Similarities Between Batman v Superman and Watchmen

Similarities Between Batman v Superman and Watchmen

BOTH ARE MOVIES DIRECTED BY ZACK SNYDER BUT THAT'S NOT THEIR ONE SIMILARITY!

Editorial Opinion
By Hendo96 - Apr 15, 2016 06:04 PM EST
Filed Under: DC Comics

Both films directed by Zack Snyder have been compared for the most part. Having similarities to characters from both movies. I've decided to look at the comparisions between Watchmen and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I'm doing because I'm one of those people that loves Man of Steel and likes Batman v Superman. Also, considering how Man of Steel has similarities to Batman Begins well Batman v Superman I feel like has similarities to Watchmen in a way.

Superman and Lois Lane/Nite Owl and Silk Spectre


Both movies largely focus around them and their relationships, despite each movies ambitions and scope extending far beyond just them and their relationship.
Batman/Nite Owl/Rorschach


Zack Snyder's Batman is very similar to Rorschach in many ways. There both cynical, brutal, dark, war weary, burnt-out, and have grown tired of the cost they kept fighting for, but always maintain the fiery moral code that still drives them as forces to be reckon with when fighting for justice. Batman and Nite Owl are one in the same also in many ways. They have both grown weary of the cause they were fighting for and didn't believe they were helping out anymore. Both for some reason, the fire in them just kept calling them back to the job for their respective reasons.
Superman/Doctor Manhattan

Both Superman and Doctor Manhattan are both powerful figures and viewed as gods. They are also conflicted within themselves and deal with being judged constantly by how the world views both of them. Both also exile themselves when something bad happens. Doctor Manhattan exiles himself after being accused of causing cancer to those who spent time with him after the scientific accident that gave him his superpowers. Superman goes into self-imposed exile after the bombing at the Senate being frustrated with failing to save people.
Wonder Woman/Silk Spectre II/Doctor Manhattan


Wonder Woman and Silk Spectre are strong female characters and I think that's their one major similarities. Doctor Manhattan and Wonder Woman seem comparable because they are both powerful beings who largely do their own thing but will become intertwined in the plot and play important parts.
Lex Luthor/Ozymandias


Much like Lex Luthor in the movie Ozymandias spent most of the time operating behind the scenes, pulling the strings, and manipulating everyone to his end. Ozymandias was responsible for The Comedian's murder, Dr. Manhattan's exile, Rorschach's framing, and his own assassination attempt, which he staged to divert suspicion. Lex Luthor was responsible for the creation of Doomsday, Superman going into exile, the bombing at the Senate hearing, kidnapping Martha and Lois, and forcing Superman to fight and try to kill Batman in order to save Martha's life. In the graphic novel Ozymandias' plan involved gigantic Cthulhu-like creature obviously they did it differently in the movie but Batman v Superman borrowed that from the graphic novel where Lex's plan involved Doomsday just in case Batman didn't kill Superman. Also, both characters are eccentric billionaires as well.
Themes


In both films the public has a strong distaste for heroes as the feel like they cause nothing but trouble and mayhem which isn't needed. The government is then forced to disband these groups and all of them go their own paths. Now the way it being handled was different in both movies but the message is still the same.
Cameos From Other Heroes


The Comedian and the original Silk Spectre play much smaller roles in the movie and the other Justice League members such as Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg all have brief cameos.
The Ending

The endings for both movies feature a larger threat coming to play though the ending to Batman v Superman is more similar to the ending of the graphic novel for the most part. The only similar thing to the ending of the graphic novel is that the graphic novel featured a gigantic Cthulhu-like creature created by Ozymandias and Batman v Superman features Doomsday created by Lex Luthor from the remains of General Zod. Watchmen ends with Rorschach dead, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre leaving Ozymandias to think about his choices, returning to New York with plans to continue fighting crime and broadstreet newspaper ends up with Rorschach's journal. Batman v Superman ends with Superman, Lex Luthor in prison, funerals for both Superman and Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne telling Diana Prince his plans to form a team of metahumans to help protect the world in Superman's absence, and a faint heartbeat echoing from Clark's coffin and the dirt around it beginning to levitate.

