3. 'I'm SO Angry With You Right Now!''
When making a film for the masses, the plot has to be kept simple enough to understand. Forget about satellites trying to find out about their origins, or abducting whales to answer a probe; the audience needs a simple story about revenge. Also it was partly the bases for the story behind the most highly regarded Star Trek movie, so it makes JJ-$en$e to make these movies about revenge too. Both Nero in Star Trek 2009 and Khan in Into Darkness have been motivated by revenge. Nero was annoyed with everyone because his home planet was destroyed and Khan was annoyed becausehe wasnt appreciated?.or he was double crossed?or Admiral Robocop didnthe was annoyed! Anyhow, revenge has been the motivation behind both of JJ's villains. But in Into Darkness, even Kirk is motivated by revenge. Because Khan kills Pike, that makes Kirk angry and he goes chasing after him. At the end of the movie, Spock is so motivated by revenge that he has a blue screen fight with Khan on top of some moving cars. Revenge is one of the easiest stories to write. Person A makes Person B angry and Person A goes after Person B to get revenge. In between the handful of popcorn going into the audiences mouths, you dont want them to loose track of the plot, so as long as they remember that one person is seriously annoyed with the other, the film should be easy to follow. It also means the plot does not get in the way of some kick ass action scenes.
So when writing a blockbuster, save yourself the hassle of thinking up a truly original story and write a story about revenge. The audience love it because they have seen it before and you can sell the film as being dark because everyone is ANGRY.