When I heard the news of upcoming
Batman/Superman crossover, I was optimistic. I enjoyed Man of Steel and I
looked forward to a continuation leading into a Justice League movie, along
with some other hero tie-in movies (Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, etc.). It’s
been less than a week since I heard the news, and now that I’ve had some time
to think about it, I’d like to weigh in.
 |
| Great freaking Superman! Love the costume, too! |
While I’m excited by the concept of a
crossover movie between the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, I’m not entirely
sure that this is the way to go. Man of Steel, while a reboot, was the first
outing of Kal El as Superman. It doesn’t help that Metropolis is left decimated
after Zod and his cronies try to take over. He donned the suit and cape for
less than seventy two hours, in which he and Zod are responsible for the deaths
of thousands of people. I’m not going to say a crossover movie isn’t a bad idea
if done right, but I think there are other things that can be explored before
such a crossover.
Yes, Superman and Batman are iconic
characters, but throwing them together so soon is pointless when you consider a
few points.
1)
Kal
El isn’t Superman yet. Sure, he saved the world, but he still hasn’t gained the
trust of the people of Earth. In other origin stories, he revealed himself to
the world when he was ready. In this story, he is outed by Zod to the entire
world and has to come out of hiding to stop him. Perhaps we could use another
movie developing his role as protector of the Earth with a few bits that illustrate
just how little our governments trust the outsider. Maybe they contract out to
LexCorp to develop ways to combat Superman using the Kryptonian tech left by
Zod and his forces. Perhaps they even study Zod’s physiology in search of a
weakness. Maybe Lex Luther helps to create the shadow branch of the government
known as CADMUS. So and so forth, but I feel that the story should continue
with Kal El dealing with the people of Earth (saving them from outside threats
and themselves).
 |
| Great idea, but perhaps it's not the time? |
2)
The
Dark Knight saga is over. Christopher Nolan ended that story and it has been
explicitly stated that Batman will be rebooted with new faces at the helm. We
have yet to establish the new status quo for the new version of this character,
and I think he should get his own movie to establish him in the world created
by Man of Steel.
In competing with Marvel, I’ve been
watching to see what DC does with their characters. Honestly, I thought that
Man of Steel was a good beginning for their lead up to a Justice League movie. It
has the best action in a Superman film ever, it had a decent story that I was
into, and it had a guy I believed was the Man of Steel.
 |
| Please tell me that this is Kara!!! |
I can’t wait to see what they do with the
upcoming movies in their arsenal, but it’s not clear where they will go beyond the
Man of Steel sequel. My guess? I think they’re going to hold off on a Justice
League movie until 2017-18 so they can set up the characters they want and do
whatever team-ups they’re going to have before they introduce us to the Justice
League. Marvel has a five-year head-start with Iron Man leading the charge and
they got big plans. I’m hoping that DC can get it together!
