My plan to save the superhero movie

I can already imagine readers saying, "Wait, SAVE the superhero movie? Why does it need saving?" Well, I confess I have not seen 2012 blockbusters "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises," so...well, they don't count. I DID see "Amazing Spider-Man," and while I admired much about it, overall I felt a little unimpressed. I think it's just too soon for a franchise reboot, partly because one thing I dread about comic book flicks is the inevitable rehash of the Secret Origin story.

Let's face it, comic book readers have seen these origin tales over and over and over again, maybe with variations here and there, but basically they are all too familiar with it. It's not that big a deal to see real people acting them out, especially when it's already been done and especially when it's been done in the last decade.

Yet makers of these blockbusters want to bring in everybody, and the tales of how these heroes become who they are is vital to their essence as characters. So we wind up seeing the stories again on the big screen. I know I would rather just see them go right into a cool story and not worry about bringing everyone up to speed.

So I have created a solution to this problem (admittedly, I may have created the problem in my own mind). I believe I have a way to let the audience know what it needs to know in an entertaining manner while speeding up the process as well and letting us dive into an exciting adventure.

It's simple: Let Stan Lee introduce every single superhero movie. He comes out on camera and explains in a minute or two all we need to know about the characters we are about to see. Fans would accept it, audiences would be in the know, and then we could start the actual story without a lengthy do-over.

I know there is dispute about the extent of Stan's creation of certain characters, and I know he worked for Marvel Comics and not DC Comics and therefore had absolutely no impact on the invention of, say, Superman...but who cares? Fact is, Stan Lee is beloved by the general public and fanboys alike, and he is the de facto Ambassador of Comics. I doubt DC would mind if Stan appeared in one of its films. It should be happy to have someone with his likability representing the company. And do you think Stan would turn down a chance to do this? No way!

It's a win-win for everyone. Superhero movies, consider yourselves saved.