What A Time To Be A Batman Fan...

Hey everybody, Batfan98 speaking. With all these new Batman announcements we got, some of which from DC FanDome and Prior, it is certainly a time to be a Batman fan. As some of you may know, I don't post many blogs, but considering all the new Batman content that is being released, one might think I would do a blog on each and every one of them, right? Well, as you may have noticed, I haven't done a single blog on any of them, why? Well unfortunately sometimes I am in no mood to write a blog, but considering we have all these new Batman announcements, I thought instead of doing a separate blog on each of them, I thought I'd blog on all of the ones I know, giving you my thoughts on each of them. So let's begin...

1. Gotham Knights

For a while, there has been speculation of WB Games Montreal making a new Batman game. Some false rumors, others were canceled games, but here we finally have official confirmation of a new game. To my knowledge the speculation was that it would be a new Arkham game featuring the Court of Owls. It was half right; it was indeed a game featuring the Court of Owls as the main villains, but it's not going to take place in the Arkhamverse. Personally, I would really like a sequel to Arkham Knight, but I am perfectly okay with there being a separate continuity. With Batman being presumed dead, it makes me wonder where the story will go. And I say presume, because I doubt Batman is actually dead. I get the feeling that he might have been captured by the Court of Owls and is possibly placed in their maze, leaving him to wander as he is being driven mad, just like in the Court of Owls storyline. The gameplay looks pretty decent, by the look of it we're getting a populated Gotham City to explore, to which I'm glad. The combat looks fun enough as it is, looks like Spider-Man PS4. I hope to see open world gameplay and I hope they give the player something to do in that, like stopping various crimes and saving civilians. This hasn't been confirmed, but I get a feeling that the Joker will pop up at some point in this universe. However, I don't want him to be in this game, maybe save him for a follow up game as the main villain, perhaps take inspiration from Joker War. Speaking of which...

2. Joker War

This is the new comic that is said to be Batman's final battle with the Joker, but the tables have turned and now Joker has Batman's entire fortune and all his gadgets. I find the concept really interesting, it was always Batman that had gadgets and a seemingly endless supply of money at his disposal, but the fact he no longer has that and has to deal with an enemy who has taken all of that from him makes for a truly fascinating story. I haven't read any comics relating to Joker War, but that's because I'd prefer the full volume to come out first before I get into it. If here is anything I'm not buying into is that this will be Batman and Joker's final confrontation. The Joker is too popular of a character and DC is not going to stop using him, maybe they'll give him a break for a while, but at some point they will resurrect him. Even though I have my doubts I am looking forward to this comic and even if it will turn out how I predict it to be, I will at least take this as a possible story that could be Batman and Joker's final battle. Sure we have Batman Endgame, but usually I don't read modern Batman comics. I tend to read old ones, typically from the 80's and 90's as they are my preferred Batman comics.

3. Three Jokers

Four years ago, it was apparently revealed that there were three Jokers throughout Batman's history. Each Joker being from a different era, such as the classic Laughing Fish and Death in The Family Joker, the Killing Joke Joker, and the modern Joker. To be honest, I always hated this idea, because to me it's less impactful to Batman and Joker's relationship. I always loved the concept of the relationship between the two, it had a good complexity to it where the Joker had a major obsession with Batman and how Batman refused to kill him even through he has every reason to. I guess in some way this could work still even with there being more than one Joker, but I always felt an arch nemesis only works if there is only one person being that greatest foe. If there is more than one person being that arch nemesis then it makes the relationship feel shallow to me. And with the Joker's obsession with Batman, I doubt he would be willing to share him with any other person, even other Jokers for that matter. Joker is way too obsessed with Batman to be okay with sharing him as an arch enemy. Plus all those crazy schemes that he's pulled makes him seem less of a person if he's had dopple gangers coming up with the scenes and pulling them off, all while they are having fun with Batman while the other isn't. Plus there's this, something I thought of while writing this: It takes away from that moment when Batman offered compassion to the Joker in The Killing Joke. For those of you who haven't read that comic, Batman has an arc where he believes there will come a day when he may kill the Joker. He doesn't want that to happen, so he tries reasoning with the Joker, offering to help rehabilitate him and telling him he doesn't have to be alone anymore. For years, the Joker has done some horrible things, he even just shot and crippled Barbra, Batgirl, and tried to drive James Gordon, Batman's closest ally, insane. Even after all that, Batman still offers the Joker compassion. It's truly a great scene that makes you feel, unfortunately this wasn't the same Joker he said his speech to, it was a completely different Joker that he doesn't know about. I am still going to check out this story, because I am curious to see where it goes and what would be revealed at the end.

4. The Batman 2021

I'm not gonna lie, that trailer was pretty bad ass. Or I should say, Bat ass... Okay I'll leave. Anyway, I am pretty excited for this movie to come out, unfortunately I heard Robert Pattinson has been tested positive for Covid and I wish him a speedy recovery. I gotta say, when I first saw this trailer, I didn't notice any of the villains upon watching it the first few times. It wasn't until other people began to point it out when I started to notice Catwoman, Penguin, and Riddler. Catwoman looks fine, sure her mask looks cheap, but I'm sure it's only a photo type outfit she's wearing and at some point she'll switch to the leather outfit we all know of. Penguin looks pretty good, I'm glad they gave him the pointy nose and obese figure, as he's supposed to have. But I hope we see him wear a top hat and carry an umbrella. As for Riddler... Oh boy. Yeah, I'm not a fan of his look, when I learned that that is what he looks like, it kinda made me lose a little hope for this movie. Kinda makes me think it would be like those X-Men movies where they change the character's look completely, because their comic book outfits don't fit into live action. Yeah, I think that's a load of bull. What's bad about it is that it looks nothing like the Riddler, how is anybody supposed to look at that and tell it's Riddler? I get they want a look that fits with the tone, but they could go for something comic accurate while giving it some touches to help it fit with the tone of the film. Like maybe make Riddler's suite a darker green and make his purple gloves and mask black. That's what they did with the Telltale Riddler and it worked. Hopefully it's not his main outfit and it's only something he wears at the scene of the crime. I heard Two-Face is gonna be in this movie and I'm really curious to see how his scars look. Now as for Robert Pattinson as Batman, I will admit when I first heard the casting from a friend, I cringed. However, I have heard from other sources that he is a good actor, he just wasn't directed properly in Twilight. In fact I have seen him in Harry Potter and , turns out, he was a good actor. So I am willing to give the guy a chance, and hopefully he recovers from Covid so not only will he get to finish the movie, but also see the fan's reaction to his performance.

So that is all I have for this blog, I'm glad I got to cover these announcements and I'd like to hear what you guys think? Are you excited for any of these or do you have little to no excitement for any of them? There are other blogs I'm hoping to do, so stay tuned.