Thinking Out Loud: The Art of Fighting

Big nerdy confession time; I think about superheroes fighting quite a lot. Not just the act of them fighting, but how they fight, how it would look and what, if any, martial arts style they would use. As more and more characters from comics are being adapted for screen, I find this topic on my mind more and more. Now, I'm not martial arts expert, I enjoy my Wuxia and have dabbled with both Aikido and Wing Chun, but my interest is certainly more in the aesthetic camp than the practical. I'm enough of a nerd that I know, off the top of my head that Captain America is trained in Judo, Daredevil uses "some Jujitsu with New York Dirty Boxing thrown in" and in Batman Begins Bruce uses mostly the Spanish Keysi Fighting Method. It takes some exposure and a keen eye, but different methods of fighting (martial arts and such) can look quite different when next to each other on film, so I do think that having each character having a unique fighting style makes for a more interesting fight sequence, when it is done well. The Ip Man films do this quite well, with Donnie Yen's Kung Fu coming up against Tai Kwan Do, Maui Thai and modern Boxing, to name a few, and each of those bouts being pretty spectacular to behold. 

Now, superheroes can do things an ordinary person cannot, which means their fights can move well outside the realm of physical limits. However, someone like Superman or Thor doesn't have a lot of call for learning a rigid martial art (yes, Superman knows Kryptonian martial arts, but they're made up, so can be anything), but taking the time to think about how super-powers may influence fighting style can be a fun exercise. As an example, X-Men character Angel Dust is a MMA fighter, so casting Gina Carano was pretty smart, and we all got to see how super-strength and martial arts training can be a nasty combination. Let's cover Batman before we go any further, because if I don't, "that guy" will complain, you know who you are. Spanish Keysi Fighting Method was a decent choice for the Nolan films, with Batman having been trained in a variety of styles by the time he gets to the League of Shadows, but were I the Fight Coordinator on a Batman film, I'd be looking a Ji Kune Do and/or Krav Maga for Bruce, as both draw on a number of older styles already. Probably much the same for the Bat-sidekicks, but I see Nightwing having more of a parkour-influenced gymkata style (yes, even though it's fake) and Batwoman pretty much purely using Krav Maga, what with being a former Marine Cadet. 

I don't feel I should have to cover Shang-Chi, but I do think the Netflix Iron Fist series made the right decision on making the Kung Lun style similar to Kung Fu, as they both originate in roughly the same area. Fun fact, I recently learned that Savate, for which Batroc the Leaper is known, has a rich history born out of a need to defend oneself from muggers and other assailants, and features stick- and sword-fighting elements. If you have more information on that, please let me know in the comments, looks fascinating. I could make this even longer than my normal articles, with ideas about how Spider-Man should move like a dancer, Penguin needing to do more fencing or Booster Gold fighting "football style" like Flash Gordon, but I think I've covered enough for now. I mean, I've got pages of these. The Phantom should know Masai wresting techniques. Wolverine should do a bit of Kendo in his moves because of his time in Japan. Bane should move like an MMA fighter because he learned as he was fighting. Ok, I'll stop now.