DCU: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

[Dogg Thang]

So the sequel is bringing in Batman. Imagine that will excite comic fans. Not sure I need it to be honest but it should hopefully be interesting. Casting will be a big challenge.

[Neon Ignition]

Will be very interesting to see how it's handled given we're early in learning about Superman as it is. They need to perfectly pitch Batman in this universe, he wouldn't have lasted 2 seconds in the first film.

[Kit]

Jeremy Sisto has the voice and he's the right age/height. He'd make a decent 'quick switch' for Batman.

[rmoxon]

Man of Steel was obviously a non traditional take on Superman. Sonthey can do whatever they want with Batman and people really have to accept it at this point.

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/28048/six-actors-up-for-the-new-batman

6 early front runners for Batman. Some good (Brolin) and some crap (Gosling)

[bash]

If they go this route I'd say its more out of necessity than for the plot. Mind you, it IS plausible. I mean, why did Snyder have that passage from Dark Knight Returns read out loud before the comicon unveiling? He definitely means for them to fight each other for at least some of the movie. You would imagine they join forces eventually to lead into a JL movie. The other thing is Batman in The Dark Knight returns is much older but superman is also roughly his age but obviously aged better. It wouldnt make sense for Batman to appear significantly older than superman, unless its just the actor who is psychically older but they intend to buff him up, dye his hair etc and make him look younger. This is Hollywood afterall.

I once read a quote where someone said "batman is how the world sees america superman is how america sees itself"

Batman and Superman need to be heroic equals, they're just at different ends of the hero spectrum with their beliefs and methods. Thats generally how they've played off each other in the comics and animation.

[Kit]

Agree with the first comment. Karl Urban.

The Brolin guy looks like Bruce Waynes dad.

[rmoxon]

Karl Urban is only 4 years younger than Josh Brolin so there's not much difference.

I've also never considered the standard take on Batman to be that young anyway.

The only probably with getting people who are in their 40's to play superheroes is that you don't know how many years they will be able to play the role for. People are already complaining that Robert Downey Jr is too old to play Iron Man, and that's a character who wears a robotic suit, so his age should be irrelevant. Batman will be a physical role, and one where the actor will at least have to do some of his own stunt work you would think, as well as looking like he can still win in a fight.

[bash]

Brolin would admitaddly be better than most but how can he commit to say 3 movies over the period of nearly 10 years?

I'm just used to Bats and Supes being similar in age to each other via the comics and cartoons. For me I'd rather they get Bale AND JGL as Bats and nightwing in this sequel. It could act as Dark Knight 4 and MOS 2 at the same time. For example JGL as a rookie batman goes to call supes out due to the catastrophic damage he was partly responsible for and the whole country is like wtf did this alien do. Jgl gets his arse handed to him which causes Bale to come out of retirement and discover kryptonite (through a plotting Luthor indirectly) and gets to bring Supes down a notch or 2. However over the course of the movie they discover what Luthor is really upto in regards to world domination/Presidential candidate whatever and team up to stop him. You'd need another psychically tough opponent for Supes to face off with so I'd have Luthor introducing Metallo as well.

Either that or they go with a fresh unknown, everyone else is either too prety or too old. Rich Armitage is the only one who could do it I guess but he's a bit over dramatic, not seen him in a straight role before either. Half the internet is voting Urban but he's a fricking TERRIBLE actor. B-Movie grade at best IMHO. I've seen him in Doom, Bourne, Star Trek 1 n 2, RED and Dredd and just NO NO NO NO. He;d do an okish batman but terrible Wayne.

[fishbowlhead]

Brolin would admitaddly be better than most but how can he commit to say 3 movies over the period of nearly 10 years?

I'm just used to Bats and Supes being similar in age to each other via the comics and cartoons. For me I'd rather they get Bale AND JGL as Bats and nightwing in this sequel. It could act as Dark Knight 4 and MOS 2 at the same time. For example JGL as a rookie batman goes to call supes out due to the catastrophic damage he was partly responsible for and the whole country is like wtf did this alien do. Jgl gets his arse handed to him which causes Bale to come out of retirement and discover kryptonite (through a plotting Luthor indirectly) and gets to bring Supes down a notch or 2. However over the course of the movie they discover what Luthor is really upto in regards to world domination/Presidential candidate whatever and team up to stop him. You'd need another psychically tough opponent for Supes to face off with so I'd have Luthor introducing Metallo as well.

