DC Universe Thread
 

Superman Returns Sequel:

Bryan Singer appearently has better things to do: instead of moving on to the next Superman feature, he's working on a 'thriller' with Tom Cruise starring. Odd, he seemed so down with Supe's that I thought he'd start out on the next one atleast at a pace faster than the gap between X1 and X2. It must be noted that Singer has a history of finding better things to do. There were rumors that the next Superman would be shelved and JLA (see below) would kick a kick-start early with Brandon Routh starring. Those rumors were quickly dissolved with the powers to be saying the next Superman (rumored to called "Man of Steel") is going just fine, with Metallo and Brainiac as possible villains. The gun-turrent dude from 'Returns (Eye-of-Steel scene) may even have been John Corben...

Kate Bosworth may not return.

Batman Begins Sequel:

Most of us are pretty much up to speed here: The movie will be called "The Dark Knight" with the most talked about news being Jokers inclusion as the central villain. Joker ofcourse is being bought to us by Heath Ledger with a darker edge about the character than the stuff we've already seen. The movie should begin production right about now, with a release next Summer. The batsuit will be updated for anyone who cares, with an emphasis on 'cloth'. There's also talk of a Bat-Cycle, too. Cool. The theme of 'Begins was fear, and the theme for Dark Knight may be "things getting worse before they get better." They say the title also also has multiple meanings. Could Gotham City suffer some kind of mass blackout while the Joker goes on a killing spree? Note that many of Joker's earlier comic exploits usually had him pulling some city-wide crisis that Batman had to work double-time to fix. Also in the movie is Harvey Dent played by Aaron Eckhart. His inclusion reveals the villain for Batman's third feature.

Katie Holmes will not return. She's been replaced by Captain Marvel's sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Captain Marvel:

SHAZAAM!!! And with a blast of thunder, Jake Gyllenhaal (Day After Tommorrow) is most surely, very likely, gonna maybe portray Captain Marvel (one of the few characters who could beat Superman's ass without Krrrryptonite). I'm kinda definately sure of the possibility of his consideration.

Flash:

Ryan Renalds is up for the part as Wally West. For the most part I agree with this casting. They're talking about getting into the science of super-sonic speed rather than 'him running really fast'.

Wonder Woman:

Joss Whedon dropped out of the project, which disappoints me to no end. There's also talk of setting it in WW2's era. This may have been in the old comics but really... c'mon...

JLA:

Okay... WB really wants to get this thing going, abondoning their old plan of having 'the big three' set their movie franchises first then teaming them up (would've took too long anyway). I'm sure Marvel pressing for their Avengers feature has a little to do with that. Brandon Routh is definately heading up this one, but Christian Bale didn't seem likely to appear as the Bat because A) the current Batman creative team doesn't wish to merge their darker realistic Batman with a likely bright-n-epic team-up feature and B) JLA is moving on faster than the new Batman franchise can catch up with. Still, Christian Bale has said that he signed to three contracts with the last one being "some sort've team-up." It appears Batman will be on the team afterall (thank GOD). I wonder if Wonder Woman will make the team, her franchise being on the fritz. I also wonder what other heroes will make the team...

So what do you guys think? Exciting couple of years ahead?

Cannot wait for The Dark Knight. Flash interests me greatly too, as I've always loved the Flash. Can take or leave Wonder Woman, especially now that Whedon is out. Captain Marvel sounds interesting. I never particularly cared for the character before, but the recent Trials of Shazam series has sparked a bit of interest for me, so maybe I can learn to love it.

Well the next Batman being the Dark Knight , I just hope it leads to a Dark Knight Returns movie. :drool:

Unlikely. Any kind of Elseworlds story would be hard to adapt into a film without damaging live-action continuity.

Dark Knight Returns is probably a good candidate for one of DC's animated movies.

Speaking of which, Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly) is gonna be voicing Superman in The Death of Superman movie.

I highly doubt we see a JLA movie anytime within the next few years.

where is Lobo?

Adam Baldwin as the voice of Supers? :wtf:

Natural choice.


