Over on Empireonline.com Batman v. Superman is the subject of scrutiny and some new photographs of the movie are presented along with some choice lines from the people behind the production…

Exclusive new Batman v Superman Pics Debut in Empire

Found within the article is this comment by producer Charles Roven regarding our beloved Bat-Crusader:

“[Batman] is not giving people a chance,  He is more than a vigilante. He has become not only the cop, if you will, he has also become the jury and executioner.”

Over on io9.com this quote produced the following alarmed reaction:

Waitaminute, Is Batman a Murderer in Batman v Superman?

James Whitbrook, the author of that piece, does note “this could just be a turn of phrase from Roven rather than something to be taken literally” while also noting “it’s a rare occasion indeed that you could describe Batman, a character known for a strict code of no killing that has been fostered for years in the comics and in other adaptations, as an “executioner”.”

I’m rather amused by the many and varied reactions people have towards the still a couple of months away release of Batman v Superman.

There is of course a very vocal contingent of people who have already thrown their hands in the air and declared the movie to be a complete disaster…even though like me they’ve seen only a few minutes at most of the film via the various previews/trailers.

To some degree I understand the sentiment.  There are those who feel they’ve sampled enough of director Zach Snyder’s work -and especially the movie this one is a sequel to, Man of Steel– and therefore feel whatever he produces will fall along the same “terrible” (in their opinion) lines.  At least with Mr. Snyder you have a track record to consider and, therefore, it is understandable one feels based on it the next film might fall along the same lines.

However, I also feel those criticizing the not-yet-released movie are also echoing many decades’ worth of Marvel vs. DC talk.  Just as people have their favorite sports teams -and “favorite” rivals whom they cannot stand- there has been a Marvel vs. DC competition going on for nearly as long as I can remember following comic books.

I know people, for example, who don’t care for and wouldn’t buy any comic books featuring DC characters.  The product, they would argue, is inferior to that of Marvel.  Likewise there were those who never could get into the Marvel characters and therefore would only follow DC comic books.

When the Richard Donner directed Superman film came out in 1978, it essentially showed the studios that a superhero film could be made successfully.  Unfortunately, the roadmap wasn’t followed very well and a slew of inferior superhero movies (many of them Marvel heroes, both on TV and in theaters) appeared.  Worse, Richard Donner was fired before completing Superman II and the hybrid Lester Dent co-directed film that made it to theaters, while a success, was nonetheless viewed over time as an inferior product.  The less said about the terrible Superman III and IV the better.

So that first “wave” of Superhero films died, in my opinion, with the 1987 release of Superman IV.  In 1989, a mere two years later, Tim Burton would hit solid gold with the release of the Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson Batman film.  It was a wild, though in my opinion not altogether successful, merging of superhero concepts into film.  We had darkness, we had a “serious” take on the genre, but we also, especially in the film’s second half, had the camp.  In many ways Batman was a darker (natch) version of Richard Donner’s Superman in that it took many disparate elements from the Batman mythos and crammed them all together in one feature film.

The film’s wild success meant sequels, and Tim Burton, unlike Richard Donner, returned for the, IMHO, inferior Batman Returns.  While retaining the same visual delight, the film was alive, again IMHO, only in the parts featuring Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman.  Otherwise, it was a confused dud.

Subsequent Batman films, 1995’s Batman Forever and 1997’s Batman and Robin, were directed by Joel Schumacher and leaned much heavier on camp.  While I felt both films were essentially on par with each other (ie one wasn’t significantly worse or better than the other), by the time Batman and Robin appeared in theaters, movie and comic book fans had enough of this type of Batman.  As with the first wave of superhero films, the second wave ended with a movie audiences -those that actually saw the product- hated.

So we had a period of time with relatively few superhero films.  The genre appeared shot.

And then came what I consider the third major superhero wave.  It started with two successes, the 2000 feature X-Men (which Richard Donner executive produced) and the Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man (2002), along with a misfire in 2003’s Ang Lee directed Hulk. (And I haven’t even gotten into the Blade movies!)

The ball, however, was rolling.

In 2005 appeared the Christopher Nolan directed Batman Begins followed by 2008’s Robert Downey Jr. starring Iron Man.  Each of these films shared more subtle (not quite as campy) humor and were remarkably down to earth, excepting when the superheroic stuff happened, versus some of the films that came beforehand.  They nonetheless delivered spectacle while trying to place their heroes in a “real” earth setting (or as “real” as one can get considering).

While DC movies did relatively well, the Warner Brother’s focus turned almost exclusively toward Batman in films (there would be plenty of TV shows in and around these times, something DC has mined much more successfully, so far, than Marvel) while the Marvel films, cleverly, began building an intricate weave of tidbits pointing to future stories.  Marvel films (I’m not including the Fox produced films here) got audiences excited for the possibility of seeing more Marvel heroes appear, and boy oh boy did they deliver on that promise.

So here we are, deep into this third superhero age, and Marvel films are arguably more successful than DC films while DC TV shows are arguably more successful than the Marvel produced ones.  In each case, however, competition is building.  Marvel is trying mightily (ahem) to build up their TV presence, both on the networks and on Netflix.  Similarly, DC is expanding their TV presence while with the impending release of both Batman v Superman and the upcoming Suicide Squad looking to take on Marvel in the theaters.

Which leads me, after a fashion, all the way back to the criticism of Batman v Superman and specifically the line attributed to the movie’s producer.

I don’t know if BvS will be a good movie but based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m optimistic.  I say that even though I’m not a particularly big fan of director Zach Snyder nor screenwriter David S. Goyer.  David S. Goyer, in particular and to my mind, has been involved in too damn many DC hero films and I’d like to see others producing the screenplays.  As much as I love Richard Donner’s Superman, I suspect if he had directed every DC related film from that point on I’d be clamoring for other directors’ visions as well.

Having said all that, will the Batman of BvS be the character all audiences want to see?

I doubt it.

Batman’s first appearance was in Detective Comics #27 published waaaaay back in 1939.  Superman’s first appearance was in Action Comics #1 published waaaaay back in 1938.

Since then we’ve had literally hundreds if not thousands of individual authors and artists takes on the characters.  Some have been consistent, others have been very different.  In the end, I suspect it is impossible to distill either character into something that makes sense to everyone, given each of them have a 75 plus year history.

Is Batman a murderer in this new BvS movie?  I suspect the line uttered by the movie’s producer didn’t literally mean Batman was “executing” bad guys but rather he was pointing out this Batman is hard as nails and doesn’t tolerate crime/criminals.

And if that’s the case, it is in keeping with one of the myriad versions of Batman which has appeared on screen since shortly after the character’s first comic book appearance in 1939.

Of course, I’m only guessing here, as are all those who are bemoaning what a complete piece of shit this film will undoubtedly be…once its released in two months time and they finally get a chance to, you know, actually see it.

For all I know, they might be right and my optimism might be misplaced.

We’ll find out in March, won’t we?