Batman vs Superman-could it work?

Let's face it, Marvel is winning.

I hate that we live in a time where this image is real
but not everyone is excited about it. 

They're owned by Disney. Marvel films are collecting far more praise and fangirls than any DC film since Dark Knight. Used to be kids wanted to exclusively dress up as Batman, now Halloween is full of Captain Americas, Iron Mans, and Hulks.

Will DC recover? Will kids dress up as Batman and Superman once again? Will the Dark Knight escape from the Riddler's sinister death trap?

Sorry, went somewhere different for a minute.

If you'd have asked me last week if I thought DC's upcoming "We're just as good as Marvel"'s Batman Vs. Superman film was going to go, I'd have told you that they're was little hope. The casting rumors has it filled to the brim with heroes that have sparked heated debates. The fact that it's directly tied to the bafflingly awful Man of Steel film and rumored to be connected to the unbelievably awful Green Lantern films, I just had no hope for the people who have taken thousands of dollars of my money for comic books.

Then I saw this:



Okay, they've got my interest.

Marvel, being owned by Disney, seems to be taking the classic good guy/bad guy angle when it comes to super hero films. Easy morals the kids can follow, over-dramatic villains for the snarky heroes to beat on (Loki and Winter Soldier of course excluded), and that's fine. DC though seems to be headed into the dark and gritty direction. Moral questions being brought up, complex villains and even the best heroes making mistakes.

Will it work?

Let's just be glad they didn't dress
her up in a string bikini. 

Honestly this is probably the only way DC could go to not look like they were flat out ripping off Marvel. Going the gritty dark root opens DC up to the more adult audience, the ones who like having a significant plot to go along with people in their underwear beating each other to death with cars. My worry is if DC is going to be able to make it work. The Dark Knight series only really worked because of Heath Leger showing everyone how a villain is done, and the third installment barely pulled the franchise together. As I said earlier, I was not at all impressed with Man of Steel's attempt at making Superman dark, my biggest reason being is that they tried to force it on him so much it smacked in effort, like trying to sell Hot Topic clothes at the MTC, it just didn't seem like a good fit.

This trailer seems to indicate though that Superman is being swept up in some sort of mass hysteria of people either thinking that he is god and here to save everyone or is not god and will doom us all, and Batman seems to be on the side of the doomsayers. If you look at Batman from an outsider perspective, he is a vigilante running around with unlicensed weapons assaulting countless victims a night and causing massive property damage so I can see how Superman would see him as dangerous as well, so I can see now why these two would end up in a brawl.

Nobody is making fun of Aquaman again. 

My last concern is one I mentioned earlier: the trailer only showed Batman and Superman. Where is everyone else? The above estimate at the plot seems like it would take a lot of screen time to establish, so where could they squeeze in Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman and Aquaman? Not to mention the rumors that have been floating around about Darkseid, Doomsday, Green Lantern, Flash, and Martian Manhunter. This is why Marvel took their time and gave most of the main characters their own movies to establish and breathe in before smashing them all together to trash New York. Avengers works because we already know these people, so what's going to happen when we have to stop the epic Superman/Batman brawl to explain who these people are and what they're doing?

Overall, I feel more hopeful for this film. I was going to see it either way because they'res nothing I love more than a good train wreck, but now I'm hoping Superman comes by and saves the day.

Either way, I'm seeing this train.

Or film.

Or whatever.

-JOE