Millar Reveals He Created "Huck" In Response To "Man Of Steel" "Trauma"

[CBR News]

Mark Millar calls his new Image Comics series the "antidote to the antihero," which he prescribed after seeing Superman take a life.


Full article here.

[superduperman]

I think it's rather amusing that those of us who had a problem with the ending of MOS were laughed off as being too old fashioned and that we just don't "get it'" and here you have one of the writers who redefined violent super-hero comics saying "Hey, guys, maybe we've crossed a line here" when someone finally does it to Superman. Sorry, but not everybody can be turned into a variation of Wolverine.

[Redvector]

I think that is what lies at the heart of why MoS didn't perform as well as it should have. That scene with the neck snapping turned people off. He's Superman he should be held to a higher standard.

[Teek]

Cripes. Millar is the absolute last person on Earth I'd expect this from.

This is the guy that made his debut in the Ultimate Universe by having a Sentinel step on a kid for crying out loud.

I may check Huck out.

[Phil Clark]

He's Superman he should be held to a higher standard.

Exactly what I have been saying for a long time. Now that Millar is blowing that same trumpet, maybe someone will finally listen and agree with us.

Cripes. Millar is the absolute last person on Earth I'd expect this from.

This is the guy that made his debut in the Ultimate Universe by having a Sentinel step on a kid for crying out loud.

I may check Huck out.

A sentinel is a villainous creation, and is far removed from the ideal that most heroes should be held too. Millar isn't saying violence doesn't belong, he is saying that heroes are meant to rise above just killing someone, particularly Superman should be above that kind of thing. Way to go Millar. Beat the drum loudly.

[DarkeSword]

It's nice to see Millar, who's very good at writing dark, violent stuff, recognizing the issues with Superman's portrayal in Man of Steel. I'm looking forward to this book.

[Wulf1984]

Damn...3 years later, Man of Steel is still THAT polarizing. Even to this day, people are divided about the way Superman handled things.

That being said, if Mike Millar (Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, Nemesis, Wanted, Ultimates, etc.) was uncomfortable with Superman going grimdark, then maybe it was too much of an extreme for the Man of Steel (and possibly the DC Cinematic Universe in general).

[Redvector]

Damn...3 years later, Man of Steel is still THAT polarizing. Even to this day, people are divided about the way Superman handled things.

That being said, if Mike Millar (Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, Nemesis, Wanted, Ultimates, etc.) was uncomfortable with Superman going grimdark, then maybe it was too much of an extreme for the Man of Steel (and possibly the DC Cinematic Universe in general).

And B vs S looks like it's cranking up the grim darkness up to eleven.

[Phil Clark]

... if Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, Nemesis, Wanted, Ultimates, etc.) was uncomfortable with Superman going grimdark, then maybe it was too much of an extreme for the Man of Steel (and possibly the DC Cinematic Universe in general).

That is what I have been saying, that Man of Steel is a flawed concept to base the DCCU on.

And B vs S looks it's cranking up the grim darkness up to eleven.

And that is why I am worried that the DCCU could end up getting the brakes slammed on by the studio if the movie under-performs (as in, doesn't perform to the studios expectations). I am not saying the film will be a box office dud... just that it may not be the box office gold that the studio wants it to be.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

I wish there was an eye roll emoji for this. Seriously? The scene isn't even that violent. It's not as if Clark went all Saw on Zod. I find it utterly ridiculous that people are still so offended by the idea that Superman would kill. Uh, newsflash, he also did so in the comics, people. In fact, he killed ZOD in the comics. Anyway, that was the whole point of the scene. To make the audience consider what someone with Superman's power SHOULD do when they have a killer about to slaughter a family in front of them. He made the right call.

[MatchesMalone]

I wish there was an eye roll emoji for this. Seriously? The scene isn't even that violent. It's not as if Clark went all Saw on Zod. I find it utterly ridiculous that people are still so offended by the idea that Superman would kill. Uh, newsflash, he also did so in the comics, people. In fact, he killed ZOD in the comics. Anyway, that was the whole point of the scene. To make the audience consider what someone with Superman's power SHOULD do when they have a killer about to slaughter a family in front of them. He made the right call.

I don't think that was the intent of the scene. I think that scene was to have us feel sympathy for Clark being placed into that situation and feeling like he had to kill him and break his belief in "no killing". But then he's kissing Lois at the end of the movie and working as a reporter...so I guess it didn't affect him that bad.