:shifty:

I am the Shadow...

He's up there with Eddie Izzard as Thord. :D

Ryan Reynolds for the Flash is a great casting choice, Man I used to love The Flash

Super Max:

Here's an interesting one: David Goyer (Batman Begins) and another writer (Justin Marx) are planning on a Super-Hero movie not unlike the premise of Con-Air. Essentially it's a Green Arrow movie that'll feature low-level DC villains in a max-security prison. Oliver Queen gets convicted and thrown in a spot he help populate. Can we hope for Slade/Deathstroke to appear? What I like about this idea is somebody is doing something more along the lines of comics than superhero-features. Comics are often home to absurd situations that normally would never see the light of Live Action. Maybe this project will convince movie makers that superheroes are more than Origin Story, Sequel to Origin Story...

Late Edit: Super Max could've been a Marvel Comics tale...

That's a cool idea. Green Arrow is the man.

Surprised there's no Green Lantern rumblings

I'm certain one of the GL's will appear in JLA. I rather see a GL Corps movie, m'self. It'd be something like Star Wars with a DC spin.

Superman/Doomsday trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eTf-VzgAWaE

Supposedly these new animated movies were supposed to be based on the look and art of the comics from which they are based. But the animation looks just like Justice League Unlimited, with a few changes (Lois looks slightly different).

Looks like the story is gonna be radically changed too. Aside from Superman and Doomsday fight and "kill" each other.

On the other hand, based solely on that little line Superman says at the end, The Man Called Jayne is gonna do a good job voicing him.

Looks nice.

looks awesome....cant wait...heard it was still like four months away

I have never been a big Superman fan really. He was always too much of a pansy. Should be wiping enemies out left right and center with his powers. I prefered the superman from the Justice Lords:y: even though technically i guess he was a villan....

Can't WAIT for next live action Superman movie.

I can, the last one was a bit shit really.

It was 2 hours too long, but they only had 35 minutes of plot.

Superman's so hard to write. He's an uncompromising Knight in Shining Armor who also has only one physical weakness. I mean, it's fine seeing the damsel in distress, but it gets old.

Especially since Superman doesn't have a really strong, recognizable villian to compiment him. Lex Luthors plots get old and he's not on Superman's level. That's why Batman and Spiderman have a lot more to offer as a film franchise, because they have a strong, deep rouges gallery.

I was hoping the film would have a villan like Doomsday or DarkSide, not Lex Fucking Luthor AGAIN. The whole thing bored the shit out of me. The most intriguing part of the story was the fact that he had buggered off across the universe for two years looking for home....and the best they came up with?....he didn't find anything.....wow....way to go:y: I also hated the whole son of superman, that sucked. The film was well put together and i really rate Singer, but Superman Returns was a wasted opportunity of the highest order.

If the do make another one it better not have Lex Fucking Luthor in it AGAIN.

lol KK @ what you just did.

Yeah, plus, Spider-Man's morality works better. IT's easy to be high and mighty when you're invincible. Superman's moral issues are about as solid as a dozen eggs....

Batman can chew hrough mooks, but always looks comparable to his bad guys. Hell, Bats and Spidey LOSE at points. Superman dies, once...And that's the most tension he's ever experienced.

Darkseid motherfuckers.

Aside from the time he was driven insane by Brainiac, gave up his role as a hero after being forced to kill General Zod (though I think both of those stories have now been retconned out), was manipulated by Max Lord into nearly killing both Batman and Wonder Woman, lost three different Supergirls in one way or another (one of which had claimed to be his daughter), had his protege beaten to death by a psychotic version of himself from another universe, and has to deal with the fact that his best friend from childhood is now his sworn enemy (depending on which origin story they use) then yeah, Superman's life is right as rain.

I'd still say Peter Parker had the shittiest life. But yeah, Supes had some messed up events. And Batman's a maniac who needed a creation of his to kill hundreds of low-level heroes and assist an alternate Luther even crazier than ours in killing billions(!) to let him know that he is in fact, a maniac.

