10. Traumatic Childhood Fuels Fight For Justice
A major staple of the superhero movie is the "sad childhood," in which your main character is revealed to have a turbulent or haunting past that drives them to either fight crime or "face their demons," usually in an attempt to bring justice to a world filled with anarchy. This is a great way to fuel any potential superhero, of course, and that's the reason why it remains so popular. But check your recent array of cinematic superheroes and you'll find that nearly all of them have daddy issues. In the recent Spider-Man reboot, the writers even added in a brand new sad backstory for Peter Parker to agonise over, and both Thor and Tony Stark have had to face up to their father-based demons in
Thor and
Iron Man 2. It's probably safe to assume that by the time the next Batman reboot rears its ugly head, Bruce Wayne's family will be gunned down in the same incident that we saw occur in
Batman Begins. But how about we give Bruce a different reason to become a superhero next time? What's the point, after all, in telling the same story all over again?