As an audience, we never are given time to understand who Clark is as a person. He shifts wildly through the movie. Drifter, child, expert at infiltrating Army bases, teenager, excited to have a costume, confident alien in cuffs, etc, etc. The films shifts to and from different perspectives of Clark's that I, at least, am never told, shown, or informed of what his beliefs are. He is also seemingly told to do this or that and there's frankly not a lot of understand for why he does something.

He is a walking plot point, waiting for the right moment to move the story forward. He just seems so distant from everything around him. And there doesn't seem to be a coherent emotional thread through his journey. He is whatever the scene wants him to be and that kind of makes him look like a sociopath.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

If you've read his excellent run on Superman Adventures, you'd know that Millar really does get Superman. Obviously, Man of Steel rubbed him the wrong way.

Besides, it does seem like he's moved away from his silly hyper-violence phase (Millar ain't no Garth Ennis) so it makes even more sense.

[Overfiend]

Seriously? I find it utterly ridiculous that people are still so offended by the idea that Superman would kill. Anyway, that was the whole point of the scene. To make the audience consider what someone with Superman's power SHOULD do when they have a killer about to slaughter a family in front of them. He made the right call.

I could not agree more. The terror-stricken pleading by Superman to Zod to not do it, followed by the heart-wrenching anguish he felt after having to kill Zod to save innocents should have made it abundantly clear to all the immeasurable value Kal-El holds for all life, even a bloodthirsty enemy. Yet somehow this manages to escape some people....

[Phil Clark]

I wish there was an eye roll emoji for this. Seriously? The scene isn't even that violent. It's not as if Clark went all Saw on Zod. I find it utterly ridiculous that people are still so offended by the idea that Superman would kill. Uh, newsflash, he also did so in the comics, people. In fact, he killed ZOD in the comics. Anyway, that was the whole point of the scene. To make the audience consider what someone with Superman's power SHOULD do when they have a killer about to slaughter a family in front of them. He made the right call.

No, he made the quick and easy call, and then he showed ZERO remorse for his actions. It was a non-issue, non learning event. If he had been completely torn up inside... but why would he be? I mean... his parents were not the moral compass that Jonathan and Martha were meant to be either. Jonathan suggested that he should have let a busload of kids die rather than risk revealing his secret to them. And Martha suggested that he could just go into hiding because he doesn't owe the world anything. MOS completely ripped the core of superman from the character and left us a character with almost no truly redeeming qualities, and so little skill using his powers that it is no wonder the world, and the U.S. military didn't trust him. Hell, Hancock had a better story of a fallen hero earning the trust and respect of the people he is there to protect then MoS.

But don't take my word for it. Mark Millar is a far more legitimate source, and HE didn't like MoS. It should make a person think, but no... people will continue to blindly stick to their guns, siting obscure stories and alternate reality stories as reason why they are right, despite the fact that even Frank Miller in the Dark Knight Returns had Clark/Superman referred to as "The Big Blue boy-scout". The vast majority of Superman stories feature the idealized Superman, that is the version I adhere to, and that I hold every version of superman up against.

And I am not alone.

[Wulf1984]

I wish there was an eye roll emoji for this. Seriously? The scene isn't even that violent. It's not as if Clark went all Saw on Zod. I find it utterly ridiculous that people are still so offended by the idea that Superman would kill. Uh, newsflash, he also did so in the comics, people. In fact, he killed ZOD in the comics. Anyway, that was the whole point of the scene. To make the audience consider what someone with Superman's power SHOULD do when they have a killer about to slaughter a family in front of them. He made the right call.

The issue isn't the level of violence, but the fact that they put Superman in that position to begin with. Most fans want an action packed Superman full of hope, not angst or darkness.

This is why I said MOS is polarizing. Some fans will support the idea of Superman, (who lacks the resources to lock away a Kyptonian villain that he has in the comics) killing Zod in an extreme scenario. Others feel that it's an extreme departure from the character that they have known for decades.

Mike Millar might have realized that dark doesn't work for everyone when even the more brighter characters are going down that path. It's like the backlash against the 90's when almost EVERYONE started becoming dark and extreme. Remember when Sue Richards became a T&A character back when the Bad Girl Craze was in? When everybody and their mother is becoming dark, the darkness loses it's appeal.