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I don't buy Zack Snyder's searching the whole of the DC universe thing. You can be sure that this idea was put out there a long time ago, it took until now to be greenlit.
The billboard from I Am Legend (2007) Warner Bros.
What if Superman gets tired of the Clark Kent alter ego and decides to adopt a superhero alter ego: Batman. Bruce Wayne would get pissed...before doing a backstroke in his vault full of money.
"I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior. The man we called 'Max'."
Batman and Superman switching identitites has been done to death. In the sixties and seventies, it was a regular thing for them to defeat their enemies.
I like Nolan's films, but I hate his place in the film industry. I call him the Judd Apatow of the action genre. What he does, he does well, but when others try to do the same thing -- and EVERYONE does -- it almost invariably sucks. The gritty reboot of Batman was great, but the gritty reboots of Spiderman and Superman, and the tone of dour seriousness and clinical bombast that overtook the action genre in general, were entirely unenjoyable (for me). Batman works well as violent political allegory. Superman does not.
Nolan's hatred of 3D and his stand for non-digital colour timing are commendable, and his films are, for the most part, very good. The Dark Knight is definitely one of the all-time great superhero movies, for me. But if he'd just keep his approach to himself, and if everyone else would just let Nolan make the Nolan movies, that'd be perfect.
I, for one, thought the Spiderman reboot was a step up from Raimi's -- big time.
Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Denis Leary (his best film in years), Martin Sheen, among others, were a terrific cast. Even Chris Zylka's character grew and evolved from the typical cliche bully.
I thought it was great. I can definitely see the new films being way better than Raimi's. Was the reboot an influence of Nolan and the Batman films? Of course, but I think they are heading in a great direction.
They're still around. I never thought I'd say this but indeed, I think Marvel is where it's at right now. I've never been a fan of any of their characters but I did enjoy Iron Man, Captain America, and The Avengers. Not my thing but those films are just flat out well-crafted. They're fun, well-rounded, reasonably paced even when they run long, and can have their somber moments without getting caught up in trying to convince the audience that they're high art (I think with Man of Steel and Dark Knight Rises, this was especially a problem).
That's if you're big on superhero movies, which I'm not.
That said, I don't think this Batman/Superman pairing has all that much going for it. It's a better idea than the Justice League because nobody cares about the other characters in the group but I don't think the mythos go together at all. I see lots of people exploring the potential here and indeed there're lots of ideas and scenarios that can be extracted from the pairing. But if none of them are good, who cares?
At the very least, Batman will be reduced to a worthless character. If he's on Superman's side, he can't measure up or wield the same influence and if he's against Superman, he doesn't stand a chance... which villains from neither mythos do anyway. Superman sucks as always.
It also doesn't seem like Nolan is even involved in this one, given that he's working on Interstellar and the fact that Zack Snyder is writing the script for this one. With Snyder as the primary creative force, I'd wager this is going to be a catastrophe. The guy could fuck up a cup of coffee.
IRON MAN was fun, but not as fun as Donner's SUPERMAN. CAPTAIN AMERICA was fun for me because I knew Joe Johnston directed it and I figured it would feel similar to THE ROCKETEER and have some cool visuals. The choice to hire Silvestri for the score was nice, too. Wasn't my favorite Silvestri score, but it's nice to see a veteran composer get work. As for THE AVENGERS, it was funny, but it didn't wow me. I never 'marveled' at it like I would SUPERMAN or RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
A friend of mine has an idea about B/S. Superman's killed by Doomsday, but gets resurrected. When he comes back, Batman trains him on how to kill Doomsday. One thing my friend disliked about MoS was how Supes never learned how to fight. He's just a blunt instrument. My friend thought this weakness should get Superman killed, but it opens the door for Batman to come in and train him on how to fight with his mind along with his muscles. Instead of being just a blunt instrument, he becomes a super-man, the superior being.
"I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior. The man we called 'Max'."