Batman V Superman: Well Done, You've Made Me Sick Of Batman, Warner Bros.

Goddammit. It finally happened. I no longer like Batman. At least in the wider cinematic context, and the style of comic film he's associated with. This is not something I thought I'd be writing a few years back. What caused this? Well, if we are talking camel crippling straws, the latest reported comments by director Zack Snyder on what originally was the Man of Steel(MOS) sequel. The following statement was made as part of a wider interview, with a fair few bits are worth picking apart, but I'm limiting myself to just one today. This is Snyder responding to rumours that the screentime ratio of Batman V Superman was favouring the former:

“Only in that because it’s a different Batman than the Batman that was in the Chris Nolan movies, so we have a little bit more explaining to do—and you just had a whole Superman movie,” he smiled. “But I think only in that way, because you need to understand where Batman is with everything. And that’s more toward the beginning, but it evens back out as it goes on.”

Source: The Daily Beast.

First off. We all know whom Batman is. He's just had a trilogy, and four major films beforehand. Second, they clearly have learned nothing. I now have to beat a dead horse, and prejudge a film that isn't fricking out

I didn't like MOS, I admit wholeheartedly. But I can see what they were going for, even if they "failed". The train of thought that led to MOS is easily discerned. The Nolan Batman films were a great success, despite the tepid reception of the third, and a decision was made to follow that template. Christopher Nolan was to produce, while Zack Synder of Watchmen & 300 was to direct. The team would also feature David S. Goyer as screen writer, also of the Nolan films, as was composer Hans Zimmer, although he's done loads of stuff. It was a good plan, in so far as Hollywood logic goes, and it did result in a pot of money. It also resulted in a mixed response to say the least, and said pot wasn't big enough for Warner. What went wrong? MOS wasn't a terrible film by any means. It was however an earnest attempt to make the wrong movie. And now they are making the wrong sequel.

This is what WB wants from a Superman sequel

Batman is a fairly easy character to do on screen. He's got a bounty of material to draw on, and his powerset is something that requires comparatively modest special effects. Yes, being a ninja with a tragic past and Scrooge McDuck levels of personal wealth counts as a super power for the purposes of this article. Batman, thanks largely to the efforts of Frank Miller in the seminal Dark Knight Returns, is also the personification of the grim and gritty anti-hero approach to Super-heroics. You know, the style of comics that made teenagers and then adults and then critics feel comfortable with still reading about Lycra bodysuits and bank robbers, while completely ignoring the Adam West TV series. Dark, and perhaps self-defeating. 1980's. “Realism” in genre about masked men with capes beating people up. An approach that speaks, if wielded improperly, to some deep-seated embarrassment and inferiority complex in the creative team about their work. The same attitude that Snyder and especially Goyer tend to display in interviews. This is a problem, as Superman is inherently the very thing that movement rallies against, a perfect and wondrous hero. He goes around in bright colours. He's a boy scout. He's moral and nice. He never kills, he never has to, he's a physical god. He's never in danger either, unless you break out the Kryptonite, or you break out a doppelgänger. He's the personification of hope. He's even powered by fricking sunlight. Putting that in a landscape of moral decay and urban despair works about as well as you might expect. The result is something like this:

 Image taken completely out of context.

The context isn't a vast improvement though....

You get either an unflattering portrayal, see Mr Miller again, or some variation on the theme of fallen hero with feet of clay. This approach is of course why MOS ended with Metropolis in ruins and a snapped neck. Its also why Pa Kent committed suicide by tornado, while Clark watched. And its why the box office didn't break a billion. It just doesn't feel right. 

Note, this is without me going into the Krypton plotline, and the Space Jesus overtones. Or that bit from the trailer where Batman seemingly snaps a dude's neck.

See about 2:40 in this trailer.

What Warner Brothers should have done afterwards was some serious soul searching. Their plan had not worked out as well as they hoped, and so was in need of a change. There response has been instead to double down on the grim, bringing in Batman and what appears to be a partial adaptation of the aforementioned Dark Knight Returns. This seems to the WB default these days. Gotham is essentially Batman without Batman. Arrow actually is. This only compounds the problem. A dark take on Superman only looks sillier next to Batman. There's supposed to be a contrast. They don't know what the hell they are doing. And if they are listening to anyone, its humourless Batman fanboys, not the wider community. Its not the 80's any more. Superheroes are allowed to be fun and inspiring, as well as face horrors and challenges. As they should be.

Marvel isn't everything. But at least they know what century this is.