Batman vs. Superman trailer

Josh Look wrote:

Wetworks wrote: This movie has summer blockbuster hit written all over it.

To be fair, so did Transformers: Age of Extinction, and it was one, so you're not winning me over with that argument.

Time will tell, but anyone who thinks that Batman v Superman will score worse or anywhere near the avg score on Rotten Tomatoes for Transformer 4 is on a fool's quest.

The movie may turn out to be average or it may be a lot of fun. It doesn't matter, DC fans just want a popcorn flick that showcases their favorite DC superheroes.

Well thank god the visionary director of Sucker Punch has stepped up to bring it to them.

I don't really like Snyder's aesthetic at all, personally, but it does seem as if he may actually pull this off. Not for me, but what I mean is that it looks like he may actually achieve what he wants to achieve with this film. It might make the people who appreciate his style happy. If that's the case.. great.

Seeing this though it made me realize just how much I want to see a silver or even golden age super hero flick. Batman would be great but in all honesty it could be pretty much anyone. The Marvel movies have some of the levity you would expect to see in those periods but they're too self aware, flashy and modern to really nail it (and it's clearly not their goal anyway). The only super hero flick even close to that is The Incredibles. I think I'm at the point now where I'd rather watch the old Batman TV series than see one of the Nolan movies again. Something is changing in my brain and I'm waiting to see what it is.

Here's why DC's attempt at an 'Avengers-like' movie universe doesn't work for me...

They've spent no time building any sort of positive credit. It's like they want me to geek out just because Wonder Woman or Batman is on the screen. That don't fly. There's been tons of Batmans...is this a good take? Anyone can dress up in a costume, but that don't make the depiction, or film, good.

Marvel did it the right way. They showcased these characters in their own films and made them viable. I never was an Iron Man fan, but RDJ's take in the first one was fantastic. The hulk had a few missteps, but Thor and Cap where also done well. Marvel proved they could handle these characters, so it was then exciting to see them team-up.

DC is expecting me to pay for the main event of this ticket without proving to me that they have any idea they know what they're doing with these characters.

Feelitmon wrote: Hah! That absolutely makes sense about Iceman, BB. That said, this retcon is an example of one of the things that have turned me away from comics. It's not about having a gay character to me, it's just the clumsy and amateurish execution that turns me off. I mean, let's compare how two eras of X-Men dealt with the hot civil rights issues of their times:

1963: As part of the burgeoning civil rights movement and with Jim Crow laws still on the books throughout much of the USA, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby create the X-Men, a comic that will entertain its target audience (children and teenagers) while educating them about bigotry, intolerance, and racism. Five white mutants stand in for racial minorities, especially for blacks, in a classic example of literary allegory.

2015: As gay and transgendered activism becomes so mainstream it is presented in everything from primetime sitcoms to the D&D Players Handbook, and with overwhelming acceptance of it among the X-Men's target demographic (college students and young adults), Brian Michael Bendis decides to modernize the X-Men allegory. How? By MAKING ONE OF THEM GAY.

Bendis, you miserable hack fraud, that is not how allegory works. It is how pandering bullshit works though, so well done there. Geez, I never thought I would look back on anything Stan Lee had written and think of it as relatively sophisticated.

I'm still with you on the Bendis as a hack thing. But if you think he is the first writer to use Marvel mutants as an allegory for LGBT folks, you are mistaken and haven't been paying attention for many years. Northstar, mutant and first openly gay Marvel superhero, joined the X-Men in 2002. Warren Ellis moved the team to San Francisco in 2007. And Northstar got married to another man in the pages of Astonishing X-Men #51, back in 2012. Even back in the mid-'80s, X-writer Chris Claremont outed Karma of the New Mutants as a lesbian, and hinted at other female mutants (Storm, Rogue, Mystique, Destiny) as possibly being bi-sexual. So you would need to ignore all of the above to support your theory that Bendis was imposing the mutant/gay analogy in 2015.

Back on topic, I have just seen another trailer for Batman vs. Superman, and I have no enthusiasm for it. Grim 'n gritty comics tended to suck in the '90s, and DC took a big step backwards when they promoted Jim Lee to one of the key architects of the New 52 reboot for their product line. Now DC is walking things backwards from the New 52, but the grim 'n gritty persists because they have Snyder shitting out their upcoming movies.

I'm one of those Man of Steel hipster fans. I guess I'm looking forward to this one.

Green Lantern wrote:

Legomancer wrote: Jesus, why not just stay home and smash a hammer into your foot.

Or stay home and read Legomancer opinions and reviews. Seriously, where is HypocrisyLad when you need him to come in and bust on you guys for dumping on a central topic in this thread?

