The Big Picture: Enough With The Batman Already!

[Darth_Payn]

I'm OK with taking a cinematic break from Batman, since Man of Steel id going to look like WB learned their lesson and figured out how to make a GOOD superhero movie. You only need to have the bare minimum of Batman in the Justice League flick, and you may not even have to say he's Bruce Wayne. Give everyone on the team, whoever that may be, their one "hell yeah" moment.
At first I thought Bob was pointing out a problem with the many comics starring Batman and spinoff characters, but that's another story.

 

[SonofaJohannes]

Thank you Bob, that needed to be said. I agree with you completely when it comes to giving other characters more exposure, and especially on the "Please don't suck" part.

 

[drkchmst]

Blasphemy! Ive got a fever and only 2 things can cure me. More batman and more cowbell!

 

[ninjaRiv]

I agree with Bob on so many things and I love how passionate he can be. Which is why I hate it when I disagree. What's worse is, this was a lazy episode of Big Picture. I'm pretty sure he spent five minutes asking "Do we really need Batman?" in as many different ways as he could, instead of offering his usual insightful opinions.

Anyway, Batman... I love Batman. lots of people love Batman. He makes money and if you just throw him in there there's a risk of losing money. Sure, everyone knows who he is but you have to give him some flesh.

I'm a bit fed up of people hating on Batman in this way. I'm fine with folk not liking him, that's fine! Fine! It's not liking him because he's overexposed or because he has no superpowers or because his main thing is thinking ahead that bothers me. Batman is kind of a genius. Not even kind of. He IS a genius. He has plans with how to deal with every super being known to man, he's an expert fighter- ah, you know the rest.

If at any time he comes off as a prick or a little too smart (to the point of Deus Ex Machina) it's down to the writers. Whether you like it or not, Batman still has the potential to be a character full of life, mystery and badassery.

Also, Batman has a huge rogue's gallery that is untapped by Hollywood or anywhere else other than the comics. The only thing that I like the look of with the new CG show is the fact they use unknown bad guys. Batman regularly deals with Psychos, supervillains and so on that aren't given any mention. They don't HAVE to use the Joker, they never do. All they need to do is use one of the other villains. Zsaz, Scarface, Anarky, etc.

I can see why people don't like him. On the surface he's a rich boy who beats on poor people and that's what they stick with. I mean, he's also obsessive, filled with rage, self destructive, etc. He's had more tragedy than having his folks shot, you know. But I know folks who don't like him because he's miserable. I'd prefer that than the other stuff. Saying you don't like him because his real talent is his intelligence is silly.

I'm not questioning Bob's knowledge of Batman and I'm not saying this is how he sees the character but a lot of people do see that. I also realise that Bob's major grudge here is the overthinking of Batsy in the JL film; I kind of agree there. His origin has recently been set up in the movie-verse so that's covered. Personally, I don't think they should do one at all. Marvel set out to do this, WB is just doing it to catch up. I'd rather see a Flash movie first. I really would. DC does have a huge stable of heroes that need exposure. I just get worked up when Batman hate comes up. Not even hate, just criticisms that I find pointless or unfounded. Sorry for the pointless rant.

 

[LazyAza]

Yep think Batman is about used up. I for one want to see a female super hero get the spotlight for a while and who better than Wonder Woman, if only their were hope of her movie not being shit though.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

"Yes Mistress"... heh. That's good.

 

[ninjaRiv]

And that's why I'm so glad that people are starting to call Batman out on his ridiculousness. The 'Iron Will' Schtick might as well just be called a super power because of how it just bends the fabric of reality now. He won't fail because he won't allow it. His back won't break from being ***** slapped through a really thick stone pillar because is presence of mind is stronger than physics?

And yet, supposedly Batman never takes a life. Yet people are always scared that he will. I mean, people call Superman out that he'll never do anything to them more serious than a pummeling. Then they'll cower to Batman... who will never do anything serious than a pummeling.

Batman has the best power of them all. He has the Authors and the Fans behind him. So he will never lose. He can will his body to maintain it's peak muscle efficiency even though I can't remember the last time he worked out (and as a personal trainer, that always bugged the hell out of me), he can always somehow move just a bit faster than people who can move at light speed to take out just the thing that he prepared ahead of time in case this happened... He's Mary Sue, the character. I love the games, I love the comics when he's in Gotham and he isn't dealing with Beyond Gods, but when he's out of Gotham, he gets ridiculous.

Captcha: try the Booyah way!

Fuck right, you creepy sentient programming! What about Cyborg?! BOOYAH!!

People mistake that "Iron Will" for silliness. It's a mental illness, man. That's what Bats is all about. He's obsessive comulsive. That's why they fear him.

Superheroes fear him because they know he's a genius. Also, he has access to their weaknesses and has the ability to kill them if he needs to. The fear of Bats snapping is the same as the fear of Supes snapping. He's insane and dangerous. He's spent nearly all his life becoming that.

Although, yeah, he's not as cool outside of Gotham with the Gods and stuff. That's lazy writing, though. All the best Bat stories are self contained and set in Gotham City.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Yeah, I agree. I've kinda had my fill of Batman.

 

[Ranorak]

Superheroes fear him because they know he's a genius. Also, he has access to their weaknesses and has the ability to kill them if he needs to.

