestructible. But Batman would clearly die in the same scenario. A robot foe that would be a challenge for Spider-Man would be trivial for Magneto because of his manipulation of metal. This is a fairly unique issue for superheroes, although it occasionally crops up in SciFi and fantasy as well. I mean, in almost all other stories, human strengths and limitations are a constant.
The origin story is just the easiest way to cover these three unique storytelling challenges posed by the superhero genre.
Well, that’s my take. And now I can just read my own comment and I got my video, too. 🙂
P.S. check out my channel if you like, search ‘Robert Victor Mills’ on YouTube and you should find me.
Thanks for the well-thought-out comment, Robert. Didn’t know you had your own YT channel–will check it out.
Batman’s first adventure–although it did reveal his true identity to the reader–did not bother with an origin story. There were a more of his stories before his origin was told. His debut was in Detective Comics in 1939; the origin was depicted (in one page, which probably took Bill Finger all of 30 seconds to think up) when he got his own comic in 1940. I believe it was similar for Superman. After those two, however, it became common practice to front-load the origins.
Don’t know if you’re familiar with Astro City, but I don’t believe the writer(s) bothered with origin stories for any of their heroes. Didn’t bother me at all.
In The Watchmen, only Dr. Manhattan had an origin story (well, Rorshach too…kind of), and I don’t think it was all that necessary, as familiar as we readers are with the tropes and conventions. I would have been more interested in the origin of Ozymandias’ powers.
At least, that’s how I see it. If enough readers demand origins for my characters, I will eat crow, and oblige.
They often used to spell out the character’s powers in the opening caption, in the early comics, didn’t they? ‘Faster than a speeding bullet. Leaps tall buildings in a single bound.’ Comics are great fun!
Glad you found my channel. I was certain I mentioned it here before. I read every article on VP, I should comment more often.