#yet another reason the 2022 batman film is the best one

[dw-flagler]

genuinely though my main complaints with ward at its worst is that it has no coherent theme, awful worldbuilding, throws aside all its interesting plot points, and bends over backwards for a villain that sucks ass and isn't interesting. that's like half of comic books.

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

The Batman (2022) isn't perfect by any means, but it is still a phenomenal film and one of the best pieces of Bat-media in recent memory.

Firstly, the aesthetic. Seemingly small but an incredibly important part. BTAS was broody, '89 was gothic, Forever was campy, TDK was... bad. And TB I think finds a real sweet spot in between vibes. It's dark, serious, it's got a technological noir, and yet still has vibrancy and color and (the key to my heart) neon.

One scene, you'll be sitting in an abandoned tunnel with shadows and muddy colors, the next you'll be surrounded by police under white lights, and the next you'll be in a night club with LEDs of every color you can think.

The fights. This film has some of the best Batman fights I've ever seen period. Really just action in general. The night club, the hallway, the finale. It's not like TDK where every fight is slow, precise, methodical, and honestly boring. Each fight or chase here is energetic and entertaining. The choreography is excellent, the stakes are legitimately high, and the settings are always unique.

The night club is crowded and overwhelming, with people swinging, shouting, and grabbing at Bats who aren't even apart of the fight. His skills and equipment save his life multiple times, whether it's block a bullet with a precise pipe throw or survive a shotgun blast with his armor. When he finally grabs Penguin you feel as overwhelmed and animalistic as he does.

The precinct escape is tight and tense. From the punch to the jump, every second makes you feel the absolute abominable stress of trying to escape a building like this. Officers pouring out of every room, bullets whizzing by and beaming off his suit. Merely seconds to get the flight suit on before they come pouring out to the roof. We experience the fall with him as his nerves spike, all culminating in a quick second decision that ends with him crashing into the side of the road.

Gotham. The beloved city feels full here. Subways are crowded, streets are packed. The crime feels real. Vandals, gang violence, thieves, assassins, crime families. It's not just militants and killers. We see the systemic issues in place that cause these. We see the feelings and social strains that make people do this. It's like you're taking a peak into another world with context and history you don't know but understand. It feels right.

The characterizations. I'm not a huge fan of the whole "Bruce Wayne is the mask, Batman is the real you" thing inflamed by TDK. And I really don't like "the Waynes were corrupt and did bad things, even for good reasons".

I think there's so much more to say about the two very different, very real sides to Bruce's personality. The one that comes out as billionaire playboy philanthropist, and the one that comes out as a violent and vengeful demon. Both who are willing to suffer for their causes. And I think there's so much more when the Waynes die from a mugging. That the crime is so bad it took the highest. That it could take anyone at any time, even the beloved elite.

However it does something right that most other Bat-media fails at. It makes Batman a symbol of hope. It demonstrates a growth in himself. That he can do more good to inspire the people than to instill fear in them.

Pandaredd made a good video on this, but in Crisis On Two Earths, Bats' opposite is represented as the ultimate nihilist. This means that at his core, Batman is really the ultimate optimist. And that makes sense. You don't put on a suit and fight crime, you don't try to create resources to help people, you don't befriend and reform your own Rogues gallery unless you believe you can change something. That all the work you do, all the suffering you experience will be worth it when you get to know the world healed.

And that's something The Batman understands. Batman started as a symbol of fear. So that every criminal hesitates at an alley. Panics at a shadow. But he became something else. A symbol of optimism. So that people can walk the streets at night. That they can get the help they need. That they can look into the sky with hope.

[danieladkinsblog]

Big Bang, Multiversity, and the futility of Multiversal Classification

It seems like every few years, there’s a new *thing* that finds itself at the forefront of pop culture. And in 2022, the word you couldn’t escape from was “multiverse.” Marvel Studios’ release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness led them to officially christening their next saga as “the Multiverse Saga”. The genre-bending indie film Everything Everywhere All At Once became a critical and commercial hit. Dungeons & Dragons released their new Monsters of the Multiverse bestiary. And Warner Bros. tried to get that sweet, sweet Super Smash Bros. money by making a video game where Bugs Bunny and Jon Snow can fight Steven Universe and the Gremlins.