Superman is adored and praised. Spiderman is misunderstood and hated, and Peter Parker lives a poor life with all kinds of problems stemming from his duties as a superhero. He has human problems and human weaknesses. Everything is hard for him, but he can't use it as an excuse since he's juggling two seperate lives.

If Parker needs a gift for Mary Jane he can't just zip around the world and get her something from Italy, he has to scrounge up 5 dollars in change and probably never makes it to her apartment without having to answere the call of justice. Or when he's having problems he can't just sit down with his Aunt Mae and vent, or fly to Antartica to chill in his private condo made of crystals with a fully interactive Uncle Ben. He has the same stress, even more, than any normal person. That's what makes him a deeper character, and more identifiable with an audience. His vulnerabilities make him human, and they allow for him to have a range of emotions and weaknesses for his enemies to compare to.

Superman's enemies have to be pure Gods to stack up to him, and that's just no fun. No Superman enemy has what it takes to compliment. Superman runs off of the nostalgia and recognition of his logo, and the fact that he's the original end all be all of superheroes. That's the only reason he's still cookin. People look at him as an Alpha Male hero from heaven, whereas people look at Peter Parker as the person in all of us. People look up to Superman as the perfect person, the flawless hero. People indentify with Parker as the average Joe.
That's why Superman's villians just don't stack up. They're nothing. Lex Luthor is the best the franchise has to offer, and he's just a rich tycoon who doesn't compliment Superman well at all really.
Batman has the Joker and Penguin, and Spiderman has Green Goblin and Venom. They're all almost as deep, interesting and well known as their hero foes.

Okay, fanboy...Settle down there.

Just picture Superman being faced with having to deliver the pizzas within 5 minutes or being fired. It was interesting with Spidey, because you knew he could probably pull it off just barely with his speed and tools, but it would be hard. With Superlame, he just zips there, changes and delivers the pizza's with a smile and keeps his job. Where's the fun it that?

rofl. I feel so bad for Superman, he's got it so rough. Being able to take bullets to the eybeball and fly to the sun and all...

Venom is not a deep character.

Anyways I love Superman and Spider-Man, each for different reasons. They're both entertaining characters, responsible for some of the best stories ever. 'Nuff said.
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The Punisher kicks everyones ass. :cool:

Unless you're familiar with Eddie Brock and his girlfriend, and the duality theme that he represents with Spiderman

:roll:

Hey, I might as well pull from the source material if I know it.

Anyway, one of the things that always irks me when people bring up the old "Superman is boring because he's too strong" is that more often than not, they've never picked up a Superman comic, and base their arguments off of the popular image of him from either the Christopher Reeve movies or that awful 'Superfriends' cartoon.

Agreed.


Not so much.

Obviously.

The Tick

Nuff said!

He wouldn't even accept a tip. Nancyboy motherfucker.

Oh wait. He was once mind controlled into doing something bad. That changes everything. :|

Of course, Superman IS too strong. Sure, they nerfed him after Crisis, but they've made a character where the only way to keep him contemporary is to "power creep" da bad guyz. Superman spent the better part of 50 years being way too powerful, and was finally downgraded, but to "too powerful."

Now, they've temporarily re-envisioned him like 9 million times, each time giving him vulnerabilities and the like, but really, the guy's always been overpowered. And the comics are actually worse for this, because he's more than just "I stand in the way of bullets," he's a bloody supercomputer.

Superman is an incredibly complex character. The problem is that he is so complex that most writers have no idea what to do with him.

I could try to explain, but I would just fail miserably because my communication skills and way with words are crap.

In my opinion, Superman is just one of those characters that you either "get" or "don't get".

Agreed. He's either easy to write or impossible to write, whereas Batman's fictionally easy to work with.

There's nothing not to get. What there is to get is that he's iconic, he's the quintessential superhero. the original and the template, and is a major part of American culture. That's what makes him classic.

But as for him being complex and writers having no idea what to do with him...that's actually the exact opposite of what is the case. Superman is primal, and he's popular for being just what he is.

