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I don't remember this photo of Michelle Pfeiffer in make-up was seen before, but it's the first time I've looked at it. Naturally, she looks great.

To celebrate the third anniversary of ZSJL's release, Snyder released a new picture of Knightmare Joker on VERO.

You can tell whoever made this edit read an earlier draft of the film; the ending of the scene is the same as it was originally scripted.

BATMAN - POV - The windshield SHATTERS into the statue.

EXT.  HELICOPTER - LADY GOTHAM - NIGHT

The helicopter EXPLODES into the left side of Lady Gotham's face. A tremendous fireball splits the night.

EXT.  GOTHAM SKY - NIGHT

Batman is falling. Still. Eyes closed. Maybe dead.

FLASHES OF (OVER) A SCREAM. Two SHOTS. A pair of roses hit pavement.

A BOY runs through a storm, a book clutched in his hands.

A FALL down a narrow stone chute, into a cave.

A BAT, huge, evil, SCREECHING.

TWO-FACE'S WORDS (OVER) - "YOU'RE A KILLER TOO."

https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman_forever.html

It was brought to my attention that before the news of the Matt Reeves Batman sequel was getting delayed for another two and a half years, the Arkham TV show project he wanted to produce for his Batman universe is instead going to be set in Gunn's DCU.

https://youtu.be/NKVAql_yVYI?si=w-sEOuqJJPie2rvm

DC insiders stated the dual strikes last year had impacted on fast-tracking the sequel - yet Gunn is writing and filming his stupid Superman AND Peacemaker at the same time. I suspect Gunn's a scab and wrote these projects during the strikes, but I still find the excuse rather dubious.

Either the following things are true:

1) Reeves is slowly getting pushed out, and WBD wants to incorporate his Batman in their DCU and turn the sequel into Brave and the Bold. At the moment, they still say Andy Muschietti is attached to direct it;

2) The Reeves franchise is getting scrapped because creepy Gunn wants to cast his own Batman, and Arkham is being hijacked and twisted to fit into his vision. After all, Superman and Lois got cancelled because the studio didn't want another Superman project to compete with the DCU version. Besides, why would Reeves go from playing studio politics to say Affleck is staying on when he wasn't, then the film becomes his own property...only to then produce another TV show for a competing vision of the character?;

3) There's no big deal, the film will get made and come out in 2026.

I don't have a stake in any of this, and I couldn't give a damn about these Batman reboots. But the fact that Gunn is writing Superman, Creature Commandos and another season of Peacemaker (despite he stupidly said the first season isn't even canon to his planned DCU continuity at all), goes to show everything not written by Gunn is getting shoved aside.

The sooner people realise Gunn is poison to the DC brand, the better.

I rewatched this recently.

I didn't like this much in my first watch, mainly because I thought the reveal of Darkseid being responsible for creating Doomsday to attack Metropolis and using Hank Henshaw as a pawn to conquer the world made Superman's two villains into puppets.

But after having an open mind, I gave it another watch and thought it was okay. Some of the quippy dialogue gets tedious, and I'm not a fan of Rainn Wilson's voice as Lex Luthor and much prefer James Marsters in Superman: Doomsday, but it's great to see Steel in action, Lois is just as much a fighter as she helps Superman regain his strength in the end by exposing him to the sun. Henshaw's unreasonable hatred of Superman ruining Darkseid's guaranteed raid on Metropolis was a nice little touch that inadvertently saved the day. Lex being the Machiavellian bastard he is made his own contribution to stop the threat when he brought the entire Justice League back after they were presumed dead, so two of Superman's greatest enemies contributed stopping a much greater threat, albeit to satisfy their own selfish means. So yeah, Reign is a better film than I initially gave it credit for.

With that said, Death of Superman is still the better film of the two, and the better adaptation of the comics than Superman: Doomsday was. While I don't think Superman: Doomsday is bad exactly, it does squeeze two stories into one film but making the story uneven and lacking character depth, where as DOS and Reign has better room to breathe. I gotta say though, I do prefer Lex as the cloning madman in Superman: Doomsday better than Reign though, as he clones Superman just to abuse him as his puppet because he was robbed of the opportunity to kill him by Doomsday. Lex was sinister in Reign, but his Doomsday counterpart controlling and abusing him is another level of pure depravity.

