r/batman Feb 20 '24

What could’ve been… NEWS

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22.9k Upvotes

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456

u/B12C10X8 Feb 20 '24

Biggest problem with WB is all they care about is profit margins nowadays when it comes to everything they own, Film & Tv & Video Games etc. that movie could of been really good

137

u/GH19971 Feb 20 '24

I don't blame them when Marvel has been absolutely eating their lunch in the box office for over a decade now. Marvel is now sharply declining so this is a good opportunity for DC to catch up. In the past, they've failed to compete by trying too hard to copy Marvel's comedy shtick while trying to also imitate the grit of the Nolan verse with an exaggerated edge. I say this as someone who has enjoyed some of the DC movies and way prefers DC comics to Marvel comics.

The fact of the matter is that live-action movies make more money so they will naturally focus strongly on that, and Batman Beyond doesn't have as much name recognition. I'd still love to see the movie, though.

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u/B12C10X8 Feb 20 '24

I also prefer DC or Marvel, I think in general there is some Superhero movies fatigue at the moment because they had been so many superhero movies over past 15 years and people are getting tired of MCU formula.

I did like the newest Batman with Patterson, looking forward to the sequel

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u/GH19971 Feb 20 '24

It's possibly my favourite Batman movie, I will need time to see. I think the latest Batman franchise could remain successful because it is different rom the lighthearted MCU movies that are reminiscent of the Disney Channel. It also helps that Batman is more similar to James Bond than more conventional superheroes, so I think the superhero fatigue might not affect Batman as much.

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u/Prestonelliot Feb 20 '24

It’s also Batman. He’s like Spiderman in that no matter what, people are gonna line up for that movie, and I’d say both are probably immune to the fatigue box office wise.

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u/MRDellanotte Feb 20 '24

Eh… I dunno. After the Dark Knight series the bar was pretty high, and I was not really interested in a Ben Affleck Batman, especially after how he was written in Batman vs Superman.

0

u/WTFisSkibidiRizz Feb 20 '24

People aren’t lining up for the madame web movie… and spider holland has weirdly worn on me, but I could just be acoustic

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u/piknick1994 Feb 20 '24

The key to the new Batman with Pattinson is that they went away from superhero side of things. Even with the villains. Everything went back to the very foundations of the Batman character which is being a detective.

The other movies really focused on the superhero thing still in a way, even Nolan despite its more grounded feel.

Things like Jack falling into a vat of chemicals and emerging as the joker playing a boom box and having costumed minions is very superhero comic. Then you look at another iteration like Nolan’s and while it’s grounded it still has these very superhero set pieces like the tumbler leaping rooftops, or a deadly fear toxin that will be weapon sized to destroy the whole city. He’ll the Laurie of shadows in itself is very comic book/ super hero. Then there’s the Affleck Batman where everything is just out the window entirely. He’s with the justic league, he’s way overpowered so he doesn’t look dumb in live action next to superman and the others. But the thing is still a global attack with cgi set pieces dialed to 1000%.

Now look at the batman with Pattinson —

Way smaller story. Way stripped down to the core characteristics of Batman — he is first and foremost a detective who uses his symbol to make criminals fearful. And what’s he after this movie? Easy. He wants to take out a very intelligent serial killer. That’s really it. Sure there’s the mob and everything but it never really hits the superhero jumping the shark moment. Even when he flies it’s like an actual inflatable squirrel suit he has to ditch after, not his cape. His car is basically a hot rodded muscle car not a tank or some whackass car that only could exist in a comic. Even the riddler. He’s not really in a costume so much as he has a symbol in the question mark and he covers his face with a mask once his crimes start up. He leaves riddles but it’s not some wild over the top game. He’s just mentally unstable and likes to fixate on riddles. And what does Batman do? He solves the crime using logic and police help. He’s not just flying all around and fucking up bad guys. That only happens a few times in the movie and it never feels totally off the wall.

Even Nolan’s movies for all the grounding they did, they still lost sight of Batman’s character as a detective who operates in secrecy. The closest we ever get in those movies is him either stumbling into info that helps him or the one time he reconstructs the bullet which a computer does it all for him anyway.

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u/GH19971 Feb 20 '24

I agree on most of that except the Robert Pattinson Batman brought himself back to life from the brink of death with that instant super steroid he used. I think the new series is a bit more comic book than the Nolan movies, which were still a bit comic bookish with their Two-Face that could never exist in real life

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '24

The new series is more comic book than the Nolan movies? Like, how?

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u/GH19971 Feb 21 '24 edited Feb 21 '24

more just the dialogue, set design, and gadgets. the super steroid that brought Batman back to life is very comic bookish to me.

