Category Archives: Batman
Darn it! Why am I Not in Love with The Dark Knight Rises?
Probably the distinct lack of Robin.
But time and again, each new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises fails to impress. This new trailer released today features a lot of action and violence, with a slight focus on Bane, but I just can’t bring myself to get excited! The trailer is mostly rapid cuts to more and more action without really laying out the plot or anything else. And Bane just doesn’t impress, not like the Joker did in The Dark Knight.
But judge for yourself. What do you guys think of this new trailer?
The movie comes out on July 20. I think in the end, Christopher Nolan is going to look back on his trilogy and feel remorse for not including Robin.
Batman Finally Comes to Smallville
But only in comic book form.
Tiny picture
The popular TV show Smallville was about the early years of Clark Kent, and how he eventually embraces his super-powers and becomes Superman. It started as a high school drama, but after running for 10 seasons, he eventually grew up, became a reporter for the Daily Planet and married Lois Lane. They told pretty much his entire life story!
I was a fan for a lot of years, and periodically checked back in to watch some of the good episodes. Before too long, DC started guest-starring a ton of other superheroes in the show. The Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Zatanna, Hawkman, the Wonder Twins and many more all made cameo and guest appearances.
But in all 10 years of Smallville, never once did Batman appear. (Or Wonder Woman, for that matter).
I’m pretty sure it was a legal issue. The rights to Batman, either on TV or in movies, were tied up in another creative arm of Warner Bros., and they just couldn’t bring him into the show. It was a travesty of epic proportions. Not to mention stupid. What moron was holding the red tape to keep Batman and Wonder Woman from appearing on Smallville? I hope he sleeps poorly at night.
Anyway, after Smallville went off the air, DC decided to continue the story in comic book form, considering Superman is a comic book hero and all. I don’t read it, but I guess it’s doing alright. And now that Smallville is no longer on TV, there is no longer any red tape to keep Batman from finally appearing in Smallville continuity! I think that’s a pretty awesome idea! The story is going to be written by writer Brian Q. Miller, and it’s going to be called ‘Detective”. It’s about Batman and his sidekick tracking a suspect in the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, and they bump into Superman. So that’s pretty neat.
All of you Smallville fans waiting for your chance to see Batman, here it is!
Batman’s sidekick in Smallville continuity isn’t going to be Robin though. Miller is picking and choosing from the Robin mythos to make a new Nightwing, alias Stephanie Brown. She’s a little too complicated to explain, but let’s just say she was once Robin in the normal Batman comics. And Miller once wrote her comic book series. So now he’s decided to bring her back because he likes the character. Miller told TVGuide:
“Bruce can be somewhat of an angry man. Stephanie’s personality is so can-do and unsinkable and bright, so it’s very much on purpose on Bruce’s part that he has a good cop going out on patrol with him every night.”
So basically I just think this is all pretty cool. I’d actually like to see the Smallville version of Batman. Here’s a better look at the comic book cover, albeit in black and white:
Big picture, but black and white. I don’t know why the Internet won’t give me a big, color picture
6 Things I Want From a Justice League Movie
There will be a live action Justice League movie in my lifetime – but I don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. The news last week that Hollywood scribe Will Beall had been hired to write a Justice League script means about as much to me as Will Beall being hired to write a new script for the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It means nothing! Scripts are being written in Hollywood all the time, especially for superhero movies. And they routinely go nowhere. So until Warner Bros. actually begins real, physical production on a Justice League movie, I’m not going to care about the insider gossip.
Though I am going to speculate about what I’d like to see in a live action Justice League movie!
They’ll be in their trailers
What characters should appear? Who should they fight? Should it try to tie in any of the previous Batman or Superman films? These are burning questions in a fertile geek mind like my own. Now, there’s no way in the flaming halls of Hell that I’d ever be hired to pen a Justice League script, but I’m still a pretty awesome and creative guy. Plus I saw The Avengers twice in theaters, so I think I know a little something about superhero team movies. And here are 6 things I would like to see in a live action Justice League movie!
