The Not-so-Superman
Superman isn’t that hard to write. But lots of people will tell you he is. After all, how do you write a story that’ll challenge a superhero who’s essentially a god? Who’s overpowered? Who has no match physically? Who, kryptonite aside, is invulnerable? Years ago, DC Comics created the monstrously monstrous Doomsday to answer that call. He and Superman punched it out, Superman died, rejuvenated, and came back – a narrative choice that makes him even stronger. Now you’re saying he can’t die. But Superman’s strength and powers aren’t the problem. People think they are because they’re asking the wrong question. That much is evident in the recent cinematic stabs at…
TrailerWatch: The Batman
As far as the screen goes, Batman is a saturated property: we’ve had the Adam West Batman (which borders on campy genius), Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns, Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Zack Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (and Batman’s cameo in Suicide Squad), and then complementing properties, like Joker, Birds of Prey (the short-lived 2002 TV show and the more-recent movie), the television series Gotham, and several animated series. With such a populated franchise, it forces every new installment to be different. That’s a good and a bad thing. Necessity compels originality. But, sometimes, a predecessor might’ve done…