I contain multitudes.

Suicide Squad, in theory, should be a much darker movie than Batman vs. Superman, but it looks like more of the same. Larger cast with fewer costumes, leaving Suicide Squad looking like people waiting in line outside a goth club. The slow, delicate music in the Suicide Squad trailer also seems wrong for the subject matter. I was hoping this would be based on John Ostrander's excellent Suicide Squad run, but only Amanda Waller is in this, and she looks too thin for the part.

You want to see some classic Suicide Squad in action, watch the Task Force X episode of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon.

Legomancer wrote:

Green Lantern wrote:

Legomancer wrote: Jesus, why not just stay home and smash a hammer into your foot.

Or stay home and read Legomancer opinions and reviews. Seriously, where is HypocrisyLad when you need him to come in and bust on you guys for dumping on a central topic in this thread?

I contain multitudes.

Okay, I've gotta ask: what's the reference/joke?

Also, I've gotta apologize. After reading my response to your post I felt bad. It was not my intention to bust on you or your opinions, Lego. I hope you didn't take offense. I had a knee-jerk response to the negativity after Wetworks hopeful post and it got the better of me. Sorry, man.

Shellhead wrote: Suicide Squad, in theory, should be a much darker movie than Batman vs. Superman, but it looks like more of the same. Larger cast with fewer costumes, leaving Suicide Squad looking like people waiting in line outside a goth club..

I don't want to be a downer all the time in these threads, and to be clear - I'm over superhero films, but this movie strikes me as odd.

Marvel is proving that you can do supers with tights on film and it work out fine. The SS trailer looks like it's for a flick that would have come out in the early 90s. Back when, due to budget or low expectations, characters didn't wear their colorful underwear. It feels like the studio behind this film is embarrassed of the character's comic book roots and are going for that edgier/cooler than look. I dunno though, as I really don't know anything about Suicide Squad though I thought Harley Quinn looked like a court jester, not Tank Girl...

And how sad must Will Smith feel to be in an ensemble with b (or c) list actors. In the past he would have helmed a superhero film on his own.

Maybe Will Smith said "Aw Hell No" one time too many in past movies and then slipped off the A list. Yeah, it does seem like Suicide Squad is trying to downplay the comic book background, aside from having Batman in it.

The big Suicide Squad run in comics was back in the late '80s, an exciting time at post-Crisis DC when all the toys were in the same room. John Ostrander may have done his best work on his own Grimjack comic, but he also did good work on Suicide Squad. His concept was a team of villains, misfit heroes, and a government agent or two, all sent out on dangerous missions. The villains were kept in line with locked collars containing sufficient explosives to blow their heads off. The characters tended to be C-listers or worse, because that made them expendable and readers couldn't be sure who would survive a given mission.

The excellent Justice League Unlimited cartoon made a major character out of Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller, a fat and very tough federal bureaucrat who wouldn't take crap from anybody, even Batman. There was a great episode of JLU in the final season that actually featured the Suicide Squad, and it was great episode.

This movie version of Task Force X is more heavily tied to Batman. Not only is Batman appearing in the movie, but half the Squad members are regular Batman villains.

lol @ ah hell no

That guy has zero range. I'm glad they didn't put him in 12 Years

Suicide Squad is basically the Dirty Dozen but with supervillains. Completely expendable, black ops-style dirty fighters that will go on missions of questionable morality. It's a cool concept and some of the books are good (the Ostrander ones in particular) and it's a good showcase for little used/rarely impactful characters. Like Captain Boomerang and Bronze Tiger. Not Harley Quinn and Joker. It's a title that does lend itself to darker storylines, but this still looks way too into that circa-1994/post The Crow darkness shtick.

Harley Quinn has become a total disappointment. I love the original character from BTAS and Mad Love. She's a wonderful cartoon character. But when she becomes "real"- even as far back as that awful Alex Ross painting of her with Joker- her charm dissipates and she just becomes kind of lame. Jeff totally nailed it, she looks like Tank Girl in this movie.

I'm at least willing to have a look when it comes on cable, but it looks pretty bad so far. And that Joker...whoa, buddy.

On Will Smith...his fall from grace is long overdue. Barring Men in Black, I can't name a good movie that he was ever in. His best work is still "Parents Just Don't Understand"

Pursuit of Happyness is great, but that's a totally different kind of thing than the action flicks he's been in. I liked I Am Legend at the time, but I'm not sure if it holds up that well.

Suicide Squad, from the trailer, looks like it has more style and panache than BvS, but it's a wait for HBO or Netflix thing for me, too.