New DC Superhero Fighting Game Gets Nasty
Remember when Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe came out, and everybody was whining about how the goody two-shoes DC superheroes couldn’t do the bloody fatalities? Well apparently DC Comics and NetherRealm, the makers of Mortal Kombat, heard those cries and have designed a new fighting game where the Justice League superheroes are evil, so now they can get as brutal as we gaming nerds might want!
Behold Injustice: Gods Among Us, the new fighting game announced today that is apparently only going to feature DC superheroes and villains. Which is awesome. Too often video game makers seem to think we want non-superhero characters mixed in with our fighting games. Anyone remember Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects? For your sake, I hope you don’t. Anyway, this new game is going to feature “at least as many” characters as Mortal Kombat, so that means dozens. And it’s going to feature interactive battle zones, like the Batcave and other familiar sights.
Burn baby, burn!
The roster so far includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Harley Quinn and Solomon Grundy. I expect we’ll get more announced as we get closer to the release date sometime in 2013. Of course, I demand to see Robin in the game, but that might just be me.
This game looks pretty cool, as far as I’m concerned. I liked the last Mortal Kombat game, and this one looks very similar in play style. Granted, I mostly played Mortal Kombat for the story (and Smoke, my favorite character), but it was a fun fighting game to play with friends for a week or two. That’s exactly what I’d expect this new game to be, just a fun little fighter to spend a few weeks on and nothing more. If I still had a Blockbuster near me, it’d make for a great rental.
Wonder Woman gonna have to cut a bitch?
The trailer looks cool, with a lot of well-done animation. If this game looks as good and plays as good as Mortal Kombat, it’ll be a fine game. I’m not at all bothered by the idea of turning the DC superheroes evil in order to fit them into a fighting game, or whatever the plan is there. It’s not going to warp my fragile little geek mind if Superman now burns people to a crisp with his heat vision. It’s just a game, one that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.
Though that is one gripe. What’s the point of this game? Why make a video game with its own standalone continuity? Why not connect it to the New 52 comics? Or the Young Justice/Justice League movie style animation? But then I suppose Warner Bros. has always been absolutely ridiculous when it comes to uniting their different continuities.
Also, what’s up with the name? Injustice: Gods Among Us? That name could be applied to any video game of any genre starring any characters whatsoever. Nothing about it says ‘Justice League’ or even ‘superheroes’ to me. They should have just called it Justice League: Gods Among Us. At least then people would have some idea what it’s about.
Or why not at least ‘Injustice League’?
Review: Harley Quinn’s Revenge
I’m tempted to give this mini-game a 5 out of 5 because they let you play as Robin, but I think I’ll be a little bit more professional. Harley Quinn’s Revenge is the brand new epilogue DLC for that exceptional game Batman: Arkham City, which came out last October. I gave the main game a 5 out of 5 because it was one hell of an awesome game. Arkham City was phenomenal, a perfect sequel that gave us a bigger and more badass game than the first. Everything was improved, from the characters, to the gameplay to the game world.
That the developers, Rocksteady, would come along all these months later and give us one final helping of Arkham goodness defines the very reason why modern games should have DLC. That Harley Quinn’s Revenge isn’t as groundbreaking or as amazing as Arkham City itself does not speak ill of the effort.
Game rating: 3/5: Alright.
She’s had better days
The magic and excitement of Arkham City is gone, sad to say. The high octane energy I felt when it first came out has simply faded away, replaced by other games. So stepping back into this world, I was immediately reminded how sloppy and out-of-practice I’ve become. The signature Arkham gameplay is fun to master, but more than a little frustrating when you have to remind yourself how it works on the fly. Harley Quinn’s Revenge brings very little new to the table. It’s essentially just a long-lost final chapter to the main game, wrapping up a loose end in the story that nobody was particularly worried about wrapping up. It’s a suitable distraction and reminder of how much fun this game series really is.
And holy crap, guys, they let you play as Robin in story mode! It’s a move so brilliant that I’m still at a loss that Rocksteady would have the guts to make it! I respect them even more now!
Henchman-4-Hire 