And in the midst of all of this, DC Comics released yet another fucking event comic about a multiversal Crisis. 

To say that the recently-concluded Dark Crisis event (later rebranded to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths in a move that makes my eyes roll into the back of my head) was underwhelming is generous. Aside from some pretty solid one-shots reimagining various members of the Justice League, the story has been both bloated in content and completely empty of substance. In many ways, it’s a microcosm of the many issues that have been plaguing DC Comics for several years now. And perhaps the best representation of that is this week’s tie-in release: Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1, written by Mark Waid and drawn by Dan Jurgens.

Waid and Jurgens are, of course, longtime creators for DC, with tenures at the company stretching back nearly 40 years, working on some of the defining stories for the biggest superheroes in the world. And while Waid did briefly leave the company due to disagreements with editor/publisher Dan DiDio, he was quick to return following DiDio’s ousting. And I think it’s notable to point out that the series that marked his full return - Batman/Superman: World’s Finest - is a retro-throwback that focuses on the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight in an earlier phase of their career, with Dick Grayson still serving as Robin with the Teen Titans and an overall aesthetic and tone homaging the Silver Age. Don’t get me wrong, the book is excellent, and probably my favorite thing DC is publishing right now. And the fact that it has Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain (aka, the best art team working in mainstream comics right now) doesn’t hurt either. 

It’s essential to keep this in mind when looking at Big Bang. The issue’s story (a word I use very loosely) concerns Barry Allen/The Flash and Wallace West/Kid Flash traveling through the multiverse looking for the Anti-Monitor. As they run (literally) through the multiverse, Barry narrates that he’s been cataloging the various Earths and reflects on their differences. This is accompanied by panels depicting events occurring on each Earth and helpful caption boxes establishing each Earth we see. And that’s the real reason this comic exists. This isn’t a story. It’s a checklist. 

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a nifty checklist. But that’s all it is. Waid even admitted in an interview with Gamesradar that this was part of an overall edict at DC to be more organized with the multiverse, eschewing the more laissez-faire approach of recent years. 

In looking at this, I can’t help but compare it to the last time there was an alternate Earth checklist tie-in to a big multiversal story: The Multiversity Guidebook by Grant Morrison, with art by a murderer's row of collaborators. Like Big Bang, it uses a frame story as an excuse to chart the then-nascent 52 Earths of the DC Multiverse, which had been reintroduced thanks to 52, touched on briefly in Countdown and Final Crisis, and been shaken up once more in the wake of the New 52 reboot. However, rather than being a simple tour through different realities, it uses its descriptor of “Guidebook” to actually delve into the multiverse on a level that hadn’t been explored before, including a map outlining the 52 worlds, short descriptions of each world, some worlds left blank, and small glimpses into not just the worlds themselves, but the people and stories that populate them. It’s crucial to note the ways that Morrison et al are sure to leave lots of openings for other creators to fill in the sandbox and create new worlds, or expand the stories of characters Morrison only briefly outlines. But the most significant difference between Morrison’s approach vs Waid’s? 

One word: innovation. 

Knowing the multiverse was going to be limited to a finite number of Earths, Morrison was keen to not simply recreate worlds from DC’s past, but make sure that each Earth had a distinct vibe and potential for making new things. And even worlds that paid homage to those of the past (Earth 4, Earth 5, Earth 10) were given overhauls to better carve out their place as unique settings in this burgeoning cosmology. Morrison even left several worlds listed as “undiscovered” so that future creators could add their own takes to the multiverse. (In the middle of writing this, I received my copy of the Absolute Multiversity, which also includes even more notes that Grant had for the Guidebook and they absolutely deserve a more in-depth piece at some point. Suffice it to say, it makes the way certain later creators approached this material even more disappointing.)

Waid’s approach, meanwhile, doesn’t really create anything new. Those undiscovered worlds? Filled in with a bunch of Elseworld miniseries that DC released in the past few years. The Earths that go beyond the 52 are the similarly populated with recent additions to DC’s ever-growing catalogue of intellectual property. And if they’re not for recent releases, then they’re references to old Silver Age comics taking their designations from decade-old guidebooks. 

