I've been meaning to do a post like this for some time, and since this is a holiday weekend, this seemed like a good time for it.
So despite how bad I felt the theatrical version of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was, I still went home from the advanced screening and pre-ordered the Ultimate Cut. I'd be lying if I said the Ultimate Cut was just as bad as the theatrical version, because it's not. It's better, but not much. There are some additional scenes that help make more sense of Lex Luthor's evil scheme and what Lois is up to, but it doesn't save the film.
Let's face it, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was an incredible disappointment. There are still a lot of people out there that will fight me even over those words. And my words are the most delicate way of putting things. Anyway, I'm not posting today to rip on this movie or on Zack Snyder, nor should I. I believe the man can make a good movie (loved 300 and Watchmen!), but BvS:DoJ was just bad.
HOWEVER, it did give me something that I have wanted to see since I was a little kid and for that I will always be grateful. I got to see Batman fight Superman on the big screen! And that's what today's post is about.
I'm pretty sure anyone that has even the slightest idea of who Batman and Superman are, have given their opinion on who would win this fight. The landslide victory in the logical opinion war goes to Superman. Obviously. My Dad, the man who introduced me to Superman, gave the most reasonable explanation for this. "Without kryptonite, Batman doesn't stand a chance." And he is absolutely right.
The entire battle in BvS hinged on Batman's use of kryptonite, which was alright. I mean, think of the position Snyder and writers Chris Terrio and David Goyer were in. They were putting the 2 most well known superheroes on the screen together and attempting to introduce THEIR version of these characters plus create an expanded universe around them. They didn't have the time to come up with a more creative way for Batman to fight Superman.
With kryptonite, Batman can take the fight to Superman. He can "even the playing field" so to speak. And we see that, when the first kryptonite gas grenade goes off in Supe's face. Superman throws a punch and he's shocked that Batman blocks it. This is where the fight gets cool. Batman is the better fight, as Superman relies completely on his super strength and speed while in battle. Superman is all offense with very little defense. In all honesty, he doesn't need much defense, because of his invulnerability. This, however, is an example of how writers (especially non-comic book writers) do not know how to write for such a powerful character. The ultimate problem with Superman is that he is TOO powerful. How do you fight something like that? That's why we got that terrible Martha scene.
Let's talk about this straight up. So Batman, lures Superman into a sonic sound wave attack. Judging on the fact that Batman just stands there watching, I assume that he didn't expect these initial attacks to do anything but to test Superman. The sonic sound waves was creative, and probably could have been even more effective after the kryptonite grenade detonated, but whatever. Anyway. Superman gets out of this much like the Hulk does in the Edward Norton Hulk movie. Then he's immediately attacked by high caliber machine guns, again this is nothing more than a test from Batman. For me, as the fan that I am, I didn't get it for a couple of reasons. 1. If Batman really did intend to test Superman this way...why? He saw Superman fight Zod in midair, did he really expect to see some kind of positive result from attacking Superman with machine guns? I don't think so. I think Batman knew this wouldn't work. But that leads to my second point. 2. Why waste the time to set this up if you knew Superman would just blow up everything? It's not like these initial attacks positioned Superman in a way that Batman could ready his prime attack. No, instead he pissed off Superman, who shoved Batman about 50 yards and then threw him through a building. Only then did Batman attack Superman in the most creative and effective way, by detonating a lead based smoke grenade to mask his movement and then shooting Superman with a kryptonite gas grenade.
The rest of the fight is fun to watch, but it's nothing special. What it comes down to is that the real world logic got too mixed up with the comic book lore all fans are used to. And that's ok, if that's the kind of story you're going for, but that's also why the movie didn't work.
So, what would I have done differently? Well...ahem...not to take away from the creative professionals that made this movie, but I would have gone in a different direction for Batman and Lex Luthor. I would have Lex in pursuit of the kryptonite, and Batman actually figuring out a much more effective way to fight a Kryptonian. What was kind of glossed over in the movie was just how smart and calculating Batman is. Instead of fixating on the kryptonite, I would have had Batman study Superman's kryptonian physiology somehow and then create some kind of device that gave Batman similar abilities or took Superman's away. Like a Red Sun radiation emitter or something like that. Just like Spider-Man used to fight Superman in their first ever crossover encounter in 1976 (yes, I own that issue)! This would have allowed Batman and Superman to fight things out on completely even ground. I don't know about anyone else, but I would have puked my pants if I saw Batman gain the same powers as Superman and then saw them go punch for punch!
So for the sake of discussion. Who wins in a fight between Batman and Superman? Well, Superman. Clearly. But that's with using logic and reason. My favorite point to argue in these situation is comic book mythos and comic book logic. Real world laws of physics, logic and reason go right out the window in comic books, which is one of the many reasons I love them so much. Only in the comic universe can Batman stand a chance against Superman!
There are many questions I have in regards to the making of this movie, and I will, most likely, never get them answered. Again, I didn't hate this movie, not at all. But I didn't really like it either. And that's fine. We don't have to like every comic book movie that comes out, and if there's enough noise made about it, then hopefully the studios will make better decisions in the future. I doubt it though. Look at what happened with Suicide Squad. Warner Brothers got freaked out after the negative backlash from BvS that they went in and hacked up David Ayers' movie. I actually enjoyed Suicide Squad and thought it was better than BvS, but there were clearly 2 different movies being made there. The studio's version of what they thought the audience wanted, and Ayer's version. Also, if the studio felt that BvS was truly successful than Geoff Johns would never have been hired to oversee the future of the DCEU, most specifically the Justice League movie.
What did you think of BvS:DoJ? More specifically, what did you think of the fight between Batman and Superman? What would you have done differently if anything at all? Thanks for reading, enjoy the long weekend. Since Monday is Labor Day here in the States, I will be taking the day off. See you all next week!
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