User blog:RoninTheMasterless/Greek Myth Cinematic Universe (GMCU)

After watching the trailers for Gods of Egypt, and being dazzled by the looks of the two main gods' super forms, I had the thought: "What if the popular Greek myths got a sort of Marvel Cinematic Universe treatment?" as in what if they were made into big budget epics, but kept a little more strongly to being larger than life stories with a lot of death and destruction, but maintain good ideas that can inspire people. To do this I need to in a matter of speaking PG-13 the stories, but I think of it more as reimagining characters that weren't meant to be heroes by our modern standards, and make them more heroic in a modern context.

The Odyssey
Probably my favorite overall story idea is the Odyessy: a story of a cunning human overcoming godly adversity to return home. The big problem I find with the story, is that the main character, who should be the kind of person you root for, isn't exactly a morally upstanding character. To further enhance this overal theme of humanity overcoming the gods, Odysseus will be a more morally defendable character; to do this I will probably make him a mix of the Aristotelian phronimos, the Pyrrhonian Skeptic, with a little Spartan thrown in. Apparently he is the great-grandson of Hermes, which will be undone as well. I'm not sure if I want to make him a great-grandson to either Athena, Hephaestus, or just make him unrelated to any god at all, to further enhance his essential humanity, although in any case, he will be related to Prometheus, as all humans are.

Achilles
Much like the Illiad, Odysseus will be contrasted as a character with Achilles, as "Odysseus has traditionally been viewed in the Iliad as Achilles's antithesis: while Achilles's anger is all-consuming and of a self-destructive nature, Odysseus is frequently viewed as a man of the mean, renowned for his self-restraint and diplomatic skills." Since they fight on the same side of the Trojan War, I think a better antithesis can be made out of either Hector, his wife Andromache, or the Amazon Penthesilea, who fought for the opposing side. Since I'm shamelessly using the Themistocles from 300: Rise of an Empire I think Andromache and Penthesilea might be the best choices, and Penthesilea might be the best because in Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica she is easily beaten by Achilles, begs for her life, but Achilles kills her without a moments hesitation. He feels no remorse until he removes her helmet and see that she was female, then he feels great remorse. Instead she would be a formidable demigoddes, that, like Achilles is given over far too easily to all-consuming passion, which is made further self-destruction after she kills the beloved Queen Hippolyta in a fit of rage. Odysseus will instead be more self-controlled and clever. In fact one of the key labels I'd hope to represent for Odysseus is "the smartest person in the room."

Name
The name Odysseus has been traced to Pre-Greek origins, and it is said to mean "to hate," "to be wrathful," and "to hate and to be hated" in connection to the character it is said to mean "to hate the gods," or it is traced to a relative who named him Odysseus as a prophetic reference to his own hatred. I'm debating on whether or not I want to make this the name he is given by the gods, and have his real name be Zosimos, which means "likely to survive," "survivor."

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