The anticipation built up around next years Batman V Superman and Captain America: Civil war has been unprecedented both among the comic book community and general movie going audiences. When the logo for BvS debuted at Comic Con over a year ago, the crowd went wild and understandably so. Batman and Superman have long been two of the most recognizable superheroes decades before the Marvel revolution first began with Iron Man back in 2008. Needless to say, even with the announcement of Civil War, most fans were more excited to see two of the biggest names in Comic Book history go head to head for the first time on screen than the third outing for America’s first Avenger. Later, with the announcements of Suicide Squad and the promise of an entirely new DC universe on the horizon, it seemed as though DC had all but won this box office showdown before it ever even started. But as the release dates for both these films quickly draws nearer and nearer, the tide seems to be shifting in a different direction.
The latest trailers for BvS and Civil War both dropped earlier last week and were met with fairly different reactions. We had been teased with the first trailer for BvS some time ago, which seemed to put anyone’s unease about the film to rest. Many people were worried about Ben Affleck portraying the Caped Crusader this time around, and fan reaction to Man of Steel was mixed at best, but when we all caught our first glimpse at the two heroic icons on the same screen getting ready to finally do battle for the first time, many of those doubts seemed to have been laid to rest once and for all. The first footage most people saw from Civil War was a short, action-less end credits scene shown at the end of Ant-Man earlier this year. DC at this point still had the ball firmly planted in their court. At least, until this past week they did.
Once Marvel finally released their completed Civil War trailer, audiences were once again reminded why Marvel is #1 these days. The trailer had all our favorite characters, a few new ones, lots of action, a little bit of drama, while still keeping several aspects of the storyline unknown or unseen (including the Villains). This is what a good trailer is supposed to do, get us hooked, while leaving us excited and wanting more. Then BvS released their trailer and a short clip soon after and the results were far less than stellar. The short clip released featuring Superman ripping the mask off of a captured Batman, was… disappointing to say the least. It gave us no new information and didn’t really excite audiences the way it had when the two heroes were first shown to audiences. Also, the scene clearly appears to be a part of some sort of dream sequence, judging by Superman’s hate filled scowl, which, if true, has no actual barring on the plot whatsoever, similar to the Man of Steel drowning in skulls scene. It may look cool, but in the grand scheme of things it’s totally meaningless. Though brief, the interactions between Capt America, Falcon, and the Winter Soldier during the end credit scene of Ant-Man, actually involved the storyline even teasing bits of new information in the process.
Then, a few days after the initial BvS clip was released, DC decided to kick things up a notch with the release of the latest BvS trailer. This is where the tables tipped. While the Civil War trailer captivated and left us all wondering, the second BvS trailer appeared to not give away very much new information, besides one GIGATIC spoiler. Batman thinks Superman is a menace cause he’s too powerful, we knew that, Superman is stronger than Batman, we knew that, Wonder Woman is in the film, we knew that, Doomsday is in the film… wait what? Why would DC ruin that for us? One of the most anticipated buildups surrounding BvS was the possibility of a second villain, besides Lex Luther, who could actually stand toe to toe with the Trinity on a more physical level. Who could it be? Bizarro? Metallo? Doomsday? Who knows?! Maybe there isn’t even a second villain and it’s just Lex Luther this time around? Now we all have the answer to those questions and it’s disappointing to say the least. DC practically ruined the entire film for their fans by revealing this highly anticipated character with a goofy Ogre like movie makeover appearance. Not only that, but because of this we can all pretty much guess the entire basic plot points of the entire film now. Batman thinks Superman is menace, Lex plays them against one another, Wonder Woman is keeping an eye on things, the two heroes fight (twice by the looks of it) then have to all team up to fight the larger threat of Doomsday, created from Zod’s corpse by Luther. Gee, I wonder who will win the fight against Doomsday? Just a wild guess, but I’ll go with the Trinity on that one. Meanwhile, rumors of Captain America possibly dying in Civil War have kept us all still guessing and on the edge of our seats. The only mystery left in BvS is who wins the actual fight between Batman and Superman, which I assume will end in either a draw or some sort of mutual understanding. Even with the added anticipation from Suicide Squad, most fans have still been harshly divided regarding many of the characters new “looks”, and Doomsday clearly is no different. In contrast, everything we’ve seen from Civil War looks amazing! The new character designs are near perfect, and the updated outfits looks phenomenal.
So with both films set for release roughly six months from now, can DC swing fans back in their favor or is it already too late? You be the judge. All I know is that Batman has always been my favorite superhero since I was a little boy, but have been disappointed time and time again with many of his on screen interpretations, while Marvel just keeps getting better and better, while introducing me to new characters, themes, and stories. The ball is back in your court Marvel and I honestly can’t wait to see what you’ll do with it next.