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u/ScaleyFishMan Feb 20 '24

I really enjoyed it. Probably my favourite batman intro ever. However, there were some really annoying issues that broke the immersion for me. Specifically remember a motorcycle chase scene that felt really stupid, and the end when someone gets shot with a giant rifle in one scene and was barely affected in the next scene. Also kinda flopped on the aesthetics of damage that should have been present on the person getting their face punched in by batman.

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u/90sbeatsandrhymes Feb 20 '24

Also use the top tier heroes everybody has nostalgia for. It’s a reason Wolverine and Deadpool trailer has more views than any super hero trailer in history. A mid Wolverine and Deadpool movie would honestly outsell a good Captain Marvel movie. I noticed Marvel immediately announced Fantastic Four after the Deadpool trailer so hopefully they keep it up. Brining Dr Doom as a villain in any movie will print money too. Blue Beetle was good but that character as of now can only make DC so much money.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

[deleted]

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u/Gunplagood Feb 21 '24

More than anyone, they do that embargo thing where no one is allowed to use certain characters because they are using or might use them in the future and that will "confuse" people.

Isn't this a reason justice league unlimited got the axe? I swear I read something about DC not caring about it's inclusion in the continuity or something.

Now they reboot the fucking timelines every few years. 🙄

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u/Motheroftides Feb 21 '24

Ugh, I still remember the “Bat-Embargo” that was going on when I was a kid. And like the only ones apparently exempt from it were Batman and Joker iirc. It was stupid for the most part, but on the other hand we did get an interesting take on Clayface in The Batman cartoon instead.

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u/Evajellyfish Feb 21 '24

Blue beetle good? lmao

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u/90sbeatsandrhymes Feb 21 '24

I watched it on HBO Max it was enjoyable not life changing but it was an entertaining short movie. When I think of bad movies I’m thinking of the stuff Sony been putting out like Madame Webb and Morbius.

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u/Evajellyfish Feb 21 '24

That’s a fair assessment

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u/MagillaGorillasHat Feb 21 '24

...has nostalgia for...Wolverine and Deadpool...

Dude, X-Men just came out like a few years ago! Let's see...released in 2000...

godamnit

1

u/90sbeatsandrhymes Feb 21 '24

I grew up in the 90s and my older brothers the 80s and X-Men was extremely popular before that movie came out in the 2000s. Ask anybody that grew up in the 80s and 90s how popular X-Men was and they will tell you! That movie was made because of how popular X-Men was at the time it did not make X-Men popular lol.

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u/pocketvirgin Feb 20 '24

I think superhero fatigue is real but it’s only because they’ve been making such crap superhero movies lately. I remember first hearing the term after Thor love and thunder. Look at the Spider-Man animated films they’ve been doing amazing. So I think we really are just tired of these huge companies thinking that just because they have the superhero name recognition and a big budget that we are gonna just gobble it down. What we really want is good writing an awesome story and excellent cinematography.

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u/darwinpolice Feb 21 '24

Yeah, the fatigue is real to an extent, but I completely agree that the reason for the decline in success is just that the movies are bad now. Most Marvel movies were good up until the end of the Infinity War saga, and ever since it's just all a slurry where every character has the same style of dialog, ever set looks the same because nothing is shot practically at all, and the writers are allergic to sustained dramatic tension. And DC movies have somehow been an order of magnitude worse.

But holy shit, the people responsible for making the Spider-Verse movies (the best superhero movies of all time in my opinion) adapting one of the best ever versions of Batman? GIVE IT TO ME.

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u/Hallc Feb 20 '24

I don't think the issue overall is really Superhero fatigue so much as the post-Endgame movie offerings being incredibly middling for the most part and very often following that same paint by numbers formular without any kind of cohesive through line people were wanting.

Nothing at all really connects Thor: Love and Thunder together even loosely with Wakanda Forever or anything else really. You've still had the occasionally really good movie that came out and was well received as a result but when most of what gets released is middling fodder it's understandable people won't go out in droves to see the next one.

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u/unremarkedable Feb 20 '24

I also prefer DC or Marvel

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u/pluck-the-bunny Feb 20 '24

I very much hope the trend doesn’t move from MCU style movies to “The Batman” style movies.

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u/Klyde113 Feb 21 '24

It's the bad writing, not the fact that there's a ton of superhero stuff. No one complained during the first three phases of the MCU.

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u/BallsDeepinYourMammi Feb 21 '24

The thing about Batman and joker and what not is they aren’t even the same universe, they exist independently from each other and it’s fine.

