Today, I explain why the “yellow spandex” joke in X-Men was so indicative of a larger problem with superhero movies for years.
In Remember to Forget, we spotlight pop culture stories that I wish I could forget, but I can’t, so I instead share them with you all, so you’re stuck in the same boat as me!
July is Remember to Forget month!
In 2000’s X-Men” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>X-Men, Logan joins the X-Men, and as a result, is given a costume like the rest of the team. He mocks the matching outfits, and Cyclops mockingly jokes, “What, would you prefer yellow spandex?”
(And amusingly enough, as I noted in a recent post, Wolverine now IS wearing a yellow costume in Deadpool 3)
Discussing the scene with SyFy Wire for the 20th anniversary of the film, producer Ralph Winter noted:
“At that time, we did feel like we did a good job. We limited the amount of time in the wardrobe. Of course, there’s a joke in the movie about yellow spandex, which was directed at the fans. It wasn’t to [irritate] them but to say ‘Hey, we hear you. We understand what you want. We understand you don’t like the idea of Wolverine being taller than 5’4″. We understand you’d rather have everybody in the traditional garb. But we also have to make a movie that reaches a wide audience to justify the budget.'”
He added that the trick was “always to bullseye the hardcore Marvel/X-Men fan, but do it in a way that doesn’t alienate an average moviegoer that might enjoy, or start to enjoy, these types of stories.”
I really and truly don’t mind if people want to joke around with the fans a little, but this really just struck me as such a great example of why so many superhero movies never really hit the level that they should have, because the simple matter of it is that they truly did not believe in their source material. It’s akin to what I noted recently, which is, “Don’t adapt a property you don’t actually like.”
So much of those early superhero movies were essentially, “What can I CHANGE to make this appear as little like the actual comic book it is adapting as possible?” Look at the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie or the From Hell movie (I actually liked the From Hell movie for what it was). They were nominally respectful of the source material…and then promptly changed as much as they possibly could.
Not only that, but as noted from that quote from the producer, the filmmakers seemed to take the attitude that you were lucky that they even acknowledged your fandom by joking about how dumb your expectations were. Listen, I get it, it’s not really meant to be that deep of a comment. It’s not some aggressive “eff you” to the fandom, but instead, it’s really more of a PASSIVE “Eff you,” as they truly DID believe having a line about how dumb the idea of putting Wolverine in a yellow spandex outfit was, in fact, a NICE thing to throw in there for the comic book fans to show that they at least know that Wolverine DID wear a yellow costume.
It was this idea that OBVIOUSLY no one would ever expect the movies to TRULY adapt the comics, but hey, at least we know what we’re NOT doing! That’s something, right?
That attitude lasted for waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long in the world of superhero movies.
If anyone else has an idea for a future Remember to Forget (I’m going to do a month’s worth of them, so I could use plenty of ideas!), feel free to drop me a line at brian@poprefs.com
I read the story that Singer wrote that exchange and added it in after the first pictures of the black leather outfits came out and the fans were unimpressed, so it was an eff you to the fans, effectively.
I had heard that they originally tested more traditional costume designs, but the colors didn’t look good in tests. Of course, seeing how they tried to cover themselves, that might not be true.
I think this is far less egregious than making a Civil War where there’s no Civil War, or a Secret Invasion where the secret invasion is nothing like Secret Invasion. And I thought the original comic was terrible in that latter’s instance! Somehow, the show became the dullest possible iteration of the concept. The X-Men costume situation is winking and nodding because what else can it do? At least the creators are aware of what makes these characters tick, how they function. In the MCU as of late, I’m not so sure.
All the multiple directors and screenwriters who want to think they are totally transcending the genre by not putting the heroes in costume, not having Victor von Doom use a corny name like Doctor Doom …
Many of the early superhero films did the same thing, not fully understanding that there is a reason the material is so beloved. Superman was a rare exception.
Interestingly enough (and I would love to read your thoughts on this) it almost seems like the opposite is happening now- people who believe that source material is such a guaranteed hit, that filmmakers want to put their own spin on it not to appease mainstream audiences, but believing they can just take something already good, make it better, then take the credit for its success. This has led to a lot more filmmakers taking chances (after all, it’s a superhero movie/show, it’s already going to be a hit!) with mixed success. As Fraser wrote, “transcending the genre”.
When it does work, oftentimes the filmmaker, not the source, gets praised. I’m thinking about James Gunn taking way too much credit for Guardians of the Galaxy’s success. Yeah, he made some good changes, but the characters were already pretty cool. I felt like the further he strayed from the source material (and this definitely goes for Suicide Squad), the less it became about the heroes and the more it became a “James Gunn film”.
It really seems that comic movies/TV are going full circle. As everyone strives to put their own spin on a character/concept, the characters and concepts work less and less.
I agree with Cletus regarding Mr. Gunn. While Vol. 2 was still a damn good movie, it definitely felt like a step down in quality with the Flanderization of Drax from taking everything literally to being more of a buffoon especially annoying.
Gunn’s Suicide Squad was definitely better than Ayer’s, but he seemed to far too much in love with his Peacekeeper character to the detriment of other, better characters.
Coming back to this after a while, I thought of a movie that pointed out how goofy a purely comic-accurate costume would be without resorting to a wink-and-nod at the audience. Captain America: the First Avenger showed the evolution of Cap’s costume through his entertainment work to becoming an actual soldier on the battlefield. While some of his entertainment costumes were certainly accurate to the comic, they definitely wouldn’t have been practical for what the character was doing in an actual war zone.