GREEN LANTERN Will Be More Than A SECRET ORIGINS Reprint

I think that the origin of the Latern Corps could make for a great opening with VO by Reynolds, then the first 10min be him in the Jet and finding the Alien and getting the ring.

I don't think a 2 hour history of the corps and the story that led to the latern crashing on earth would service the character very well. I'd much rather see a Military style 'GL in training and in the ranks of the Corp under Sinistro' film

Start the thing off on the Corps' Space Platform (or whatever their base is) and have Reynolds' story told via flashback during quiet moments, like how he's homesick or something, I dunno.

Best way to do it. A quick flashback to Jordan getting the ring from Abin Sur, then a quick shot of him doing some good deeds on Earth as Green Lantern, then back to the action on Oa. OR take a page from the second Spider-Man flick, and have the origin play out as the opening credits roll.

As I recall, they got the origin for 'Daredevil' over in about 5 minutes and went right into the story. I'm not a fan of the movie itself, but I must admit that I liked that truncated origin.

Not quite five - should have been five.

The origin thing is just pro-longed reactionary trend to earlier films starting out with their protagonists pre-established. As well as Hollywood riding the coat tales of Batman Begins which rode the coat tales of X-men.

I expect another reactionary movement in a few years. A decade from now you'll all be yearning for origin stories again. One successful film pulls it off and it's so on.

I think the reason I've always liked the first Spider-Man more than the second one is that it felt very organic insofar as telling the origin without feeling like two movies, like Batman Begins. Even X-Men felt like two short movies. Iron Man was close to organic, but the last 3rd after he's established the armor was definitely a lesser section of the film.

Coincidentally the recent Green Lantern animated movie did basically the same thing. In fact, the more they reveal script details, the more it sounds like they're just making that movie in live action, which I hope isn't true.

Maybe it's just the superhero films I've chosen to see, but I don't remember too many of them that start out with the protagonist preestablished--at least not enough of them to call it a trend.

In fact, I can't think of a single superhero film that doesn't start out with an origin story, or at least have it incorporated in the first film. I'm sure many will clamor to correct me.

ETA: X-Men being the notable exception, but again, not a trend.

Well, the trashy ones, like the original Punisher started years into Frank Castle's vigilante mission. I suppose most of the crappy ones...wasn't there a cap movie and a Nick Fury one, too? Heck, Burton's Joke--Batman, all had them good to go from frame one. Even Blade, which is still one of my favorite comic films, has him propped up as a bad-ass immediately and showing glimpses of his past throughout the runtime.

Captain America was chopped in half by an origin story. Coincidentally, the Lundgren Punisher is thematically a sequel to the Jane Punisher.

I was just guessing on the Cap one. Sounded like the kind of cheesy movie that would not have wanted any backstory in it.

It's also way better than Jane's, despite Jane being the better Frank Castle (though not necessarily the better Punisher), of course.

Every superhero is different in regards to how much origin is appropriate. Daredevil doesn't need a lot of setup. Batman needs even less, though I can understand why Batman Begins made that the focus of the movie, since they were trying to start from scratch. Fantastic Four don't need much in the way of an origin, and strictly speaking, they had all the pieces in place by the end of the first act of the first movie, but then they needlessly dragged it out until the third act.

On the other hand, I can see why they spent much of the first X-Men setting up the characters, since there's so many characters and a somewhat elaborate world. Likewise, Spiderman's origin is, in and of itself, a compelling character story, so it makes sense that it would take up a good chunk of the first movie.

Of course, it depends on whether you're talking about the "becomes a superhero" part or the "gains his characterization" part. There's no reason Green Lantern can't be in the suit and doing superhero things within the first ten minutes, but if you consider establishing all the Green Lantern Corps stuff and watching Sinestro go bad (shock!) "origin" than I don't think anyone minds spending much of the movie on that.

What I hope Reynolds is saying is that we won't get a protracted stretch in the second act where the hero hangs around his hometown, learning to use his powers while hiding his identity from his girlfriend or whatever the fuck. That's always the worst, lamest decision these superhero movies make (again, exception made for Spidey, because that's part of who he is). With any luck, most of this movie will be set in space. Do that, and they can have training sequences galore.

Hating on trends in general just doesn't work. Vampires are done and tired and need a rest until a Let The Right One In turns up in the middle of the glut and proves otherwise. Zombie movies are over - oh, wait, exept for Zombieland. Origin stories are lame, until Casino Royale takes the crown of Best Bond Movie Everrrrrr. It's all some case-by-case shit. If it works, it works.

I just want a Marvel movie that's 95% set in space. If we have to forego the tried and true origin story for that, so be it.

Wha?

I really don't know why this can't be done in the first reel - I like the idea of showing the Corps doing their thing and Reynolds putting on the ring early in the film and go from there. Unlike other heroes he doesn't really need that many "realizing his powers" scenes. He puts on a ring and bam! - he's off.