Comic book writer Mark Millar was scarred for life after he saw the film "Man of Steel" starring Henry Cavill as Superman because it did not have a "peaceful solutions to insurmountable problems."
In an article he wrote for Games Radar, Millar said that the superheroes people have come to love and admire were "created in the Great Depression to lift our spirits in the darkest times," and they should always remain as symbols of hope and not of violence.
He then clarified that he has no problem with violence being depicted on the big screen; however, a line always has to be drawn.
"You see, I love cartoonish ultra-violence as much as the next Glaswegian (see this year's Kingsman: the Secret Service where Colin Firth takes down 100 fundamentalists in a Southern Baptist church), but at the same time I also feel we need a little balance," he explained. "In amongst all these very dark, angst-ridden and sometimes very serious superhero movies that have made Hollywood a lot of money over the last fifteen years I'm sensing a need for a little hope too, a little LESS super-cool bad-(expletive). This really hit me hardest, I think, when I was watching Henry Cavill's turn as Superman in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel a couple of years back."
It was the summer of 2013 when he went to the cinema on Father's Day and saw how Superman beat the bad guy by "twisting his neck so hard he broke it and murdered him."
"I really wondered if we'd come to the end of that particular road," said Millar. "Now I got the logic of that scene and it absolutely made sense within the context of the movie as the villain had taken down half of Metropolis and killed hundreds of thousands of people. But even so. This was Superman. This was like seeing Sylvester the Cat finally getting his hands on Speedy Gonzales. Elmer Fudd blowing away Bugs Bunny. I loved Superman as a kid not because of his edginess or his potential for a fatal solution, but because he could do anything he wanted and still chose to be nice."
On the flip side, Millar absolutely loved the 2014 film "Guardians of the Galaxy" simply because it was fun and upbeat, and the whole audience was uplifted by its message of hope, friendship, and acceptance.
"People, I think, are just needing a good time and a smile again," he said.
