{"id":44449,"date":"2014-08-18T21:51:35","date_gmt":"2014-08-19T03:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/18\/in-the-beginning-there-was-the-origin-story.html"},"modified":"2015-05-07T16:40:30","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T22:40:30","slug":"in-the-beginning-there-was-the-origin-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/18\/in-the-beginning-there-was-the-origin-story.html","title":{"rendered":"In the Beginning, there was the Origin Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
Every super-hero tale starts with it, right? Spider-Man and the spider (and the bandit and Uncle Ben). Superman and Krypton and Ma & Pa Kent. Tony Stark. The Incredible Hulk. The Shadow. Captain America. The Dark Knight. Green Lantern. The X-Men (First Class). Star-Lord.<\/p>\n

But it's not essential, if the story is told right. Tim Burton's Batman had some flashbacks to his parents' death, but that's not how the movie started. The Brian Singer X-Men movies didn't start with how Professor X called together his original heroes. Yeah, we got Peter Quill as a kid, but we didn't actually see how he became Star-Lord. And we didn't have to see Li'l Thor to understand who he was or where he came from. Indiana Jones didn't get an origin story until the third movie.<\/p>\n

The Origin Story is a classic super-hero trope, and understanding how protagonists arrive on screen (or in the initial written tale) is perfectly natural. But you can handle learning where a character came from in a variety of different ways, and learning as one goes along is a perfectly legitimate way to tell the story. Indeed, hinting at origins and letting the mystery unfold (to some degree) as you go along is sometimes even more effective (see: Black Widow).<\/p>\n

So, yeah, do we need a Doctor Strange movie to tell how Stephen became the Sorcerer Supreme? Do we need to see the Tony Stark-esque arc from false arrogance to legitimate arrogance? Do we need the Ancient One, and rival Mordo? No. It would be a fine story. But it can also be dispensed with, or referenced to in passing, or flashed back upon, or … whatever. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Find a story. Tell the story. Don't feel like you need to begin with the Prolog.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Curt Thompson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am so behind this idea. If the character\/concept is strong enough, people who don't follow comics will pick it up and run with it. And Doctor Strange isn't about his beginnings. It's about his funky life sealing off threats from the outer planes and training his apprentices.<\/p>\n

Then again, I'm still holding out for the adventures of Wong (Dr. Strange's manservant, which isn't nearly as dirty as it sounds), Jarvis (the Avengers butler) and Danger (the X-Mansion's AI), so I may not be the best one to ask.\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

Rumor Has It Doctor Strange Won\u2019t Be an Origin Story | Tor.com<\/a>
\n Will the Doctor Strange movie not bother with telling his origin story?\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every super-hero tale starts with it, right? Spider-Man and the spider (and the bandit and Uncle Ben). Superman and Krypton and Ma & Pa Kent. Tony Stark. The Incredible Hulk. The Shadow. Captain America. The Dark Knight. Green Lantern. The X-Men (First Class). Star-Lord. But it's not essential, if the story is told right. Tim … Continue reading “In the Beginning, there was the Origin Story”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,852,525,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-dc-cinematic-univese","category-marvel-cinematic-universe","category-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9225,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/01\/18\/what_have_you_g.html","url_meta":{"origin":44449,"position":0},"title":"What have you got in your comic book box?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Jan-06 11:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I am still desperately behind on comics reading from being away on business trips and the holidays. The subject came up with Aaron the other day what other \"great\" titles...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1023,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/24\/21_20_19_18.html","url_meta":{"origin":44449,"position":1},"title":"21, 20, 19, 18 …","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 24-Oct-01 3:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"21, 20, 19, 18 ... Continuing my review of Marvel's Top 25 comics (as chosen by a fan poll, and as published by Marvel over the next few weeks). 21....","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20096,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/14\/x-men-trailer.html","url_meta":{"origin":44449,"position":2},"title":"“X-Men” trailer","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Feb-11 6:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, rampant comic history revisionism aside, this is pretty cool ... Mixing up the X-Men with the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) seems odd at first blush, but it grounds it in the team's actual origin period (first published in 9\/63), and has all sorts of cool implications to it. (And,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50064,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/13\/spider-man-and-the-marvel-cinematic-universe.html","url_meta":{"origin":44449,"position":3},"title":"Spider-Man and the Marvel Cinematic Universe","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Apr-15 11:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not a huge Spidey-fan, but I think they are doing things right here:1. No origin story. Spidey will be introduced as-is, backstory to be explored as needed. People who are interested know who Spider-Man is, or how he got that way. No need for another take.2. Back to basics.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51272,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/26\/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-marvel-ultimate-universe.html","url_meta":{"origin":44449,"position":4},"title":"The Rise and Fall of the Marvel Ultimate Universe","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 26-May-15 10:50pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a number aesthetic points I disagree with in the article, but overall a decent history of the creation, rise, and apparently inevitable fall of the Ultimate Universe at Marvel.I'll confess I was never a huge UU fan -- I read most of the Ultimates, and some Ultimate Thor,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11891,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/07\/my_family.html","url_meta":{"origin":44449,"position":5},"title":"My family","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 7-Jan-08 8:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"In what other family could I be sitting at table on a Monday night, eating some great steak and cottage potatoes, drinking some excellent Hansen Zinfandel, and discussing amongst...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/secretwar8-spideyblack.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44480,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44449\/revisions\/44480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}