There are no attempts to innovate or elevate or do anything interesting at all, despite the fact that an infinite multiverse should be a gateway to endless possibilities. It’s just reduced to a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper so that nerds - represented on-page by the pre-eminent nerd of the DCU himself, Barry Allen - can check them off on a spreadsheet or a wiki page.

[aion-rsa]

Does Ben Affleck’s Batman Have the Best Movie Batcycle?

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We finally got our first look at Ben Affleck’s Batman in The Flash movie, thanks to photos taken the film’s Glasgow, Scotland set, where the Dark Knight could be seen zooming through George Square and the surrounding streets on a brand new set of wheels. The scene in question, which actually featured stunt double Rick English in the new Batsuit and not Affleck, seemed to be a daytime chase through the streets of Gotham City, with a humvee shooting back at Batfleck’s heavily armored ride.

English, who was also a stunt double for Robert Pattinson in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, can be seen riding the new Batcycle (the official name of the vehicle hasn’t been announced yet) in the set photo below:

New close-up shot of Ben Affleck's #Batman stunt double riding the Batcycle on the set of #TheFlash pic.twitter.com/t5f4HosX7G

— Big Screen Leaks (@bigscreenleaks) July 26, 2021

In short, the new Batcycle is an absolute stunner, a bit more tank-like than past live-action versions of Batbikes, as seems to be the overall DCEU aesthetic since the Zack Snyder days, but still sleek and modern. It also boasts forward shields that lift up when Batman is being shot at (as another series of set photos show) and what look like machine gun cannons on either side — presumably armed with non-lethal rounds…

Despite the bulkier design, the bike seems built for speed and maneuverability, not just battle, as it cuts tight corners through the streets of Gotham/Glasgow. Why the Caped Crusader has chosen his Batcycle over his much more heavily equipped Batmobile, a staple of Affleck’s tenure, is a mystery. Perhaps the Batcycle is just the faster pursuit vehicle…or since The Flash is a multiverse-spanning adventure, maybe he just doesn’t have access to his trademark car at the moment because he’s in the Burtonverse’s version of Gotham (I’m just speculating here).

Interestingly enough, Warner Bros. has been trying to introduce a new Batcycle (likely for toy reasons) since Justice League. In an interview with Film Sketchr, concept artist Ed Natividad revealed that he’d designed a new Batcycle for Affleck’s Batman to use in the superhero team-up movie but Snyder chose the massive Knightcrawler in its place.

��The Batcycle was proposed as a new form of transport for Batman,” Natividad said. “However it was superseded in favor of the Knightcrawler. Zack Snyder felt the cycle did not reflect the ‘team’ dynamic and needed something that would carry at least three of the members.”

It sounds like WB finally has its new Batcycle, but it’s only the latest in a long series of bikes introduced in Batman movies. In fact, Batfleck’s chopper isn’t even the only Batcycle being introduced in an upcoming DC movie.

The Batman: Robert Pattinson's Stunt Double Rides the Bat Bike in New Photo pic.twitter.com/kM9diNfJK2

— AG MEDIA NEWS (@AGMEDIANEWS) October 15, 2020

First spotted while The Batman was filming last year, the more pared down Batcycle ridden by Pattinson very much matches the aesthetic Reeves is going for with his take on the Bat mythos. Unlike Affleck or Bale, Pattinson doesn’t seem to own any vehicles or equipment he didn’t modify or design in-house, all while looking super unhappy. His suit looks very DIY, with its shoulder pads and heavily stiched and dented cowl, as does his minimalist take on a Batbike — a simple number with bat ears over the headlight.

Pattison’s Dark Knight seems like a bit of a grease monkey who’s less concerned looks than performance and efficiency. Even the movie’s Batmobile looks like a cool muscle car Battinson bought and modified with an insane engine he found on the black market and a matte paint job. The custom body work also makes the car look more Bat-like.

He clearly took the same approach with the bike, and it’s nice to see a Batman who prefers “simpler” and more “sensible” vehicles over the massive tanks driven by Affleck and Bale before him. Pattinson’s rides are much closer to reality than what’s usually on tap in a Batman movie. And unlike the things driven by most of his predecessors, his bike doesn’t seem to have any guns on it.

