Batman v. Superman= Dark Knight Returns

Batsuit with small ears, Batman vs. Superman, possible female Robin; Sounds a lot like The Dark Knight Returns to me.

Comments

[Celestias Paladin]

They are really shoving a lot into this movie aren't they?

[Avenging-Hobbits]

Well this is gonna suck.

I hated that story.

[iowaforever]

2539956 As I'm not too familiar with it, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt... well, what benefit I can give considering my rather low expectations for the film
At least it's not an adaptation of ASBAR

[nightcrawlerfan]

2539956 2539963 I have mixed feelings about it. Yes, you can clearly see the beginnings of the modern, flawed dynamic between Superman and Batman. Yes, the relationship between Bruce and Carrie is kind of creepy. And if you don't like messy artwork, this story will bug you. But it is a very interestingly designed piece of sequential art. The story is actually really interesting with intelligent, if rather biased, political commentary, and was one of the first comic books to try something that intellectual. And its role in making Batman stand out from the crowd is not to be underestimated. Furthermore, if you ever have to read a Batman-beats-Superman story, this is probably the best one to read, because Miller actually shows Supes a lot more respect than similar stories do.

[Avenging-Hobbits]

2540054 true, true, but I feel the politics drag it down.

Batman is many things, but political shouldn't be one of them.

[nightcrawlerfan]

2540061 I dunno about that. You can imply politics from any story if you look hard enough. Wonder Woman is a feminist, Iron Man is anti-War but pro-gun rights, the Hulk makes some interesting statements of the relation between ecology and technology, etc. While explicitly making Ronald Reagan a villain is a bit insulting, making Batman relatively adverse to big government makes sense since he's a vigilante. I don't think a writer should put too much of his own politics into a character-making Superman renounce his citizenship, for example, may have been a bit on the nose-but using an individual story to do so can add depth to their work.
Besides, that's probably not going to be one of the elements that impact this movie. I mean, do you really think Snyder's going to try and make a statement about Reganomics with his multi-million dollar blockbuster? I don't.

[Avenging-Hobbits]

2540084 me neither.

And obviously stories reflex the political views of the author (just look at mine), but when I said 'Batman and politics don't mix' (and I'm paraphrasing), I meant it more in that it feels like it was taking away from a better, more straightforward Batman story, by injecting so many political tropes and plot points.

Its almost like Miller had two ideas (an Old Batman story and a Superman-As-Government-Drone story), and just stuck them together. For instance, the first half of the story has political undertones for sure, but then once the Joker kills himself, it suddenly goes full bore political manifesto, what with Superman appearing, the president obviously being Regan, and the whole nuclear warfare thing.

If you want to do an old Batman story, do an old Batman story. If you want to do a commentary of Regan's political/defense policy, do a story about that. Just keep the two seperate. It works better for both stories.

But that's just me.

A good example of a superhero story that is very political without feeling like its jumped the shark or unfocused is actually The Winter Soldier (movie in this case). The film asks real questions about how much should the Government be allowed to do, and about power and all, but its still very much focused on the immediate, current issues of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and stays firmly focused on Steve as a character.

[nightcrawlerfan]

2540095 I disagree; to me, it has political undertones at the beginning and develop them further in the second half. It starts with a story about Gotham and expands to reflect Batman's national impact.
And, yes, I would argue that Winter Soldier probably did a more elegant job. But I think in the eighties, when comics had even less artistic respect than they do now, a more bold statement was necessary.

[Avenging-Hobbits]

2540381 I see what you mean