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| source// Warner Bros. |
You’ve probably had a chance to soak in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for yourself by now, a landmark film in many ways that’s pretty much custom-built to divide, to frustrate at least as many as it entertains. A controversial and arguably disappointing movie is one thing, but as Warner Bros. are busy building the beginnings of an inter-connected DC Extended Universe, it’s safe to say that audience confidence in the upcoming two-part Justice League saga has taken a significant hit.
A movie as huge as DC’s version of The Avengers is always going to be a tricky feat to pull off, and Batman v Superman pretty much illustrates what could go wrong and why: it’s certainly going to damage the hype going into Justice League and keep a huge chunk of the fan-base skeptical until they can see it for themselves.
Maybe Warner Bros. nail it, or maybe it’s an abject disaster, but regardless of the final outcome, here are 10 reasons we’re worried for Justice League…
10. Zack Snyder & Chris Terrio
Though Zack Snyder was always going to be a controversial choice for helming the DCEU’s biggest movies, fans were a little more optimistic when it was announced that Oscar-winning Argo writer Chris Terrio would be co-writing Batman v Superman.
As it turned out, though, Terrio didn’t seem to bring much to the table, serving up a messily plotted misfire where Batman randomly kills people and numerous key characters have wildly implausible motivations. As Snyder is a director highly beholden to his material, the end result was a visually impressive but ultimately rather hollow experience.
Considering that Snyder is directing Justice League and Terrio takes on sole scripting duties for the movie, there’s a lot to be worried about. Many angry fans are already calling for Snyder to be fired from the DCEU and replaced by Ben Affleck, but considering that Terrio turned in his scripts a while ago, the potential damage has already been done.
While it’s possible that Terrio could come up with a superior product without David S. Goyer breathing down his neck this time, it’s hard to be particularly optimistic about this.
9. Superman’s Resurrection Will Waste Precious Screen Time
Batman v Superman of course concluded with Superman’s “death” at the hands of Doomsday, while the final shot indicates the Man of Steel’s impending resurrection. The death was unconvincing enough in a single movie, but it’s also going to seep into Justice League as there will be the inevitable fallout where Superman lives again and gets back into the suit.
Don’t be surprised if this wastes a good chunk of the film’s first act despite being an almost hilariously redundant plot point, because even the most casual fans know that Superman isn’t really dead. The best thing Terrio and Snyder could do is have Superman already be resurrected as the film begins, but of course, it’s probably going to dominate an opening reel that desperately needs to bring the “lesser” Justice League figures into the fold in a timely manner.
8. The Growing Roster Of Supporting Characters
The DCEU to date has had a “complicated” relationship with its roster of supporting characters. Man of Steel for one had a surprisingly firm handle on its brilliant ensemble cast, but Batman v Superman? Not so much.
Considering that Justice League will almost certainly feature Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman as the top-line superheroes while Cyborg, The Flash and Aquaman take supporting roles, Snyder and Terrio are going to have a huge number of bodies to cram into a 2-3 hour movie.
That’s without even considering the baggage that these new heroes will bring with them, namely Aquaman’s wife Mera (already confirmed to be played by Amber Heard), Cyborg’s father Silas Stone (played briefly by the brilliant Joe Morton in Batman v Superman) and surely countless others.
Assuming that most of the supporting players from Batman v Superman (namely the Daily Planet staff, Martha Kent, Alfred and so on) are also in Justice League, this has the potential to be one massively overstuffed mess of a movie. If they’re struggling at the current level, the problem will likely only be exacerbated when adding more cooks to the broth. Hell, even Marvel Studios struggled to make this balance work in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so what hope does the DCEU really have?
7. Warner Bros Clearly Has No Confidence In The DCEU
It’s no secret that, while Warner Bros. are ambitiously pressing on with the DCEU, they are absolutely aware of the litany of issues plaguing the venture, and are clearly concerned about hitting the markers they need to in order to replicate the MCU’s level of success.
It was reported in the months before Batman v Superman’s release that the studio were worried about how the movie would be received, and now that the end-product is out in the wild, it’s pretty clear why. This likely goes a way to explain why Warner Bros. insisted upon spoiling so many of the movie’s big beats in marketing, as they were just desperate to get butts in seats (a strategy that appears to have mostly paid off).
Aside from the obvious question (why greenlight a messy script they had no confidence in?), it’s just not very re-assuring if even the studio bankrolling the movie isn’t massively optimistic about it. Such is the problem with wanting to play catch-up with Marvel no matter what: quality is inevitably going to take a backseat to pretty but hollow, marketable images.