Meanwhile, the Batpod screams “billionare superhero who owns his own R&D division.” Wayne Enterprises has military contracts to develop tech the U.S. Department of Defense never adopted on the battlefield, and Bale’s Batman gets to reap all the rewards.

Despite being part of a much larger whole, having been jettisoned from the totaled Tumbler before it self-destructed in The Dark Knight, the Batpod has its own identity. It’s kind of ugly and doesn’t look very practical, but it becomes Batman’s main mode of transportation for much of the back half of the trilogy until Lucius Fox gifts him the Bat in The Dark Knight Rises. It also has the best maneuverability of all the bikes on this list due to the sideways rotating wheels that allows it to turn tight corners without skidding off the road. Lateral movement comes in very handy when in a high-speed chase, and it seems only Christopher Nolan figured that out.

The Batpod’s biggest crime is looking kind of like those tumbling RC cars you played with when you were a kid. This is all by design, of course, since these movies are all made so WB can sell toys and bedroom sets to children. At least this one has cannons Batman (and later Catwoman) can use to remove obstacles from his path. And if you’re someone walking through that mall Batman zooms through while chasing the Joker, you would be intimidated. But if your favorite kind of bike is the bulky kind, you’re better off with the Batfleck cycle.

Finally, we come to the Batblade, the bike George Clooney just happened to have sitting in his Batcave in case of an icy situation. Apparently designed to speed through Gotham City streets that are frozen solid, it’s best not to try to decipher the logic behind wheels with such excellent traction. This is Batman & Robin, and we don’t do logic there.

Driven by Alicia Silverstone’s underrated Batgirl, the Batblade pretty much looks like a normal bike except for the Bat symbol and LED lighting that adorn the front. Its big feature is that it is equipped with “Ice Armor,” so even Mr. Freeze’s ice beams can’t slow it down. Which is pretty cool. And the bike totally fits within Joel Schumacher’s vision of a neon-drenched Gotham.

It’s hard to believe that almost 25 years after the release of Batman & Robin, a movie that at the time seemed to be the final nail in the Dark Knight’s coffin, we’re still talking about big-screen Batmen and their cool toys. As far as the latter goes, the newest addition to the Caped Crusader’s toybox delivers plenty of style.

I can’t wait to see the new Batcycle in action when The Flash opens in theaters on Nov. 4, 2022.

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[that-shamrock-vibe]

Depp v Heard: Warner Bros. Damage Control

As the Coronavirus Pandemic ultimately ends the 2020 movie season, it seems other forces are set to threaten the 2021 and even 2022 release schedule, but rather than a global life-threatening pandemic, this comes from the ongoing, highly-publisized domestic legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

This post will be predicting the state of play for the future careers of the two actors as well as the typhoon of trouble Warner Bros. find themselves in as they try to weather the storm they find themselves caught in as two of their biggest movie franchises find themselves in flux.

No More Grindelwald:

So yes, the latest headline in this ever-growing Depp v Heard battle is that Johnny Depp has been fired from the Fantastic Beasts movies in the wake of the actor’s libel case loss days ago.

Now clearly this is the direct action of Warner Bros. as all the headlines tend to include the words “fired” or “axed” rather than Depp himself stepping down, which is a very definitive difference as both Depp and Heard wanted to delay these court cases so they could get back to their respective roles which they have admitted they both enjoy.

Now to be honest, Johnny Depp in the role of Gellart Grindelwald has been tainted since the reveal of his casting in the first Fantastic Beasts movie. This was of course tainted by the fact that this legal battle was already going on but Depp was effectively vilified as the culprit in all this.

However, despite the very public controversy around the casting to the degree of a mass boycott petition for The Crimes of Grindelwald, for some fans like myself we enjoyed him in the role. It may not have been him back on the form of his glory days but considering his other work of late, his role in the Wizarding World franchise and his small yet crucial role in Murder on the Orient Express remind fans of when he was at the top of his game with the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Now that’s not to say Grindelwald is gone in the movies going forward. I mean yes these prequels are supposed to be about the history between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but that doesn’t mean Grindelwald has to always be portrayed by Johnny Depp. He can change his face magically as he did in the first movie with Polyjuice Potion to look like Colin Farrell, a role by the way many fans believed he should have continued with, so why couldn’t he change his face again?

