Oh, what’s that? You thought that now that we’ve finally got some solid, official news on Batman vs Superman (as bad as it was), that we’d be done with all the rumours? Oh, you silly little goose. This is the internet; the place where rampant speculation lives. And today’s morsel of choice suggests that Joaquin Phoenix shouldn’t be getting attached to his hair, why Batman vs Superman was delayed and just how DC\WB think they can beat Marvel at their own game.
As always, none of this has been officially confirmed, but some aspects are more likely than others. And the first and most likeliest of the rumours concerns the three time Oscar nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix, who we’ve heard for a while now, from the sources of several different publications, will more than likely be donning the villainous black hat in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel. But just who will he be playing? Well Comic Book Movie’s sources confirm that – in what is possibly the worst kept secret on the internet – that Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor will be the main bad guy, and that the ball is currently in Phoenix’s court if he wants to sign on or not as the follically challenged criminal genius.
Speaking of hairdo’s, according to CBM, Henry Cavill’s Superman will be getting a bit of a makeover. His 1990’s Wall Street banker do will be trimmed shorter to closer the resemble the haircut sported by an older Superman in Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come, minus the grey but complete with the signature spit-curl.
As for the reported 10-month delay on the production, CBM reports that as suspected while Ben Affleck’s recent injury is indeed hampering his on-set action sequences as Batman, this is definitely not what led to the total delay. Instead it appears to be the result of a number of reasons, one being purely financial. Apparently the high cost of all the VFX that will be required to realise Wonder Woman’s island home of Themyscira has the Warner Bros execs still hemming and hawing about whether or not they actually want to show it onscreen or just merely make a reference to it.
The biggest of the rumours though, sees CBM’s sources confirm a story first put forward by Latino Review a short while back that stated that not only would Batman vs Superman shoot back to back with Justice League, but the the first film would end on a massive cliffhanger leading directly into the next. CBM’s sources further elaborated, saying that this would actually become DC’s new “thing”, where all the planned DC movies would end on cliffhangers that led to the next one.
This would clearly be done as a direct response to the Marvel films’ customary post- and mid-credits stingers, and would lend the DC film’s an episodic feel, that would story elements from one film continue into the next in one cohesive world building exercise.
This is certainly a very ambitious plan, and I have to admit that if executed properly – and more more importantly, if this is all actually true – it could be one hell of a brilliant game changer. The narrative forethought required and also the skill in writing a movie that is setup by its predecessor but can also stand as a whole by itself, will certainly be a daunting challenge, but creating this type of flowing storyline would go a long way to proving that not only can DC\WB strategize properly instead of their apparent current approach of just throwing things at a wall and seeing what sticks, but that all the stories will matter to each other and not just happen in vacuum, as some of the Marvel films have been accused of.
What’s more, on top of the cliffhangers, CBM’s sources claim that DC wants to develop very short films for their smaller, lesser known characters, and that these short films would then be aired at the end of the normal movies. This part of the rumour sounds a bit much to me, and if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that DC\WB are considering either of these options but not both simultaneously. The shorter film would be a direct copy of Marvel’s One Shot series, and clearly seen as such by the fans, so I have a feeling we wouldn’t see this come to pass as DC\WB clearly want to blaze their own trail here, and put one over on their well established competition.
And finally, CBM source claim that while Batman vs Superman‘s release date may be delayed, the marketing campaign will still kick off previously scheduled – I assume due to the fact that the type of merchandising/advertising contracts put in place for this movie would be hellishly expensive and no small task to completely reshuffle. This means that we won’t have to wait until 2016 before start seeing some promo materials, but that some images will be released in the coming months, as well as viral website going live on which fans can choose which side they support, Batman or Superman.
Personally, I support whatever side finally releases some official information on this film, so that we can find out if all these are nothing more than idle fanboy fantasies, or a real challenge to Marvel’s crown.
Last Updated: January 21, 2014
James Francis
January 21, 2014 at 13:15
All these plans, but they can’t figure out if they have enough money to show the island home of a secondary character.
(Nothing against WW, but it is Bats’ and Supes’ vehicle).