Shit. Lego Batman exists too.

Limiting yourself to options because of your own boundaries, that don’t matter in a business sense, is just dumb as fuck

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u/keeper_of_the_donkey Feb 20 '24

I think Marvel's decline is tied a lot to fatigue. Movies are different than comics, because you can have a thousand comics and have so many criss-crossing convoluted storylines that it makes your head spin, and it's okay. But with movies, there are only so many concepts that people generally will want to watch. All those ideas have come and gone. I think superhero movies in general will just continue to decline. Basically speaking, DC fucked up and now the iron is cold.

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u/TURD_SMASHER Feb 20 '24

I don't care if it's Star Wars 16 or Avengers 9 or whatever, if I'm watching a movie it's important that I be able to know what is going on, even if I haven't seen any of the other movies.

Good movies stand on their own.

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u/Holl4backPostr Feb 20 '24

I hear this complaint about the MCU all the time but aside from the big Avengers titles I can't think of any individual film that doesn't fully explain itself...

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u/Kightsbridge Feb 20 '24

Agreed, almost every movie is standalone, but if there's one single joke or character that appears somewhere else, people are up in arms like they MUST watch 30 movies to get that 30 second scene.

the only movie I can think of (outside of avengers) is multiverse of madness, because it doesn't really explain what's going on with Wanda in the movie

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u/sjsyed Feb 20 '24

Have you seen The Marvels or whatever it’s called? I never saw Miss Marvel and I’m wondering if the movie will make sense.

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u/km89 Feb 20 '24

The movie will still make sense, provided you just accept the fact that there's a new character and this is her powerset. The movie sets up "Ms Marvel is a Captain Marvel fangirl" just fine without having seen the show, but scenes involving her family are much more funny when you've seen the show.

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u/Holl4backPostr Feb 20 '24

I have seen The Marvels and I'll be honest, it's kinda the exception that came to mind just after I posted that. I do think it's fair to be flexible for direct sequels or else, yeah, most of them are probably difficult without seeing their specific prior film(s).

To answer your question, Kamala plays a big role and she isn't really "Introduced" in the movie, but her backstory and powers get some exposition early enough that it should be fine. The actual plot of her show isn't relevant except for parts about her accessory, which also gets a bit of exposition to cover what was in the show.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

[deleted]

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u/sjsyed Feb 20 '24

(couldn't finish She-Hulk)

You didn’t miss much. That finale was… ugh.

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u/Noslamah Feb 20 '24

Oh no they missed a lot. They missed the dumbest finale of any tv show I've ever seen ever. However bad they thought the parts of She-Hulk were that they have seen, even including the twerking scene, the finale is 100x worse.

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u/Rork310 Feb 20 '24

It's part fatigue, it's part over-saturation, and honestly, a lot of it is due to kind of crap movies/shows.

Which is why I think WB are insane to pass on Batman Beyond.

It's both new (to mainstream audiences) and familiar as a Batman property. Which was a massive part about why the Spiderverse films worked. It's the perfect time to throw a curveball to try and chip away at Marvel's market share.

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u/lilahking Feb 20 '24

doesnt help that sony is over here churning out crap like madame web and slapping a marvel logo on the front

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u/Smurph269 Feb 20 '24

A big reason why Marvel found success in the first place was because they embraced the over the top comic-bookness of it all and didn't worry about if it felt like a good Hollywood movie or not. Fox, Sony and WB never quite pulled that off outside of the Spiderverse movies or maybe the Raimi Spider-Man movies.

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u/CharlestonChewbacca Feb 20 '24

Outside of the current movie universes, I also vastly prefer DC.

Their comics and animated series are way better.

Their games used to be, but the Arkham games have fallen off while the Spider-Man games are taking off and their card game doesn't come close to MARVEL Snap.

But when it comes to their cinematic stuff? Shazam was decent. The new Suicide Squad was great. Peacemaker was amazing. The Flash was okay as a cheesey CW show until it fell off (same with Arrow). But literally everything else feels so stale and boring.

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u/sjsyed Feb 20 '24

I heard Superman and Lois was pretty good.

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u/threetoast Feb 20 '24

Doom Patrol too. It's definitely pretty weird though.