In fact it has been confirmed that Grindelwald will be recast as well as also being confirmed that Fantastic Beasts 3 has now been delayed due to this news from December 2021 to Summer 2022. I don’t understand how this franchise is still standing with all of this controversy...even without COVID the franchise is a hea

What Goes Around Comes Around:

Now I am not for one second siding with either Johnny Depp or Amber Heard in this battle, in fact I believe they are both at fault and the best way to resolve this with minimal damage prior to this libel case was for the two of them to both accept blame, get a divorce and move on from each other. However, Depp chose to sue a newspaper for liability and now we are where we are.

Why I am targeting this post at Warner Bros. specifically is because, in my opinion, as they publicly fired Depp from Fantastic Beasts, then there should also be some repercussions for Heard with Aquaman 2 unless the studio wants to be seen as siding with Heard in this ongoing case.

That being said, like Depp as Grindelwald I really enjoy Heard as Mera. That’s not me saying I like Heard, agree with Heard or anything like that. That is me doing what I always do which is not really paying attention to the artist’s personal life and simply focusing on the job they are hired to do.

The good thing about the Heard side of this argument is that Warner Bros. DC are already taking steps to potentially phase Mera out in the DCEU by introducing a new female character to Aquaman 2, that many fans believe will be Dolphin, as a potential new love interest for Jason Mamoa’s Aquaman. So unlike Depp’s Grindelwald who is a major pivotal part of the Fantastic Beasts movies, Mera, though essential to the Aquaman story for any DC fan, isn’t pivotal to the movies unfortunately.

DCEU Future:

Another linking factor that forms the unholy trinity creating the shitstorm for Warner Bros. is what to do with Ezra Miller in both Fantastic Beasts and at DC.

While maybe not as damaging to the franchises as the Depp v Heard case, or the J.K. Rowling controversy for the Wizarding World franchise, Miller has proven to be a problem child for Warner Bros. firstly as The Flash and then as Credence Barebone.

Now yes the final straw for many DC fans may have been the photographic/video evidence showing the actor throttling a civilian on a night out, but Miller has always been a wild card for any franchise given his somewhat unique artistic styling and wanting to put as much of himself into a role as possible.

Let’s face it, when we first saw him in Justice League as The Flash. We didn’t see Barry Allen, we saw Ezra Miller as The Flash. Now maybe the upcoming Snyder Cut will prove why Miller was originally cast in the role but I am putting my foot down onto my dislike of the portrayal by saying that Joss Whedon wanted Ezra Miller to fall onto Gal Gadot’s cleavage, Gal Gadot refused and they had to bring in a body double but Ezra Miller was still okay with it.

Am I saying that if DC fires Amber Heard they need to also fire Ezra Miller? No because not only has Ezra Miller been in the promotion of both the Snyder Cut and the upcoming Flashpoint movie, I feel it sets too negative a precedent of negative press or controversy equals being cut no matter how pivotal to the movie or show you are.

The Bright Side:

I do want to try and finish this on a lighter note because all there seems to be is doom and gloom at the moment. Not only has this happened to Depp and may potentially happen to Heard, but also it has been rumoured that Wonder Woman 1984 is set to once again be pushed back from its dual Christmas Day cinematic/PVOD release date to June 2021.

However, while I feel if Heard was to be cut from Aquaman 2, the movie would also be pushed back which would benefit both it and Black Panther 2 which are both currently slated for the same year and Black Panther 2 strongly hinted at introducing Namor who is effectively Marvel’s Aquaman, we do still have The Batman in our sights and that movie is at least being teed up wonderfully.

It does pose some disappointment in the fact that Colin Farrell probably won’t return to the role of Grindelwald due to his role as The Penguin in The Batman, but there’s a reason Batman remains DC’s strongest property due to the fact in the entirety of DC’s multimedia history it is always Batman-related properties that thrive in movies, television and games.