6. Introducing Aquaman, The Flash & Cyborg
This one’s simple: if the two DCEU movies to date have featured highly questionable, controversial depictions of the two headlining heroes (Superman causing thousands of deaths and then getting awkwardly roped into a fight with Batman, Batman killing dozens of criminals), what hope can there possibly be for more tricky, niche heroes like Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg?
Though on one hand viewers are going to treat this trio less-preciously than Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, there’s also massive potential for Aquaman and Cyborg to come off as horrendously goofy, and The Flash’s possible time travel antics to generate a glut of potential plot holes.
Expect the number of character-related issues fans already have to be multiplied several times over when there’s six superheroes in the mix.
5. Batman V Superman Was A Step Back From Man Of Steel
As much as we hate to admit it, audiences and critics seem to agree on the whole that Batman v Superman was a major step back from Man of Steel in terms of nuance and technical skill, especially as it pertains to the screenplay, direction and editing. At this rate, Justice League is likely to simply be more and more of the same bloat, promising a bigger scale and flashier visuals perhaps, but only in the pursuit of an Avengers-sized box office at all costs.
If Snyder and Terrio struggle with something as epic and ambitious as Batman v Superman, then Justice League could very well be a flaming trainwreck and a far, far cry from Man of Steel, which could easily see its reputation soar over the next few years as it ends up compared to its inferior run of successors.
4. Green Lantern’s Absence
Though Justice League already has six superheroes to deal with, it says a lot that Green Lantern was the only member of the group not to appear in Batman v Superman.
It’s also been confirmed by producers that Justice League Part One won’t feature an appearance from the character, so while we want to believe that this is merely to pave a way for his epic, game-changing arrival at a pivotal moment, it’s more likely a stalling tactic to give all involved a few extra years to get the character right…and create some much-needed distance from Ryan Reynolds’ reviled 2011 Green Lantern movie.
Maybe we’ll be wrong and the new Lantern will get a stellar introduction in Part Two ahead of 2020’s Green Lantern Corps movie, but with what we’re seeing right now, it’s tough to be optimistic.
3. If Snyder Ruins Darkseid, We Riot
Batman v Superman pretty emphatically states that Darkseid will be the villain for Justice League…which is both exciting and terrifying. Consider that Batman v Superman didn’t exactly do a terrific job with a baddie as simple as Doomsday: the iconic supervillain was transformed into a generic CGI cave troll for an unremarkable third-act battle where he was possibly wiped out for good.
Darkseid is a far more complicated villain to adapt to the screen well, and though he arguably also presents Snyder and Terrio with more possibilities moving forward, there’s not much reason to believe they’ll get him right when Doomsday was so thoroughly underwhelming.
Yes, Man of Steel did a fantastic job with General Zod, but that was the work of David S. Goyer, who isn’t helping write Justice League.
2. It’s Trying To Do Too Much Too Soon
Long before Batman v Superman hit screens, many fans felt that Warner Bros. were trying to rush their DCEU in an attempt to play catch-up with the MCU.
Of course, we all remember that Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor had standalone movies before The Avengers truly took things to the next level, whereas the DCEU had a solid opener in Man of Steel and then moved directly to something as ambitious as Batman taking on Superman, while introducing most of the Justlce League members.
Wonder Woman’s solo film will be up third, while Justice League will be the fourth DCEU outing, yet without The Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman being introduced by way of their own movies, are audiences going to really respond to the meager cameos in Batman v Superman and want to see more of them from that basis alone?
And then there’s the fact that Superman was “killed” in just the DCEU’s second movie: in addition to being ridiculously unconvincing, it’s way too early to start killing off iconic heroes and expecting us to care, especially with all of the controversy surrounding Superman’s behaviour in Man of Steel. Perhaps it might’ve had more impact if it had happened in one of the Justice League movies, but all it says is that they’re desperately trying to shoehorn in as many “big” moments as possible regardless of whether they actually fit.
1. Will Part One Just Be Another Feature-Length Trailer?
Countless critics have torn Batman v Superman down for basically being a 150-minute tease for Justice League, but is it possible that Part One could merely be yet more set-ups and teases for future attractions?
With The Flash, Aquaman and Shazam getting movies in-between the two Justice League films, there will be a heavy incentive for Warner to promote them in Part One, and Part Two to set-up 2020’s Cyborg and Green Lantern movies. This is all without even mentioning the planned solo Batman film, of course.
Yes, Marvel basically treat each new film as a set-up for the next one, but at least it’s a little more finessed and natural than what continually reeks of Warner’s desperate desire to sprint through the intricacies of the universe-building. There’s a sad and very real possibility that it’ll blow up in their faces, and it’s the fans who will suffer above all else (because there’s no way Justice League won’t be a license to print money).
What are your expectations for Justice League? Terrified? Excited? A combination of the two? Shout it out in the comments!
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