He's far from complex though, and in any case ever where the company or writers have tried to make Superman deeper, or make him more human and deal with heavier things, or even change him to be less cheesy and more vulnerable and realisitic..it has failed miserably.

They've tried to make Superman more complex, since he clearly isn't. They've tried to make him more deep and his status as a Superhero more on par with characters like Batman and Spiderman, who are able to evolve and change and do different things as well as have a wider range of emotions and weaknesses to work with.

But since it fails everytime with Superman, it has become clear that the people who want to see Superman don't want to see him change. He just has no flexibility. He has to be the all powerful, squeaky clean, all american hero with only one weakness and every power under the sun (no pun intended). That's where his appeal is rooted and that's where it ends.

So people who don't like Superman for these reasons never will, and his character doesn't allow for this to change. But in order for him to stay around they need to stick to the basics and have him be the same one trick pony generation after generation. Some will get sick of it, some never will want it, and others will be content to see a perfect tall dark handsome God-like Patriotic citizen from the 30's save the damsel in distress month after month. He's the small town farmboy who went to the big city and became a hero after his father died. It's called a Jungian hero journey. It's in just about everything, and sometimes it's coupled with a complex plot and variables. Other times it's straight forward and simple, like in Superman.

That's how it is, and that's probably how it will always be. But he is far from complex.
At least not as a charcter. The subject of why such a simple thing is successful, and it's primal nature and archetypes are a whole other story. You can teach an entire class on how deep that is in terms of it's relation to mythology and human nature, and how Superman mirrors the story of Moses and what not. But pound for pound, in the context of his stories, Superman is as simple as it gets for a hero.

So, The Rock might play Black Adam in a Shazam! film. That would be so crappy.

Batman is the only good thing DC ever produced. Ever.

Not that Marvel is so great, but they at least have X-Men, Iron Man and Captain America.

Generally, comics suck.

I don't know if you're referring to movies or comics.

BUt DC have a ton of great characters. Do they all translate to film? No. Many of them are not popular enough and a good majority would be difficult to translate/gain an audience for.


Movie-wise, DC has Batman, Batman Begins, Superman and Superman II. But they also unfortunately have Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Superman 3, 4, and Catwoman.

I'm on the side of "enjoyed Superman Returns and Batman Returns."

DC is great for Batman. I don't mind Green Lantern, and although I despise Superman and find him extremely dated, he is a legendary cashcow. Aside from Joker and the rest of Batman's villians, they have no good villians.

However, Marvel has Spiderman, Hulk, X-men, Iron Man, Captain America, Punisher, Daredevil, Blade, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer and a wealth of great villians.

Filmwise, not all of those have translated well. Some not at all. But nonetheless, in the world of comics their stacked with legendary characters with a lot of depth and mainstream recognition. As well as being a lot cooler and creatively stronger.

I have always disliked DC and all they bring to the table besides Batman and Gotham.

Marvel > DC, IMHO

I don't think Batman Forever is good by any means, but I do feel it gets a worse rap than it deserves. It sucked, but it's made out to be worse than it is because of how bad Batman and Robin ended up being.

Superman Returns was well done I felt, but it just didn't do much for me.
Batman Begins was extremely well done, and I realize its truer to the comic book form of Batman, but to me Batman 89 is Batman.
Batman Returns is awesome, but it's...different.
Hopefully Dark Knight is amazing.

I'm talking about comics, cartoons, movies, everything. Batman is the only good thing to come from DC (well and the Batman bad guys).

Marvel really isn't that great, and personally I think Spider-Man is one of the biggest pieces of super hero trash ever made (even worse than Superman). I liked him as a kid, but as I've gotten older I have really grown to hate Peter Parker a LOT. Anyway, Marvel is generally better, though still not great. I guess I should confess I never got too into Comics in general, found a lot of them to be hoaky and to esoteric. But I LOVED Captain America (which technically was made by Marvel's predacessor) and Iron Man was the shit. Plus, X-Men was probably my favorite comic series of all time, so, yeah...

