The Reel Rejects - New Batman & Superman Is A BETTER CHOICE Than Restore The Snyderverse…Here’s Why (James Gunn DCU)

Episode Date: February 4, 2023

Is the new direction DC better than Restoring the Zack Snyder DCEU? With the Chapter 1 Gods & Monsters Slate Announcement following Henry Cavill being fired as Superman, the Fire James Gunn hashtag has been making the rounds so in this Coy's Comic Corner he gives a breakdown into why the new Batman (Brave & The Bold) & Superman: Legacy is best.  #JamesGunn #DCU #RestoreTheSnyderverse #FireJamesGunn #DCEU #DCStudios #Batman #Superman #HenryCavill #WonderWoman #SwampThing #BenAffleck #JusticeLeague #SnyderCut    - Follow Coy Jandreau On Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?lang=en  - Become A Super Sexy Reject For Full-Length T.V. & Movie Reactions!  https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects  - Support The Channel By Checking Out Our Bomb A** Merch:  http://shopzeroedition.com/collections/reel-rejects-merch  - POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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But I've been angry for a while now, and I've had this conversation with a lot of people, and I thought it was time to have this conversation here with you. This is the reason for Koi's Comic Corner. These are the kind of things I want to start turning this into. And if this does well, and if you like it, please do let me know. Leave a comment below about this type of video. Basically, I'm going to be talking about my experience with a certain thing in comic books that I think is messy. And I hope that you are with me.

And if you disagree, at least be patient and at least try to see where I'm coming from because it is spicy. I think not rebooting the Snyder cut is the best thing for Batman and Superman. And on top of that, I think we need the Batman and Superman that we're about to get with the DCU more than ever because of the Snyder cut. So right at the top, I just need to address the fact that there are people that think that Superman should be murderous, should wear a black suit all the time, should be the very, the version of him that snaps someone's neck. And I understand that between the Zach Snyder films and the animated series and all of these things, that is a version of the character that they see as the true version of the character.

I should also say at the top that I think Zach Snyder and Deborah Snyder are absolutely fantastic. I think they are genius creators. I think she is one of a powerhouse producer. He is a powerhouse producer, director, creator. But I think what that little universe has spawned is a very, very tricky situation. while liking the Snyders. I've had conversations with the Snyder. So know that I like them as people and know that I enjoy the Snyder films. But I will completely own that I think of the Snyder films as an

elseworld. I think of the Snyder Superman and Batman as something that would be a take on the character that wouldn't be canon. And that's going to be what this is. That's this conversation. Superman was invented in 1938. Superman was invented by two scrawny Jewish guys as a means to cope with the depression that was going on, leading up to World War II, being picked on, and they made a symbol of hope. And this symbol of hope has become a symbol of aggression and violence that a lot of people were argue like, yeah, but it's growth, it's an arc, it's a trajectory. You need the trajectory to start with the essence of the character and then have something changed. The dark character takes work because they're a dichotomy. The reason that Craven's the Last Hunt is interesting

is because it's like, whoa, what's happening to Spider-Man? Back in black, likewise. The reason that Batman is interesting is because he is very different to Superman and their dynamic duohood is because they are different. If Superman is as dark as Batman, then he's no longer about altruism and hope he becomes a cautionary tale. Now, I mention 1938. I mention these two skinny Jewish guys making a figure for hope. I also need to acknowledge the fact that them being Jewish is so essential to the character in that we've now made him a Christ figure, which is the most white American thing to do, when he literally was delivered a la bread basket like Moses, a very very very Jewish iconography. So this is a story of an alien, an immigrant, a person that is trying to be the best possible version that has become this, this angry God. He's become this Old Testament God for multiple movies. So much so they put him in a black suit when we hadn't really had the positive one yet. If in the first film, he snapped someone's neck, by the time he gets to the black suit, well, I don't see much of a difference. If you get to this character that is supposed to represent what we can become, and what we can become is someone that doesn't think to save civilians as he's flying through buildings who has a higher body count than most of the

villains we've seen in comic book movies, then that's not something to aspire towards. The reason Superman is in a bright suit with external underwear is to make us think that man, that's comfort in believing in yourself. Man, that is the ultimate in this golly G attitude of just hope and belief and dreams. And I think a huge problem with the world that has been spawned by this Superman. And again, I have a lot of love for Zach Snyder, and I have a lot of love for Debra Snyder, and I have a lot of love for DC fans that haven't become this aggressive, angry cult that is getting DC in issues. The world of DC, the shape of Warner Brothers is lesser for this very, very vocal, the trollic group of people that threaten, that troll, that become

issues to the properties at large, that cause box office issues because now the suits that aren't comic fans don't know how to steer this ship. They tried to make the Snyder cut. It had to be released in the way it was because of a lot of other situations. But if you, even if you look at the movies that were working, if you look at BVS, it had a 69% drop-off from week one to two. Yes, it made $830 million worldwide. But the drop-off when people heard about it was substantial because a lot of people like me didn't see that as their Superman and now don't have a place to talk about it. Every time I mention Superman, all I get is this, well, That's a really interesting novel idea of the character.

