Most superheroes can’t wait to don their flashy outfits and use their abilities to fight crime and protect the general public, but not Jack Knight. One of two sons of the Golden Age (circa: World War II) Starman, Jack wanted nothing less than to take up his father’s mantle and be a new generation of Starman, but when his brother David is killed as the new Starman, Jack feels a family obligation.
The 90s version of Starman leaned heavily on themes of the father/son relationship, the struggle to find the hero within, and how the past can sometimes come back to haunt you even if you’re running away from it as fast as you can. More emotionally complex and thematically challenging than a lot of comic books at the time, Starman was a cult success, but it struggled through its 81 issue run to find an audience despite the fact it was launched after the heavily-hyped Zero Hour crossover.
But a good comic book idea then is a good comic book movie idea now, and a cynical, struggling hero trying to live up to a larger than life legacy while leaving his own mark in the process might speak to a lot of people in the movie audience.
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