Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice

[CyberCubed]

Batman is supposed to invoke fear on his criminals, but he doesn't purposely terrorize them beyond that. That and NONE of the supervillains are afraid of Batman anyway!

You really think Joker, Penguin, Two Face, Riddler, Scarecrow, Bane, Catwoman, etc... fear Batman? LOL, of course not. They talk him down right to his face and laugh at him when they sick their thugs on him or try to take him down themselves.

[Leo656]

"Terrorist" or not Batman's still kind of a lunatic. He's not the most heroic of heroes.

Consider, again: Brother Eye. Batman's personal Skynet Satellite almost caused the End Of The World, because Batman's a paranoid nitwit who doesn't believe in "overkill" as long as he's the one doing it. If he's not a terrorist, he's STILL a goddamn criminal! Like the "Tower Of Babel" story wasn't enough, where all his fail-safe plans almost got the JLA killed, but even AFTER that happened, and they kicked him out of the JLA for it, he went ahead and pulled the sh*t with Brother Eye anyway! "Hm. My contingency plans for how to kill the JLA fell into a super-villain's hands and, in fact, almost killed the JLA. A-HA! I'll do the same exact thing, again, but about a million times bigger! That way it HAS to be a good idea, the sheer sense of scale makes it Too Big To Fail! I mean it's not like there are any super-villains out there who can hack a satellite like that and take it over and cause mass destruction or anything. That only happens once in a while. It's probably fine. It'll keep the world safe, having a giant orb in the sky spying on everyone 24/7 with the ability to create killer cyborgs at a moment's notice! It's a good idea because I'M BATMAN!" It's like the guy never learns anything! Also: No, Batman and his giant Brother Eye satellite are in NO way fascistic at all. I have no idea why some people think Batman might be something of a fascist or an asshole. I mean, what's wrong with spying on the WHOLE WORLD in order to keep them "safe" from the .0001% of them who are dangerous super-villains, right? This f*ckin' guy.

I love Batman, I really do, but the fact that deep down he's more motivated by revenge than anything purely altruistic, and as 42 points out, he really does think he's God, has always put him a solid #2 behind Superman, to me. I mean yes, he's heroic, ultimately, but he's also a gigantic asshole at best and kind of a bad person at worst.

I mean think about it. The very idea that they are friends speaks infinitely to Clark's character. He more than anyone would know how completely full of it Bruce is, since he could put him in his place any time he wanted to, but while most of the rest of the DCU go out of their way to avoid Batman until they need him for something on account of he's impossible to be around, he's Clark's best friend. Think about that. Superman likes Batman. Even Robin barely likes Batman! They'll be at JLA Headquarters, and Batman will be alienating everyone as usual with his, "This is how we're doing things because I'm BATMAN and I'm better than all of you," and everyone else is all pissed off and fed up, and Clark's just all, "Oh, you. Have a Snickers, Bruce." Talk about the super-power of infinite f*cking patience and restraint, and always seeing the best in people, to be best friends on PURPOSE with the goddamn Batman.

It's part of what makes them fun together. I don't think even Bruce knows why Clark likes him so much; it seems to make him very uncomfortable at times. I'm very interested in seeing their relationship develop in the film, especially since I really like Cavill's chemistry with Affleck. Ultimately that could have made the movie or ruined it, if the two guys in the roles didn't sell it. Luckily they seem to play off each other quite well. Even if everything else was the same, if it was two stiffs trying to sell it there's no way it would work.

I'm so glad they didn't pull off that sh*tty Superman/Batman movie they tried to do back in 2002 or whenever it was. The one where they were gonna fight because the Joker killed Bruce's fiance' and Batman snapped and went on a mission to kill Joker and Superman had to stop him, and it turned out Lex was behind it all because he knew Joker killing Whatsername would make Batman and Superman fight to the death. That sh*t was awful, we really dodged a bullet. Not only was it corny but in that script Batman comes off as about a hundred times more of an asshole than usual, to the point where I'm not sure how or why anyone would be expected to root for him over Superman, considering that in that story, Superman is only guilty of keeping his best friend from becoming a murderer, and Batman's entirely willing to kill Superman to get to Joker so he can kill him too. The script attempted to get Batman fans to WANT to see him murder someone, and not in a "Had no other choice/life or death situation" way, but in a "Hunt Joker down and execute him" way. I can't even BEGIN to get into everything that's wrong with that.

Would'a been a piece of sh*t, thank God WB didn't want to spend any money on it.

[Slade]

Cubed is gonna flip his top, I'm loving this.

[Commenter 42]

Bruce Wayne is the comic book equivalent of Donald Trump.
#Fact.

[plastroncafe]

Um. No.
Not only did Trump run several of his companies into the ground, but he also has political ambition, which Wayne most decidedly does not. Can you imagine Bruce Wayne starring in a reality television show?

If Wayne has an equivalent in our world, it's Paris Hilton.

But...I will say that I agree with the notion of Batman being a terrorist, in traditional meaning of the word.
(Though, given that he's a white man in America, chances are good no one would be able to get that label to stick.)

[ToTheNines]

Was the Hilton thing a joke? Because she does reality tv too.

And was the white man thing a joke too? Because Timothy McVey is probably one of the first things I think of when I hear the word "terrorist".

[plastroncafe]

Neither were jokes.
Hilton's foray into reality television was to highlight how out of touch she was with the world. Something I could see Wayne getting into in order to play up his own ditz factor.

Trump had The Apprentice, an attempt to show the world how much of a hardass he is. Not something Wayne would do.

I'd say he'd do a stint on Big Brother, save for the fact that it would cut into his "nightlife."

No, Wayne isn't the kind of rich guy ass that Trump is. He's Bill Gates with Hilton's Social Life.

