Of superheroics & superheroines

He has done it again. The fourth edition of The Amazing Spider-Man has toted the highest box-office opening collections of `30 crore for a Hollywood product in India, repeating the wallop of Spidey’s previous super-heroics five years ago. In other words, Bollywood is being given a run for its moolah on its own turf by Hollywood.

It wasn’t always like this though. English-language films right from the 1950s to the turn of the millennium, were a specialised taste, appealing essentially to the well-heeled and literate audience.
The dubbing into various regional languages led to a stronger viewership, initiated with the success of The Jurassic Park, the Harry Potter series and of course, the godpas of them all, Titanic and Avatar.
Evidently, superhero extravaganzas have gathered an enormous fan following in the Indian movie bazaar, way beyond the tickets which were sold by the bushel for cult Oscar-winners The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Doctor Zhivago, The Sound of Music and the slick James Bond franchise. In between Superman and Batman kicked up quite a storm, too, in terms of sheer commercial appeal and sale of merchandise, be it T-shirts, toys, videogames or assorted gadgetry.
Earlier this year, The Avengers collected five mega-messiahs — Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye — under one FX-roof. Consequently, those who were addicted to the comic strip books of yore — forbidden to be read in schoolrooms during lunch breaks — await quite a few film exploits by the wonder people who have been either completely neglected or downgraded, so far, by the Hollywood honchos.
Take Wonder Woman aka Diana. Outfitted in a designer stars-and-stripes ensemble, she brandishes a Lasso of Truth as well as magic bracelets and a temperamental tiara. She was a 1940s creation of a psychologist, his wife and their mutual lover. A warrior princess of the Amazons, Wonder Di has been described as “a feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men.” Occasionally, she even flew an invisible airplane! How far-out is that?
To date, this indestructible one has been given a solo platform in a vapid 1970s TV series and a shoddy cartoon flick. Attempts for a live-action film haven’t gone beyond the script development stage yet. More than likely, the disastrous shows of Helen Slater as Supergirl and of Halle Berry as Catwoman have discouraged the studio honchos from giving Ms Wonder a blockbuster movie which she deserves.
In comic strips, her predecessor Fantomah the Mystery Woman of the Jungle would employ her abundant supernatural powers, while turning from a beautiful face into a blue skull. A case of another neglected femme fatale. Lady Luck, Hawkgirl and Batgirl haven’t made whoopee on the matinee-entertainment scene either.
Mandrake the Magician, the retro-chic hypnotist, has inspired diverse sources, ranging from Federico Fellini (whose project didn’t materialise) to a film rip-off produced in Turkey. The immaculately groomed Mandrake featured in a few forgotten films of the black-and-white era, but is perfect for the 3D format, what with his legerdemain which continues to be syndicated in the newspapers since decades.
Quite tellingly, practically every superhero was born around the time of World War II, a manifestation of the American nation’s need for reassurance that no matter what, their world would remain intact. It’s during conditions of strife that the young and old have idolised fantasy saviours. The comic books of Captain America (reduced to a supporting player in The Avengers), also parading a costume inspired by the US flag, brought comfort to a country which had suffered the Great Depression and then the outbreak of another World War. Entertainment is an industry, which oddly enough booms in times of stress. In the post-recession years, the worldwide success of Spider-man was a foregone conclusion.
The only regret is that there have been equally powerful “saviours”, the emblems of good combating evil. Human Torch, The Shield, The Angel, Flash… aah there are far too many of those comic strip gods who have been confined to the shadows. But who knows? Their day could come too.