I haven’t always been a Batman fan, but when I saw the Dark Knight for the first time, I was converted.
As much as people like to hate on those movies, I thought they did very well at drawing new fans into the DC Universe. It’s really no different from people getting upset that folks like newer games when they never played the originals.
I lost that appreciation for DC movies after Christian Bale stopped doing films, and Ben Affleck became the Batman. It’s not that he’s a bad actor or anything—it’s literally the most ridiculous and superficial reason ever:
He has a bum chin.
You know, the only part of Bruce Wayne you see when he’s dressed as the Caped Crusader.
Anyway, that silly little hang-up put me off of the DC cinematic universe—until Wonder Woman.
A sense of wonder
Despite my inadvertent boycott, I couldn’t help but be excited about the Wonder Woman movie.
I was fairly unfamiliar with her as a superhero. In fact, my only experience with her had been in Lego Batman 3, which really isn’t a good representation. She spends half the game channeling the Red Lantern (which is not really a spoiler, just a fun side-note).
Although I was a little apprehensive about her apparent anger problems, once I’d seen the movie, I absolutely loved her.
The actress did an amazing job of bringing Diana to life and into the 21st century, keeping the setting but leaving the ideals of the 1940s behind. She’s cool, she’s collected, and she’s not afraid to wreck some stuff.
She’s also why I’m excited about the Justice League movie.
Swimming with the fishes
The excitement didn’t stop there, though.
After Wonder Woman, I discovered Aquaman. He’s another I didn’t really know much about; all I had for reference was that one scene from the Big Bang Theory where they all dress up to go to the comic store.
Obviously, that’s a little different from the impression you get when you watch the trailer.
I mean, it’s a bit of a far cry to go from a pretty purple seapony dress to surfing through a building on an adversary’s body and shaking it off like it’s no big deal.
So it took a bit of convincing for me to be as excited about Justice League as I was about Avengers, especially given the differences in writing between the two series. But now, with some solid characters on board and Joss Whedon writing (which points back to the Marvel mimicry I called earlier), I’m on board.
And although I’ve missed opening night (I’m pretty sure it’s sold out through next week in these parts), it will definitely merit a night out!
