By Ethan Harmon
Yep, I’m going there.
I saw Man of Steel the day it came out. I saw this movie for free, and was so horribly disappointed, that I felt as if I were owed money to sit through it. Superman is a difficult character to write and capture, and Man of Steel did neither of those. Superman should not effectively destroy a town and a city while fighting a few Kryptonians (hell, the Avengers fought off an entire alien invasion and only twelve blocks of Manhattan were crushed). And ultimately, Superman did not represent anything at the end of the movie. “The ‘S’ stands for hope” thing really didn’t matter after he had killed Zod, collapsed multiple buildings, most likely killed thousands due to collateral damage, wrecked his home town and saved Lois from falling to her death for the tenth time.
Now, this team will be returning to pit Superman against the Caped Crusader for our viewing pleasure. Okay, fine. But there is an issue with the concept already: Batman and Superman never fight. In Hush (a Batman story arc), Batman has to battle Superman, who is possessed by Poison Ivy. Although Bats lays some punches on Clark, he is essentially stalling for time while Superman gets his mind back in the right place. So, not exactly a fight. The other instance occurs in The Dark Knight Returns, an over-hyped comic by the Frank “Holy Terror” Miller (if you don’t get the reference, look up Holy Terror and realize that this guy sucks). In The Dark Knight Returns, Superman, who is a government stooge, is ordered to apprehend Batman after a lot of crazy stuff happens. Batman beats the hell out of Superman while wearing goofy bat-armor. Sound stupid? It is. And it’s going to be the main influence for Batman vs. Superman.
Oh, and now members of the Justice League are going to be tossed into the movie. Yep, that’s right. So, instead of just spending a moment to introduce this new version of Batman, we will also be getting a dose of Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg (Green Lantern and Flash are rumors at this point). Considering that all three are heroes within the DC universe, and all have years of history and back story, how much time will they be on screen? Will they even be developed into characters? What will they do? The truth is, I have no idea. But I cannot imagine much will happen. Marvel has given each superhero a film before creating the team-up movie. DC seems to be forcing their heroes into one, very crammed movie.
Oh, and Justice League will be spinning off from Batman vs. Superman. I guess the plan is: throw heroes into one movie, explain the team-up in the next and forget or cop-out of the backstories. Sounds like a game-winning plan, right?
Hell, I could be completely wrong and this movie could be the most amazing thing to have ever graced the silver screen. Or, I’m right, and this movie bombs. I’m definitely not keeping high expectations for Batman vs. Superman. If DC doesn’t pull this off, or at least find some form of success, then their movie franchise is going to crumble more than it already has.