I didn’t read this 11.13 Drew McWeeny/Darren Aronofsky conversation piece until last night. Aronofsky told McWeeny that his Wolverine flick will be a “one-off” and shouldn’t be regarded as a sequel or prequel or related in any way to the X-Men franchise or Gavin Hood or anything. Aronofsky also told DW it’ll be called The Wolverine.

Right away I recoiled. I don’t like seeing “The” in any title, especially one citing the name of a superhero. I recognize that one of Heath Ledger‘s signature lines in The Dark Knight is “kill the Batman,” but a superhero is not an article like a table or a refrigerator or a car. A superhero is a myth, a force field, an icon, a tower. And most of them own their names for eternity. I’m obviously aware of The Shadow and The Green Hornet, but the use of the word “the” is generally superfluous and bothersome.

The fact that villains are agitating anti-socials allows them on some level to be called, fittingly, the Joker, the Riddler and so on. But imagine paying to see a film called The Superman or The Batman. It’s not right, not cool…stupid-sounding. So please — jettison The Wolverine.