Batman vs. Superman

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Batman vs. Superman is the title to a cancelled American film based on the DC Comics' superheroes Batman and Superman. The film was greenlighted by Warner Bros in 2002 with Wolfgang Petersen directing from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker and Akiva Goldsman. The film was expected to film in 2003 with a release in 2004. Even though the project collapsed when Petersen left the project to direct the historical epic Troy, Batman Begins producer Chuck Roven believes, as of 2005, that the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight will meet one day. "It all depends now on the success of Superman Returns. The current script is superb."

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[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The screenplay begins with a terrorist attack on a Metropolis park monument and police responding to the attack. Eventually, the lead terrorist gets surrounded by an angry mob and is about to be swarmed (killed) by them, when he is saved by Superman, who flies down and tells them they have no right to serve as the man's executioner.

Superman flies over a river, carrying the terrorist, when the terrorist opens his watch and a puff of green particles comes out. The particles are actually small fragments of kryptonite, which weaken Superman and cause him to fall into the river. When he comes to, Superman finds a mask and realizes that the terrorist was wearing a mask to conceal his real identity. On the back of the mask, the words "This is only the beginning" are written. Superman becomes his alter ego, Clark Kent, in time to be the best man to Bruce Wayne (a.k.a. Batman) at Bruce's wedding at Wayne Manor outside Gotham City. It's been several years since Wayne adopted the Batman persona, and with the Joker dead and his vigilante style becoming more like revenge, he has given up on crimefighting and fallen in love with a "perfect" girl named Elizabeth. The wedding goes well, and Bruce and Clark have a moment alone where they talk of their futures. Bruce concedes that his role as Batman was getting too close to becoming a criminal himself. Clark tells of the terrorist incident over the river and the cryptic message on the back of the mask. Clark also says that his marriage to Lois Lane has failed, and that the two are separated, and getting a divorce.

Bruce heads to a tropical honeymoon destination with Elizabeth. On the honeymoon, Bruce notices a few odd things that Elizabeth does, but quickly forgets them as he's completely smitten with her. One night on their honeymoon, Bruce is shaving in the bathroom while talking to Elizabeth. After some banter, Elizabeth doesn't respond, then responds by laughing maniacally - an inhuman guffaw. Bruce sees his worst fears are true as Elizabeth is dead, having been poisoned by a dart that the Joker was fond of using. While Bruce is crying over her dead body, he sees the words "This is only the beginning" written on the wall. At the funeral, Bruce is both sad and angry - angry not only at the killer who's impersonating the Joker, but angry at Superman for not letting the angry mob kill the killer, who has now taken the life of his true love. Superman says he will help Bruce find the killer, but not let Bruce execute the killer. Bruce is furious at this, saying Superman is an "alien freak" who doesn't understand human feelings and can't possibly be the ultimate judge of who lives and who dies. Bruce tells Superman to leave now and never get in his way.

Bruce reenters the bat cave and gets to work on his revenge. He has a holographic version of Alfred assist him in his duties (this is because Alfred Pennyworth has since passed away.) Meanwhile, Superman flies to Smallville to clear his head and return to a place where things are more "normal." There, he runs into an old flame -- Lana Lang, who is extremely happy to see him. Throughout the whole second act of the script, Clark stays in Smallville and enjoys Lana's company. Bruce, meanwhile, has become Batman and started to take on the criminal underworld again, this time with a more violent fighting style. His search leads him to Toyman, a seedy machinist who constructs bombs and other "toys" for criminals. By torturing Toyman, Batman learns that no one is impersonating the Joker, but rather the Joker himself has returned. Thinking this impossible (because the Joker is dead), Batman goes to the Joker's grave and finds the coffin empty, with only a grotesque Jack-in-the-box there. Batman's search leads him to the city, where he gets into a streetfight with two chemically-enhanced warriors (called Jeeves 1 and Jeeves 2), before the grand appearance of the Joker himself. A chase/fight ensues, as Batman does his best to capture the Joker, but his best effort is unsuccessful.

