{"id":2680,"date":"2015-04-18T14:08:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-18T14:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/?p=2680"},"modified":"2018-12-17T09:02:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T09:02:08","slug":"random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2015\/04\/18\/random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Guesswork: Batman v Superman Is the Film We Need but Not the One We Deserve"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The new trailer for Batman v Superman was leaked online this week and it looks pretty good. Zack Snyder<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2015\/04\/18\/random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve\/#fn-2680-1' id='fnref-2680-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2680)'>1<\/a><\/sup> did the clever social media-savvy thing and dropped a high-definition version of the trailer shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet tw-align-center\" lang=\"en\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BatmanvSuperman?src=hash\">#BatmanvSuperman<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NotBlurry?src=hash\">#NotBlurry<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NotPirated?src=hash\">#NotPirated<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6twr1oFBvr\">https:\/\/t.co\/6twr1oFBvr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZackSnyder\/status\/589197792662278144\">April 17, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Reactions have been mixed apparently. Anecdotally, quite a few friends and colleagues (like myself) think the trailer looks pretty good. <a title=\"&quot;It's too dark, maaaaaan.&quot;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.polygon.com\/2015\/4\/17\/8439181\/batman-v-superman-trailer-leak\" target=\"_blank\">Polygon on the other hand thinks the film is a potential bomb in the making<\/a>. I think it could go either way, and it will all come down to whether Zack Snyder is giving us the film DC\/Warner needs to compete with Marvel\/Disney right now or if he&#8217;s just indulging himself by making the Batman film he&#8217;s always wanted to make.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2682\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 310px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2682 size-medium\" title=\"KERPOW!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Batman_vs_Superman_TDKR-300x240.png\" alt=\"Batman vs Superman TDKR\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" data-wp-pid=\"2682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Batman_vs_Superman_TDKR-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Batman_vs_Superman_TDKR.png 787w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><div class=\"wp-caption-text\">Batman laying the smackdown on Superman in TDKR.<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Let&#8217;s dial back the clock to the 80&#8217;s for a little history lesson. Batman grew up suddenly from being &#8220;kid&#8217;s stuff&#8221; when Frank Miller (yes, that guy who created <a title=\"Good film! The second one, not so much.\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sin_City_%28film%29\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Sin City<\/em><\/a> and wrote <a title=\"The third, and the worst.\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/RoboCop_3\" target=\"_blank\">the third <em>RoboCop<\/em> film<\/a>) created a story called <em>The Dark Knight Returns<\/em><sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2015\/04\/18\/random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve\/#fn-2680-2' id='fnref-2680-2' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2680)'>2<\/a><\/sup>. Featuring an aged Bruce Wayne years out of the costumed superhero game, Batman comes back to bring law to Gotham during an era where costumed heroes are outlaws. It&#8217;s a very 80&#8217;s story that features jabs at the Cold War, the fascination with television celebrities, Ronald Reagan and the disillusioned youth of America. It no doubt revolutionised Batman as an &#8220;adult&#8221; character, and Miller would go on to write <em>Batman: Year One<\/em> which paved the way for the familiar Batman we all know and love today.<\/p>\n<p>TDKR thematically shares a lot with Watchmen regarding outlawed ageing superheroes in an era of political tension, which coincidentally came out the same year (1986) and was eventually turned into a film by Zack Snyder which was&#8230;well, <a title=\"Who Watches the Watchmen\u2026Film?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2009\/08\/19\/who-watches-the-watchmen-film\/\">it was certainly a film he wanted to make for himself because it certainly wasn&#8217;t made for anyone else in particular<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the start of my concerns with this new film. I know that Zack Snyder has wanted to put TDKR to film for years, because back around the time Christopher Nolan&#8217;s <em>The Dark Knight<\/em> came out there was a question that came up at a Comic Con Panel the featured Snyder and Miller<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2015\/04\/18\/random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve\/#fn-2680-3' id='fnref-2680-3' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2680)'>3<\/a><\/sup>. Snyder had been previously quoted in interviews as saying the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Snyder:<\/strong> &#8220;There are a lot of other graphic novels out there, but I would love to see Frank Miller\u2019s Dark Knight made into a movie, but that\u2019s just me.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A question regarding the importance of The Dark Knight as a comic book movie came up, to which Frank Miller looks disbelievingly in a joking manner as there&#8217;s obviously <em>only one Dark Knight story and he wrote it<\/em>. The response was interesting:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter full-size\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QvGoHMb28wE?rel=0&amp;&amp;start=75&amp;end=98\" width=\"300\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Miller:<\/strong> &#8220;You can do it anytime you want to Zack.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"It's been brewing a long time, this film.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/zack-snyder-interested-in-the-dark-knight-returns-movie\/\" target=\"_blank\">Snyder said at the time he was making note of Miller&#8217;s response<\/a>, that he &#8220;knew what he meant&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"At the time of writing, this is from 6 years ago.