I mean, in regards to Colin Farrell returning to the role, never say never to Warner Bros. wanting to I guess appease fans by bringing back one of the few good aspects of this Fantastic Beasts movies considering when the characters went from Percival Graves to Gellert Grindelwald fans were screaming for a reversal. Especially as both The Batman and Fantastic Beasts 3 are being filmed in Liverpool.

Overall, as has been said before, I feel the Depp/Heard case is very sensitive and tricky to navigate but how it’s affecting the two actors’ respective movies is the part where I feel we fans can step in. Not obviously change things but at least have our say.

So what do you guys think? What do you think should happen with the Fantastic Beasts movies going forward, not just with this recent development axing Johnny Depp but also with the controversy around Ezra Miller and J.K. Rowling...how much more heat can this franchise withstand?

Similarly should Amber Heard be dropped from Aquaman 2? Would Warner Bros. turning a blind eye show favouritism on her part?

Post your comments and check out more entertainment reports as well as other posts.

[monkey-network]

An Unfortunate Critique of Spiderverse - Part 1 (of 3)

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse was a fun award-winning 2018 animated film with a basically unanimously positive fandom, regarded generally as both a masterpiece Spider-Man film and a remarkable animated film overall. And while I do not disagree with that, it definitely earned its spoils, it pains me a bit to bring up the reason(s) why I can’t call it the masterpiece that many claim. I like this film, but I don’t love it as much as others and I wanted to express why. And I will see to be critical, not cynical. Fair enough? Spoilers ahead for this... 2018 film that you should’ve seen already.

Part 1 ~ The Spiderverse Squad

Now believe me when I say that I enjoyed this trio. Spider-Ham wasn’t as funny as I figured, but he still stood out like Peni and Spider-Noir in a respectable way. I especially loved the fandom’s reaction to them with fanart and jokes galore. But on a look back, it dawned on me that while their presence was welcome, our writers blew the load too soon and wasted these characters. Roll with me, will ya?

If you come to know me, you’ll figure that characters are the element I find the most crucial of your story; you mentally can’t just throw in random heroes into the story unless they’re significant to the protag, story, or world as a whole. It’ll feel weird, like you have no coordination. And yeah, the B team adds to Spider-verse’s worldbuilding mechanic that is the multiple universes; it thematically makes sense that more than one Spidermun can exist. And additionally kicks ass, no objections here. The problem I argue comes when while they add to the world building, it honestly added little to our boy Miles’ story, and it’s that disconnect that makes the characters feel more unnecessary than before. This doesn’t help when things could’ve worked far better if it only involved Gwen and Beter. To explain this better, I wanna bring up a couple films that are similar to Spider-verse yet knew how to use their secondary characters, the first one being...

Kung Fu Panda, baby!

The furious five sans Tigress is about the same as Spider-verse’s B-Team where Po really doesn’t rely on them to both unleash his inner strength and face the final boss in the end. They’re his muse for enjoying martial arts. Po interacts with them a little more than Miles does with the others, but we still have that disconnect between the upcoming novice and the experienced. That disconnect however is counter-balanced by their significance in the story, not only in certifying the stakes that come with Tai Lung, but being the necessary crew to another important character: Tigress.

Tigress is not only a character that Po looks up to, she’s a character with something to prove herself. She puts down Po because she’s envious of the special treatment he’s involuntarily receiving and mirrors the villain Tai Lung before his descent to villainy. The movie would’ve probably been fine if the Furious Five didn’t exist and it was just Shifu and Po training together, but having the five, and Tigress especially, in the story adds a great triangle of interaction between Po and Shifu, Shifu and Tigress, and Tigress and Po. Which makes it all the more poignant when she runs away to face Tai Lung herself, stern in proving herself to both Shifu and Po. We know that she wouldn’t win against him, but that loss is added two-fold when the other four were there to support her. The others aren’t as cynical towards Po, but it’s understandable that they sided with Tigress, thinking their experience together will help them succeed. It makes sense that the four willingly fight with Tigress, and it’s reasonably daunting when Tai Lung is able to tower all of them by himself. Compare this to Spiderverse where we kinda don’t get see our heroes and villains, excluding Miles, stack up that well until the 3rd act; it’s hard to wonder if who’s evenly matched and who can overpower whom. It doesn’t help that Peter, Gwen, and Miles are all isolated from the other three during the final fight in the warp terminal. 