Anyways that was my comparison to both Batman v Superman and Watchmen so my question is do you guys agree that they're pretty similar in storytelling.
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DeusExSponge
DeusExSponge - 4/15/2016, 6:37 PM
Very interesting comparisons, good work!
DerekLake
DerekLake - 4/15/2016, 7:28 PM
Excellent. I think that's my biggest criticism of BvS by far. Snyder gives Superman the Dr. Manhattan treatment, and the film adopts Watchmen's pessimistic assessment of superheroes. Man of Steel, with all its supposed warts, was the brainchild of Goyer and Nolan, hence a very different approach to Superman. I'm hoping Justice League takes more from Man of Steel's approach than BvS.
Robby
Robby - 4/15/2016, 7:38 PM
Woah, I really would have never noticed these
Yaf
Yaf - 4/15/2016, 9:02 PM
Of course it is similar, both are tributes to Ayn Rand. [frick]ing Fontaine.
SnapperCarr
SnapperCarr - 4/15/2016, 10:20 PM
It's funny how Zack Snyder is so obsessed with Watchmen, yet the guy who wrote Watchmen also wrote some acclaimed Superman stories without butchering the character.
Kyos
Kyos - 4/16/2016, 5:57 AM
My mother saw I was into this comic called Heavy Metal magazine, so she got me a subscription. You could call it ”high-brow” comics, but to me, that comic book was just pretty sexy! I had a buddy who tried getting me into ”normal” comic books, but I was all like, ”No one is having sex or killing each other. This isn’t really doing it for me.” I was a little broken, that way. So when Watchmen came along, I was, ”This is more my scene.”
________

Watchmen comes at it in a different way, it almost superimposes its heroes on your world, which then changes how you view your world through its prism. That’s the genius of this book. That’s what we try and do in the movie. The movie is a challenge — sort of like the book is a challenge — to your icons, your morality, how you perceive pop culture, how you perceive mythology, and for that matter, how you perceive God. It was absolutely genius that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons did all of that in the context of a superhero story. That was a revolution for a lot of people. You sit down to read something that’s ”just a comic book,” and then you’re, like, ”Holy s—, my mind got blown!”
________

The average movie audience has seen — well, I can’t even count the amount of superhero movies. Fantastic Four, X-Men, Superman, Spider-Man. The Marvel universe has gone nuts; we’re going to have a fricking Captain America movie if we’re not careful. Thor, too! We’re on our second Hulk movie. And Iron Man — $300 million domestic box office on a second tier superhero! And not to demean Iron Man — my point is that we all know about superheroes now. I can ask my mother, ”Mom, when the Hulk isn’t the Hulk, who is he?” ”Bruce Banner. Why? What a weird question.” I could ask her, ”What happened to Bruce Wayne’s parents?” ”They were killed at an opera.” You’re getting to that saturation level where superhero movies, it’s hard for them to figure out what more to do.


http://www.ew.com/article/2008/07/17/watchmen-chat-director-zack-snyder
Odin
Odin - 4/16/2016, 6:57 AM
Now I understand Eisenberg's Lex Luthor way better.
01928401
01928401 - 4/16/2016, 7:00 AM
I think one of the biggest problems with BvS is that it seems almost as if Lex being the one pulling the strings is supposed to be shocking or a twist. Like when he confronts Superman on the rooftop after dropping Lois. The general atmosphere of the scene is presented similarly to the revelation of Ozymandias' monologue in Watchmen. However, they also slapped us dead in the mouth with it the entire film. At least with Ozymadias, you had no idea he was behind it unless you either read the novel or had really strong deductive skills. Lex was shown repeatedly performing the actions that lead to the final confrontations, yet the movie still felt like it needed to let us know that Lex was the mastermind.