I finished reading Ed Brubaker's The Marvels Project: Birth of the Super-Heroes, a retelling of some of Marvel's (or Timely Comics rather) Golden Age era right in the beginning of WWII.

Great book, I really enjoyed the backstories of the original Human Torch and his desire to be understood and feel human coincided with Namor's misguided vengeance against humanity for his people getting butchered by the Nazis; leading up to a huge battle in Coney Island where Human Torch cemented himself as a hero and another battle where Namor's assault on NYC lead to Captain America and co rescuing those who were injured in the attack.

I enjoyed the little character moments with Heinz Kruger writing an unmailed letter to his wife on the night before he assassinated Dr. Erskine during Steve Rogers' Super Soldier experiment, the Angel becoming more driven after a fallen costumed hero he had inspired was killed, and Human Torch disguising himself as a cop because of his desire to always help people, as well as making up for the fires he accidentally set in NYC.

Recommended if you're interested in reading a modern take on the Golden Age.

The screenwriter for Coyote vs Acme said the ongoing talks on whether or not to shop the film to another studio is still ongoing, though admitted everyone involved with the film is heartbroken about the situation.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240311150101/https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/coyote-vs-acme-screenwriter-samy-burch-film-might-be-released-1234952737/

Even if this film does get released, it won't repair WBD's bad reputation. It's times like these that made me appreciate that ZSJL got released when it did, because it certainly wouldn't have come out today.

I can hear the case for a live action DC movie losing money and damaging the brand. But I doubt that's the case for these cartoons. The only way this would avert a disaster is if it were another Velma, which does not seem to be the case.

I don't think the whole "protect the DC brand" excuse holds any water after all the flops they've had over the past year. And if they were serious about animation, Velma would not have been renewed for another season.

While the Oscars have been incredibly unmemorable for years now, this particular segment featuring Danny Devito and Arnold Schwarzenegger reminiscing about their roles as The Penguin and Mr. Freeze, while addressing Michael Keaton, who stays in character as Batman throughout the whole thing, is a very fun comedy bit. 

I've seen many images comparing Keaton's confident demeanor and comparing him to old Bruce in Batman Beyond, and it's a damn shame that money is left on the table.

I appreciate Keaton is open to the idea of doing Batman again, but as long as his hater Gunn is around it won't happen. Unfortunately that damn Flash movie may have damaged his chances, knowing those deadbeats at WB.

Zack Snyder was interviewed by Joe Rogan the other day. Among a lot of things, Snyder touched upon the reaction towards Batman's killing in BvS, and spoke how he was inspired by deconstructionism and Miller's Dark Knight Returns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3suBldl7WOo&ab_channel=JREClips

I did chuckle when Rogan said he didn't know Batman doesn't normally kill in the comics, and he finds it ridiculous given the stakes.

Hypocritical Batman fans can make up excuses to give their favourite interpretations a pass all they want while trying to justify their condemnation for what happened in BvS. But at least BvS doesn't shy away from Batman's actions and state of mind throughout the film. The only other film that came close to that was Batman Forever.

As for Snyder's description of the "I believe you" scene in DKR in comparison to his version in BvS, some fanboys will insist Snyder misunderstood the scene. Not only was that scene ambiguous at best, even DKR animated director Jay Oliva believed Batman killed in that scene:

My interpretation was that he shot the thug in the head. I noticed the times Batman loses his s*** is when children are involved. He won't break his rule but if it would mean a child would be killed then I think he'd make an exception. Remember his parents died when he was a kid

We changed it in the movie to the hand to keep it simpler and to drive the narrative forward. That sequence needs a lot more exploration and deep dive into what Batman is willing to do or not to do for justice. I didn't have that luxury in the film to explore.

We barely had enough time to fit everything into 2 films as it was!

But I do find that concept fascinating. Especially in the context of a DKR Batman.

https://twitter.com/jayoliva1/status/1197982683608993792