The Batman Will Rise in March 2022!

MrBlud

Well-known member
Citizen
I don’t know about you but the other movies I watched this year about a child unable to overcome the grief they feel after their parents were brutally gunned down in front of them have been delightful comedic romps!
 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
While his role was largely excised in the final film (like, why, you're already running 3 hours?), Warner has released an (the?) excised scene featuring Barry Keoghan's Joker playing Hannibal Lector to Batman. It's a really amazing scene and the layers and context are thick.

 

MrBlud

Well-known member
Citizen
Joker’s whole thing is “one bad day” so making him deforming since birth and evil because people mistreated him as a result of that is a pretty big misreading of the character.

I don’t care for his weak little laugh either. Hopefully he’s not in the next one (or any for that matter).
 

AgentOrange

Active member
Citizen
Joker’s whole thing is “one bad day” so making him deforming since birth and evil because people mistreated him as a result of that is a pretty big misreading of the character.

I don’t care for his weak little laugh either. Hopefully he’s not in the next one (or any for that matter).

Joker's whole thing is not "one bad day." There were going on 5 decades of The Joker before that bullshit was even published, so to say that something contrary to it is a big misreading of the character is itself a big misreading. Killing Joke is not the be-all, end-all of Joker.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
I was surprised at how little the name "Batman" was actually spoken in this movie. It was mainly just those cards from Riddler that referred to him as such, with the other characters rarely using it.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
Saw this in the movies on Monday and I'm still excited. The world felt right. One of the biggest things I disliked most about the Nolanverse is that Gotham was basically a generic Any City, USA while here it had character. I loved them showcasing a Batman that was highly competent but human and fallible. And even vulnerable. I've gotten more than tired of Batman being portrayed as borderline omnipotent.

I found the quiet sequel setup interesting. While this wasn't style I enjoyed with the Riddler's outfit, I could see him "reforming" and coming out with a modified version of his suit and bowler derby look. And on reforming, having 'Unseen Arkham Inmate' already captured both allows him to be the corruptive voice in ear of others and allows him not to hog the spotlight.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Any sequel to this movie has to use either Scarecrow, the Court of Owls, or both as the main villains.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
Finally managed to see this; and it was the first Batman movie I've really enjoyed in a LONG time. Just about everything feels right. Almost every character is spot on to how they should be.

My biggest complaint, is that Riddler should have been Anarky instead. He's only barely Riddler, but his whole deal and motivation feel much more like Anarky then anything.

My biggest annoyance... I don't care for Batman's theme... becuase I just keep wanting to hear the imperial march when it plays.

My biggest curiosity: DId Batman inject himself with Venom near the end? They don't say anything about it, but its green and more or less has the same effects as a small dose would have.

My biggest praise: Batman isn't grimdark, like he starts on the edge of it but the movie is about him learning to lean away from that rather then into it. That's the best thing to happen to him in Live Action media. Make him a symbol that stands for something and not just a grimdark violence junkie. We see it in other media, but not the movies.

My biggest hope for a sequel: No Man's Land/Arkham City adaptation. It feels very much setting up for that. And Robin. Give us Robin, hell I'll even settle for Nightwing; but give him a partner to help balance him out. It will work really well in this setting.
 

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Anarky is awesome! I liked him from the first issue I saw of him (the annual where he took advantage of being possessed by Eclipso's gem) though the other comics I read of him didn't capture his coolness.

Anyhow, The Batman got it's Honest Trailer :

 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
I liked this movie quite a bit. Far from my favorite take on Batman, but overall it was pretty damn good..

But you can still call me a hater on the Batmobile. Won't deny, it did look cool as it was first reved up in the shadows. But it really is just a souped up muscle car which kinda flops to the other side of the Batmobiles of recent movies on being too much of a real thing. And unlike the Tumbler or the DCEU Batmobile with their tank like vehicles, a souped up muscle car on it's own external design is just another black car. There really is nothing to me that screams Batmobile. But considering this feels like a less capable Batman than most we've known I guess it works. If this was just this Bruce and Alfred's work, it's entirely believable that this was the result of their efforts.
Okay, gotta comment on this: I have absolutely HATED the past few Batmobiles because they're ******* tanks. The Batmobile, actually being a car again; and one that is has be suped up beyond normal specs, is very much what a batmobile should be; especially this early on in his career. Comic batmobiles, are almost always very Car-ish in their designs, with some being more 'tailored' to his whole image.

