When Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens, there will be plenty of issues and ideas to consider.
While that premiere is officially Friday, promotional spots already pose big questions.
For example, some elements in Superman’s story are an allegory of immigration — with him the most famous alien in the U.S. And Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, is among those fearing what he might do.
Many will be studying Dawn of Justice for the setting up of the larger, multi-movie arc involving other DC Comics heroes, particularly the arrival of other members of the Justice League. And some will look at Dawn of Justice in the context of Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, coming to theaters in May.
Both, after all, involve conflict among heroes.
But most important for those who have spent a year soaking up Batman and Superman lore is this: Who will win the fight between Batman and Superman?
Some super-hero experts think this is a silly question. Superman is, well, super.
Batman has elaborate vehicles and gadgets, but when those things are put aside, he’s just another human.
As Bruce Wayne’s butler, Alfred ,warns in Dawn of Justice: “You can’t win this. It’s suicide.”
Comic book crimefighters have for decades faced off against villains who looked bigger, stronger and more dangerous and then simply outsmarted their foes.
Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican suggested that when claiming that, whatever Superman’s attributes, “Batman thinks ahead. He shifts the odds in his favor by waiting, studying. He devises a plan. Then he fights.”
And at least one moment in a Dawn of Justice trailer suggests Batman has figured out a way to deal with Superman.
Of course, fans will vigorously debate the way this fight is resolved, no matter how it happens. (Unless Wonder Woman kicks them both to the curb. Which would be very cool.)
We’ve long seen discussions about how any costumed crimefighters would fare against each other. Fans on YouTube have often posted speculation about comic-book-character grudge matches, both of individuals and of teams such as the Justice League against Marvel’s Avengers.
Because of the DC/Marvel rivalry, you could easily imagine similar heroes from each comics line against each other. Say, Marvel’s Ant-Man, Sub-Mariner and Quicksilver against DC’s Atom, Aquaman and the Flash, respectively.
Conflicts have also existed within characters in the separate comics universes, battles that are making ever more of an impact on live-action movies and TV shows. We’ve had the mutants in the X-Men tales pitted against each other, as well as various Inhumans on different sides in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The title of Civil War, for that matter, alludes to warfare among the Avengers after, Marvel says, “global governments demand that the Avengers be held accountable for collateral damage.” (Dawn of Justice also involves innocents caught in superhero crossfire, as one of Wayne’s buildings has been destroyed — with people inside — during Superman’s climactic battle in the earlier movie Man of Steel.)
Trailers and teasers for Civil War, directed by Cleveland’s Joe and Anthony Russo, have already shown characters taking sides with either Tony “Iron Man” Stark, who has accepted oversight, or Steve “Captain America” Rogers, who objects to government interference.
Which brings us to what has previously been the greatest confrontation between Superman and Batman, Frank Miller’s graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns.
Published in 1986, the tale has Bruce Wayne ending a decade of retirement because Gotham City needs him once again to fight crime. But he is an outsider, “bad for business,” as the U.S. president says. Superman, meanwhile, is the government’s “own little deterrent” to global chaos — and is sent to either talk down or shut down Batman.
In the event you haven’t read the novel, I won’t spoil it here. Even after 30 years, some things should be left to surprise you.
But the fight in Dawn of Justice, however it turns out, may well be part of heavy political components in current comic-book movies. DC says Dawn of Justice is partly about the world asking “what sort of hero it really needs” — very much an election-year question.
Civil War not only is asking what we want from our heroes, but it also builds on the idea in the earlier Captain America: The Winter Soldier about what people will accept in order to feel safe.
We can’t just have people battling wacky aliens anymore. Alan Moore, one of the great writers in comics and graphic novels, said in his introduction to The Dark Knight Returns that “fictional heroes of the past … have had some of their credibility stripped away forever as a result of the new sophistication in their audience.”
Moore says, in Miller’s tale, “a new hero.” And we are still seeing the old heroes reworked for yet another, possibly more jaded audience.
No matter who wins.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, Ohio.com, Facebook, Twitter and the HeldenFiles Online blog. You can contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.