Oh, well, well, Superman's not this anymore. Or my favorite. Oh, the world we live in is dark and gritty and Superman should reflect that. Superman, as I said at the top, reflects what we're trying to get out of. If Superman reflects the world, it's not Superman. Superman is our aspirational character while Batman is our cautionary tale. They invented Superman as something to achieve to escape how bad the world was. If we make them dark and gritty, we're looking in at ourselves and going like, I guess that's fine.

I guess that's enough. We'll just stay here. We need a Superman like the one they look to be adapting. All-Star Superman has the opening issue, literally have Lex Luthor trick Superman into killing himself via the sun. Doesn't need Krypton, doesn't need doomsday, doesn't need things. It shows the genius of Lex Luthor, which is a human that can take out a God. It shows Superman doing anything he can to save everyone, even realizing, man, the sun itself is the thing that gives me my power. How ironic it might be the thing it kills me.

But accepting that he helped save people so that was working. It's worth it. We need the literal son. He's a son God. We look to the son for hope. I am so sick of people not realizing that this character represents the thing on his chest. I am so sick of very, very angry people going, I want my hero to be angry like me. I think there's a point in every young man's life, and I'd say a lot of young women's life, but I've never been a young woman, where they go like, I don't get Superman because he's too galley gee, he's too powerful, he's too strong, he has no weaknesses. I get all that. I used to think. that way. But I think there's a point when you realize, oh, he's a figurehead to represent what we can be. He shouldn't be realistic. He shouldn't be something that we can actually aspire to. If you achieve your goals, they're no longer goals. If you've ever wanted something really bad when you got it, it kind of felt like, well, that wasn't what I wanted. It's because dopamine is from wanting a thing, not actually always achieving the thing. Superman should be that. He should be the line in the sand that moves. You should always try to be better. Even Superman always

tries to be better. So I am so sick of people wanting this gritty Superman. I am so sick of Snyder fans that aren't fans that are cultists that have manipulated his vision into their vision of being angry, trolling and being assholes and threatening and harming mentally emotionally and sometimes physically others because they misinterpret a character that was written before their parents were born in most cases to not be this version. So while I love the Snyder films, I think they have harmed the pop culture zeitgeist, and that has harmed the world. We look to art to be a commentary in our time. If we keep making a commentary in our time so shitty, so angry, so vitrolic, we're because we'll keep living that way. When the world is jaded and the world needs Superman, that's

when Superman is there. It is the purpose of Superman to be the antithesis to our jadedness, to our gloom, to our struggle. In fact, the reason I think the authorities coming in is it's kind of that story. I think the authority is a very Snyder's take on Batman and Superman version, but it's intentionally a commentary. I honestly think it is a genius move of James Gunn to bring in the authority because he's the Snyder take on this universe. It's going to appease them, but it's going to be a very alarming moment when a certain amount of twists happen. And when people realize that Homelander is Donald Trump, it's going to be a moment and people are going to be very upset. But I honestly think the authority is the same commentary on this vengeful superhero world.

in 1999 as the Snyder world is today, and I think it's an important story to tell. And honestly, I think that's what the authority is going to be. And I think it's going to be very interesting when Amanda Waller ends up dealing with the authority and the suicide squad and the authority are different commentaries on cautionary tales about people with powers. And all of that ties into the darkness of the world. We'd be living with D.C. And that's why it needs to be brighter.

That's why we need the green lantern and brightest day and dark as night. We've been living in a fucking dark night. I think Zach Snyder just didn't like weaves. We barely saw any. Clark. Clark was not in those movies. And when he was, the lowest lane relationship was really stiff and sterile. And this is Amy Adams and Henry Cavill. Two of the most talented actors. It's not like they can't do that job. But they didn't make Clark a person because he never got to be just a shucks kind of guy. And that's, that's Clark because he is so innocent and earnest.

We never saw that. And I think the politeness of Clark Kent, along with his earnesty, is also a thing that drives a lot of people that are going through a tempestuous time insane. There's a beautiful openness and welcomingness and just all wide-eyedness of Clark we don't get to have if that Superman is vengeful. The reason it was so impactful when Clark Kent and Superman got killed was because he was this unattainable thing. And to kill Superman so early into his run and to make him so dark kind of eliminates the point. And on top of that, they kill Jimmy Olson. Jimmy Olson is the humanity that is one of the things that Superman looks to as like, man, I love these people. so much. And Jimmy represents that they

killed that, which in turn kills humanity and earnesty and hope. It's a very literal metaphor. Just as the Perry White metaphor, when Perry White is talking to Clark in the Daily Planet, I think he says something like Oh, we can't run this story. It's not 1938. That's Zach Snyder saying we can't

make a Superman that they did in 1938. That's the character. And I will be the first one to say that archetypal characters are important because of the lens you see them through, that they're a mirror for you. But just like Spider-Man, wouldn't work if he didn't have responsibility. Superman doesn't work if he doesn't have hope.

