Falling behind by quite a bit, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Are pushing fast towards the newly built cinematic universe that Marvel has had for several years. But this year at San Diego Comic Con we got to see proof that this is, in fact, a thing we should be excited about, or terrified by. The day was kicked off with a firestorm by The Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice Trailer. The backlash that struck the Man of Steel when it was released seems to have also struck Metropolis, people are sick and tired of the god-like being avoiding justice for what happened to those presumably hundreds of injured and killed during Zod’s attack. I don’t want to get to into politics with this fictional character, but he certainly meant well and had no intentions of the hundreds dead. So I’m sure we will see Superman struggle with the guilt of what happened in Metropolis. –And presumably Gotham– That being said I have my doubts that Zack Snyder always wanted the world to revolt against Superman in the Man of Steel sequel, that movie has a happy ending. He gets a job at the daily planet he shoots a military satellite out of the sky, and an army officer says he’s ‘hot’.
But including Batman/Bruce Wayne into the destruction gives us an in. Its smart, whether you want to pick sides or not. Bruce Wayne now has a reason to hate Superman like all the critics after the first movie. Among the many stand-out moments in the trailer was Bruce Wayne seeing his building get destroyed and watching him run into the Debris, that’s an full impact moment. Watching one man run towards the danger out of costume. Things like Batman shooting a grappling hook seconds before he’s struck by presumably heat vision and Wonder Woman giving an “Oh no you Didn’t.” look were fun and exciting moments that the first trailer didn’t have.
Some of the strange but intriguing moments of the trailer included Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor and that bizarre wig. It’s clearly a prop wig so that must play some part…right? And beside his hair is his delivery, it’s very strange everything about him is just odd. Which is good I like an interesting take on a megalomaniac hell-bent on taking control of everything. And right next to him in terms of different was seeing Batman (presumably) in a duster and some camouflage pants. Odd but in an awesome way. I got nervous once I seen him snapping a guy’s neck a few frames later, but I will have to wait for context.
Some other notable mentions were more Wonder Woman looking incredible. No real meaning for her or why she is there but along with her was the graffiti-ed Robin Costume leaving us all to think it’s Jason Todds old duds. And then one more thing to mention that actually wasn’t in the trailer. Was the fact that Zack Snyder said Gotham and Metropolis are Sister Cities. Across the bay like Oakland and San Francisco. This may seem like a strange and stupid thing to complain about, but the reason I am is because at this moment it appears solely artificial. Batman and Superman don’t need to meet because they live next to each other; they meet because they are both larger than life characters. It’s not like Themyscira needs to be nearby for them to meet Wonder Woman, or maybe that’s the island in between the bay, who knows. Granted all that nitpicking aside, I was excited by what I had seen. Zack Snyder knows how to do two things really well, trailers and heavy-handed imagery.
Screencap from the ‘bootleg’ Suicide Squad trailer featureing Joker.
The news after that was, releasing in 2020 (when everyone stops watching superhero movies) there will be a Green Lantern Corps movie, we honestly know nothing about it, so I won’t spend much time on it. But this uses the best of both worlds. Plenty of people wanted Hal Jordan back, and a bunch more (including me) wanted to see John Stewart don the green ring. Following that tidbit was the Suicide Squad trailer –which has not and will not be released to the public.– I’m sure by now you’ve seen the bootleg version of it. It’s just surreal to see Amanda Waller talk about assembling a team of villains on the big screen. And even crazier than that is seeing Harley Quinn on that team!
I didn’t even talk about TV, and Comics, DC owned this years Comic Con partly because Marvel didn’t show up but mostly because they came packing heat. Up until this weekend, I have been optimistically measured about my expectations for this cinematic universe. But after seeing those trailers. –one in much better quality– I have veered into the excited camp. Sure I may be setting myself up for disappointment but at this point its borrowed time. I never thought I’d see Batman Fight Superman on the big screen when I was a kid.