Hell, here's Jason Todd's first apperance. Everyone knows that Batman first ran across him stealing tires off the Batmobile, yes? We'll here's the cover for that issue, notice anything?:
Jasontoddfirst.jpeg
 

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
I actually didn't like it when they started making their own parody music vids in the recent Honest Trailer videos (like in Encanto) so I'm very glad they split them off into their own separate vids.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
Detective wise, he seemed infallible at the start but later he missed the language lesson Penguin gave him and when the cop explained the murder weapon. But it's absolutely fine that he's not the best detective yet. It'd be boring if he knew all the answers... right off the bat (haha).
One of the things about the movie is that his intelligence felt like it made sense. This version of the character hasn't traveled the world so missing a riddle due to not knowing another language seemed right. Even more so, a rich guy not knowing a tool used in blue collar job seemed really on brand.

My biggest annoyance... I don't care for Batman's theme... becuase I just keep wanting to hear the imperial march when it plays.
While I like the theme, what I find interesting is that the main four note portion of it is versatile. It sounds like itself but has a wholly different tone if played differently, like the piano variant in the end credits or even in the quieter parts of the full 6 minute theme. It's a theme that can be used like animation will often shift around a character's theme based on a scene's mood.

In broader thoughts, though this might not be the way I wanted the Riddler used, I'm estatic that Riddler was the primary villain. I feel the Joker is overexposed which skews something specific about Batman's villains. Joker represents chaos versus order. Riddler...is a battle of wits. I feel he's better at showcasing Batman as a detective but the movies haven't leaned into the detective aspect and the Riddler has sorta been Aquamanned in pop culture over the years. If the Riddler returns, there's a few different ways they can go. The way the Joker was used in this could almost setup the Riddler as a sort of Harley Quinn setup of the Riddler getting corrupted. And as a parallel, for a while the Riddler fully reformed which caused a different type of detective rivalry with Batman.

The thing that preceded Riddler's reform (though this was a few years prior and was concluded with amnesia) was Batman: Hush. Though the movie didn't, I was wondering if the movie was pulling from that storyline after seeing things like the look they chose for the Riddler's outfit and the trailers implying that he figured out that Bruce Wayne is Batman.

I liked that this was an overt "no guns, no killing" Batman. Outside of maybe being partially responsible for the wrecks Penguin caused, this is the lowest live action Batman kill count outside of Clooney or West.

And while I still have more scattered thoughts, I'll end on the fact that I liked that it gave Batman the vibe of actually making his own stuff as opposed to just buying it.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
Slightly off topic; but this is one thing I overall respect the Spider-Man films for; they almost never reuse his villians. Raimi Trilogy: Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, Venom, Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Amazing Duology; Lizard, Electro, Rhino, and yeah trying to set up all the others. MCU: Vulture, Shocker, Mysterio, The not-quite Sinister Six via bringing back the main villians from each non-MCU movie.

Where as Batman we got: Joker, Penguin and Catwoman, Riddler and Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and Bane; Ra's Al Ghoul and Scarecrow... then Joker and Two-Face then Bane and Catwoman, then Superman and Lex Luthor, not gonna count JL as a Batman movie, and now we got Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Carmine Falcone, Joker, and maybe hints of the Court of Owls.

Batman keeps going back to same handful of villians. It's part of why I'm annoyed that this version of Riddler was more Anarky; a more obscure but still highly popular Batman Character. And it seems like we're likely going back to fully into the Joker well with the sequel, unless they take time really building him up. I'd love to see other Batman characters got spotlight for once. Mad Hatter, Firefly, Azrael, Hush, Clayface (like you don't even have to make him a monstrosity, just keep the shapeshifter or disguise aspect of him and he'd be perfect for this universe), Man-Bat, to name a few.

Of course there's a few revisits I wouldn't mind; a Scarecrow that's actually commits to being a villian and not just a somewhat forgettable background character, A Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy that's not a joke. A Bane that actually shows that he's just as smart as Batman is and not just strongman. We kinda get close to this with Nolan's Bane but I feel if this universe keeps focusing on the Batman's detective side Bane would be another good villain for that.

Though I'll admit, I'd love for a Batman movie to embrace the fact that some of his villians are super powered or monstrous. I'm starting to get tired of this hardcore focus on realism, and trying tone down a lot of the more fantastical elements. But we're potentially getting away from the Grimdark crusader, maybe we can slowly amp up to more fantastical villians.

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Also, if they do do Robin... I kinda want them to go for Jason Todd. Dick Grayson gets all the love in media adaptations when they do Robin. I wanna see something different (much like with the villains) and Jason Todd seems the perfect candidate for Robin. Batman wants to be different, wants to be a symbol for hope and peace to help Gotham heal its scars. Well here we have a petty theif from a broken and abusive family, who has the sheer balls to try and steal from Batman... He's basically the embodiment of Gotham, the exact kinda person that if older probably would have been one of Riddler's followers. So take him in, train him to use his skills and anger to help make Gotham a better place. And no, I don't just want him to be brought in to be killed by Joker. I don't want him brought in just to make him Red Hood. I want to see Jason actually be used as a character who plays off of Bruce's desire to do and be better. It shouldn't be easy, it should be a struggle, but they should both make the other better.
 


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