It’s in the end where Po proves himself the Dragon Warrior, he not only earned that respect from the five but feels more complete knowing he and his idols look up to each other in a way. We really don’t get that interpersonal synergy with Miles and the B team beyond the moment of them together post Aaron’s death and their initial meeting, the best we get is that Miles knows he isn’t the only Spider-man but even that doesn’t feel as personal as his relationships with Gwen and Peter. Plus while Gwen and Peter are important characters, we don’t see much of a personal connection between the five Spidermun, it mostly comes off as an obligation that they’re together. Now I won’t lie, this is a pretty unfair comparison. The B-team came together on the fly, and it’s not like Miles, Gwen, and Peter knew who they were in the first place. But remember when I said a couple of films in the beginning? This leads to an ironic situation, coming from one of my other favorite movies about being special...

Been a while since I talked ‘bout this beauty

I think it’s safe to say Spiderverse and The Lego Movie have a kindred story beat where our hero meet some tagalongs that have their own thing but nonetheless contribute as supporting characters. But unlike Spiderverse, the Lego Movie showed something I never figured about characters until I saw it once again last year. The other characters have their stake in the plot, but they are also relative features of our main character Emmett. Unikitty resembles his boundless optimism, Benny his excitability, Batman his emotional conviction, and so on. It’s a stretch, but it is possible to note supporting/secondary characters as facets of who our main character is, what they lack or what’s the most prominent idea of them. In Steven Universe, the crystal gems are separate elements of who Steven is at his best or wants to be. Beastars has Legosi, Louis, and Haru have differing aspects of growing up that blend well when united. It’s essentially the braincells meme, the parts make up the whole. Gwen and Peter fill those parts exponentially for Miles, with Peter’s experience and Gwen’s finesse in her skill, to show him the work that goes in being a hero. Same goes for Aaron and Jefferson on a more personal level, being the ones to give Miles the necessary conviction to become the hero. All I gotta ask is: Can ya say the same for Peni, Noir, or Porker?

Again, not that they’re bad characters, but they mostly felt detached from the story in multiple angles

Now at this point you’ll probably say, “Monkey, we get it, where are you going with this?” Well, I can’t help but feel the B-team, while alright on their own, unfortunately feel like cameos that overstayed their welcome. Beyond the initial meetup, the interactions we get with them are second to none, there is no significant dynamic between the B-team and the two spidermun that are more significant to the story. I feel a little less charitable for media wasting potential and it doesn’t help that writing them out until the final fight is very easy. “Peni and Sp//dr were responsible for repairing the flash drive?” Well, I can say a few hints in the movie can point to Aunt May, Peter, and/or Gwen doing it instead. It’s hard to come back to this film compared to the others I’ve exampled when the back of my mind is going “Why are ya’ll here?” I say it would’ve been surprisingly cathartic if the B-team came near the end where they helped out and met up with the trio before bouncing back to their dimensions. As such, we could put more time in for Miles and Gwen together at Aunt May’s house the same way Peter and Miles got earlier before the plot generally runs the same, we have less voices but we build on those character dynamics for more than that bus ride they share. Add to that character theme of Miles, Gwen, and Peter B. being the different generations of Spider-man or something. Overall, I love them, and they feel wasted in this film.

I just can’t see Spiderverse where the focus of these three subsides the interest for the other three

I wanted to discuss this particularly because as much I can say that much detail in the film fundamentally works, which I will discuss later in this analysis, it stands to say that not every ambition in this undoubtedly ambitious movie was added well. It’s honestly how i feel with randomness humor, it’s fun at first but you gotta do more than enough to make it timeless while keeping the surprise of it intact. Or else you just wish they just replaced that joke with something more constructed. Said before, they don’t or weren’t able to utilize these characters beyond their cameo level moments, and it is not a good thing that they’re potentially saved for the sequel because I hate the idea of depending on a sequel to fix the 1st movie’s issues. I gotta wait to 2022 for a potentially better management of characters and that bothers me. I appreciate what I got, but I unfortunately can’t say that appreciation equates to a free pass of what’s detrimental to my love for this film. Now, I tagged this as part one for a reason, because this is only a symptom, a fun size piece to a bigger story problem I have.

