I didn't like any of the other Superman movies. This may damage my credibility with some geeks, but let's face it. The movies were slow, the plots uninteresting, and the characters foolish. Luthor was an idiot. Trying to blow up the East Coast so you can get cheap ocean side property way inside the mainland? A half-crazed cat would know that's a bad idea. And then Superman – giving his weaknesses to a reporter during an interview. I mean, seriously, come on.
Not to mention the strange, random powers – the plastic letter from his chest, turning back time, changing Lois' memory. None of those were used anywhere else, none of them make sense, none of them were necessary.
That's not even touching on Superman Returns.
Superman's always been better on tv, in my opinion. I watched the old black and white show as a kid, back when Nick-at-Nite was fairly new. I watched Lois & Clark with my family, though I enjoyed it more then than I do now. And of course Smallville, which I still love.
Man of Steel, however, was interesting. Some characters made bad decisions, and there were ways the heroes could have prevented most of the terrible things that happen in the movie (working hard to avoid spoilers here). But the villain had believable motives. The main characters were interesting and somewhat intelligent. Superman does some things that are not his style, but comes across as human. [Irony!]
And now Ben Affleck is being cast as Batman in the sequel to Man of Steel. (Some are calling it Batman vs Superman.) I've said before that I have trouble picturing Ben as Batman, but my reactions have not been anywhere near as strong as others'. My first reaction was that maybe he was the right one for the script...but there's no script yet. My confidence is a little shaken at that, but let's take a look at the facts.
- Zack Snyder returns as director. There are often issues when changing directors between an original and a sequel, and that won't be a problem here. He did well on the first, and there's no reason to expect less from him.
- Christopher Nolan is a producer on the sequel. He directed Momento, Inception, and the Dark Knight trilogy, and wrote on all those movies. He was also a producer on Man of Steel. I think he's earned a little respect, and some trust that he'll help make a decent film.
- David S. Goyer will be the writer. He wrote for the Dark Knight Rises Trilogy and Man of Steel. He's familiar with both Batman and Superman. Even without those writing credentials, he's written on a number of movies, tv series and comic books.
- If you're worried about one man playing two different superheroes: Johnny Storm and Captain America. Both Chris Evans. (Drat. I was going to avoid mentioning Daredevil.)
- If you're worried about that man being Affleck: well, the only thing I can say is maybe you're right and maybe you're wrong. Keep in mind that the Batman in this film is not supposed to be a continuation of the Dark Knight, (from what we've heard), so he doesn't need to be Christian Bale. Also, Ben's been hitting the gym since the role was announced. Maybe with a few more muscles he will seem like Batman.
- It looks like he's been signed on to multiple movies as Batman, which shows that the Snyder and Nolan must have some kind of faith in him. They seem to know how to make a good film, so I'll back out of their way and let them do their thing.
At the end of the day, I'm looking forward to another good Superman movie, which is not something I ever thought I'd say.
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