Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will finally be released next week after a couple of delays. For many superhero fans, the second solo movie for Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange is important, not for who may be looking to have an attention-grabbing cameo, but for the man behind the camera. Sam Raimi's return to the genre he helped catapult into mega stardom with his Spider-Man trilogy is a big deal, so much so that the trailers for Multiverse have named him.
We did a retrospective on each movie in the early days of the Pandemic, and many are doing the same now in the lead up to Multiverse. The first film of the Spider-Man trilogy had great soundtrack songs that stand the test of time, and I want us to be reminded of that fact. It peaked at number one on the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts in 2002 and was a cross-genre hit. It lost in all three categories.
Outside of its success on the charts, the song has contributed a lot to both Kroeger and Nickelback's staying power. The band has been around since 1995, but the internet has allowed them to stay in touch with their fans. They were a punching bag because they didn't have objectively terrible music, and it would remain that way until people realized that. The opening lyrics ofPhotograph are still fairly funny, but this is to say nothing. For those who grew up with these movies like I did, Hero was more than likely your first introduction to Kroeger, and whatever you think of his work since then, come on.
If Raimi's Spider-Man movies are as bad as people think they are, then the stuffed crust that makes everything all the better. The song is important because of the importance of Brian Larson's strings. The perfect song for a hero like Spider-Man, it is a song about finding the resolve to keep going on and not wallowing in complacency. The band performing the song on a rooftop feels dated, but also in sync with Tobey Maguire's PeterParker being a street level hero in the films. There is a commitment to itself that has made the song endearing. It's basically a song for an animation that came far too soon, but has still managed to have an impact.
Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 have their own lead singles. Vindicated is a romantic song that may have been meant for a CW drama. It felt more fitting when it became a song in the promo. Signal Fire was a far cry from the grand heroics that we began this venture with. It is not a deal breaker that this is a more emotional song, and one that has taken on its own power now that we have a definitive answer as to whether or not Peter and MJ worked things.
Most superhero films treat music as an optional feature rather than something that can help inform their characters. We lost something when we moved away from those albums, even if it was just some decent songs to have on while in the car. The last few years have seen a resurgence, the original Suicide Squad soundtrack is better than the movie it is attached to. Spider-Verse has an excellent array of original songs to go along with its vibes-happy vibe, and both it and Black Panther'scurated album hit a collective high on par with Daft Punk.
TheHero laid the foundation for those films because they all have their own influences and sources of inspiration. Multiverse of Madness probably has a lead single that plays in the same space as the original song. That song's type of earnestness is something that can still be found in the superhero world, even though it's what helped the genre.
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