Love stinks...

[Chris Wallace]

Are there any comic book films that you, personally, could've benefited from less/no romance in the plot?

[SLVRSR4]

The earlier batman films excluding Catwoman

[co2]

Originally Posted by Lucy in the sky

The earlier batman films excluding Catwoman

I'd have to disagree with that. The love story is an integral element to the first two Bat films.

Conversely, I think Katie Holmes as a love interest in Batman Begins could have easily been axed without it hurting the plot much.

I think the love story in both The Punisher and the Blade films was unecessary.

[Kable24]

What love story in the Punisher? Frank and Maria or Joan trying to start stuff with Frank?


I could definitely do without Katie Holmes in BB.

[DarKush]

Originally Posted by co2

I think the love story in both The Punisher and the Blade films was unecessary.

What love story in the Blade films? I think Goyer made a mistake by not letting Blade get it on with the vamp Nyssa in Blade 2. Other than that, there was only a mild tension, if you can call it that, between Blade and Karen Jenson in Blade 1, and zero love in Blade Trinity, unless you count Drake's suckling of Danica Talos in the extended edition.

If Blade had been involved with someone it might've added more dimension to his character.

[JackBauer]

Batman Begins is the quintessential example of unnecessary romance...

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Batman Begins

[co2]

Originally Posted by DarKush

What love story in the Blade films? I think Goyer made a mistake by not letting Blade get it on with the vamp Nyssa in Blade 2. Other than that, there was only a mild tension, if you can call it that, between Blade and Karen Jenson in Blade 1, and zero love in Blade Trinity, unless you count Drake's suckling of Danica Talos in the extended edition.

If Blade had been involved with someone it might've added more dimension to his character.

OK, OK. Love story was too strong a phrase. I should have said romantic tension. What you referenced for Blade 2 was what I was primarily refering to. In Punisher I meant between Frank and Joan. The Frank and Maria portion was essential to the story.

[Chris Wallace]

We seem to mostly be on the same wavelengths here.

[TheFalcon]

The Begins one wasn't needed, but WB forced Nolan and Goyer to include it. They got it down to the minimum amount of romance,though, so I'm not that bothered by it.

Spider-Man 2 had a bit too much romance stuff. There was the cookie girl and then there were more scenes of Peter and MJ breaking up, getting back together, breaking up again etc. than with the villain. I'm not saying that all if it should have been removed but it should have been cut down a bit.

[Chris Wallace]

"Cookie girl"?
And at what point did Peter & MJ get together & break up? While she was ENGAGED TO JOHN?

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Ya know, Ditkovich's daughter. She's thinner than my usual taste, but thought she was cute.

[Chris Wallace]

She brought him cake.

[KenK]

I liked the "romantic tension" in Blade 2, especially given what little there was in the first Blade. I mean, aside from the scene where Blade has to drink Karen's blood to heal, there wasn't really anything to suggest that they were attracted to each other. In the case of Blade 2, It was like Blade reconciling with what he was. It's important because from the first film, Blade's always struggled with being half-vampire, so a romance in the context of the woman actually being a vampire, makes it interesting and serves the story, as it gives more insight into what Blade is feeling. I know, we shouldn't care, he should just kill stuff!

But yeah, I don't know if it was Holmes' character in Batman Begins, or just her as an actress, but every time she's on screen, life is sucked out of the scene! Not to mention that sh***y little anecdote she pawns off on Bruce when she sees he's back in Gotham, just so Batman can repeat it to her near the end of the film. "It's not who I am underneath, it's what I do that defines me." I mean, that's about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the back of the head! It was cute in Batman Returns, but in Begins, it was just ham-fisted and cringe-inducing.

[Chris Wallace]

Now I disagree there; I thought it was stupid to have that whole "mistletoe" talk in Returns; Who was talking about eating it? They were in the middle of a fight-why bring up something that irrelevant? And don't most intelligent adults already KNOW mistletoe is poisonous? Begins made more sense.

[The Joker]

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace

And at what point did Peter & MJ get together & break up? While she was ENGAGED TO JOHN?

He must mean the whole I love you,I love you not,I love you again dull crap that Peter and MJ went thru in SM-2.

And she might of been engaged to John,but she still went for a little love dovey meeting with Peter in the cafe.What a loyal fiancee.

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace

Now I disagree there; I thought it was stupid to have that whole "mistletoe" talk in Returns; Who was talking about eating it? They were in the middle of a fight-why bring up something that irrelevant? And don't most intelligent adults already KNOW mistletoe is poisonous? Begins made more sense.

It was a bit of banter between Batman and Catwoman.Great banter too.Of course they know it's poisonous.Did you really think Catwoman meant a kiss could be deadlier than eating mistletoe??

And you can't even compare Begins to Returns with regards to romance.Pfeiffer kicked Holmes' character up and down the street.She and Keaton had great chemistry and real fire between them.

Holmes was just.........there.

[CConn]

The weird thing about Rachel is that, I think, as a character, she served a perfectly legitimate purpose; to not only be in that friend role for Bruce, but to serve in being the person that lights the fuse in his quest to become Batman. The probelm with that was, that role could've, and probably should've, been Harvey Dent's.

[Chris Wallace]

I also thought "Batman" & "Daredevil" were hurt by their attempts at a love story. Both of these tried to build around one date, like they knew each other so deeply. Again, Vicki was in town to get dirt on Batman. Who's to say that her professional instincts wouldn't have taken over & she wouldn't have sold him out that night? And Elektra-Jen & Ben had nice chemistry but the connection between the characters wasn't there, IMO.

[tzarinna]

It doesn't seem to get as deep as some movies. I guess to guys it can be annoying. Doesn't bother me much.

[Trevor Goodchild]

In my personal case, it’s not that it’s annoying, it simply has to be done right.
The back and forth crap in SM2 wasn’t.
And I don’t mind ‘romantic tension’ as long as they don’t presume that a one movie girlfriend can grow into something bigger after simply saving her ass. If they want that, they should show something more to it and actually stick with the same woman in the sequel(s). I don’t know, if I explained myself here…
Hey, there are many dull action movies out there with the hero shagging a different woman in each next film, so in my opinion superhero movies do indeed restrain themselves from that little fiasco and that is good.

[The Kid]

you guys said it all.

the only one with a romance that worked for me all the way was blade

[Chris Wallace]

There Was No Romance! They Didn't Even So Much As Hug. Blade Got More Action From His Mother Than He Got From Karen.

[Mee]

Originally Posted by JackBauer

Batman Begins is the quintessential example of unnecessary romance...

Yep. Also I think Daredevil would've been better with no Electra.

[Chris Wallace]

Maybe.

[Odin's Lapdog]

daredevil and daredevil dc area two great examples of how the omitting of a strong love tie can aid a film.