(Super)Men Are Still Good
DC Rebirth and Batman v Superman
Warning: This post
contains spoilers for both DC Universe Rebirth #1 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice.
Hope and optimism. These are, according to Geoff Johns, the
words at the forefront of DC Rebirth, DC’s new initiative. It all kicked off
last Wednesday, the 25th May 2016, with the 80-page one shot DC Universe Rebirth #1, written by Johns himself.
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| Above: Geoff Johns |
The one-shot saw the return of Wally West, the former Flash
and Kid Flash, a character that was thought be have been completely wiped from
continuity in DC’s 2011 reboot, the New 52. The character of Wally West – or
rather a character called Wally West
– had returned before in the New 52, in the pages of Flash, but this was a completely new Wally West, with a different
backstory, look and personality.
But the Wally West that returned in DC Universe Rebirth #1 was the original Wally West, the pre New 52 Wally,
the character that first appeared in The
Flash #110 back in 1959. This is the Wally that was president and only
member of the Blue Valley Flash fan club, the original Kid Flash, the man who
took up the mantle of the Scarlet Speedster when Barry Allen sacrificed his
life to save the multiverse, the man who was a member of the Teen Titans, the
Titans, the Justice League Europe, the JLA and Justice League Elite (although
we don’t like to talk about that last one), the man who married Linda Park and
had two kids. And with Wally’s return comes a shocking revelation that changes
the New 52 universe. The Wally West currently appearing in The Flash is not the pre-New 52 Wally’s alternate universe counterpart,
but a distant cousin. Because the universe of the New 52 is not, as previously
believed, a separate continuity from the pre-New 52 universe, but the same
universe – minus ten years.
Somebody has stolen ten years from the universe, and as a
result things are now different. Relationships between heroes, both friendship
and romantic, are weakened or missing, seasoned veterans are now relative
rookies, and heroic legacies have been wiped from existence – including Wally,
the Kid Flash turned Flash, himself.
This in itself is some pretty meta stuff. First and
foremost, it addresses – in universe – changes, often unpopular ones, which
were made in the New 52 reboot. Characters that were married – Barry Allen and
Iris West, Clark Kent and Lois Lane, for example, now never were. Green Arrow
and the Black Canary, one of the most iconic relationships in the DCU, was
removed from continuity, the two characters barely – if ever – interacting in
the New 52.
The New 52 also made characters younger, less experienced,
and characters that had grown throughout the years from teen heroes or
sidekicks into experienced heroes in their own right were now teens again
(Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven, for example), or wiped from continuity. While, as
I mentioned above, some character wiped from continuity in the New 52 relaunch
had begun appearing again – Wally West, Donna Troy, Stephanie Brown, Ted Kord –
their past histories were erased and they were often given completely new
backstories and personalities, so they might have well have been completely new
characters.
But DC Universe Rebirth #1
isn’t just about getting meta about the last five years.
Wally: A darkness
from somewhere has infected us. It has for a long time now, I think. Even
before the Flashpoint.
It’s no big secret that comics can be dark, and this is
often tied to the Dark Age of Comics, a period between the mid-80’s and
mid-90’s where “dark”, “gritty” and “realism” (“realism” in this case often just
meaning “cynicism”) were the keywords of the day. Comics with darker, more
violent antiheroes became popular, both due the idea that true art is angsty (Watchmen, the Dark Knight Returns) or
because violent antiheroes are “cooler” (Youngblood,
Cable, Blood Pack, heck, anything by Rob Liefeld). Despite the “superhero
reconstruction” or “superhero renaissance” in the mid-90s, with stuff like Kingdom Come, Flex Mentallo, JLA, and
John’s own JSA, kicking off what’s
considered to be the post-Dark Age, “Modern Age of Comics”, it’s easy to see
that modern superhero comics are still often rather dark and violent, to the
point where some readers consider the Dark Age of Comics to never have actually
ended.
In DC Universe Rebirth #1,
Johns makes a stand for hope and optimism against the fear and cynicism the
Dark Age represents. Pandora’s dying words, aimed at the “somebody” who changed
the DCU, and Wally’s warning, embodies this sentiment:
Pandora: Skepticism.
Doubt. Corruption. All things your cold heart believes in. But in the end,
there was hope. And the heroes of this universe embody it. Their hope, their
devotion, their love for one another will vanquish what you’ve done. It may be
over for me but they will prove you wrong.
Wally: There’s going
to be a war between hope and despair. Love and apathy. Faith and disbelief.
And to represent the Dark Age, we have the “somebody” who
stole those ten years, that has weakened the DCU, that represents the scepticism and doubt and, it’s implied, to have infected the DC with darkness.