At his home, we see the Joker ranting megalomaniacally and then killing his two Jeeves servants for insubordination (before creating two more "Jeeves" servants by injecting them with radical chemicals). Batman is now even more set on his quest for bloodthirsty vengeance, and not even Superman, who has finally returned, is going to get in his way. Superman goes to prison to visit Lex Luthor, thinking Luthor is in some way involved with the Joker's reappearance and plans. Luthors claims innocence. The conversation then turns to kryptonite, and Luthor says he was once involved in a government program to develop a gigantic kryptonite bomb that could be detonated in space - showering the whole planet with particles. The plan was designed as a last resort should Superman ever go haywire. Superman finds this difficult to believe. Meanwhile, Bruce is listening in on the conversation and realizes that kryptonite is still available to him, and he must have it to defeat Superman and then kill the Joker.

Batman goes to a government base and steals the kryptonite. Luthor escapes from the prison after admitting to his lawyer that he is indeed behind the whole Batman vs. Superman debacle and brought the Joker back to life with some DNA and a whole lot of money. (He then kills his lawyer and some guards to escape.) Batman appears at midnight at the Metropolis monument where the script began. Superman is there and the showdown begins. Batman shows that he has found kryptonite, then diluted it and forged into into his battle armor - meaning Superman will become "just a man" if he comes close enough. The two battle for quite a while, as Superman tries to keep his distance while Batman tries to stay on top of his opponent and pummel him while weak. The battle leads them away from the park into Metropolis, where Superman blows his cold breath and freezes Batman's armor. The armor breaks and Batman's kryptonite weapon/shield is no more. Superman then goes up to the stratosphere to soak in the sun, before charging down to confront Batman again. Batman pulls out his last option - a kryptonite arrow, then shoots a flying Superman with the arrow. Superman is unable to pull the arrow out and seems doomed. Batman leaves him there to die and goes back to the park to start his fight with the Joker. Superman, doesn't die, though, but slowly travels back to the monument to help Batman, who he fears will be killed.

At the monument, Batman meets the Joker face-to-face on the roof. The Joker reveals his story twist: When he was "recreated," he now saw that Batman was no more. To force Wayne into reprising his Batman persona, he needed to do something terrible - e.g., kill someone Bruce loved more than life. But the problem was: Bruce was a loner, and had no one that close to him (especially since Alfred had died). So the Joker paid a beautiful henchwoman named Elizabeth to fall in love with Bruce. Since the Joker knew Bruce better than anyone, he knew exactly the kind of woman she'd have to be to acquire Bruce's unconditional love. Standing on the roof, uncertain of what to think, Batman then has some flashbacks to the odd things that happened on the honeymoon, including an instance of a waiter that seemed to have green hair. Realizing that the love he lost never actually was, he is devastated and crumbles to the ground, ready to die. But just then, Superman staggers on to the roof. Realizing his grave mistake in blaming Superman, Batman comes to and battles the Joker. A weakened Superman then has to scuffle with Jeeves 3 and 4. The battle rages on. Superman finally outsmarts the two Jeeveses, then sees Batman finally overtake the Joker and start to crush his windpipe. Thanks to some pleading from Superman, Batman is unable to finish the task and kill the Joker. The Joker doesn't last long, though, as Luthor suddenly appears and pushes the Joker off the roof to his death.

Luthor reveals that everything was his plan. Then Luthor, wearing a government exo-suit (first seen when Batman stole the kryptonite), speeds up drastically and starts to pummel the two superheroes. It's a one-sided battle, and finally, Superman is at the edge of the roof about to die, when Batman grabs Lex and the pair fall off the edge. During the fall, Superman flies down and grabs Bruce, saving him, while Lex plummets to his doom.

