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Batman v Superman [Official Trailer Release]

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I actually tried to rewatch it recently after having not seen it in probably five years or so. I barely made it halfway through. The dialogue is just...blech. Which is shocking because Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris did a fantastic job with X-Men 2. It's a beautiful movie, Singer worked wonders with those $6000-a-day RED cameras at a time when people were still trying to figure out shooting a film digitally.

The plane sequence still holds up and Spacey is having a grand ol' time chewing the scenery, but nearly everything else just seems to fall apart.

I was so damn hyped for Returns though. Anybody else post on the (now defunct) BlueTights.net forums? That place was hype-central.

I was in Iraq and had to watch a bootleg copy they sold at these little markets there, lol. I didn't get a whole lot of internet time so I wasn't following the production or anything. I was so damn hyped because it had been so long since the Reeve movies. When the movie ended I was almost in tears at how much I had been let down.
 
I remember Returns distinctly because I was with my grandparents in Florida at the time and my uncle was visiting and took me to see it. It was so boring. That gatling gun scene is still awesome though

superman-returns-gatling-gun-o.gif
 
I remember Returns distinctly because I was with my grandparents in Florida at the time and my uncle was visiting and took me to see it. It was so boring. That gatling gun scene is still awesome though

superman-returns-gatling-gun-o.gif

The sequence that leads up to (with Superman in space listening is really cool) and includes the gatling gun scene and the plane rescue in the beginning are my favorite scenes in that film and the ones that really stand out. When it comes to Returns I enjoy individual parts of that film. The problem is what is suppose to hold them together is what I don't like. The Luthor stuff was disappointing but I was okay with Spacey in general. I don't have a problem with Superman having a kid. I like that idea and it even being with Lois. How they went about it in the film was horrible though and it's what ultimately taints the rest of the film for me. Not to mention how screwed over, even if he doesn't know it, James Marsden's character was. That BS made me hate Lois' character in that film and I hate that the film caused that.

If someone could somehow edit Superman Returns in a way that removes the kid plot but still makes the rest work that would be amazing.
 
If someone could somehow edit Superman Returns in a way that removes the kid plot but still makes the rest work that would be amazing.
I made my peace with Returns and still only hold two minor things against it:

1) Superman should have punched Luthor when depowered. He could justifiably do it and it would have made him a fighter, a man of action, rather than just a victim. I was heartened when years later in Up, Up, and Away, a depowered Superman would sock Luthor... to be followed up by All-Star Superman doing the same.

2) Returns wrote Superman into a corner romantically. Whatever issues I had to overcome to accept how all that stuff was handled, I would have been OK so long as there was someplace to go in the sequel, but there wasn't. Any sequel to Returns would have nothing new to say or show about Superman and Lois.

Other than that, I can mostly enjoy Returns for what it was. In retrospect, I don't even really hold those points against Returns because the way it handled those things paved the way for Man of Steel (a different take on action and Lois), so it all worked out in my opinion.

My resentment was mainly seeded in the idea that Returns denied us more Superman content for years thereafter and I'm over that now.

Dude needs a role in the DCCU already. He'd be a perfect Booster Gold.
I miss Reaper.
 
I remember Returns distinctly because I was with my grandparents in Florida at the time and my uncle was visiting and took me to see it. It was so boring. That gatling gun scene is still awesome though

superman-returns-gatling-gun-o.gif

Returns get a lot of hate and mostly deserved, but it is a beautiful movie at times.
 

Good. It's not like Iron Man or Hulk where, what happens is definitely big for the characters involved but not necessarily new or earth-shattering to everyone else. Man of Steel is a giant event. The very public reveal of "Hey, aliens exist and have pulverized a giant segment of a major metropolitan city. Oh, and one of them who has been living on earth for a long time in secret is still living among us, and has god-like power."

That's major, and it not only raises questions for Clark, but for everyone in that world. For Lex, for Batman, for Wonder Woman, for every politician and the public at large. Those events are going to spark a reaction from everyone. Obviously its a continuation of the universe, but Man of Steel 2 implies that those questions are isolated to just Superman's circle. And that just wouldn't be an appropriate avenue for the story.
 
He's better for something like Flash or Shazam, but Batman? Sorry Whedon, no just no.

Assuming that's the direction Joss would even take it, I'd actually welcome a slightly warmer depiction of Batman. I like the idea of Batman making himself into an aspirational figure rather than simply being an eternally-enraged, sadistic nut job.

This isn't even a "Think of the children!" sort of thing, so much as it is a desire on my part to have more superheroes that feel genuinely heroic to me.

Basically, I'd rather batman was more this:
large_alex-ross.JPG


And less, well, Dark Knight Returns, frankly.

I know that's probably not an exceptionally popular opinion, but as messed up as Bruce Wayne is in most depictions, I usually think he's ultimately a good person trying to do the right thing. He wants to stop crime, not necessarily setting out to hurt criminals. I mean, that's what that whole discussion in Batman Begins about the difference between Justice and Vengeance is all about. Sometimes I worry that distinction might be getting lost.
 
Assuming that's the direction Joss would even take it, I'd actually welcome a slightly warmer depiction of Batman. I like the idea of Batman making himself into an aspirational figure rather than simply being an eternally-enraged, sadistic nut job.

This isn't even a "Think of the children!" sort of thing, so much as it is a desire on my part to have more superheroes that feel genuinely heroic to me.

Basically, I'd rather batman was more this:
large_alex-ross.JPG


And less, well, Dark Knight Returns, frankly.

