As you may know, I absolutely loved Batman Begins. I walked out of the theatre totally amazed, and I still have no problem watching the film again and again. Not even Katie Holmes could drag the movie down! Needless to say, I am really looking forward to The Dark Knight.
I was less impressed with Superman Returns, but I have to admit it wasn’t so bad the second time I saw it. I think Bryan Singer’s interpretation of Superman threw me for a loop at first, mainly because I’m a huge Smallville fan and was totally immersed in that world at the time. It’s not as high on my list as The Dark Knight is, but I will definitely check out Superman: Man of Steel.
So, I’m a fan of both Batman and Superman. Should be no surprise then that I’m also interested in the Justice League of America movie. That’s right, another big screen flick with Batman and Superman.
- 2007/2008 – Smallville Season 7
- 2008/2009 – Smallville Season 8 (possible)
- July 18th 2008 – The Dark Knight
- June 2009 – Superman: Man of Steel
- 2010 – Justice League of America
I think you can see where I’m going with this. Within two or three years, we’ll have two different actors playing Batman, and two different actors playing Superman. Three if you count Tom Welling in Smallville.
Will simultaneous Batman/Superman franchises work? More specifically, simultaneous franchises with different actors and directors?
Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan have created an awesome Batman. Brandon Routh and Bryan Singer have done a pretty good job themselves with Superman. You don’t want to mess with either of those. Now, if the JLA movie was co-directed by Nolan and Singer, perhaps you could have Bale and Routh in the movie. Same characters, same actors. But they aren’t directing the movie – George Miller is. Which means he’ll have his own vision, and will most definitely want his own actors. I think that’s gonna be strange.
I would love to see Batman and Superman together in the same movie a la JLA, but I really hope Warner Brothers rethink their strategy here. If they release JLA so close to the Batman and Superman sequels, audiences may feel overwhelmed. More importantly, it could seriously damage the momentum that Bale and Routh have going with the characters.
Obviously Bale won’t be the last actor to portray Batman and Routh won’t be the last actor to portray Superman. You’d think they could have some time to own their respective roles, however! Introducing two additional actors in the same roles just doesn’t seem fair.
And yes, I realize that Val Kilmer and George Clooney each took on the role of Batman in a period of two years, but that was with the crap Joel Schumacher was peddling. Make no mistake about it – Nolan’s Batman is an entirely different animal.
Maybe all three movies will kick ass, who knows. My guess however is that even if all three are great movies, either Man of Steel or JLA will suffer at the box office.
MasterMaq's Blog 
I haven’t seen <i>Batman Begins</i> yet but I loved the earlier ones, except for the fact that the villans seemed more comical at times. Not the main ones but their legions. And some of the props also had quite a fake look about them. I’m looking forward to <i>Batman Begins</i> and the upcoming new movies but no one and I mean no one can replace Christopher Reeves as Superman!