Except, they surely know by now that, he won't.

He won't even murder the person that killed one of his robin's, and he's not even super-powered.

Personally, I would like Batman to take a more behind the scenes role.
He finds a way to deactivate the Deus Ex, he gets the vital Intel, he turns the tide with a well placed gadget, but leaves fighting the actual big bad to the super-powered once.

That's not to say he can't have his action scenes, I bet they can pull off a great few with henchmen, or even a Mini-boss, while gathering this stuff. But don't have him standing next to Superman duo-punching the badguy like they're equals in strength.

 

[jaymiechan]

Honestly, there's one path for Wonder Woman that makes complete and utter sense if you think about it. Superman's called "The Big Blue Boy Scout." Yet in a way, he always has to hold back with that due to the secret identity. Wonder Woman, however? Do the isolated island. Do the fish out of water thing. But also do the "doesn't need a secret identity" angle. Friend to all, she could be a truly unhampered 'girl scout'.

And if you want a suit up sequence for her, give her the golden armor.

 

[Hectix777]

How about a Red Hood movie?

 

[ninjaRiv]

Superheroes fear him because they know he's a genius. Also, he has access to their weaknesses and has the ability to kill them if he needs to.

Except, they surely know by now that, he won't.

He won't even murder the person that killed one of his robin's, and he's not even super-powered.

Personally, I would like Batman to take a more behind the scenes role.
He finds a way to deactivate the Deus Ex, he gets the vital Intel, he turns the tide with a well placed gadget, but leaves fighting the actual big bad to the super-powered once.

That's not to say he can't have his action scenes, I bet they can pull off a great few with henchmen, or even a Mini-boss, while gathering this stuff. But don't have him standing next to Superman duo-punching the badguy like they're equals in strength.

I think people forget that comics work a little differently. The time periods and such are different, you know? We've seen him almost use his contingency plans a whole lot but the characters have not die to retcons, the passage of fictional time, etc. His contigency plans are better when left as a threat, rather than something he actively uses, though. I think that goes along with the thing about his best stories being away from the JL.

Yeah, the equals punching thing is silly.

Have you checked out Dark Knight returns? That's a pretty good example of how Batman can snap, how he can rebuld and how he can deal with Superman.

 

[CTYR]

How's about we just have batman doing the deus ex machina thing like what the Hulk did for The Avengers movie.

Okay, now that may be derogatory and flat, but let me lay it out in detail: Batman is the dude that hates working with people, especially other people who are really prone to causing a lot of collateral damage (like Superman and what not), so we instead have him constantly being pestered and searched for by the Justice League, maybe even talking to him through a computer screen or something like that, but no matter what he won't join them. Batman will be played up as the dude who's done his time and maybe might give tech crap to 'The League' at one point or another, but then, right when the third act is climaxing and it seems as if it will turn to shit for all the non-pessimistic characters, suddenly: BATMAN.

He shows up, does some crazy martial arts/science stuff, they win, and then everyone gets cake.

Now, doesn't that seem like just enough Batman for us? I mean, come on, I haven't heard so much as a murmur or moan about people like The Flash for years in the movie business, how about when we have the Big B. sulking for 5/6ths of the movie, we see some cool stuff and story on the other characters? It'd be nice!

Even better is that it wouldn't create the need for another string of movies!

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

Loved the "Space Jesus, Human Sonic-the Hedgehog, Yes Mistress" bit.
I think they should have some costumed but otherwise human investigators helping the main justice league, with Batman helping them rather than being part of the core team.
DC does need to diversify things a bit. They should also try introducing other less well know characters through the main characters films, like Marvel did with Hawkeye and BlackWidow.

 

[ninjaRiv]

All the best Bat stories are self contained and set in Gotham City.

not true in the slightest, Morrison JLA run especially the Promethium arc, Tower of Babel was good too and a few more like with the Outsiders.
People always remember the extremes and forget the good examples.

I actually can't stand the majority of Morrison's work, mostly his superhero stuff, so I personally disagree with you there. I was speaking more in personal opinion.

 

[walsfeo]

1) I actually agree with Bob that maybe it is time to put Batman away for awhile and lets try making GOOD (and I emphasis that word) movies for the other characters in the DC canon.

2) I disagree that Batman has nothing to bring to the table. The truth is that in many cases, Batman is capable of doing what the others heroes can't or won't do. Make no mistake, in that little list of super humans Bob rattled off, none of them are a half-decent detective and I wouldn't trust any of them to do any kind of real infiltration. Sorry Bob, but just because you're tired of him doesn't mean he isn't one of the most important parts of the Justice League for more then just "being Batman".

Absolutely correct. Also, I don't the movies have done a great job at making Batman a gazillionare and a dubious job at making him a detective. He should be able to use his brain to solve a problem instead of just gadgets. But yeah, there is an amazing stable of characters they could weave some rock'n stories around.

Also, while I realize that Aquaman's weirdest power is of limited use when interacting in the surface world, I think he'd make a heck of a movie if done right. Where he'd be a tough character to develop for a major series he'd have the possibility for some major 2-3 hour set-piece stories.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Is Bob seriously not aware of the "Bat Embargo" that has plagued the animated Batmen for YEARS?!

 

[guitarsniper]

Character I really want to see in a JLA movie? Zatanna.