Either that or they go with a fresh unknown, everyone else is either too prety or too old. Rich Armitage is the only one who could do it I guess but he's a bit over dramatic, not seen him in a straight role before either. Half the internet is voting Urban but he's a fricking TERRIBLE actor. B-Movie grade at best IMHO. I've seen him in Doom, Bourne, Star Trek 1 n 2, RED and Dredd and just NO NO NO NO. He;d do an okish batman but terrible Wayne.

I think there to far down the line with bales batman now to change the actor, say what you want about the dark knight trilogy but he did a fantastic job of portraying wayne and batman as different people, plus the set up with JGL taking over was done well too, so they have everything set up already to just carry on. Starting over now could be disastrous, they should just stump up the cash to get them both back.

[Dogg Thang]

My comments on Batman's role in this Man of Steel universe got lost in the reboot, as did the replies. But the more I think about it, the less I can see Batman offering this world. Superman has godlike strength, can fly and has laser beam eyes. Batman has nothing but money and some toys and, really, not one of those toys can compete with Superman's strength, flight or laser beam eyes. With what we saw in Man of Steel, there wasn't one part of that movie that Batman wouldn't have been utterly redundant in.

The one thing I hear is that Batman is a detective. But so are detectives. And Jessica Fletcher. And really I haven't ever seen Batman do any real detecting beyond running things through his Batcomputer for information, which may have been awesome in the '60s but now everyone has one - we call it Google. And Superman is a journalist and has access to many sources so I'm not sure Batman has anything he doesn't. Amy Adams did more detective work in Man of Steel than I have ever seen Batman do. So the only thing they can possibly do is give him Kryptonite. Which they have also done with Lex Luthor and probably a host of other villains. Again, it's nothing that other people can't do.

I can't think of a single aspect to Batman that justifies his existence in a Man of Steel universe. Superman teaming up with Batman is about as useful as his collaborations with Jimmy Olsen. Batman is on that level when you're an actual super being.

Now the other way around is a whole different story. Superman massively contributed to Dark Knight Returns. But that's because Superman can take Batman's world up a notch and make it a much more dangerous place for a rich dude in a bat suit. Batman can't do the same to Superman's world.

For me, I think the only way they can make this work is by having to dial back the world so much that it will have a negative effect on the movie. That or make it a full-on Batman story that has Superman play a small role in. As for taking a Dark Knight Returns approach, that has the exact same issue Star Trek Into Darkness had - they just don't have the history yet to justify anything like it. This is a new Superman, a new movie universe. It needs time to mature.

[bash]

Yeah, I still dont understand why Snyder chose to announce this movie using the line from DKR about Batman beating Supes. I mean in Millers version Bats is a lot older and battle hardened but its implied he's lost all respect for Supes because he became a US govt tool basically. Prior to that you could've imagined that they worked together in mutual admiration and trust and somewhere that got lost. To have Batman simply take on Superman with such animosity doesnt work without a sequel or 2 inbetween. I'd love Brolin as a 55year old Bruce coming out of retirement to face an equally old Joker, 2 face supes etc but its just feels forced and too soon to use that for MOS 2.

[Dogg Thang]

I think I read somewhere that he is consulting Miller on it. Would be interesting to hear that conversation.

[Neon Ignition]

The whole concept of them vs each other has always been broken, the film didn't end in a place where Superman needs taking down a peg and even if he did Batman couldn't do it Kryptonite or not. The best use of Batman would be one that capitalises on multiple threats and Superman not being able to deal with them at the same time so having to rely on an ally he doesn't quite trust or ethically agree with, almost like Supes is compromising himself be working with Bats. Bats could be suspicious of Supes and his motives, hell, Supes could clean up Gotham in 2 minutes but doesn't.

I'm glad Bale is out. The TDK universe didn't lend itself to MoS's and Bales Bats was almost a cripple by the end. JGL is a great actor too but despite the hand off he's no Batman actor, just not right for it. He'd be much better as a villain. The MoS universe needs a Bats who isn't so out of place with the other wordly, able to deal better with extremes, something much more Arkhamesque but blended with the semi-real MoS style.

[bash]

God I hope Miller doesnt get too involed, he hasnt written a decent plot decent in years and The Spirit was god awful. Besides, Miller has never taken to Supes always taking the pee out of him in his material and his bats is nearly always borderline deranged which is enjoyable to read on print but wont translate well on screen IMHO. I doubt Snyder will take much from him as a result.