Who are the better action movie heroes today?

[Thenryb]

Stories rely on conflict and transition. One reason why characters like Captain America and Cyclops don't draw movie audiences on their own today is because they're written in the wrong place: key leadership positions where they've already earned the respect and loyalty of others. Subsequently there is no character arc with these men— they become fixtures in the team dynamic.

One way you can make a hero like Captain America work is if you start the story out with him as an underling, the new guy on an established team that has somewhat lost its way in both moral and technical effectiveness. The white-hat starts out fighting his comrades as much as he does the overt villains of the tale. The crisis is wrought, the team is re-forged into a stronger unit, and they end up defeating the bad guys.

Unfortunately, a sequel has the danger of flopping because our good hero is then back in that same fatal position of being the leader with little where else to go as a character.

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