Marvel > DC

I enjoy DC over Marvel. Yeah.

What I didn't get was the main criticisms all seemed to be based on the fact that it was comic bookish.

Well duh? It was based on a comic book? They went for a different direction?

Granted, I like the '39 batman. The Dark Knight from Pulp/Noir mags. So mostly, I prefer the first two, and then Begins was fucking awesome. But still....

Marvel vs DC was as mismanaged, mismatched and poorly executed as the WWFvsWCW invasion.

Talk about shitty matchups and a dissapointing execution of a dream angle.

Yea, I think it's clear that they were trying to shy away from Burtons darkness.
It worked in Batman 89, and then in Returns it got a bit darker and more bizarre. I liked it. But they were worried about how many action figures they could sell. They wanted it to be more kid friendly. Hence their seperation from Burton and Keaton, and the new direction.
With Forever they tried to segway from dark to campy. It's somewhere inbetween, so though it's not great, it isn't abysmal.
Batman & Robin was the intended goal. To make it campy. It failed miserably.

Batman Forever and B&R are based on the campy element of Batman from the 60s which is for better or worse just as much a part of Batmans legacy as the origins and dark roots. People rejected it, because of course the Batman of the 30s and 80s is much cooler. But they were only trying something new, and it was a failed gamble. I don't think they were trying to make a serious movie and failed, but instead succeeded in making a cheesy movie and it didn't go over well.

Not to mention Hulk/Superman was the most annoying. I expected Supes to Win, but it was like "Hey, one shot and you're down."


Crossovers are generally annoying. It took Batman one punch to take out Carnage. It took Spider-Man longer to drop the Joker. :|

B&R was awful. Forever was something new, with both a noir feel and a comic book feel. That and I liked Kilmer as Batman. The last movie of the four was pure Cheese, and more poorly executed than the TV show.

I can see why people would think it tried to be serious, with the way Clooney played Wayne, etc.

It's worth noting that the 60s Batman saw a near-death to Batman, because it just didn't move.

Yea, that's ridiculous.
Batman and Spiderman should have been a matchup from the getgo in Marvel vs DC.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/superhero.../batspider.jpg


Hulk vs Superman was mismatched. Aside from brute strength, whats the point there.
Iron Man vs Superman technically would have been a better more interesting fight.

Storm vs Wonder Woman and Silver Surfer vs Green Lantern were the only logical matchups.
Spidey vs Superboy?!

Kilmer really wasn't bad at all. Even Bob Kane said he preferred him best. Forever looks like a classic next to its sequel. I won't lie, I dug Carrey's Riddler.

60's Batman almost killed Batman, you're right. Unfortunately for years what was originally a dark, brooding vigilante became labled as Zap!Pow!Bam! and total camp bullshit.
Thanks to the comics of the 80s and Burtons take on it, it came back full circle and better than ever. Luckily Schumacher only crippled it and didn't kill it again.

In regards to Marvel vs DC, I used to do better crossovers with my action figures in my back yard back in the day.

Damn, I used to love my Xmen, Batman, and Spiderman animated series figures. Fantastic Four and Iron Man ones were great too. Shit, I even collected those Superman figures where he had the long hair.
Those were the days...

Wolvie and Lobo made sense too but was like... 3 panels?

yea that was okay. It did make sense to comic fans, and Lobo is a cool character, but at the end of the day he wasn't on Wolverines level to most people, especially at a time where Xmen was all the rage.

Wouldn't Wonder Woman vs Rogue make a bit more sense?

Meh, I think the Storm thing was fine.

Amalgam was the worse thing ever however. Dark Claw *scowls*

Actually - Thor/Wonder Woman would have made more sense than Captain Marvel/Thor. And I liked the concept of a Surfer/Lantern battle.

Doesn't matter either way, I suppose. I just thought Rogues strenths were a bit more comparable.

Superman is just too stacked to face anyone fairly.
Other than that, their depth lacks past Batman. I'd rather have just seen Batman run the gauntlet against Marvel haha

Or else a long, epic Secret Wars type storyline.