I know some will say Lex's complex would have compelled him to tell Superman all of this anyways, but the movie also spent a good bit of time NOT showing other scenes as well. Like Batman stealing the Kryptonite. Why were we not shown that? That would have been nice to see.

Basically, I just miss when movies didn't have to drop exposition on you. People defend movies like The Martian and scenes like I described in BvS because they believe to be essential to the plot. No, we've just been conditioned to feel that way because a lot of movies spend more time literally telling you the story than actually storytelling, if that makes sense.

Think back to Terminator. We had no idea about any of what was happening throughout that film until it played out naturally. The only kind of exposition dump I can remember is when Kyle describes what John and the future are like to Sarah. But the rest of the movie doesn't have these ridiculous monologues explaining what happened to the audience. The plot just HAPPENS.

Sorry for the rant. This has been weighing on my mind while watching most movies lately and I felt like this was a good place to say it.
DarthMoose
DarthMoose - 4/16/2016, 11:47 AM
I enjoyed watchmen so much more then bvs. I'm definitely interested in this bvs directors cut. Is it really gonna be r rated? Guess there were alotta batman serial killing cut.
Hendo96
Hendo96 - 4/16/2016, 7:48 PM
@RickGrimes - Now look I love Man of Steel and I like Batman v Superman. I will say you know how Man of Steel is pretty much similar to Batman Begins. Well Batman v Superman is pretty much similar to Watchmen.
HankPymp
HankPymp - 4/16/2016, 5:25 PM
@Hendo96 - You must be psychic because I was just the other day,
discussing this film with a friend, and said why I disliked this movie as much as I did,
because, Snyder tried to do this dystopian Elseworlds take, on an established universe.

With that said, this is a great editorial. It makes so much sense, in the scheme of things.
My problem with Zack Snyder, is that,
he comes of like a fanboy, but gets the wrong message. He takes things out of context.
Especially "Dark Knight Returns". The beginning and the genesis of the JL should bring hope.
It starts the ripple effect of heroes, coming out into the open,
and wanting to use their powers to benefit others. Because the JL set the example.
They, as a group, set the standard, and the template for heroes after them.
It do a collective agreement that, among themselves, they know the real threats that plague Earth,
and together they will fight it to the bitter end.
The JL are all different, regarding backgrounds, ideologies, opinions, etc.
but they all want the same thing. The conflict comes down the road.
It happens when their dynamic is established.

Watchmen is a dissection of the superhero in general,
How can someone establish a universe when they just want to tear it apart in the first ensemble movie?
Superman is the optimism, Batman is the realism, Wonder Woman is the heart.
It blows my mind, how the plethora of themes, stories, and possibilities, and stories in the DCU
get shafted for what seems, a kid with action figures fighting, with no story, or at least, a very weak one.

Take a look at the artwork by Alex Ross, for Kingdom Come. You just look, and feel the epic ness..
You feel the gravitas. the weight the universe can carry.

BVS let me down in so many ways, yet the biggest, was it tried to be a Watchmen ripoff.
When that book was one of a kind, It was do obvious that it was the template,
and that is a really bad place to start a DCEU.
Hendo96
Hendo96 - 4/16/2016, 7:48 PM
@HankPymp - Now look I love Man of Steel and I like Batman v Superman. I will say you know how Man of Steel is pretty much similar to Batman Begins. Well Batman v Superman is pretty much similar to Watchmen.
marvel72
marvel72 - 4/17/2016, 1:59 PM
Snyder can adapt a decent book that already exists i.e 300 and Watchmen,he just has trouble with original screenplays.
SteveBosell
SteveBosell - 4/18/2016, 3:59 PM
I recognized some of the similarities between BvS and Watchmen on my first viewing and it made me appreciate the film more. I love superheroes but if they existed in the real world (which Man of Steel and BvS attempt) there would be a lot of controversy and skepticism. For me, that is why the "Watchmen template" works for the DCEU. The DCEU narrative exists in a world similar to our own where we would not be very welcoming to the appearance of super humans.
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