Doctor Manhattan.
Doctor Manhattan is a character from the 1985 DC comic Watchmen. It is, together with Frank
Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns
(we’ll talk about that in a bit), one of the comics credited with bringing
about the Dark Age of Comics. Now, to say that these works are wholly
responsible for bringing darkness, realism (and/or cynicism) into comics is
absolute bobbins. “Dark” superhero comics didn’t begin with Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns – for example, the transition of Batman
from the smiling, light-heartened Caped Crusader made famous by Adam West into
the brooding Dark Knight of modern day owes as much to the 1970s Batman writer/artist team of Denny
O’Neill and Neal Adams as it does Frank Miller. But it is true that these two
works are iconic, not just in themselves, but as a representation of everything
DC Rebirth opposes. That scepticism, that cynicism, that darkness that has been
a major part of DC, and comics in general, since Watchmen and The Dark Knight
Returns arrived.
That’s not to say that Geoff Johns dislikes these stories,
or wants to see them forgotten. But DC Rebirth’s mission statement is made
clear. It’s time to move beyond the darkness. It’s time to bring back hope and
optimism to the DCU.
Earlier this year, DC released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s easily one of the darkest
superhero films DC has ever released, possibly one of the darkest superhero
films of all time. It’s a sombre, often melancholy film that deals with subject
matters such as fear, anger, alienation (literally, in Superman’s case),
despair and the feeling of helplessness. It shows us a Superman feared and
sometimes even hatred by the public and a hero whose positive actions can have far-reaching,
unforeseen negative consequences. It shows us an older, jaded Batman, broken by
twenty years of fighting the never-ending fight against Gotham’s criminals, the
loss of Robin, and the arrival of Superman, something more powerful and
possibly destructive than he ever could have imagined.
Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice was a deeply polarising film, savaged by film critics and
dividing both fans of the comics and general audiences. Now, it’s worth
mentioning that I love it. I will happily go on record and say that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is my
favourite film of all time. Yeah, I love it that much.
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| Above: Pure awesomeness. |
One of the things that was often talked about, and what
largely formed the bulk of the film’s criticism, was the film’s tone. Critics
of the films derided the film as too dark, too cynical, too depressing. Critics
argued that the movie should have been happier, brighter, and have more
characters smiling and joking. Now, that wasn’t the only criticism of the film,
and I’m not trying to say that anyone who dislikes the movie is wrong. Film,
like all media, is subjective and I don’t believe anyone who hates Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is
objectively wrong, any more than I believe I am objectively right for loving
it.
With DC Universe Rebirth #1,
and by extension the whole DC Rebirth initiative, being all about bringing hope
and optimism back to the DCU, it’s been noted a fair bit online the apparent
different in tone of Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice, released just a few months before DC Universe Rebirth #1, a film that’s full of it’s heroes feeling despair
and cynicism. Some articles online have gone so far as to suggest that DC’s new
mission statement of hope and optimism has been influenced by the negative
reactions to the apparent darkness and cynicism of their movie universe, or
even as Geoff Johns’ own reaction to it.
Of course, the problem with the idea that this is Geoff
Johns reacting to the “darkness” of DC’s films is, well, he helped make them.
Johns was the Chief Creative Officer for DC Comics, an executive producer on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and
as instrumental in shaping the feel and tone of the DC Extended Universe as
Zack Snyder. And with the arrival of DC Rebirth, with Geoff Johns dedicated to
bringing hope and optimism back to DC, his influence becomes even more obvious.
Because here’s the thing – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, like DC Universe Rebirth #1, is a film about hope. A film about why we need to
move beyond anger, beyond fear, beyond cynicism and embrace hope, optimism and
our belief in both our heroes, and ourselves. This is, as far as I can see, the
core theme of the movie and it’s summed up in two lines.
Alfred: That's how it
starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good
men... cruel.
Bruce: Men are still
good. We fight, we kill, we betray one another, but we can rebuild. We can do
better. We will. We have to.
Because that’s the message of the film. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shows us a Superman paralyzed by
indecision, a Batman blinded by rage and paranoia, and a Wonder Woman who’s
turned her back on mankind. But these are presented as obstacles that our
heroes have to overcome to save the day. Clark must come to peace with the
idea that he can’t save everyone, but that doesn’t make what he does meaningless.
Batman must learn to see Clark as human, not just as a potential threat, and
learn to trust again. Diana must decide to stand with humanity, and believe in
their potential again. And… well, they do.
Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice is, as much as DC Universe Rebirth #1, a rallying cry of why it’s time superhero stories came out of
the darkness and cynicism, and embraced hope and optimism again.
Now, to some people this idea might seem bizarre. After all,
Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns,
one of the prime examples of dark, gritty comics, is one of director Zack
Snyder’s favourite comic books, and it was one of the biggest inspirations for
this film, with BvS even going so far
as to use the exact dialogue from the comic. But while there’s a clear
influence of The Dark Knight Returns
in BvS, it’s worth noting that often
that influence, particularly that exact dialogue I mentioned, is sometimes used
so it has a completely different context in the film. The part of the film most
influence by The Dark Knight Returns
is in the fight scene of, well, Batman v Superman.
Batman: It’s way past
time you learned… what it means to be a man…
This is a line directly from the Batman v Superman fight in The Dark Knight Returns, and it’s also
used, more or less, by Batman during the fight in BvS. But the context is very different. Because here’s the thing. Superman
comes to Gotham in TDKR as an
all-powerful, alien being, an “other”, and as a representative of a corrupt US
government, dedicated to bringing Batman down. In BvS, Clark comes to Gotham to ask Batman to help him save his
mother, Martha Kent, who’s been kidnapped by Lex Luthor. Superman here isn’t
some government stooge, or all-powerful alien who has no idea what it’s like to
be human, he’s a man, scared for his mother’s life. His only hope is that he
can reason with Batman, that the pair can find common ground and work together.
But Batman by this point is so caught up by his feelings of rage, despair and
his desperate need not to feel powerlessness that he isn’t listening. In many
ways, Batman has become the Frank Miller Batman, the Dark Age Batman, taken to
the extreme. His unyielding, righteous anger has become a blinding rage than
makes him unable to listen to the voice of reason. His ability to be prepared
for any threat has become twisted into paranoia, making him so obsessed about
the potential threat of Superman going rogue that he’s blind to the actual
threat of Lex Luthor using this very rage and paranoia to manipulate him.
Batman has embraced the darkness and cynicism and become, as Alfred as warned
him, cruel. He gives Superman a savage beating even as Superman still tries to reason
with him, leading to Bruce's darkest, lowest point, about to kill a helpless
Clark even as he begs, not for himself, but for his mother’s life.
Enter Lois Lane.
Lois is, throughout the film, the one person who hasn’t
given up hope. She still believes in Clark as a person, and the hope Superman
inspires. Her belief in Clark and the truth leads her to be the one to uncover
Lex’s plot and, just at the last moment, arrives in time to explain that
“Martha” is Clark’s mother. It’s at this moment that Batman realises that Clark
is not just an alien threat, he’s a person. He’s reminded of the innocent he
was, realises just how far he’s fallen. And then he and Superman does what
seemed impossible, the thing that Lex Luthor never expected the pair to do –
they work together. Martha Kent is saved, because of Lois never giving up hope,
and because Bruce can learn to overcome his darkness and his cynicism.
At the end of the film, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman
put aside their differences and work together to stop Doomsday, Clark
heroically sacrificing himself to stop the monster. The film ends with Superman
dead and Lex, while imprisoned, ranting that something very big and very bad is
coming. Dark days are coming and yet… there is still hope. Remember Bruce’s
line?
Diana Prince: A
hundred years ago I walked away from mankind; from a century of horrors... Men
made a world where standing together is impossible.
Bruce Wayne: Men are
still good. We fight, we kill, we betray one another, but we can rebuild. We
can do better. We will. We have to.
This is the same man, who, earlier in the film, said this:
Bruce: Twenty years
in Gotham, Alfred; we've seen what promises are worth. How many good guys are
left? How many stayed that way?
Seeing Clark’s humanity, Lois’ belief, Diana’s willingness to
step in and fight even for a world she doesn’t believe in, and Clark making the
ultimate sacrifice to save the day has changed him. The ultimate cynic has
found hope again. The final shot of the film is Clark’s grave, as the dirt
begins to rise, hinting at Clark’s resurrection that, let’s face it, DC isn’t
even trying to hide.
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| Above: Official Justice League concept art. |
Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice isn’t a happy film. It’s not all jokes and laughs. But it’s
not a cynical film, either. If anything, like DC Universe Rebirth #1, it’s a criticism of cynicism. It’s a film that
argues that anger and fear just makes us cruel, that hope and belief can save
us and, even when the world seems darkest, there is still hope. At the end of
the day, men, and supermen, are still good. This is the message of DC Rebirth,
the message of Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice, and possibly the whole message of DC Entertainment, whether in
comics, on TV or on film, for a long while yet. I have hope.
