6 Lessons A New Superman Reboot Could Learn From The Batman (2022)
With a faithful yet fresh take on a beloved icon and a refreshing tone that both honors the timeless traditions of the source material and goes in new directions with familiar archetypes, Matt Reeves’ The Batman has laid out a new blueprint for rebooting iconic superheroes on the big screen. After the critical acclaim and box office success of The Batman, Warner Bros. should apply that blueprint to its other flagship DC superhero, Superman.
The last time Superman’s adventures were rebooted on the big screen, it was wildly polarizing. Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was certainly an interesting change of pace, but at the cost of fundamental characteristics like Supes’ no-killing rule. Reeves’ Batman reboot contains a few pointers for how the next incarnation of the Superman franchise can match its success.
6 Skip The Origin Story
In The Batman, Reeves followed the Spider-Man: Homecoming formula and mercifully skipped the Bat’s well-worn origin story. The Batman opens two years into Bruce Wayne’s vigilante crusade. Like Homecoming, The Batman explores the early career of a young, inexperienced superhero as opposed to his origins. Like Batman and Spider-Man, Superman is a universally recognizable pop culture icon whose origin story is as well-known as the logo on his chest.
Whereas casual audiences might not be familiar with the origin stories of B-tier characters like Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter, almost everybody in the world knows that Superman was sent to Earth during the destruction of his planet Krypton and he was raised by the Kents as an upstanding hero who uses his powers for good. Like the painfully familiar image of Martha Wayne’s pearls hitting the ground, this doesn’t need to be seen again.
5 Round Out A Fresh (But Faithful) Take On The Familiar Icon
Pattinson’s Batman has all the familiar hallmarks of previous Bruce Wayne performances – the “Batman voice,” the brooding attitude, code-switching between Bruce and the Bat – but at the same time, it’s an entirely fresh take on the character. Instead of keeping up a playboy facade, this Bruce is an awkward shut-in. He’s a true outsider who strikes fear into Gothamites as Batman and can barely function in social situations as Bruce.
Batman himself is usually overshadowed by eccentric villains in Batman movies, but in The Batman, for once, he’s the most interesting character. The next Superman reboot needs to do the same thing with the Man of Steel: find the sweet spot between presenting all the beloved traits of a familiar icon and rounding out an entirely new character in the context of a standalone movie.
4 Tell A Different Kind Of Origin Story
In lieu of retelling the story of how he became a masked vigilante, The Batman explores a different kind of origin for the Caped Crusader. Robert Pattinson’s Batman is every bit the badass from the comics, but his gadget use is less than graceful and he takes as many punches as he doles out.
Instead of charting Bruce Wayne’s journey to becoming Batman, Pattinson and Reeves chart Batman’s journey to becoming a beacon of hope for the people of Gotham. After symbolizing vengeance for most of the movie, the Bat realizes that the Riddler and his goons were inspired by his vengeful crusade while the citizens of Gotham fear him. As he leads the survivors out of the floodwaters, he realizes he’ll serve the city better if he symbolizes hope.
A Superman reboot could follow a similar journey for Clark Kent, exploring his main internal conflict. Supes’ biggest insecurity stems from his inability to save everybody who needs saving (not because of a lack of power, just a busy schedule). Like Pattinson’s Dark Knight in The Batman, the next Superman needs to figure out how to be the best superhero he can be.
3 Flesh Out The Supporting Cast
While Pattinson’s Dark Knight is the centerpiece of The Batman, he’s surrounded by unforgettable supporting players, from Colin Farrell’s scene-stealing Penguin debut to Zoë Kravitz’s humanized portrayal of Catwoman. Jim Gordon is usually relegated to delivering exposition, but Jeffrey Wright’s Gordon develops a “buddy cop” dynamic with the Bat and gets in on a lot of the movie’s action.
Superman has plenty of iconic supporting characters – Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, Ma and Pa Kent – that are primed to be fleshed out with nuance and vulnerability like Wright and Kravitz did with The Batman’s supporting players.
2 Construct The Action Sequences With Care
Some of the action set-pieces in Man of Steel really pop, like Superman’s first flight, but a lot of them fall flat. Supes has a near-unlimited array of superpowers, but most of the film’s action is mindless Bayhem-style carnage. In the final battle, Superman and Zod punch each other through skyscrapers until they get tired and Supes breaks Zod’s neck. The next Superman reboot needs action scenes that stand out.
Reeves helmed some of the Caped Crusader’s most captivating on-screen action to date for The Batman. From the opening train station brawl to the Penguin car chase, The Batman’s action sequences are thrillingly staged, beautifully shot, and endlessly compelling.
1 Follow The Filmmaker’s Vision
With dark themes, boundary-pushing violence, and a taxing but ultimately justified three-hour runtime, The Batman is clearly the result of Warner Bros. giving Reeves complete creative control of the movie. Blockbusters that follow a singular directorial vision are undoubtedly more engaging and enjoyable than the ones designed by committee implementing suggestions from legions of studio executives.
Warners gave Zack Snyder plenty of creative control with the last Superman reboot, but his vision of the character was fundamentally unfaithful to Superman’s characterization. That Superman wasn’t sure if he wanted to save people, he destroyed half of Metropolis in the final battle, and he committed a needless murder instead of drawing on his arsenal of powers. The director of the next Superman reboot needs to be given as much creative control as Snyder – and Reeves – but with a more faithful take on the last son of Krypton.