Peter Martin continues his 8-day article – for Part One click HERE
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In anticipation of the upcoming release of Captain America: The First Avenger on July 22, we started to think about common themes that run through all superhero stories, including the ones that have been released this summer. And it seems to us that education is Priority #1. Superheroes must learn how to use their superpowers with extraordinary precision and control, or else they could do serious damage to themselves, to others, or even the entire planet. That applies even if they’re ordinary people who are gifted with extraordinary powers. So we’re counting down the top 8 moments when superheroes got schooled in the movies.
7. Watchmen
Sometimes, we have to learn things on our own. So it goes for Dr. Jon Osterman (Billy Crudup), or, as he’s better known, Doctor Manhattan, who has been wrestling with questions about his humanity ever since the accident that gave him superpowers. After he’s accused of causing many of his former co-workers (and an ex-girlfriend) to become afflicted with cancer, he transports himself to Mars, where he relives the key events of his life in a moving, bittersweet sequence that’s dazzling and powerful. Jon is the smartest man ever born, and he has taught himself an important lesson — the superhero schools himself — one that will have severe, even dire consequences for the whole of mankind.
Check in tomorrow to see who’s next!