\" href=\"http:\/\/screenrant.com\/zack-snyders-thoughts-on-adapting-the-dark-knight-returns-ross-5748\/\" target=\"_blank\">Snyder has gushed about TDKR before at great length<\/a>, the man just seems fascinated with 80&#8217;s-era comics. My main concern is that DC needs a Batman that everyone recognises, and I am just not sure whether &#8220;Frank Millerverse&#8221; Batman fits the bill. I have a hunch that Snyder has just taken a golden opportunity to make a film he has always wanted to make, rather than craft a film that DC Comics fans need as a start to a cohesive DC film universe.<\/p>\n<p>My suspicions began around the time <a title=\"It was on Hollywood Babble-On, I believe. An excellent podcast.\" href=\"http:\/\/batman-news.com\/2013\/11\/11\/kevin-smith-seen-ben-affleck-batman-vs-superman-batsuit\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kevin Smith announced on one of his many marvellous podcasts that Zack Snyder had shown him the new batsuit<\/a>. He bleeped out the suit&#8217;s influence of TDKR on the original upload of the podcast but I twigged the moment he said it was a version of the Batman we had never seen on film before. I agree with many of Smith&#8217;s views on Batman and I think his work on <a title=\"Fat Man on Batman\" href=\"http:\/\/smodcast.com\/channels\/fatman-on-batman\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Fat Man on Batman<\/em> <\/a>is an unparalleled service to Batman fandom, but I don&#8217;t have the same enthusiasm to see TDKR on screen and I think his view is biased as he was there when the original comic first punched the industry in the face (not because his buddy Ben Affleck is in it, nope). I get the same feeling about Snyder too<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2015\/04\/18\/random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve\/#fn-2680-4' id='fnref-2680-4' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2680)'>4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>I am open to this take on Batman, but I wonder how close to Miller&#8217;s TDKR this take will be. <a title=\"See?\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20160606071335\/http:\/\/cdn.bleedingcool.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/04-DKR-Superman-vs-Batman.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">The robo-suit from the Batman\/Superman confrontation is spot on<\/a> but I hope it&#8217;s all allusion to the material and not a direct adaptation. There will hopefully be a healthy dose of non-Miller Batman that we all recognise in Affleck&#8217;s Batman (<a title=\"An Open Letter Regarding Batfleck\" href=\"http:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2013\/08\/25\/an-open-letter-regarding-batfleck\/\">which I incidentally am also open to<\/a>). I&#8217;m not sure about Jeremy Irons as Alfred though, a character actor known for playing villains makes for a very cold sounding Alfred<sup class='footnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2015\/04\/18\/random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve\/#fn-2680-5' id='fnref-2680-5' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2680)'>5<\/a><\/sup> who doesn&#8217;t quite match up to sympathetically cynical Michael Caine.<\/p>\n<p>Fingers crossed this movie is going to rock everyone&#8217;s socks off and that Snyder&#8217;s not just jerking off to his own personal movie fantasies becoming real. It might be worth watching <a title=\"TDKR Part 1 on Amazon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/s\/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&amp;field-keywords=Batman%3A%20The%20Dark%20Knight%20Returns%20Part%201\" target=\"_blank\">the excellent TDKR animated feature<\/a> for yourself and then decide when the film comes out!<\/p>\n<p>On a completely different note, <a title=\"He really is writing some of the best Batman stories ever.\" href=\"http:\/\/nerdist.com\/scott-snyder-talks-batman-endgame-finale-post-convergence-plans\/\" target=\"_blank\">a different Snyder entirely is absolutely killing it (in the good way) in the Batman comic books<\/a>&#8230;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 421px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2681 size-full\" title=\"He cut his own face off. It got better. He has two faces now, but he's not Two-Face.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Joker_Animated.gif\" alt=\"Joker Animated\" width=\"411\" height=\"600\" data-wp-pid=\"2681\" \/><div class=\"wp-caption-text\">I&#8217;m hoping <a title=\"It's a fine haircut. Would look better if it was green.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cinemablend.com\/new\/Jared-Leto-Joker-Haircut-Jarring-Eye-70164.html\" target=\"_blank\">Jared Leto&#8217;s new haircut<\/a> for the new <em>Suicide Squad<\/em> film is to match the current incarnation of the Joker in the comics. <a title=\"Made by ABVH\" href=\"http:\/\/madebyabvh.tumblr.com\/post\/115582527257\/original-illustration-by-greg-capullo\" target=\"_blank\">Animation by ABVH<\/a>.<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/2015\/04\/18\/random-guesswork-batman-v-superman-is-the-film-we-need-but-not-the-one-we-deserve\/\"><img width=\"125\" height=\"125\" src=\"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Batman_vs_Superman_TDKR-150x150.png\" class=\"alignright tfe wp-post-image\" alt=\"Batman vs Superman TDKR\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Batman_vs_Superman_TDKR-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Batman_vs_Superman_TDKR-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-content\/uploads\/Batman_vs_Superman_TDKR-200x200.png 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/><\/a><p>The new trailer for Batman v Superman was leaked online this week and it looks pretty good. Zack Snyder1 did the clever social media-savvy thing and dropped a high-definition version of the trailer shortly afterwards. #BatmanvSuperman #NotBlurry #NotPirated https:\/\/t.co\/6twr1oFBvr \u2014 ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) April 17, 2015 Reactions have been mixed apparently&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[314,20,302],"tags":[306,45,159,140,305,141,23,158,303,21,304],"class_list":["post-2680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-batman","category-films","category-random-guesswork","tag-batfleck","tag-batman","tag-batman-comics","tag-batman-films","tag-batman-v-superman","tag-ben-affleck","tag-comic-book-movie-adaptations","tag-dc-comics","tag-frank-miller","tag-watchmen","tag-zack-snyder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/blogsplosion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}