In recent years comic movies have come back big. This year alone the theaters are showing, Thor, X-Men, Green Lantern, Batman, Captain America, and Aquaman(Just kidding on that one). One thing that all of these movies will share in common is a gritty down to earth realism. Lots of mud, lots of mud, lots of shaky camera shots. This is not the era of the sparkling clean lines and bloodless battles.
However this is besides the point lets focus in on who is getting a movie this year and who is not. Batman will be getting a brand new movie while his counterpart and probably most identifiable super hero Superman is not. Though I hear one is in the works and possibly legal litigation over who owns the right to the Man of Steel might be holding it up but over all Superman is not the most popular of heros.
Sure he's super strong, can fly, and gets the girl but his small town folksy background and flimsy “secret identity” as a journalist tend to strip him of his potential level of awesomeness. Though the Smallville series has done a good job at telling the story of Superman this has not been translated to the screen. In the last movie we got a super squeaky clean Superman returning from his fortress of solitude right back into the 1980s movies he left from. Hey, I loved the 1980s superman films they were great, but I was 5 years old then and while I have fond memories the movies have not aged well. Partially is the different nature of comics then and now. Superman of the 1980s was a nostalgic look back at the golden age of comics that spawn Superman. That nostalgia played well as the economy boomed and parents took their kids to see a film that reminded them of their childhood. Thirty years later the economy, society, and nostalgia seem tarnished and the shining mirror of Superman only creates a more jarring separation between the world of Metropolis and real life. To most Superman is still a campy boyscout in tights flying through the air. (General Public perception the comics have moved on some and DC promises a modern re-release)
Batman however has changed gone is the Adam west campy puns and technicolor adventures. Gone to are the Batman movies of the late 80s which slowly evolved back to the campy style of of the original television series.(I shudder at the thought of Batman & Robin) The reboot of Batman created a darker grittier hero based more in the real world. Martial arts training with Himalayan ninjas, modern body armor, a tank for the bat-mobile were all part of a very popular revamp. Batman's villains also resembled modern villains of the real world. Shadow terrorist societies, maniacal psychiatrist using drugs to simulate “powers” all added to the popular revamp. The sequel also gave a fantastic movie experience by once again playing on our fears and using crime and terrorism as a plot for our Batman to resolve. Compared with the revamp of Superman where Lex Luthor makes a “Kryptonite Island” in the middle of the Atlantic, Batman was very connected to the real world. Tying into the popularity of Detective Shows and Crime Scene Investigation shows Batman became a pseudo-realistic hero movie.
So Superman becomes an idealistic nostalgic hero show while Batman becomes a hero fighting the same threats we see today. Thus Superman becomes out of touch while Batman stays close to modern concerns and fears. Thus the bad-boy wins out over the boyscout. So which will end up with more movies in the end the adaptable Batman will continue to dominate the Box office while Superman becomes his own Hollywood Kryptonite.
Image from here
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