Batman V. Superman Comic-Con Trailer

When Man Of Steel came out back in 2013, the public reaction to the film was firmly split down the middle.  Half the people, like me, loved the hell out of it.  It was a different take on the Superman story and a bit darker than what we are used to see from the character.  I enjoyed the film, because it allowed Superman to dish out punishment to his enemies, unlike Superman Returns, where he didn’t throw a single punch.  A lot of people complained that the film used Zod as the main villain.  Here’s the thing:  General Zod has always been a great villain, especially since in the comics he’s been portrayed as a patriot of Krypton.  That’s how he’s portrayed here, despite his methods.  Michael Shannon’s performance was simply fantastic.  Yeah, Terrence Stamp did it first with Superman II, but Shannon comes across as less campy, and you tend to sympathize with Zod this time around, but he does care about his people.  People also had issues with Metropolis basically being leveled in the last 40 minutes of the film.  I like the fact that there are consequences to Superman fighting Zod, and that’s where Batman V. Superman comes in.  It deals with the aftermath of the attack on Metropolis.  This time around, Batman is involved.  I bring this up because a couple of days ago, Warner Bros. released a new Comic-Con trailer for Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.  What I’m going to here is, I’m going to show the first teaser trailer for the film, and discuss what I think went wrong with it, and then I’ll show the new one, and discuss that one in detail.

Okay, it’s great that they released the teaser as soon as they did, but it felt very under-cooked.  Why?  We have no real idea what’s going on, and it seems that Superman is being painted as the bad guy.  We see a statue of him that’s been vandalized with the words, “false god.”  Obviously, after the events of the previous film, some people really aren’t going to be thrilled with the fact that Superman is on Earth.  We also see what appears to be soldiers kneeling in front of Kal-El.  Did he get an army or something?  We also get a brief glimpse of Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne, and while he certainly looks the part, he doesn’t really do anything.  The new Batsuit looks freaking amazing.  When we see Batman confront Superman, he’s asked if he bleeds.  We don’t know if that’s Batman’s voice or somebody else’s, it’s confusing really.  The little bit of explosions and action that are in the trailer are very brief, but interesting.  However, there’s nothing substantial here that made me excited.  In fact, the teaser actually made me worried about the film.  The original teaser trailer for Man of Steel was far more compelling.

Now THIS is definitely a proper trailer for a movie of this magnitude.  There’s definitely a hell of a lot more going on in this trailer than the previous one.  This was released a few days ago, but it really gave fans the chills.  The trailer starts of during the attack on Metropolis with Bruce Wayne witnessing his building getting wrecked.  He charges into the fray and finds a lone child, while he looks to the sky in anger, and he is pissed.  I’m definitely sold on Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman.  The character is older than we are used to seeing and he’s a lot more world-weary.  Then we see Superman going on trial to explain his actions in Metropolis.  He didn’t have to, but this action definitely paints the character as a good guy.  There’s a lot more action going, with big explosions, and all sorts of mayhem.  With Batman, it seems like he had given up his life of crime-fighting, because the character lost too much, but it seems that Superman is the reason for Batman coming back.  Again, the suit is absolutely pitch-perfect.  Seeing Batman actually take on Superman is breathtaking, despite not seeing very much of it.  I should also mention that Jeremy Irons will be playing Alfred Pennyworth, and I think he’s perfect for the job.  Now, a few months back, Zack Snyder released some pictures of Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, and that caused some controversy.  I wasn’t buying her as the character, because she didn’t physically look like she could handle that particular role.  The outfit is darker than I would have expected, but seeing her in action, I’m a little bit more optimistic.  Not a whole lot, mind you, but a little.  If there is one issue that I have is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.  I’m not particularly thrilled.  Not a lot of people are either, considering Eisnberg’s attitude towards the character.  Bryan Cranston would have been a better option.  I like the idea of Luthor possibly manipulating the conflict between Superman and Batman, but Jesse Eisenberg just doesn’t seem to fit the character.  When we see Wonder Woman fighting, we have no idea who or what she’s up against, so it appears that Luthor is not the main villain.  There is speculation that it may be Doomsday, and I really hope it isn’t.

The whole Doomsday story-line is one that would take three movies at least.  I’ve read the comics and the novel, and there is so much to that story, and it’s so important to the character of Superman, that to shoehorn Doomsday into this movie strikes me as a disservice.  It’s too early for that.  That being said,  my final reaction to this new trailer is that I’m stoked.  I’m actually excited for this sucker.  I just wish it wasn’t 8 months out.  The film is scheduled for release in 2016 and stars Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Lawrence Fishburne, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, and Gal Gadot.  This could be next summer’s major blockbuster.  I’m looking forward to it.  With the Justice League movies announced, Warner Bros., and DC Comics could catch up to Marvel.  Unlikely, but I’m actually getting burned out on Marvel’s movies right now, so seeing the trailer for Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice is refreshing.

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