SHS v. Batman/Superman Marketing

Ever since the ComiC-Con announcement of the upcoming sequel to Man of Steel by Warner Bros., Dave, John and I (as well as several guest hosts who’ve joined our show) have been vocal on many occasions about our skepticism surrounding this movie. That criticism has included, but not been limited to, casting rumors and announcements, plotline rumors and hints, and an array of semi-questionable title choices that had circulated a while back.

Now it would seem that despite the film still being almost two years away from being “in the can”, the studio has announced an official title: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. They’ve even secured a website to showcase the new* logo they’ve created for this movie: http://batmanvsupermandawnofjustice.com/

  * NOTE: this new logo seems eerily identical to the teaser logo they showed off at Comic-Con

While we’ve been comfortable referring to this movie as Batman vs. Superman informally for months, most of us were of the assumption that this would eventually be replaced with something else – something like Man of Steel 2: Batman Rises or some such moniker that tied this new film more tightly to the originating film. The actual choice was frankly unexpected and in my opinion somewhat disappointing.

The first facet that jumped out at me with this title choice is the v. While there isn’t a solid consensus on the difference between v. and vs., there are some fairly strong usage conventions. Vs. is commonly used to denote conflicts, often fights or battles, between two parties or items (e.g., Pikachu vs. Mewtwo, Tyson vs. Holyfield, chocolate vs. vanilla). By contrast, v. is the written standard for any legal proceeding between either a criminal suspect and the governing body or two civil parties (e.g., Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education, Kramer v. Kramer). And while these are technically completely interchangeable, they rarely are used in the alternate fashions. So that leads me at least to the odd conclusion that this movie may be less of a physical confrontation between the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel and more of a potential legal battle where the Dark Knight takes the First Son of Krypton to court (possibly for damages to Metropolis, the Indian Ocean, and a certain Wayne Enterprises satellite that the Bat seems peculiarly concerned about). As fascinating as it may be to see such a suit to play out, I’m not sure that’s how I want to spent my $10.

Another factor to consider about the title is the order of the heroes surrounding the aforementioned v. Mark Hughes, a contributor over at Forbes.com who also weighed in on this title announcement recently, makes a salient observation about this in that putting Batman’s name first could imply that he is the challenger and aggressor in this contest (of what sort we do not yet know). While I don’t find this as objectionable as the v. issue, it is an intriguing implication.

The final point of note on the title is the subtitle. It really comes as no big surprise since leaks and the rumor mill have been beating us over the head with the idea that this will be a Justice League setup and an actual Justice League movie will be next on the docket, right on the heels of this movie. But the not so subtle nod feels a bit too kitschy. It almost makes me think we should expect other punny references on future offshoot movie projects. Maybe they’ll do a Wonder Woman movie (finally) and call it Wonder Woman: In a League All Her Own. Or perhaps an Aquaman movie called Aquaman: Deep Justice.

All this said, I don’t hate the title. I just expected more for some reason. Or maybe I just expected something different. I can’t really put my finger on it. But in a year when most news from DC/WB regarding their TV and movie endeavors has led to a sigh and some degree of resignation, this announcement was no exception.

My last note of criticism on this announcement is regarding the logo. And that note isn’t that I have an issue with the logo – I actually like it and think it works well. But rather, my issue is that the logo was revealed as if it were some new surprise artwork, when in fact we’d all seen it months ago already, both officially and several times since unofficially in the form of fan-made posters that summarize the array of casting rumors that have swirled around this feature film.

All in all, as I said before, this announcement was a humdrum reveal from WB on this topic. And as I’ve stated on our show before, in my opinion the best news that could be coming out of the studio while we are still 2 years from the release of this film (and even up to one year away from release) is none at all. Keep quiet, get the script right, make a great movie full of interesting action and drama (and maybe some comedy for a change – the Joss Whedon kind, not the Richard Lester kind). Cast who you need to cast to fit the parts, telling us about those choices is optional. Focus on getting the tone and story right rather than keeping us as fans in the loop about the ideas as they arise.