Just a few days ago I was having a conversation with a friend about Batman V Superman (the Snyder cut, of course) and why I personally believe it’s on of my favourite comic book movies, primarily because of the journey of Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne and, by default, Batman in the movie.
His argument was that Wayne had no arc in the movie, my argument was that, having met Bruce already broken (“Twenty years in Gotham!”) having lost Robin, and fallen from grace, a grace that he constructed for himself, primarily meaning he could not kill. His rage at Superman was pure. His rescuing of the newly orphaned child at the beginning awaking a pain and rage he’s suffered his whole life, this leads to Lex manipulating him and using him to become the ultimate monster – a monster who would kill earth’s purest hero.
Thankfully Bruce pulled himself back before it was too late, being replaced in his task by the literal monster, Doomsday. But, in the Martha moment, Bruce realises that Superman is just a man, with a mother, loved ones and, like himself, someone who has been misrepresented by a criminal mastermind.
Batman V Superman is a tale of redemption, totally.
Anyway, sorry, got carried away there.
So, basically, while some get that from the movie, others feel Bruce Wayne is never really a fleshed out character.
That is to change with the upcoming The Batman movie from Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves.
But Reeves seems consumed with the question of who is real… Batman or Bruce Wayne (it’s Batman, but i digress again): “I think that it’s interesting, because one of the things that I’ve found interesting, just as we’re working on the story, is looking back at Jekyll and Hyde, and the idea of your shadow-self, and the idea of, we are all multiple things,” says Reeves.
“It’s different aspects of who we are, and I think there are times when maybe the surface of Bruce is not really who he is, but that’s his disguise. There are times when Batman’s the disguise, but there are times when his true essence comes out, because by being veiled, a kind of instinctual side comes out that’s very pure.”
But he’s not done yet: “It’s not an easy question to answer, in that I think that we are all made up of so many different aspects of ourselves that make the whole. I don’t know if you could ever reduce anyone to one part of what they express. That’s what’s fun about his character, is that there’s a very bright light that shines on his shadow side. The idea of all of that is incredibly exciting. It’s part of what makes it fun for me to work on.”
Oh, boy… it really looks like Reeves plans on deconstructing Batman/Bruce Wayne and that makes us very, very excited.
The Batman is set to start shooting in early 2019, we just hope it’s Affleck behind the mask.
Source: Indiewire
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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