BradShankar

Great article. I’m not another hater of George Lucas (because like you, I actually do like things about the prequels, flaws and all). But one flaw of the series as a whole is the pretty cut-and-dry approach to good vs. evil.

I’ve always loved that a lot of Expanded Universe entries really fleshed out the Jedi/Sith conflict, and added more nuance and shades of grey to what otherwise had been a pretty black and white affair in the films.

(At least, until Disney made it all non-canon lol)

I liked that post-Return of the Jedi, Luke saw how the Jedi way was old-fashioned and reworked the Code into something less restricting and, ultimately, better. Like how he preached “it’s not necessarily what you do Force powers you use, but how you use it that counts.” And he abolished the whole “no-love” rule as well. All for the better, I think.

And the Knights of the Old Republic sequel, Sith Lords, is a really interesting look at both Jedi and Sith, as well as the Force itself. Kreia is an incredibly fascinating character. I love how she actually uses the Force “as she would a poison.” Moreso as a means to an end, than something she actually takes pleasure in using, thinking it as something vile.

The Sith and Jedi both are flawed in their outlooks, and she actually thought that destroying the Force as a whole would better serve the galaxy. Which, while perhaps extreme, is a valid point. Pretty much every single major conflict in Star Wars – at least, the films – in some way can be tied to the struggle between “Light Side and Dark Side.” Would the galaxy be better off without the Force? Maybe so.

Wow, this is a well-written and in-depth article!

LOL, this took the topic a lot deeper than I was thinking. I like how you looked specifically at female portrayal – or lack thereof – in superhero media.

For me, it’s not even an issue of male or female; it’s the particular incarnation of the character in question.

I don’t really like Carrie Kelley. I know of many fellow fans of The Dark Knight Returns that weren’t too keen on the character either. On a surface level, it makes sense to go with her based on all the other heavily TDKR-inspired elements of DC’s Cinematic Universe. And it would certainly be different, in that she’s a lesser-known and not very commonly used character. But I just feel that Kelley was never developed very well. At least, not in TDKR; I never got far into the sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, so she may very well have gotten her moment in the spotlight there.

But either way, the other Robins (with the exception of Stephanie Brown lol) just have so much more rich backstory to draw from that I feel that going with one of them would be a better choice.

There were some theories that Jena Malone could be playing Barbara Gordon instead. Rumours are her dad may be dead in this universe, killed by the Joker. But Barbara could still be alive, easily. I feel that she’s a character we haven’t seen much of in live-action. Certainly not done well, anyway. *shudders over Batman and Robin*

But beyond Robin, like Jean said earlier, I think the issue more so would be that the movie is already adding a lot of characters to the movie. I’m not going to make the argument that it’s “overstuffed” (many DC fans in turn like to say that Age of Ultron was, so I won’t get into any of that) but I would rather see them focus, as much as possible, on the relationship between Batman and Superman. To be honest, I didn’t want Aquaman, Wonder Woman, or whoever else might appear in this. I’m glad we’re getting a cinematic WW, really, but I’d rather she get her own film first. Heck, I’d have gladly taken a live-action adaptation of the excellent “World’s Finest” arc from Superman: The Animated Series, which focused on Batman and Superman against Joker, Harley and Lex.
For what should be such an iconic and powerful cinematic moment – arguably the two biggest superheroes of all time meeting – I don’t really want to see so many of these other characters.

Of course, they could be limited to what are essentially glorified cameo roles, but even then, just feature Batman and Superman, lol.

“Sony’s superhero powerhouse, Spider-man, was recently bought by Disney.”

I’m not sure if someone mentioned this already, but a small error is present here. The rights to the “Spider-Man” character – specifically, in film – were not bought by Disney. Sony still owns the movie rights to the character. Rather, in February 2015, Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures announced plans for a collaborative effort to introduce a new Spider-Man into Marvel’s billion-dollar Cinematic Universe.

Otherwise, a very well-written article.

On the topic of the Sony-Marvel Spider-Man deal, there were reports that one reason Marvel made the deal was because, long-term, they felt it would put them in a good position to buy-out the company should the opportunity arise. With Sony struggling financially lately – really, their only TRULY profitable division at the moment is their PlayStation brand – Disney thought that should the company ever go under, they could purchase them. That would certainly add to Disney’s power.

I think while Disney is indeed “scary big” – as zevcitron said – I personally am not truly worried over their large presence in the entertainment industry just yet. There were rumours last year that Disney was looking to acquire Warner Bros. If that ever panned out, THEN I’d be truly afraid for the industry. Warner Bros. is absolutely huge. With DC Comics alone, they own the other half of the superhero industry. (I know there are other comics publishers besides Marvel and DC, but of course these two are the biggest and most well-known.)

They would, for all intents and purposes, own a monopoly over the superhero genre. THAT would truly get me scared. Some people talk about burnout over superhero movies, especially in light of the huge film slates Marvel and DC have announced. But to me, part of what will KEEP these franchises from getting stagnant is the fact that now there is a direct competition. With Marvel dominating for so long, DC now wants a piece of that multi-billion dollar pie. But entering the fray, they have to truly step up their game. Marvel in turn must do the same, with DC now making their own cinematic universe. If Disney owned both of these comic book giants, I worry that creativity and

And nowadays, thanks largely to what Marvel and Disney have done, Hollywood is very much into shared universes. If Disney continues to expand its wealth of properties, I worry we’d see a future of over-saturation with sequels, crossovers, tie-ins and spinoffs. They’ve already started to do this with Disney Infinity, their toys-to-life game, introducing Marvel and Star Wars characters alongside the likes of Mickey Mouse, Buzz Lightyear and Elsa. Not everyone has taken kindly to this kind of wacky crossover.

I wish him all the best writing it – hopefully it turns out great! I’m a bit hesitant to be excited, though. While I absolutely loved The Dark Knight Returns, I really didn’t like The Dark Knight Strikes Again. It didn’t seem to overall be very well-received, either.