The Four Color Media Monitor

If you're of the opinion, as I'm beginning to find myself, that there's been too much emphasis on the Masked Manhunter, then the following list of upcoming DC adaptations from Business Insider won't brighten your day. Mainly because there doesn't seem to be any Superman movie on the list. Then again, I do remember the Man of Steel film from 5 years or so ago wasn't all that different in tone from the average Batman movie. Anyway, let's see what this article has to say:

DC movies have been trending upward since the DC Extended Universe experiment backfired with 2017's superhero team-up movie, "Justice League," which disappointed at the box office after extensive reshoots and was blasted by critics. While passionate fans still insist that Warner Bros. release Zack Snyder's director's cut of "Justice League," Warner Bros. has moved forward with standalone blockbusters like "Joker" and comedic, critical hits like "Shazam!"

If they really are boosting upward, that might change with the Birds of Prey movie:

Director Cathy Yan's "Bird of Prey" finds Margot Robbie reprising her "Suicide Squad" role of Harley Quinn, only this time she's not attached to the Joker's hip. The movie makes her front and center leading a group of female vigilantes as they take on a crime boss played by Ewan McGregor. It's expected to be R rated.

You know, I was wondering, based on past reports of the exact premise, whether it would end up an R-rated production. Until now, few DC adaptations have ever been given an R-rating, ditto Marvel's (one I recall that was is 1998's Blade). And the subject matter the BoP movie's dealing with is pretty grisly. And what's really troubling, as noted before, is the likelihood this movie will take on a social justice angle; a slap in the face to its right-leaning comics developer, Chuck Dixon.

That aside, here's something that, even if it doesn't turn out to be a flood of leftism, still tires me:

Robert Pattinson will play Batman in a new film from "War for the Planet of the Apes" director Matt Reeves. Pattinson takes over from Ben Affleck, who played the Dark Knight in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Justice League." Reeves has assembled an all-star cast that also includes Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Paul Dano as the Riddler, and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon.

How many Batman movies and other related live action productions have there been to date? Probably a dozen or so, and we could honestly do without more. I've long known the story already, and it's grown much too old, as it did when Sony restarted Spider-Man nearly a decade ago.

By contrast, there doesn't seem to be any Superman movie in the works, and it's been 5-6 years now since director Zack Snyder's Man of Steel film, whose pluses were outweighed by a big minus, that being its darker, downbeat angle. But regardless of the tone, it sure it troubling how so far, once again, a superhero who's supposed to represent optimism and inspiration is mostly shafted in favor of one whose world isn't just darker, but where science-fantasy plays a far less prominent role, and when it did in the past, it was more often in The Brave and the Bold, which began as an anthology title in 1955, soon becoming a team-up title for superheroes, but by 1967, it was already being turned into a Batman and fill-in-the-blank starring vehicle till it ended in 1983 (replaced by the Outsiders). You could easily say it was the inspiration for Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man, Marvel Two-in-One with the Thing, and DC Comics Presents with Superman.

But we're long past the point Batman's been way overused, overemphasized, and overpromoted, and it's quite tiresome. To say nothing of unfair to Superman fans, and even if they do get around to [belatedly] making another Man of Steel film, there's still a high chance it'll suffer from mandated darkness, much as it also did from removal of the red tights from the costume design, which was part of DC's own mandates on costume designs post-Flashpoint, making some of the characters look more like plastic action figures. I think anybody who goes to see "The Batman", as appears to be the title this time, is wasting time and money on a cliched franchise that should be downplayed. Sadly, even if a Superman movie is in the works, I don't hold high hopes for it either, seeing how they've corrupted the Man of Tomorrow just as much.

Labels: Aquaman, Batman, dc comics, Justice League of America, msm propaganda, Superman, Wonder Woman