Before yesterday, my attitude towards Zack Snyder’s Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice was about as neutral as I could get it without tipping towards mocking. After Man of Steel, I just didn’t have a lot of faith that Snyder could do much to reign in the complicated relationship balance that Supes and Bats have with one another and I had begun to treat it as just this thing we would all have to sit through to get to Suicide Squad.
It took less than four minutes to change that tune.
San Diego Comic Con is in full swing and we’ve seen some really amazing panels come out of the halls, not the least of which is the new trailer for Dawn of Justice. But before I get to that, here’s the thing, my big problem with Man of Steel, and what bleed into my thoughts on DoJ, was that it basically stripped Superman of just what makes him Superman- genuine optimism. For me he has always represented the ideal of what our species is capable of achieving if we would just figure out how to put aside all of our petty bullshit and actually invest in one another. He is hope. He has heart. There are so, so many amazing Superman stories that Man of Steel could have pulled from (Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman!!) but what we got instead was something that felt like a studio exec who had never read anything more complicated than an Archie comic got involved and started putting their fingers in stuff and the resulting mess was a beat-em-up with a damned Christ complex.
But there’s one thing that has me finally taking an emotional interest in Dawn of Justice, and that’s the concept of consequences. We finally got a glimpse at the source of strife between the two greatest heroes, and it’s an idea I love seeing explored in comics as whole- the fact that there is a face to the collateral damage that will always accompany these epic battles, that sometimes salvation is how monsters are made. It’s a way of thinking that was explored in Watchmen and it gets touched on in the periphery with Netflix’s Daredevil and it’s something that I really hope continues to be considered as comics continue to establish themselves as legitimate literature.
Dawn of Justice is offering us a narrative that follows this exact theme of consequences. Following the destruction of one of the Wayne Financial buildings in the wake of one of Superman’s battles we get to see it toss Bruce into a trajectory of becoming Superman’s rival. He wants to take him out, and it’s easy to see why, even with everyone yelling at him that “No, dude, he’s not the enemy. Calm down.” Batman’s Kryptonite infused suit levels the playing field between the two in what will probably be an incredibly impressive fight. It’s worth noting here that in the comics Superman often gets called out by his comrades for having zero fighting technique and instead relying on his strength and alien abilities to get him through a battle. The opposite is true for Batman, who is nothing but exacting technique and barely contained rage.
We also got to see our first on screen look at Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and I’m so relieved with what I saw. One of my favorite things about Diana is she genuinely enjoys the fight. She was tutored by Ares himself to be a superior warrior and she has fun with it. I’m really glad to see that that particular personality trait has carried over.
I was also really impressed with how Jesse Eisenberg is approaching Lex Luthor. His little chant of “The red capes are coming, the red capes are coming” added a sinister vibe that calls back to other DC villains. In an interview he had previously explained, “There’s an emotional core to the character. It’s not a silly villainous character. It is an entirely different thing… Like, the way we expect movies to be now is to have some kind of – I mean, it’s probably for the best – there’s some kind of psychological accuracy. That the person is coming from a place probably diagnosable in some way.” That psychological aspect right there is what makes the antagonists of the DC universe so damned captivating.
I really didn’t think it was possible for me to not be completely cynical about this one, I’ll be honest. I really was one of the smack talking naysayers. But I’ll gladly eat crow now. I’m genuinely getting pumped for this. I think a lot of people are now, too.
