Trends in Superhero Stories

[Enforcer Productions]

I had an idea to attempt to make a parody of a current superhero trend or popular archetype, but I need some insight. Any thoughts?

 

[MemoryTale]

It might be fun to concentrate on the people affected by superheroes. Who cleans up Spiderman's webs? Do citizens need Hulk insurance? What does the average commuter think when Superman picks his car up to use as a blunt instrument? Obviously invent your own superheroes for these scenarios, but if it's obvious parody you can make some near the knuckle examples.

 

[Phyrebrat]

@David Evil Overlord is doing this with success I believe.

The problem in asking others for ideas is what happens when you get stuck? If you can work all the details out yourself I think it'll be a lot easier in the long run.

What do you mean when you say 'any ideas?'

pH

 

[Pentagon]

I had fantastic fun playing around with the concept of a story told from the perspective of the spouse...

The intro, I was particularly proud of:

Chelsea, London 22nd March 2006

A professor of poetry once remarked to me that studying poetry had completely ruined any appreciation of the art. What had once been an emotion inducing set of almost magical words had been reduced to a set of lines, syllables and beat. As fleeting comments at parties tend to, this remark stuck in my head. I turned it’s applications to my own field, as a professor of sociology, I wondered if the social links of society had been ruined for me.

I lie in bed wondering whether Durkheim, when he stated that family existed to fulfil a function was right. I wonder if I like Murdock see family as a tool to provide sexual, reproductive, economic and educational functions. Does a formal study of the family ruin the magic of love? I was broken from this minor revelry by the sound of impact onto our small balcony. I sighed quietly to myself, only turning to check the radio alarm clock, 4am.

I considered Parsons’ Warm Bath theory, and wondered vaguely if he had considered the likes of Alex in his considerations. A silhouette of a female figure walked slowly into the bedroom from the balcony. Alex was walking with a faint limp, and she staggered slowly into the en-suite. Seven years of having a vigilante super hero as a girlfriend still hadn’t taught me what to do when she came in during the dead of night covered in bruises and bleeding. I winced as the characteristic sound of a broken tooth being spat into the sink resonated around the room.

Parsons had suggested that the woman’s role was to emotionally refresh the man to prepare him for his next day of being useful to society. I considered the ludicrousness in such an idea. As I stretched out an arm to wrap Alex’s bruised shoulder in a warm embrace, I wondered if the only thing ludicrous was my own sexist preconceptions. It was that not-so comforting thought that sent me back to sleep.

 

[The Big Peat]

I think you need to give us more information.

Are you looking for ideas of parodies to do? Are you looking for examples of what's been done already? Or people's ideas of the sort of parodies they'd always hoped to see?

What ideas do you currently have?

 

[Ihe]

I second what others have said about the vagueness of your request. I recommend first deciding on something concrete before asking for advice. To be frank, your request sounded like: "I have nothing, gimme ideas", which in itself is fine--many Chronners will gladly contribute--but I think overall that's the wrong way to approach a creative project. If you're asking us to give you the primary idea, you're likely not gonna go very far on your own with that story. Choosing what to write and having some sort of plan and, above all, intrinsic motivation to write a particular story is what will drive you. Once you find that, everything will flow more smoothly, but you need to choose the story you want to tell. I believe that that very first step you must take alone. We can always help you along the way, of course, but you will need to do the heavy lifting first (deciding on a general plot outline, investigating story elements and relevant concepts, trying to write for a bit first, etc).

It might be fun to concentrate on the people affected by superheroes. Who cleans up Spiderman's webs? Do citizens need Hulk insurance? What does the average commuter think when Superman picks his car up to use as a blunt instrument? Obviously invent your own superheroes for these scenarios, but if it's obvious parody you can make some near the knuckle examples.

I think there's a new TV or Netflix series that deals with that, although I don't know if it's already come out.

PS: I will recommend you check out One Punch Man. It's a great parody manga/anime about an overpowered hero.

 

[Enforcer Productions]

I think you need to give us more information.

Are you looking for ideas of parodies to do? Are you looking for examples of what's been done already? Or people's ideas of the sort of parodies they'd always hoped to see?

What ideas do you currently have?

So far, I've got two ideas. The First one is an x-men style team of mutants, but with extremely weird powers. The second one is a Punisher-style vigilante with a ridiculous name(I'm thinking The Garbageman).

 

[The Big Peat]

I still don't really get what you're looking for, so I'm just gonna fire off things and hope some of them help.

The two best sources of superhero parody I know are webcomics (and therefore free!) - Evil Inc and Super Stupor! - if you're looking for insight into what other have done with the genre read them.

