My Thoughts And What We Know On The Upcoming ‘Batman V Superman’ Film

Ok there’s been a lot of talk and I mean A LOT of talk about the upcoming Batman v Superman film and I thought I’d chip in with my thoughts on what we know so far. First of all how do I feel about it? I’m not sure, I was curious at first when the idea came about but then they kept on adding more characters and more and more. It’s less ‘Batman v Superman’ and more a cheap attempt, or not so cheap when you look at the cast assembled attempt at a Justice League film, both Superman and Batman are well established characters, why add people such as Robin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman to the mix?

Is it because they are worried that a stand alone film featuring just Batman and Superman story wise wouldn’t be up to the mark? Also is it their attempt to try and steal some of the hype away from the new Avengers film? Are the studios already worried that a potentially wooden Batman in #Batfleck and Henry Cavill may not be up to the task? If I was Affleck and Cavill who I’ll call Affvil for time saving alone in this article, I’d be equally excited and dismayed. Why excited and dismayed I hear you cry?

Well the answer is simple, I’d be excited that DC are attempting to take on Marvel in the movie stakes and in a big way with a BANG! Up until now DC have excelled where Marvel have kinda become stagnant and that’s in the TV market, so far DC have already well established shows such as ‘The Arrow’ and ‘The Flash’ whereas Marvel have ’Agents of Shield’. Now don’t get me wrong I’m actually team Marvel but my ex was always team DC and when I asked her why, she’d respond by saying that DC was more gritty and realistic and for this reason they held up as better long standing TV show. To a certain extent I did kinda understand her logic I mean Marvel was better for the action but DC was better for the character development, that’s why Marvel shows and DC films never seemed to really work. In the same breath tho if I was Affvil I’d be dismayed that the studios aren’t 100% committed to them as the main characters and have had to bring in such a strong supporting cast.

Where else could I start other than with Batfleck? Who’s Batfleck well it’s the new actor playing Batman and that’s none other than Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck? Isn’t he the guy that sucked as Daredevil? Yes that’s him ladies and gentleman. Anyone who knows me, knows that my fave Batman is and will ALWAYS be the one and only Adam West. Yeah I grew up watching the reruns on TV but who didn’t? Now don’t get me wrong I don’t mind Batfleck as a person but I just don’t think he’s capable of pulling off such a strong character as Batman. I picture him being a mix between the George Clooney Batman and Val Kilmer Batman. I for one think that such was the studio worrying that peoples initial outcry to the casting of Batlfeck they had no choice but to make it a versus film and introduce a mryiad of other characters, rather than have him do a standalone film. Now I know then Batfleck will do ok,  but how about someone such as Ryan Gosling, Michael C Hall or Jake Gyllenhall trying their hand and cape as Batman?

As for Henry Cavill I’m not gunna comment on him as he’s already proved himself to me as an awesome Superman, granted I actually preferred Brandon Routh (yes I’m serious) but hopefully people who are reading this article will have also watched ‘Man Of Steel’ so they’ll agree with me on this one.

Who is the supporting cast you may ask? Try Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons and OH YEAH Jason Momoa. To be honest that sounds less like a supporting cast and more like a who’s who of the acting world.

Let’s go a little into the supporting cast and what characters they’ll be playing. First up is Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. When I first heard of this choice I was interested for a couple of reasons. The first is to be honest she doesn’t really have a strong pedigree acting wise her arguably most notable role to date is as Giselse in the ‘Fast & Furious‘ franchise. Other names considered for the role, ranged from Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Jamie Alexander (Thor), Gemma Arterton (Hansel and Gretel) to Lucy Griffiths (True Blood) and Bridget Regan (Legend Of The Seeker). Personally out of the names considered but not chosen I would have gone with either Jemma Alexander or Bridget Regan, so when Gal was announced I was immediately intrigued. I remained neutral on her casting choice until the publicity photo’s were released. When I first laid eyes on Gal as Wonder Woman she reminded me of someone it was Xena!! Gal looked quite intimidating stood in her leather and metal outfit superimposed onto a volcanic background and I was sold. When  heard Wonder Woman was going to be in the new film, my problem was my mind was flashing back to the 1970’s TV show. However upon seeing these pics, I remembered what my ex said in that DC do gritty better than Marvel and this looks like this is what it is intended to be a gritty realistic Wonder Woman as an amazon warrior princess who is here to kick some serious ass.

Now on to Amy Adams, as Lois Lane. Everyone who knows me personally knows I’m a sucker for a redhead, 99% of the women that I may have a crush on are redheads and I’ll happily admit that. SO ladies if you wonna win em over, get that hair dye out 😛 Anywho I digress, I personally think that Amy Adams as Lois Lane is an inspired choice. Amy is well known for playing characters with the pardon the 1950’s expression but moxy. That spunky, firey woman who won’t take no for an answer. When you consider that’s he plays those roles and plays those roles well, it seems like she’s a perfect fit. Plus she’s a redhead so I’m gunna be biased anyway. Anyone who’s seen ‘Man of Steel’ know’s she’s already a perfect fit.

Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, is an interesting one. I remember the outcry various websites were saying that this is inexcusable, how could they have an African-American playing Perry, what next a British Superman? Oh wait a minute …. Lol the internet makes me laugh sometimes. I for one can see this happening. Anyone who’s seen Laurence’s work in CSI and his previous work in ‘Man Of Steel’ knows that he’ll be able to play this role well and I can’t wait.

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor? Really? REALLY??? Was my initial outcry. That’s like having the other guy who was in the ‘Social Network’ with him play Spiderman. Oh B**** ! When I first found out about this I wasn’t happy especially when you consider that Lex is meant to be Supe’s arch nemesis and roughly the same age. Henry Cavill is 31 and Jesse is 31, what their the same age? Yeah that surprised me too, I thought Henry was a lot older and I mean A LOT. I find it depressing that Henry Cavill is only two years older than me too, perhaps if I applied myself harder in drama I could have been Superman, oh well there’s always Captain Britain I suppose. The more I considered the casting of Jesse as Lex the more I was actually pleasantly surprised. Anyone who’s seen his work as Mark Zuckerbeg in the ‘Social Network’ knows that he played this role to a ‘t’ and I hate to say it I see elements of this being transferred over to Lex. Mark Zuckerberg as evil overload Lex Luthor? Hmm it’s not a million miles away from the truth I suppose, but hey that’s me and my anti Facebook stance, sorry if you love Facebook but you should know by know that I’m team Twitter. So yeah I wasn’t onboard with Jesse as Lex at first but the more I hear the more I’m impressed with this inspired casting choice and I reckon he’ll banish the rest of the doubters away with a stellar performance.

Jeremy Irons as Alfred? Now don’t get me wrong I love Jeremy Irons, he is a Brit like me, but this is where DC annoys the hell out of me. They already have an established Alfred in Gotham currently as Sean Pertwee, why couldn’t they have used him? Now I know that Gotham is set in a different timeline with a young Bruce Wayne but it still doesn’t mean you couldn’t have Sean or why not even Michael Caine? It’s like the talking about having Arrow in this film and not using Stephen Amell, it’s wrong just wrong! Now I know that Jeremy Irons will be great in this role and banish any lingering thoughts I’ll have but all I’ll say is if you were going to go with someone else why not Alfred Molina? I’d love to see Alfred Molina as Alfred, go ahead and try to tell me that wouldn’t be a great fit? You can’t can you, because you know I’m right 😛

Now we’re saving the best till last, Jason Momoa as Aquaman. I like Jason Momoa, I liked him way back when he was playing dreadlocked Ronon Dex in Stargate Atlantis. I’ve even seen him in person where I was 3 feet away from him and let me tell you this people he was HUGE! He’s literally the biggest, most jacked up famous person I have met and I would not wonna annoy him. I first heard rumours of Jason being cast months ago and discussed it with my good work friend Nick he‘ll vouch for me on this one. I like Jason but I was curious to see how he would portray Aquaman. As time went on I heard differing rumours that he would be playing a surfer hippy Hawaiian to a badass sea god/king . I had completely forgot about this until I saw the promotion pictures released and then it hit me in the same way that Gal’s picture did. He was going to be a gritty realistic badass. Yes he may be a part character however I don’t remember any of the Affvill promo pictures trending in a positive manner as much as his did. So I’m gunna be bold and say that he’ll get a bigger role than that was first envisioned and will steal the film. I know he’s getting a spin off but you heard if here first that Jason WILL be the star of Batman v Superman by far.

Now we’ve covered the cast it’s time to move onto the plot. To be honest not much has been confirmed other than it’s the sequel to ‘Man Of Steel’. Christopher Nolan (The Dark Night Trilogy) has been drafted in as an advisory role as executive producer and this excites me. I like Chris’s work and he along with Christian Bale was responsible for the reboot of the Batman franchise, so it seems only fair he gets a chance to be involved in the next step of Batman’s character arc and evolution. I know there is already a Batman v Superman comic book but screenwriter David Goyer has confirmed that it will not follow this storyline, instead it’ll be more of a crossover or injection of Batman into Superman’s universe. Chris Terrio has also been brought into the fold. Chris worked with Batfleck on Argo so if anyone can help bring the best of him in this role it’ll be Chris. As for the title ‘ Batman V Superman’ and why not ‘Batman Vs Superman’? Quite simply it’s been confirmed by Kirk Synder, the films executive producer that by having ‘v’ instead of ‘vs.’ was to keep it away from being a straight versus movie, in a way encompassing the other characters and bigger plot at hand. Other than that very little is actually known about the film, it seems to be keeping it under wraps almost as much as the Marvel Fantastic Four reboot was, so it’s actually hard for me to comment on this. But based on the promotional pictures I’ve seen I envision the film to be a hard hitting, gritty, realistic superhero and villan mash up that’ll be as good as ‘The Avengers’ but geared more towards an older, edgier market.

As for what’s next after ‘Batman v Superman’ various things have been announced such as a solo Aquaman film, a Justice League film and many more. I think that the studios have big things line dup cinematic wise for the DC universe and although I’m team Marvel I for one can’t wait because after all I’m a comic book lover first and team marvel second.