If you haven’t seen the lastest ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ trailer, be forewarned! There are spoilers here!
The latest ‘Batman V Superman’ trailer hit last Wednesday and it put to rest the rumors of Doomsday appearing in the film. And by put to rest, I mean it made them not rumors anymore. They’re facts. Doomsday is in ‘Batman vs. Superman.’ I’ll speculate on his use in the movie by stating the obvious. After Batman and Superman fight, they will come together to take on Doomsday in act three. Spoiler. I’m sure there is some plotting about Lex creating Doomsday from Zod’s DNA or something, but that’s beside the point. Doomsday’s reason for being will be to give Batman and Superman a common punching bag.
Hollywood thinks that they are giving fans what they want by providing an epic fight scene with iconic characters. The fans think they are getting what they want too. DC’s trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman fighting Doomsday sounds awesome on paper. Such epic battles often look good on screen too, but the pressure to deliver a final spectacle–and to continually up the stakes–may lose more audiences than it gains. It’s overdone. Explosions are cliché.
Looking back at the reception of modern superhero media a deciding factor of a film’s popularity is the strength of the villain. Which villains are best? How about the guy in the iron suit fighting Iron Man? Or the guy in the shrinking suit fighting Ant-Man? Unless you know the comics, you probably don’t remember their names. The villains that matter don’t matter because of a fight sequence. They matter because they engage the hero, and the audience, intellectually. Loki, Wilson Fisk, and Kilgrave are bad guys with motivations and maneuvers who you know from their monologues and body language. Doomsday is a mindless abomination (pun intended) and every time such a contrived character is used it contributes to audience apathy over time.
I’m not saying that comic book movies are on their way out, that’s some other guy. Bad superhero movies can come out as long as a great one wins people back to the genre. I’m also not the guy who says ‘Batman vs. Superman’ sucks before seeing it. I’m saying that, if it is good, it won’t be good because of Doomsday. It’ll be good in spite of him.
