The Dark Knight Rises The TDKR General Discussion Thread - - - - - - - Part 156

[The Batman]

Who decides what encompasses all the core aspects of a character?

Who decides that The Batman is a more comic accurate version of Batman than DCAU or the Arkham games?

Amazing how little the most forceful fans have to say once they meet the smallest of pushback.

I mean, I've faced worse pushback then this. And those posters weren't nearly as smug about it.

What do you want me to say? If that's how you felt about it...ok. That aspect of your post was a nothing burger and didn't really merit much of a response.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Who decides that The Batman is a more accurate version of Batman than DCAU or the Arkham games?
I mean, I've faced worse pushback then this. And those posters weren't nearly as smug about it.

What do you want me to say? If that's how you felt about it...ok. That aspect of your post was a nothing burger and didn't really merit much of a response.

Like DK's, which you also avoided.

While the era of the Snyder Cult was particularly putrid, the general vibe of Batman fans has always been not great. And it's because so many decide their preferences equal some sort of objective idea of quality and faithfulness. The latter being used as a stick to try and beat fans of other takes on the character do to a general insecurity in the fanbase. Ironic considering the Caped Crusaders general success.

I would consider The Batman to be "more faithful" as it matches far more of Batman I've read and seen. But that's irrelevant. It's every bit as Batman as Nolan's take, or Burton's take, or Finger's take, or Morrison's take, etc.

Folks just need to admit when they simply prefer a take as opposed to try and hold it up the idea of false objective measurables to try and prove their favorites superior. Want to do that? Go watch sports.

 

[The Batman]

Like DK's, which you also avoided.

If I actually wanted to avoid either of you, I wouldn't have responded in the first place.

 

[The Joker]

Its not just Batman fans that do this. It happens across all the fan bases. I vividly remember back in 2010 when it was announced that Raimi's Spider-Man movies were over and a reboot was happening, suddenly everyone was s**ting on the Raimi movies. Even the beloved Spider-Man 2. Its what I call the fanboy cycle. Trash the previous version so the newer version will look superior.

The most ridiculous it got for me was when Jared Leto's Joker look was revealed with the grills, the stupid tattoos, the bling bling jewelry etc and people were propping it up by saying its a big improvement over Ledger's grungy make up and scars look. Those people may have legit believed it, but instead of praising the Leto look for what they think was good about it, they had to poop on the previous Joker (the one who was the only threat to the new version's popularity).

 

[The Joker]

I like gliding and putting people into electrical boxes. But Arkham is definitely not where I go to for characterization. Because outside of Joker and the Riddler... no bueno.

Outside of Origins. I actually quite enjoy the characters in Origins.

Arkham Origins legit had some great character writing and development. By far the best of the games in that regard.

I also preferred a lot of the character designs. Especially the women. Rocksteady would have had the likes of Sheva having her boobs hanging out.

 

[BatLobster]

I think part of what gets lost in the translation of all this stuff is how we’re defining terms. What does “faithful” even mean? Does it mean literal translation of the source material? Does it mean taking it seriously? Does it mean staying true to the core ideas, themes and characters? Depends who you ask. Especially when we’re talking about a character/story that constantly has evolved over time and been taken in radically different directions and tones in its original medium of comics.

If we ever somehow reached the Most Definitive™ movie adaptation of the character, that everyone magically agreed was “perfect”- then what would even be the point of ever making more movies? For me, that’s part of the joy of Batman as a franchise. We’ve gotten to see so many cool versions, and they’re all valid and have left their imprint on the character. I say we’re better off for that. I think a lot of fans have a definitive Batman in our heads and we just gravitate to the versions that get closest to that. Though tbh, my love for the Nolan films has more to do with how it changed my perception of a Batman movie and shot past a lot of my preconceived (admittedly childhood-based) notions of what that could even be, while still giving me a lot of what I wanted at the same time. Dark Knight Rises and its ending flat out transformed what the Batman story even means to me. The films had a profound and powerful effect on me, so I inevitably feel a bias when comparing any other future versions. I’m aware of it, but can’t help it. So yeah, for me it’s super personal which is why I don’t like getting bogged down into “this is true Batman and this is false Batman” kinda stuff. Though I do dislike when bad faith arguments are made, or the people making those kinds of claims clearly ignore or are ignorant of the full history of the character to tear something down.

 

[OnLeatherWings]

Folks just need to admit when they simply prefer a take as opposed to try and hold it up the idea of false objective measurables to try and prove their favorites superior.

This is the same point I was making on the previous page.

But seems when it comes from you, it's less contested.

I agree though.