Nerd Rising.

Is it just me, or has the Nerd been having a very good year? Or dare I say, a good decade?

You notice the capital N in Nerd. I'm not talking about a nerd specifically, but rather, the species (even as a nerd myself I would be embarrassed to call it a subculture. Species is much more fitting). Comic book movies, while once something to not be talked about even when in theatres (Did you even know the was a Flash movie? How about Dr. Strange?) then erased from the Zeitgeist forever are now expected summer releases. "What action movies are showing" and "what comic book movies are showing" are almost interchangeable now. It's not even A-List heroes, either. This year alone we've had The Losers, Jonah Hex and Defendor.

Allow me to highlight Kick-Ass for a moment. Boy oh boy, Kick-Ass. It's an indie comic which nobody has ever heard of, highlighting on the contrast between current and golden age comics and overall is nerd wish fulfilment. And Nic Cage is in it. How did this get made - how is it getting a sequel - how was it actually good? I my opinion, even better than the source material!
We also got Prince of Persia this year. Now, this didn't set any box-office records, nor was it met with outstanding critical acclaim. But you know what? Metacritic says it's okay. Exactly, slap-dab in-the-middle okay. A videogame movie is okay. WE DID IT!

However, as glorious as Prince of Persia's okay-ness is, it's not the main gaming attraction this year. This year we get Scott Pilgram vs. The World. If Kick-Ass was confusing, Scott Pilgrim is completely baffling. Not only is it a small indie comic nobody has heard of (although I believe it's a bigger nobody than Kick-Ass), but it's ridden with pop-culture references only nerds would get. There's Seinfeld and Zelda music in it (okay, non-Nerds watched Seinfeld, but not for the past 8 years). Most shockingly, it may be the single most video-game-y film ever made, despite not being based on a videogame at all. It injects videogame logic into it without characters as much as questioning it, and delights in being as flashy as possible.

Sci-fi in general is no longer just a Nerd subculture, either. Sure, Bladerunner was critically acclaimed and Star Wars is inescapable, but sci-fi was still very much somewhat of a taboo until recently. It was the kind of thing where if you liked it it was probably best to keep it to yourself, or at the very least you'd probably get some sass for mentioning a sci-fi you liked. However, in the last decade we've not only seen intelligent sci-fi films grab some well-deserved acclaim (Children of Men, Inception), but sci-fi in general being accepted. Cool, even. When did you ever think you'd see crowds cueing up to see a new Star Trek movie? Let alone see actual breasts in that cue? This year, Lost ended after six years. The show was full of sci-fi and fantasy references, littered with the names of scientists and authors and had enough philosophical metaphors to choke a polar bear. This show got six years. Twin Peaks got two. The Prisoner got one. Would this show have lasted in the 80's?

The Thor movie is also happening. This shocks me - Marvel has been trying to make their movies feel a bit more gritty recently. Sci-fi over fantasy, imperfect hero over altruist. Then, they go and make a movie about Norse Gods wearing silly gold armour flinging massive hammers into things. I could not be happier.
Then, there's the Avengers teaser. Oh my God. If you had told a Nerd in the mid-ninties that Marvel would in fifteen years have started a movie company that is working on releasing films involving numerous characters from different franchises, ultimately building to an enormous team-up movie being teased for years before it's released, they would assume the only way it would be possible is if they personally were appointed the head of Marvel the next day. You want to know how strong Nerds are? The man directing The Avengers is none other than Joss Whedon is directing it. The man behind The Iron Giant and Dr. Horrible's Sing-along blog. At this point it seems nothing BUT nerdspoitation.

This makes me wonder, though: Have we always had this much pulling power? Have we always been such a huge influential force? Has the right strategy all along ACUTALLY been giving us what we want (If so, where is my Viewtiful Joe movie, Hollywood!)? Maybe if we had waved our fists a little earlier, we wouldn't have had to wait until 2008 for a darker take on Batman, or the John Woo Metroid film wouldn't have just vanished. I'm glad this is becoming apparent now, though. I would have much rather waited for the 200's than gotten some crummy-looking Thor movie in the 80's. This year I saw the trailer for Rubber, a film about a tyre with psychic powers set in the desert. When else could this film possibly be made?! Okay, maybe it's not that out-there compared to some other things, but damnit, I want to talk about Rubber!

What does this mean though? Are Nerds growing in numbers, or are we simply (wrongly) growing less ashamed? In a world where WoW players actually make up a percentage of the Earth, I assume it must be a bit of both. Let's just not abuse this, okay fellas? After all, we did get Ghost Rider(I love you Nic!).