This film is said to take around the same time; following the end of Batman Begins and continuing from Superman: The Movie. Both Superman and Batman were young, since those were origin stories, with Batman being in his mid-twenties, and Superman somewhere in his mid to late twenties physically (with the mind of a 30-year old). This film will tie into both franchises' and the comics continuity. This plot has some major elements in common with Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which climaxes in a fight between Batman and Superman. In that comic Superman also fears that Bruce Wayne has gone "over the line". The Dark Knight Returns along with Alan Moore's Watchmen forced the publishing company DC to reinvent their superhero universe along with Superman and Batman's relationship so that the previous best friends for many years turned unwilling allies who don't agree with each other's methods. For the last few years DC has successfully published the Superman/Batman book in which the two characters team-up as co-stars.

[edit] Project history

After the collapse of the troubled Superman Lives project, Batman vs. Superman was officially announced by Warner Bros in July 2002. The studio had been developing this project for years along with the McG and J.J. Abrams Superman film and the Darren Aronofsky and Frank Miller Batman: Year One project. The film was developed as a platform to revive both Batman and Superman franchises. The film was to begin filming in 2003 with a release in the summer of 2004. The project began to collapse when Petersen left the project to direct Troy in August 2002. The project was then left in limbo when Warner Bros. executive vice president (and project supporter) Lorenzo di Bonaventura resigned in September 2002 over his disagreements with WB president Alan Horn, who wanted to develop the J.J. Abrams Superman film. Batman vs. Superman was cancelled by the studio and the focus returned to creating separate Batman and Superman films, which evolved into Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, and Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. Recently, director Petersen said that he is still interested in pursuing this film as a future possibility.

[edit] Legacy

Batman vs. Superman left a gap in the planned 2004 slate of Warner Bros. The studio rushed to produce a superhero film to fill that gap. The result was the critically panned Catwoman. The McG/J.J. Abrams Superman project was cancelled when Abrams' lackluster script drafts reached the Internet to a very hostile fan reaction and the direction of the film could not be decided. The Aronofsky/Miller Batman project was also cancelled for a lack of progress. With failure on both fronts, Warner Bros sought new talent for their franchises. In 2003, director Christopher Nolan was hired to develop a Batman film which came in the form of the hugely successful Batman Begins. The following year, the studio hired director Bryan Singer to develop a Superman project which resulted in the slighty less successful Superman Returns.

[edit] Casting rumors

From the moment it was announced, many fans speculated who would be cast in the film. Here is a few of those rumors that made the rounds on the Internet.

[edit] Batman

[edit] Superman

Both Bale and Routh went on to portray their respective rumoured roles in Batman Begins and Superman Returns.

In addition, two of the other candidates for Batman appear in a superhero based movie: Colin Farrell played Bullseye in Daredevil, while James Franco played Harry Osborn in Spider-Man and its sequel. Hartnett, although not in a superhero film, appears at the prologue and last scene of the comic book movie Sin City.

[edit] Latest news

  • In June 2005, it was reported that Christian Bale and Batman Begins writer David Goyer were interested in making the film.
  • Brandon Routh said recently that he was not interested in the characters fighting. He would prefer a team-up. However, Superman Returns director Bryan Singer expressed interest in doing the film.
  • Wolfgang Petersen (Poseidon, The Perfect Storm), who left to do Troy, said it was a possibility that he would return to do the film.
  • At the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, Superman Returns cast members Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey presented the Best Hero award to Bale for Batman Begins, leading to some humorous banter between the two stars.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Superman in popular media
Actors: Bud Collyer • Kirk Alyn • George Reeves • Danny Dark • Christopher Reeve • Beau Weaver • John Haymes Newton • Gerard Christopher • Dean Cain • Timothy Daly • Tom Welling • George Newbern • Brandon Routh
Film: Superman (1948) • Atom Man vs. Superman • Superman and the Mole Men • Superman (1978) • Superman II • Superman III • Supergirl • Superman IV: The Quest for Peace • Superman Returns • Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Television: Adventures of Superman • Superboy • Lois & Clark • Smallville • Look, Up in the Sky!
Animation: 1940s cartoons • The New Adventures of Superman • Superman • Superman: The Animated Series • Legion of Super Heroes
Other media: Radio • Broadway Theater • Newspaper Strips
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