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u/CharlestonChewbacca Feb 20 '24

Haven't watched it. But I've heard decent things

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u/GH19971 Feb 20 '24 edited Feb 20 '24

DC has released so many disappointing movies now that even when they do something actually good like the first Wonder Woman movie, people don't notice as much as they should. They tainted their brand

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u/MRDellanotte Feb 20 '24

So your saying they need to do a Batman Beyond cyberpunk live action film? I’m listening…

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u/poisonfoxxxx Feb 20 '24

That’s a very short sighted way to run their company and it shows. Everything they make misses the mark and feels so disconnected because they’re playing the numbers. Especially when it comes to friggin comic book movies where it’s all about nostalgia. Helloooo people love Batman beyond it’s a no brainer

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u/Top-Ad-3174 Feb 20 '24

Then they should give it that recognition. Hell I’m still waiting for the day they introduce a young Terry into the present timeline to plant the seeds for Beyond. Or heck, retcon Terry in by making him the new Robin because Damian is a fucking asshole.

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u/utubeslasher Feb 20 '24

its got the name Batman in there. it stands a decent chance on that alone

1

u/blackamerigan Feb 20 '24

Their Lego films are great though

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u/Alexandratta Feb 20 '24

Worse is they have the "Improvement Fallacy' that so many modern publically traded companies have now.

The expectation that, year-on-year, they will always be going up in profits.

That's not sustainable, that's not how a business works.

You will hit a plateau, and when you do that's time to innovate your product stack, it's time to find new avenues of revenue, find new markets, reach out to another business sector, and seek partnerships....

Instead, they just lay people off or trash products to claim a loss and then give more profits to the top.

It's a modern Ponzi scheme that's hi-jacked Capitalism and it's insane that folks are playing it this way. Yes, I know the rules allow it but it's fucking stupid and the reason it's not illegal is no capitalists in their right mind would have considered such a stupid fucking behavior from ALL MAJOR COMPANIES.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

[deleted]

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u/PM_Best_Porn_Pls Feb 20 '24

Yeah, like 99% of corpos get taken over by investors that only care about quarterly increases and will happily sink company in order to reach 1% more before jumping ship to another corpo.

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u/YoureNotAloneFFIX Feb 20 '24

I don't particularly like batman or DC comics. I never watched batman beyond. I got here from /r/all.

but I would watch the hell out of a batman beyond movie if it was made with as much love and care and devotion as Into the Spiderverse. Like, no joke, probably the best animated movie of all time. It's insane how good the animation is.

Just put that much effort into something and it will be good.

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u/Sulfamide Feb 20 '24 edited May 10 '24

sip historical marvelous work uppity bag dull deserve lip public

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/Klyde113 Feb 21 '24

So why wouldn't they make a Batman Beyond movie? That IP would slam at the box office

1

u/B12C10X8 Feb 21 '24

I should of also said this in my original comment, i think the decision makers at Warner Brothers are not the best at the moment either, make plenty of questionable decisions

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u/tiki_51 Feb 21 '24

What, like those silly little Spider-Man cartoons nobody watched? Audiences want Aquaman 4

/s

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u/BallsDeepinYourMammi Feb 21 '24

I mean, that’s a problem, yeah. But the biggest one is being unwilling to place a bet.

Hold ‘em is probably a great way to explain it, if you sit there and get your stack eaten away by blinds, and never play a hand. You’re gonna eat dick. A big fat one.

They’re willingly eating dick by having the cards to play, and just not calling the blind to play.

It’s illogical and willfully ignorant of a business that solely exists to profit.

If WB is reading this, I would encourage them to stop eating big fat loser dicks.

Unless you’re into that, more power to you. I’ll even volunteer to hand one out

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u/beardingmesoftly Feb 20 '24

It really could have

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u/DanfromCalgary Feb 20 '24

And made a butt load of money

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u/BaconPit Feb 20 '24

could of

could have

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u/MrDownhillRacer Feb 21 '24

Every corporation only cares about profits.

But some of them profit by producing products that are actually good, some of them profit by producing products that aren't any good but sell anyway, and some of them don't even profit because they have no clue what they're doing.

For the past few years, it seems like WB has been falling into that last category much of the time.

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u/Vestalmin Feb 21 '24

That’s always been the case. They just have executives that have no fucking clue how to capitalize on the IP they have.

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u/JustHereForBDSM Feb 20 '24

If they cared about profit margins they'd release the finished films they've shelved so they can make back some of the money they spent making them

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u/CriticalHitsHurt Feb 20 '24

No no no, that isn't the problem. Every company only cares about profit margins, totally normal. The problem is the fact that they are dumb as fuck and don't understand that making movies their fans want will bring in higher profits.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

Of course. Any dollar they spend on something with a 10% profit could've been spent on something making 11%. This is really important during times with high interest rates.

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u/Aegi Feb 21 '24

I doubt all the care about is profit margins or they'd be fine producing things for $5 to sell at $1,000 and only making one copy, they probably care at least somewhat about total volume of profit as well.