And Batman/Daredevil would have been the best option for Bats.

Yea Surfer/Lantern made a lot of sense. Since they were doing heros vs heros, I don't see how it would have hurt to bring in villians as well. It's all just a tweener clusterfuck, so why not just bring in popular villians that are more suited for certain matchups?

I still need to buy hte Secret Wars. haven't read those or the All/Unlimited Access series to this day.

Marvel vs DC made me stop reading.

Punisher is a pretty sensible one too.

I thought Lobo was a heel :$

Anyway, back to one of the original convos. Superman is a boring twat. That is all.

I need to check out the Batman/Spiderman/Carnage/Joker crossover. I'm familiar with it, but I've never seen or read the actual series.
Spidey and Bats are my 2 favorites all time probably, along with the Xmen.
And Joker and Carnage are gods among villians to me.

There's a lot of dynamic there for a great fued. Not just because their both awesome, but they both have enigmatic personalites and similar backgrounds when it comes to training.

Superman sucks. Can't stand how painfully boring and overpowered he is. Nothing fun about him. I'd be happy if I never saw another Superman anything ever again.

Also, reading a bit at the moment. Apperently Lobo turned into a face around the mid-90's and somehow was turned back into a teenager and joined Justice League.....


Yeah, DC can fuck themselves. Not saying that Marvel doesn't have equally convaluted/retarded storylines, but fuck that one may take the cake.

Yea, they just don't have the depth and wealth of characters that Marvel does. Batman and Superman keep them going.

Infinate Crisis saved them.

I dunno, DC just doesn't catch my interest. I haven't read their newer stuff, but their good guys were just that, good guys with cool/powers abilities. And barring Batman's and well... Luther, they have no dynamic heels. Where as most everyone in Marvel has someone cool to fight.

Batman is a diamond in the rough as far as DC goes. He has such an amazing rogues gallery.
It's in the air between Batman and Spidey as for who has the better villians.

Batman to me always has had the better villans. I mean, Spiderman probably has the best 3 villians, but the general class of villians Batman has the overall better group.

Either way they're 1 and 2 in that department, which is a big reason why their franchises have more longevity and depth when it comes to the silver screen.

See, that's just it. Villians make the hero. In DC, threats to the earth/saving people are the biggest threats that theirs heroes face. In Marvel they have to save people AND not die. Almost all villians have a pretty good shot of killing the hero. Adds interest. Been my huge gripe with Thor. I would love Thor if he fought Apocolypse and Surfer, and just decent fucking people on a regular basis.

Batman and Spidermans villians compliment them amazingly as well.

Most of Spideys villians have a personal link to him, or are characters similar to him. They are ordinary people involved in accidents or a chain of events that lands them with great powers. They make the oppostie choice. In many cases, they are even animalistic personas. Then theres Venom and Carnage which a whole other level of duality.

With Batman, you have a lot of people who use the theatrical to impose fear and make their persona. They have little or no super powers, but they are just rounded criminals to compliment the Batman detective. They have a gimmick so to speak, and have the whole split personality thing going on.

Other great villians include the Brotherhood to the Xmen,
or Dr. Doom to The Fantastic Four.
Like Bat's and Spidey's, these villians are similar and complimentary to their opposition.
Red Skull is a brilliant compliment to Catpain America,
Hulk has always lacked a definitive and reconnizable arch villian. His main struggle comes from within, and his bad side.


Superman lacks this, as do 99.9% of DC characters

The teen Lobo was a defective clone of Lobo that called himself "Slobo" and he joined Young Justice until he died.

Adult Lobo still around and kicking and being a mercenary who kicks people's asses.

As far as crossovers go... JLA/Avengers was far better than DC vs. Marvel.

I dunno. I enjoy both companies but dislike them both as well. If I really had to choose, I'd go with DC. I just enjoy the stories slightly more. I think the writing is better. Infinite Crisis was good not great, and it came out soon after House of M which I thought was god awful. But Civil War was an improvement.

I don't even read too much Superman or Batman solo unless I hear good things, so I just read Superman/Batman, which is only decent. But from DC I read JLA, JSA, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Jonah Hex, Checkmate, Teen Titans, Outsiders, Nightwing, Starman (one of the greatest series of all time).

From Marvel I read New Avengers, New Excalibur, Runaways, Ultimate Xmen/Spiderman (in trades so I'm not caught up yet), Punisher, Daredevil. That's pretty much it.


But DC's Vertigo and Wildstorm imprints pretty much blows anything Marvel out of the water; Preacher, Ex Machina, Loveless, Fables, Jack of Fables, Y The Last Man, Sandman, Hellblazer, DMZ, The Invisibles, 100 Bullets, Transmetropolitan, Astro City, Stormwatch, The Authority, Sleeper.

God damn so much good shit. I seriously recommend all of the above if you haven't read them.


So DC > Marvel but really, I love both. Image with Noble Causes, Invincible and Walking Dead is good shit too.

I give a HIGH 5 TO COMICS

Superman/Batman is pretty bad... honestly, the solo Superman and Batman stuff is better. Both Superman and Action Comics are pretty good right now, and Detective Comics is pretty awesome right now, being written by Paul Dini, the guy behind Batman: The Animated Series.

:y: for Starman. I've only ever read my friend's copies of the trades, but definatley plan on getting it for myself when I have... you know... money.

I actually used to be into Dark Horse and all the Star Wars and Aliens/Predator shit.

And I always love McFarlane's Spawn from Image.

Batman and Green Lantern have always been favorites of mine, and I even dabbled in Superman.
All in all, I love the world of comics.
But I've been gung ho Marvel since I can remember having memories. I grew up on Spidey and Xmen, and in all fairness Batman just as much.
Comics and the whole community was in such a great boom in the late 80s/early 90s.
I've lost interest aside from the movie projects to be completely honest

Detective with Dini is great. I picked up the first trade. So good.

I'm contemplating dropping Supes/Bats...it's just not holding my interest anymore...

But yeah, Starman gets 19372894 thumbs up from me.

What's Kevin Smith up to these days? He still doing any work with Black Cat or DD?

I haven't heard much about him doing anything comics-wise. His Blackcat series just sort of...disappeared. I dunno how I feel about his comic writing. His DD was ok but his Green Arrow was really good...I wouldn't mind reading something else from him.

That's the problem, really. Batman has a lot of rivals in Marvel. That is, people who could rival him and make a cool fight. Beyond that, there's rarely anyone of interest. I couldn't name a good foe for Spider-Man. Supes is just so ridiculous you need one of Marvel's plot devices (Captain Universe or some such) to give him a real rival.

There's a limited number of good matchups at higher levels.

Even Cap makes sense though. A paladin, a true goody goody super hero, vs the Dark Knight. I liked the contrast. Doesn't look as good as Bats/DD though.

Maybe your gauntlet idea is better after all.

Superman could go up against The Sentry now, I suppose. Though Sentry has psychological problems and so that isn't a real fair matchup either.

Iron Man probably is still the best bet. Or maybe someone like Nate Grey. Maybe. I don't know how powerful he's been of late. Or even Nova, if he was juiced enough. Nova's significantly less popular, from what I gather.

I actually like McFarlane's comics. Spawn is a great character. He has a ton of depth and a great story that makes him very relateable. I think if they did it right, that could have been a great movie.

In terms of cross-overs, i found a spawn vs. batman comic and it had batman kicking his ass, which doesnt make sense, but whatever.

The Rock would make a good Black Adam.

Batman was killed by Spawn in the crossover I read.

well i only saw one in a comic store and batman was pummeling him because it said spawn couldnt hurt someone with a pure soul or something like that. Which is not necessarily true of batman but whatever.

Fight I saw went like this: Spawn and Bats fight. Bats starts winning, Spawn starts winning, Spawn kills Bats, Spawn sees good in him, Spawn brings him back