I just finished reading the DC versus Marvel trade paperback. I remember catching a few issues way back when it first came out, but I wasn't really in to comics at that time, so it sort of fell by the wayside for me. The premise, for those of you who haven't read it, is that two all powerful beings, one from each universe, decides they will pit the greatest warriors from each universe against each other, to see which universe is superior. Simple, right? I even remember having similar conversations with a friend back in college: who would win in a fight between Hulk and Superman? (Superman, duh. Come on, people.)
If we think about it though, this simple question is essentially the perfect set up for an improv scene. In ten words, we have the whole scene. Who? Two characters, Hulk and Superman. What's going on? They're fighting. When? The present (no time like it). Where? Doesn't really matter.
But notice I didn't ask "why". That's because it really doesn't matter. When we ask questions like this, the why is so unimportant. The comic, for that matter, essentially glosses over the whole topic. There are two supreme beings we don't care one lick about. They were created for this story alone, and will never be discussed once the last page is turned. Their plot is distinctly unimportant, and really only exists to hang the whole thing together. Even the heroes, when summoned for their respective battles, just go along with it.
Remember how I mentioned improv earlier? A scene begins, two actors on stage, and they set to improvising. For our purposes, we don't really care what they're doing, just so long as they're doing something. We also don't care why they're there, which one of them is to blame, or why they're friends (or coworkers, or whatever). What we care about is what's going on, who they are, who they are to each other, and how the whole thing is going to shake out (whether Hulk or Superman will win).
Here's a fun experiment: the next scene you're in either a) start blaming the other person for causing the situation (or just recount how you got there) or b) start asking your other player why he is acting the way that he is.
In the next scene either a) don't worry about why you got there, just accept the fact that its reality or b) treat the other person like this is how they always act (because if they are actually a friend (or coworker, or whatever) this would be how they'd always act).
We don't want to see people argue and bicker, we see enough of that in real life. We go to see performances to see people be honest and deal with each other. Any time we try to "fix" the other person or the situation, we're essentially negotiating the scene with our partner. And time spent negotiating scene points is time wasted.
We don't want to see Superman and the Hulk argue amongst themselves about their predicament, or try arguing with supreme beings as to whether they actually have to do this. We want to see two superheroes go toe-to-toe, and fight each other like they mean it.
Who cares why you're friends or why you're there? You are, so deal with it, and act like this is normal.
The audience wants it.
