- [Michael] The Batman
in Snyder's DC Universe
is out of his
(coughing)
league.
- I agree.
- [Michael] Hollywood continues
to lean heavily on franchise properties.
This trend, let's call it a crutch,
defeats itself in the production of, say,
movies and television
based on comic books.
The repackaging and
redistribution of these properties
strands its audience with
confusing, inconsistent,
and even conflicting depictions
of beloved characters and worlds.
Despite properties with
competing ownership,
Marvel, with the establishment
of its cinematic universe,
has been able to wrangle,
at least, some semblance
of unity and continuity,
as it continues to produce projects
across multiple platforms,
for dozens of properties,
over the span of decades.
- I stopped listening after
you said that we need a plan.
- [Michael] The other
comic book juggernaut, DC,
has come at this concept like
it's building track housing
for a subdivision.
They do it cheap, fast, and loose.
As a result, the state of the DCEU
feels like the third act of
a Christopher Nolan movie.
(screaming)
Don't worry because we'll
get back to him in a minute.
It suffers.
Despite a decades long
headstart in the industry
with production past featuring
not only the first big screen
adaptation of Superman and three sequels
but also the veritable roster
of the high profile Batman films.
Maybe the explanation for
these consistent mulligans
is in the studio's bottom line
and maybe also this repeated regeneration
of bankable characters
dilutes the opportunity
to ever present those characters
so they really resonate.
Or rather, if it ain't
broke, don't fix it.
- Oh yeah, something
is definitely bleeding.
- [Michael] The fact is
Warner Brothers has spread
DC properties very thin
across a handful of
currently airing cable shows
as well as four tentpole films,
maintaining these as
two separate universes
inhabited by separated
incarnations of the same characters
and not the minor ones.
There are two existing Supermans
and two existing Flashes
and they all exist in two separate worlds
with separate rules
which brings me back to Christopher Nolan
and his decidedly insular
The Dark Knight Trilogy
which for all its merits
as the baseline for comic book adaptations
and for Nolan's acumen and ingenuity
in blockbuster film making,
dealt a blow to Batman's
future as a worthy superhero,
calling into question the
validity of his very presence
in the DC Cinematic Universe.
The conceit of Nolan's trilogy
always seemed to be a representation
of Batman existing in a tangible
world not unlike our own,
adherent to fundamental rules,
embattled by recognizable forces,
featuring a hero in
possession of justifiable,
albeit impressive, capabilities.
Furthermore, he exists in this world
governed by a set of rules
his skillset is suited to,
and the challenges facing him
in each successive installment
present odds exponentially rising
only slightly above his
capacity to overcome them.
In this way, Nolan's Batman
is more like James Bond,
where the enjoyment comes
from witnessing his ingenuity,
and his ability to overcome said challenge
by assembling the traits and tools
and allies at his disposal,
everything calibrated
within reasonable degrees
of one another.
But Nolan's Batman took little
influence from DC Comics,
with the exception of a
pithy reference or two,
and established defined borders
of a very pragmatic world.
Zack Snyder, on the other hand,
set out to create the expansive vision
of a DC Comics movie universe.
And though the DCEU seems
like a matter of course,
given Marvel Studios' success,
it's done little successfully,
save for this one unintended effect,
engaging the character of Batman
against enemies he could never best,
pitting him against challenges
he can never surmount,
and pairing him with
allies who don't require
what he has to offer.
Some of the Nolan trilogy's
most absurd plot points,
a band of ninjas sacking Gotham,
a domestic terrorist in clown makeup,
or the interminable prison
at the bottom of a pit
on the other side of the world
still plays by the world's rules,
and in doing so, reflects
the garish possibilities
of real things in our own world.
The besieged Gotham of
The Dark Knight Rises
can still evoke images
of real war-torn cities
like Aleppo, or Kabul.
Although the few opening
scenes of Snyder's Gotham City
in Dawn of Justice
establish this new depiction
of Batman with aplomb,
as Justice League rumbles along,
the mish-mash of disparate characters
and their respective, disparate worlds
coexist with too much polarity
for a character of Batman's mortal-ness.
- You've got no powers.
No offense.
- [Michael] To reasonably make the leaps
from the rain-soaked noir of Gotham,
to the mythic scope of Themyscira,
to the dazzling reveal of Atlantis,
and Metropolis and Central City
and whatever boiling, blistered,
brimstone lair the villain,
Steppenwolf, dwells.
All that, and Batman still
travels by Batmobile?
To another point,
in all of The Dark Knight
Trilogy's rogues' gallery,
yes, the antagonists
exist at different points
on a calculable scale,
but, at least, they
exist on the same scale.
In Justice League, from the offset,
the unpredictable and
imbalanced nature of this world
is fully illustrated
when, in the same scene,
Batman squares off against
two discordant adversaries.
One, a common burglar
with a sackful of loot,
and then two, a fear-sniffing mosquito-man
from another dimension.
Now, the argument could be
made that the first adversary
is indicative of the world Batman knows,
and the second suggests
the impending threat
of an encroaching other world;
one to test Batman's limits.
Well, in Nolan's trilogy,
the League of Shadows
suggested another world
in Batman Begins,
beyond the everyday blight of Gotham City,
but, also, had already been
narratively established
as a world that had
helped create that hero,
and one with which he
would be sufficiently
tested to contend.
Furthermore, this secret world is nothing
compared to the unfathomable insanity
the Batman of Snyder's Justice League
will have to stand to face
in future installments
of this franchise.
The fact is, Snyder's
world is a world filled
with actual gods and actual monsters,
while his Batman is still
fundamentally, no more,
or differently, equipped than Nolan's is.
Although Batman might have
seemed reasonably prepared
to go toe-to-toe against the
unearthly heft of Superman
in Dawn of Justice,
even that movie offers up
a moment of recognition
for both the character and the audience
during that final showdown of a Batman
that is in way over his head.
Bearing down in his
Batplane on the mutilated,
extraterrestrial monster, Doomsday,
breathing fire out of his face,
Batman mutters, to himself, and to us,
what we're all thinking.
- Oh, shit.
- [Michael] In Justice League,
both the character and the film
ring this self-awareness
out for all its worth,
galvanizing Batman's inferiority
by placing him side-by-side
with a demi-goddess,
a cyborg, an heir to Atlantis,
and the fastest man alive.
While Aquaman relishes his few
well-timed, whiskey-tinged,
frathouse style potshots.
- It's on him.
- [Michael] It's, first, Alfred,
relaying to Batman that--
- I don't recognize this world.
- [Michael] And then
actually Batman, himself,
that sets this tone.
When asked by the Flash
what his superpowers are,
Batman responds, dryly--
- I'm rich.
- [Michael] But, see,
the problem with this is,
we all know that money is not
what makes Batman special.
Even Batman knows that his
money is not his superpower.
But, this single line - this joke,
in practice but not in theory
amounts to what is more
of a narrative shrug.
The movie admittedly giving
up on this character.
- I'm rich.
- [Michael] Acknowledging, fully,
that nobody knows what
the fuck he's doing here.
(upbeat music)
Let us know what you
think in the comments.
Do you think that Batman
is set up to be in these Justice Leagues?
I know it works in the comics
but does it work in
the movies as they are?
What would you like to see
the movies take on Batman be?
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Like, subscribe, comment.
Do all the things.
We'll see you next time.
- Just like a bat.
I dig it.