I know that's probably not an exceptionally popular opinion, but as messed up as Bruce Wayne is in most depictions, I usually think he's ultimately a good person trying to do the right thing. He wants to stop crime, not necessarily setting out to hurt criminals. I mean, that's what that whole discussion in Batman Begins about the difference between Justice and Vengeance is all about. Sometimes I worry that distinction might be getting lost.

Eugh, that's Superman's job.

Batman duckfacing to not get shot is embarassing.
 
Assuming that's the direction Joss would even take it, I'd actually welcome a slightly warmer depiction of Batman. I like the idea of Batman making himself into an aspirational figure rather than simply being an eternally-enraged, sadistic nut job.

This isn't even a "Think of the children!" sort of thing, so much as it is a desire on my part to have more superheroes that feel genuinely heroic to me.

Basically, I'd rather batman was more this:
large_alex-ross.JPG


And less, well, Dark Knight Returns, frankly.

I know that's probably not an exceptionally popular opinion, but as messed up as Bruce Wayne is in most depictions, I usually think he's ultimately a good person trying to do the right thing. He wants to stop crime, not necessarily setting out to hurt criminals. I mean, that's what that whole discussion in Batman Begins about the difference between Justice and Vengeance is all about. Sometimes I worry that distinction might be getting lost.

Lol

Batman does "Blue Steel" and doesn't get shot cause he's really, really good looking.
 
I can actually get behind the "Batman as a symbol of hope" thing, though it'd have to be handled in a very different way than Superman. For Gothamites, seeing the Bat-Signal has got to produce a very weird reaction; on the one hand, it means that shit is getting real, but on the other hand it means that the baddest sonuvabitch on the planet is going to be coming down on somebody bad.
 
Assuming that's the direction Joss would even take it, I'd actually welcome a slightly warmer depiction of Batman. I like the idea of Batman making himself into an aspirational figure rather than simply being an eternally-enraged, sadistic nut job.

This isn't even a "Think of the children!" sort of thing, so much as it is a desire on my part to have more superheroes that feel genuinely heroic to me.

Basically, I'd rather batman was more this:
large_alex-ross.JPG


And less, well, Dark Knight Returns, frankly.

I know that's probably not an exceptionally popular opinion, but as messed up as Bruce Wayne is in most depictions, I usually think he's ultimately a good person trying to do the right thing. He wants to stop crime, not necessarily setting out to hurt criminals. I mean, that's what that whole discussion in Batman Begins about the difference between Justice and Vengeance is all about. Sometimes I worry that distinction might be getting lost.

Awesome panel. Couldn't agree more.
 
The only property I'd like to see Whedon take on something like Justice League International. Not that I dislike his films but there's an amount of fatigue I have from avengers and I don' think it would be remedied by changing characters.
 
I can actually get behind the "Batman as a symbol of hope" thing, though it'd have to be handled in a very different way than Superman. For Gothamites, seeing the Bat-Signal has got to produce a very weird reaction; on the one hand, it means that shit is getting real, but on the other hand it means that the baddest sonuvabitch on the planet is going to be coming down on somebody bad.

Well, it would have to be in a more small-scale, personal way than Superman. Because that's how Batman is. It's one of the reasons Robin can be used so interestingly in the comics. Dick Grayson is like Batman's ultimate triumph over evil.

A kid goes through a tragedy almost identical to the one Bruce suffered, but there's a difference: Dick has Batman in his corner. While this kid is still formative, Batman teaches him the lessons he learned the hard way about how to deal with what happened to him and still be a hero. And Dick Grayson becomes amazing. He grows up to be well-adjusted (well as much as one can be, given the circumstances) and he even has a degree of levity to him Bruce is just not capable of. He's genuinely a better person than Bruce is and that's something Batman should be immensely proud of. What more could a father ask for than for his son to not only match him, but come to exceed him? I don't think Batman would ever tell him anything of the sort, but you know he's proud as hell of that boy.
 
Assuming that's the direction Joss would even take it, I'd actually welcome a slightly warmer depiction of Batman. I like the idea of Batman making himself into an aspirational figure rather than simply being an eternally-enraged, sadistic nut job.

This isn't even a "Think of the children!" sort of thing, so much as it is a desire on my part to have more superheroes that feel genuinely heroic to me.

Basically, I'd rather batman was more this:
large_alex-ross.JPG


And less, well, Dark Knight Returns, frankly.

I know that's probably not an exceptionally popular opinion, but as messed up as Bruce Wayne is in most depictions, I usually think he's ultimately a good person trying to do the right thing. He wants to stop crime, not necessarily setting out to hurt criminals. I mean, that's what that whole discussion in Batman Begins about the difference between Justice and Vengeance is all about. Sometimes I worry that distinction might be getting lost.
What is that from? Awesome art style
 
Assuming that's the direction Joss would even take it, I'd actually welcome a slightly warmer depiction of Batman. I like the idea of Batman making himself into an aspirational figure rather than simply being an eternally-enraged, sadistic nut job.

This isn't even a "Think of the children!" sort of thing, so much as it is a desire on my part to have more superheroes that feel genuinely heroic to me.

Basically, I'd rather batman was more this:
large_alex-ross.JPG


And less, well, Dark Knight Returns, frankly.

I know that's probably not an exceptionally popular opinion, but as messed up as Bruce Wayne is in most depictions, I usually think he's ultimately a good person trying to do the right thing. He wants to stop crime, not necessarily setting out to hurt criminals. I mean, that's what that whole discussion in Batman Begins about the difference between Justice and Vengeance is all about. Sometimes I worry that distinction might be getting lost.

Please, no. We need a badass Batman. He can be good while not being a softie.
 
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