Next time. Otherwise, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy your day.

[britesparc]

Building a Better Batman

Okay, that’s a bit mean; I don’t  have a problem with Ben Affleck as Batman. In fact, I like him; he’s good in the role. I’ve not seen Justice League yet, but Affleck’s a good actor, he carries the gravitas needed of an older Batman, and he looks good in the suit. I’m happy with him in the role, although I do increasingly think that making Batman a good decade-plus older than the rest of the Justice League was a bit of a misstep.

Now, if rumours are to be believed, he’s had enough, and is looking for a graceful and elegant way to abandon the Batcave. Fair enough. I can imagine he’s sick of shouldering the brickbats (no pun intended) levelled at the DCEU, even if I genuinely don’t believe he’s what the problem is with that universe. There’s no reason to suspect that Matt Reeves’ The Batman will be any better with a different face in the cowl, or that the battle against Darkseid will be any more successful with different hands on the wheel of the Batmobile.

But if Affleck wants to go, what’s the best way? Why, I’m glad you asked. Pull up a chair.

First of all, Chris McKay needs to cast Dick Grayson. And when I say cast, I mean “cast really, really bloody well”. That needs to be first-class top-drawer nailed-on perfect casting. In my opinion the biggest success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t their slow-build from individual films up towards the Avengers movies, or the strong individual grip on the universal tiller provided by Kevin Fiege; rather, it’s the strength of their casting. Downey, Evans, Hemsworth; the Holy Trinity of the MCU is absolutely note-perfect, totally embodying their characters in a way not really seen outside of Christopher Reeve as Superman and Hugh Jackman as Logan. We need a Dick Grayson like that in Nightwing. He needs to be a physical dynamo, capable of doing elaborate and energetic stuntwork; he needs to be a good actor, naturally; and he needs to be pretty darn attractive to boot. But above he has to have charisma by the bucketload; the sort of charm and personality that makes you want to follow this guy, makes you fall in love with him and root for him and just want to be hanging out with him, even if he’s sometimes a massive bell-end.

Why? Well, because he’s going to be Batman.

How else do you get rid of the older actor playing Batman and replace him? The only other “elegant” way I can think of is simply that Affleck steps down and another actor of comparable age and status replaces him, and no one mentions it. Edward Furlong becoming Mark Ruffalo; Katie Holmes becoming Maggie Gyllenhaal. But that’s not really ideal, and feels like an admission of defeat from both Affleck and the producers. Far better to make the character transition happen in-story too; and the only really satisfying way to do that is for Dick Grayson to take over. I mean, it’s happened in the comics, more than once.

So, what do we do? Give Affleck The Batman to try to get one really good, unalloyed critical success out of his stint in the cowl; and make sure McKay’s Nightwing movie is as terrific as possible, with a great young star in the title role. And then, perhaps in a Justice League sequel, perhaps in a Bat-universe crossover, Affleck’s Batman dies heroically and his protégé Nightwing takes up the mantle. We then end up with a younger Batman, perhaps more comparable in age to Gal Gadot and Henry Cavill; a (frankly) cheaper actor who might be more willing to sign his life away on a ten-year multi-film contract, and unencumbered by “baggage”. Affleck can depart, knowing he did his best in less-than-ideal circumstances, hopefully with at least one great film and one heroic death scene behind him.

Win-win, right? And my timeline for all this would be:

2019: The Batman and Nightwing solo movies

2020: Batman R.I.P crossover event, featuring Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc

2021/2022: first solo Batman film featuring the Nightwing actor in the title role

I guess the only fly in the ointment is how many years constitutes Affleck’s “elegant” exit. Maybe he means “as quick as possible without being embarrassing”, in which case – unless The Batman ends with Batman’s death, which doesn’t really give us a lot of time to get to know the new Nightwing before he becomes the new Batman – I got nothing. Maybe Bruce walks out of Justice League looking like Ben Affleck, and walks into The Batman looking like Jon Hamm or Gerard Butler or Jason Isaacs or something.

And now I’m thinking how good Isaacs would be as Batman. How did we get here?!