[Commenter 42]

I know, if Trump has any sort of parallel, it's Luthor. I know!

Wayne comes from old money. Clearly he'd be a Rockefeller. Good people the Rockefellers.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_family

[JakeSully]

Anyone glad this movie has a better writer than Goyer being the guy who wrote the excellent screenplay to Argo?

[shuriken]

^^ Really? NEAT

Originally Posted by Commenter 42

I know, if Trump has any sort of parallel, it's Luthor. I know!

Wayne comes from old money. Clearly he'd be a Rockefeller. Good people the Rockefellers.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_family

That actually makes a lot of sense. Although I don't think Luthor would alienate as many of his potential constituents with half of the asinine things he says. You know what would be nuts is if Paris Hilton was legitimately a vigilante crimefighter...

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Neither were jokes.
Hilton's foray into reality television was to highlight how out of touch she was with the world. Something I could see Wayne getting into in order to play up his own ditz factor.

Trump had The Apprentice, an attempt to show the world how much of a hardass he is. Not something Wayne would do.

I'd say he'd do a stint on Big Brother, save for the fact that it would cut into his "nightlife."

No, Wayne isn't the kind of rich guy ass that Trump is. He's Bill Gates with Hilton's Social Life.

I could totally see him on an episode of Millionaire Matchmaker lol.

[CyberCubed]

Bruce Wayne's playboy persona is just a front for the cameras so nobody suspects he's Batman.

Bruce Wayne is a genius. The official DC bio lists him with an extremely high IQ, he's studied every martial arts known to man, he's fluent in dozens of languages, he's a mathematician, a scientist, a thinker, and a philosopher. He is practically a prodigy.

He's the goddamn Batman. He's the pinnacle of human achievement. Every man wishes they were him. There's a reason he's the most popular superhero of all time, above Superman and any of the Marvel heroes. People have good tastes.

[JTH]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Bruce Wayne's playboy persona is just a front for the cameras so nobody suspects he's Batman.

Bruce Wayne is a genius. The official DC bio lists him with an extremely high IQ, he's studied every martial arts known to man, he's fluent in dozens of languages, he's a mathematician, a scientist, a thinker, and a philosopher. He is practically a prodigy.

He's the goddamn Batman. He's the pinnacle of human achievement. Every man wishes they were him. There's a reason he's the most popular superhero of all time, above Superman and any of the Marvel heroes. People have good tastes.

To be the most popular superhero, you actually have to be a superhero...

Do you think Chuck Norris is a superhero too?

[Leo656]

Truth is, Batman's the most popular because most people suffer from arrested development.

Superman = Leading by example, the ideal everyone is supposed to work towards.

Batman = Lashing out at the world, and all of life's problems can be solved by hitting things or enforcing your will on other people.

Batman's the super-hero we wish we were when we were 10. Superman's the one we're supposed to idealize once we grow up and realize you can't punch the world into being the way you want it to be.

Most people forever stay angry and bitter that life somehow mistreated them, thus, Batman stays their role model. And that says a lot about the world. Nothing good, but it does say a lot. We don't want a role model who shows us how to be better people, we want the one who shows us that all we have to do to be "heroic" is be really angry all the time.

See also: Wolverine.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Truth is, Batman's the most popular because most people suffer from arrested development.

Superman = Leading by example, the ideal everyone is supposed to work towards.

Batman = Lashing out at the world, and all of life's problems can be solved by hitting things or enforcing your will on other people.

Batman's the super-hero we wish we were when we were 10. Superman's the one we're supposed to idealize once we grow up and realize you can't punch the world into being the way you want it to be.

Most people forever stay angry and bitter that life somehow mistreated them, thus, Batman stays their role model. And that says a lot about the world. Nothing good, but it does say a lot. We don't want a role model who shows us how to be better people, we want the one who shows us that all we have to do to be "heroic" is be really angry all the time.

See also: Wolverine.

Ouch. OUCH. That's quite damning. Also quite hard to refute.

I'd like to think a good part of Batman's popularity is due to the fact that he has no superpowers. Same as Tony Stark or Oliver Queen.

[Leo656]

He does have a super-power: All The Money In The World. Take that away, there's no Batman. Actually all three that you mentioned have that.

[JTH]

Originally Posted by Leo656

He does have a super-power: All The Money In The World. Take that away, there's no Batman. Actually all three that you mentioned have that.

As a fellow wrestling fan, Leo knows this.

Who is considered wrestling's most popular "good guy"? "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

A person that cares nothing about anyone but himself, hates morals, and beats the crap out of people just because he enjoys it, and we're told to consider him a role model and who to aspire to be. Really?

Coming years after Hulk Hogan, who was the Superman of wrestling, who was all about morals and fighting for what was right. And people grew tired of that and hated that kind of hero. Just like Superman.

Yes, that's what we are and have become as a people.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Some really DEEP sh*t up in here. Deep in the intellectual sense, mind you. I like it! And yeah, I agree with Leo and JTH here. To me, Batman's always been incredibly- batty. Pun DEFINITELY intended. He's off his rocker, and we're expected to identify with and aspire to this?! I'd rather aspire to the moral ideals of Supes, Boy Scout though he may be. Batman's fun for a while, but only for his villain roster. And his think with Cat Woman. Because he obviously has a thing for bad girls. But then, she at least is mentally screwed in properly. He's got some screws VERY loose....

[Leo656]

I found an interesting article on Superman Homepage with one of the costume people. http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php?readmore=17328

He finally explains exactly what the Kryptonian script that's on Superman's costume says. It's hard to see, but it's written across the center line of the S shield and a few places on the arms. It translates as, "Where We Thought To Stand Alone, We Will Be With All The World." That's neat.

[CyberCubed]

This is how criminals react when seeing Batman: