Greetings,
So they recently announced that Ben Affleck will be Batman in the next Man of Steel movie. Whatever. That was one name I never heard thrown around, and, in my opinion, that may have been with good reason. But all of this got me thinking about something else. It has been over a year since The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, was released. I have heard and read a ton of reviews about it, good and bad, and I was actually planning to review it myself, along with the other two films. I have, though, decided against it, for a lot of reasons. Maybe someday. Still, there is one aspect of The Dark Knight Rises that I wanted to discuss.
If you want my personal opinion on this movie, it is quite similar to that of a lot of reviewers, which is that it was okay. Honestly, I think it just had a really tough act to follow in The Dark Knight. I think it had a lot of flaws, but it also had some good parts. However, there is one thing that a lot of us agree on and that is that the absolute best thing about this film was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Yes, I am talking about him again. And here is the point where I feel I must warn you of two things. First, I will be referring to said actor as JGL, a common nickname for him as well as something that is easier to type, a lesson I learned the last time I posted about him. Second, I will be giving spoilers. So don't read this if you haven't seen the movie already. Go see it, then come back. I say this because I care. And because I like getting a lot of blog hits.
So JGL plays this character named John Blake, who is a police officer. He was also an orphan who lived in a home sponsored by Wayne Industries, where he once met Bruce Wayne and then figured out that he was Batman. Okay. He was intuitive, I guess. He has a pretty good story arc here, ending with his quitting the GCPD and making his way to the Batcave, therefore, causing a lot of people to speculate about the continuation of the story. But there is this one thing that happens at the end that pretty much everybody groaned/rolled their eyes at. He goes in to get this package and the clerk is all, "You should use your real first name." Which is - Robin! What?
Yeah, many, many people thought that this was a bit of a slap in the face, since he was obviously not the Robin we know of in the world of Batman. And if the filmmakers thought that this was some kind of fun shout out? No! Look, here are the facts. Dick Grayson is Robin. Jason Todd is Robin. Tim Drake is Robin. Also, I think there was a girl one time. There is no Robin named John Blake. I think this was a cheap attempt at fan service that failed miserably. Now, you have one of the worst things about the film attached to the best thing. What's done is done, but I can't help thinking there was a much better way to deal with this character. I may have come up with one, yet it may be only plausible for hardcore fans of the Batman universe. I will do my best to explain this.
Okay, first, we need a name change. He can keep the John, that's fine, but his last name should have been McGinnis. If you are, in fact, a hardcore fan, you will probably recognize that as the last name of the lead character on Batman Beyond, a show about Bruce Wayne training a protege. Now, this would have been considered merely a shout out of sorts to that show for a couple of reasons. First, Batman Beyond was about a teenage boy, Terry McGinnis, being trained as the new Batman by a seventy or eighty year old Bruce Wayne, not the case in the movie. Second, we knew this was the last in a trilogy, so we wouldn't think things would go passed this ending. See, but then, instead of this ridiculous 'Robin' thing, the clerk could have referred to his real name as being Terry, which would make the fans start thinking things, especially about the future of the story. And they really could have used this to their advantage, if they chose to do so.
As soon as The Dark Knight Rises began to be seen, a lot of people were speculating that, perhaps, JGL could play Batman in some other franchise, such as a Justice League film. And when we heard that Batman would be included in the next Man of Steel movie, his name came up quite a bit. Frankly, I think if they would have done the scenario that I just explained, they could have brought him into that Superman franchise, not as the Bruce Wayne Batman, but as the Terry McGinnis Batman Beyond version. Yeah, it might have seemed weird to some people, but I think it would have worked.
But what do I know, right? I am merely a person who likes to state my opinion, and my opinion is that all of this would have been a great idea. And, by the way, I am not claiming credit entirely for this idea, since other people may have thought the same thing. I don't know, though. Maybe I'm just hoping for a Batman Beyond live action film. Maybe I'm wishing that The Dark Knight Rises would have been a better end to the trilogy. But, whatever I may be feeling, I thought I'd just share my thoughts on this with you all, as we hope and pray that Ben Affleck doesn't screw anything up for us in the Batman world. Still, I will say to him - Just be better than Batman and Robin, and you're already in the plus column.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