Read Watchmen. I presume you have already if you like superheroes but read it again. It's not parody, but it's still the gold standard on deconstructing superheroes and showing them as ordinary human beings - and as you might have already got from this thread/reading those links, a lot of superhero parody is about showing them as ordinary human beings.

In particular, there's a big rich vein in showing superheroes as ordinary schmoes with their loved ones. You can play it light ("Honey! What did I tell you about using pyrokinesis to get rid of the used nappies?") or ultra dark ("And this is how you change a baby, Wolver- oh gods, why did you claws malfunction then... oh gods, what we do tell Janey?").

I'm not saying you have go down the showing them as human route mind. But its the obvious one. And this is why I keep asking questions. Do you want to show these characters being really weird in every day situations - or do you want to concentrate on all the action and fights and parody them?

Do you want to keep this all light and bouncy, or do you want it soaked in the bleak absurdity of the human condition all Sin City style, or somewhere in the middle?

Do you want it to feel realistic or do you want it to be deliberately unreal?

The more you tell us about your choices, the more we can help. And if you're honestly no further along than you've told us, I think you need to spend more time thinking what it is you want from this.

 

[Ihe]

I recall a cartoon where the MC is a hobo and all of the ninjutsu he learns is based on things he finds in the garbage dump. It's quite funny and absolutely gross.

 

[EJDeBrun]

I really liked joss whedon's dr horrible sing-a-long blog, though I admit that it was more about the "villain" than the "hero"

 

[The Big Peat]

I recall a cartoon where the MC is a hobo and all of the ninjutsu he learns is based on things he finds in the garbage dump. It's quite funny and absolutely gross.

Reminds me vaguely of Kung Fu Hustle in a way that does.

 

[Toby Frost]

I'd strongly suggest that you watch The Tick, an animated show that parodies superhero cartoons. Apart from research, it's also very funny.

The Tick (1994 TV series) - Wikipedia

 

[Mirannan]

This is probably on the web (appropriately enough ) somewhere, but there were a couple of episodes of a Spiderman animated cartoon recently in which he had joined a trainee superhero group, and on one occasion they had caused an excessive amount of damage fighting supervillians - and were assigned to Damage Control, a cleanup and reconstruction crew.

I don't think I would like to have to pay the property insurance bill for a property in Marvel Manhattan, or Metropolis.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

This made me think of the old tv show The Greatest American Hero- where he gained a super-suit but lost the hand book, so he bumbled his way through being a superhero. I don't know if I've ever seen a reluctant hero in that the hero is scared of something despite having tremendous power. I don't mean scared of their power (like the Bruce Banner/Hulk) I mean something like a hero with aquatic powers who is scared of swimming or a person who can fly but is terrified of heights.

 

[Old_Man_Steve2016]

One of the big trends these days is heroes fighting heroes over hero minutiae, or more serious issues.
Marvel's Civil War events and DC Injustice: Jerks among Us video game series tend to be the market drivers, I think.

Anyway, you can spoof this by having a large scale hero brawl break out over:

• antihero losing a heroes poker game
• big hero stepped on angry hero's shoe during a fight
• One hero constantly bragging about his action figure merchandising successes. World War One potential here
• A non-usual hero enters the public square, causing the other heroes to say non-PC things and get in trouble with the press and other heroes.
• Someone accidentally groped/disrobed a female hero during a flag football game and her love interests/stalkers overreact...
• A young hero insulted an older hero on Twitter and that old guy doesn't like that... (You could use the Soulja Boi vs Ice-T issue from a few years back as a scaffold)
• A hot female hero's Instagram account...and you can go MANY places with this as a starting point
• A good guy goes bad because his hero contract wasn't re-signed and some of his/her/hir friends join in
• Sidekick publishes tell-all and the heroes chase after him for revenge
• Popular hero caught abusing animals on Facebook and the animal rights groups egg the heroes to take him out.
• Nude hero/heroine photos leaked to TMZ and the heroes randomly attack villains and other heroes, thinking they are to blame (similar to Justice League Revenge arc or something involving Dr. Light)
• LAPD 'accidentally' shoots a black hero and his team wants revenge.
• A hero team invites over a supervillain for a Thanksgiving party and he trolls everyone so hard they start fighting each other.
• Heroes from a nastier dimension/region of space show up and don't like the softness of the regular heroes. Think MK vs DC.
• Retired, Grizzled war supers don't like the newer, flashier supers, and one of the new guys drank all the beer at the hero club and puked on a sofa.
• Supers going to a convention are booked on United Airlines. Overbooked, shall we say?
• Super hero screws up hilariously and gets called out on "C'mon Son!" and "Real Time with Bill Maher" and the hero's defenders make antisemetic remarks on Facebook and Twitter and other fans respond and you've got Civil War II.