So we need a Superman that reflects the world we want to be for the sake of the world again. I don't think we've ever been darker between the internet connecting us in ways that we weren't ready for, between people having this false sense of entitlement with fandom, with their own lives, with perspectives on politics, with politics themselves, the tribalism, all the things we've reached,

all of that is just a one-one hundred, of why we need Superman. And at the end of the day, I do think that's why Henry Cavill wasn't able to come back. I don't think it was age as much as that was the thing that was publicly stated. I think that that was a factor, obviously. They want to do, you know, a journey with Lois and, you know, Jimmy and all those things. And I understand that they said they're keeping Aquaman and Flash for now. I don't know how true that is. I wouldn't say, hey, these four movies that are coming out aren't essential. They're obviously going to need to keep appearances. I'm not saying it is true or it isn't true. I don't No, I'm not at DC, but I am saying that the reason Henry Cavill, the best Superman of my lifetime,

I love Henry Cavill. The reason Henry Cavill might not have been able to keep going as Superman, even if it wasn't for the age thing, is the association with this. When you look at Henry Cavill, you don't see the Superman that they wrote in 1938. You don't see the Superman that's in All-Sar Superman. They're adapting. You don't see the Superman from For All Seasons or the one that is beautifully saving that girl in all black because she might kill herself, one of the prettiest and most impactful.

and sad, bittersweet, pretty, comic pages of all time, because he's also in black. I know he's not all the time. It's just the image I have in my head. If you have a character that's close to killing themselves and another character that's angry and vengeful, it's not the duality. It's not the dichotomy. It's not the thing that Superman is. Those pages don't work, unfortunately, with Henry Cavill. And I would have loved to have seen him come back and get to play the Superman that he wanted. He knew what Superman was. He talked about wanting to play that Superman. He got to for 30 seconds in Black Adam. But I do think. There was a lot of stuff tied to it, and I do think that rebooting the Snyder cut is not an option.

I think that restarting the DC universe is the move. And that's just Superman. Batman-wise, we get a Batman that shot people. And I get that Batman in the comics has used guns. Yeah, Spider-Man's, you know, accidentally killed people. And the X-Men have had vengeful eras where they, like, wanted to take out humanity, but that makes them the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. If you adapt the X-Men and they want to kill humanity, that's not the X-Men is the brother-to-le-moot.

Just because it's in the comic books doesn't mean it's accurate. Different writers have different takes. Again, archetypal character. Got to look at the sum of all the parts. And Batman is a character who's in his own way superstitious, who has rules. If Batman doesn't have rules, he's the Joker. That's the point of the Joker. The reason Batman and Joker exists is to show the difference in those characters.

If Batman has no rules and will use a gun, how is he different than the two-faced side of Harvey Dent? The reason Harvey Dent is so interesting is because he represents the order of Batman as well as the chaos of the Joker. And Batman's seeing himself in that. The White Knight of the Dark Knight is Harvey Dent. You need Batman to have rules, and his parents being killed by a gun is why he literally, there's very iconic frames where he snaps a gun in half and says this is the weapon of cowards. So the fact that we had a Batman that used guns on his car, the fact that we had a Batman that frankly murdered defeats the purpose of Batman. Batman should be a cautionary tale. Yes, he should be someone very close to the edge.

He should be someone psychologically abused and broken. He should be someone that is taking out his pain on the mentally ill. Batman is not something to necessarily aspire to be. He's cool. Yeah, Batman's cool. But you need to also be like, that's not good. That's why Pattinson's Batman is so great. You would not want to be Robert Pattinson losing his mind,

just punching that person until he's broken. The reason that the Batman Pattinson worked so well is that the symbol of hope, he represents the end, him realizing that I am vengeance can be co-opted by the weak, that I am vengeance is not the answer. The reason he needs to be a spirit of hope, much like Superman. In fact, the arc of Robert Pattinson's Batman is the arc we as a society need to take with Superman. Vengeance is a cautionary tale.

If you live angry and you live vengeful, you're not living. We had a vengeful, violent Batman that only got worse and more violent. We had the Thomas Wayne Batman from an else world. We had this character that did not work in a world where we need hope. And again, like I said with Superman, we need hope now more than ever. So we need to look at a new Batman, which is going to be Batman with his family. When we look at this Batman as father of Damien Wayne, the darkness of Damien Wayne makes Bruce Wayne lighter. I think there's a very specific reason they're bringing in Damian Wayne. Damian Wayne is not

as beloved a character as Dick Grayson. He's not as beloved as Tim, but he is a character that changes Bruce. And I think it's going to be very interesting adding a paternal element. I think that Batman has always had a paternal element with his wards and with his robins and those certain things that give you that beautiful dichotomy between his upbringing. When he was raised, he didn't have a family. So all he wanted was a family. If you look at the dichotomy between the Joker, who is the thing he can't be because of chaos, or like I said, Harvey Dent, or how Mr. Freeze is his opposite because his love for Nora mirrors Bruce's love for Gotham or the guilt of Nora mirroring his guilt of his family. All of Batman's best rogues are mirrors of Batman. That's

why he's a psychological character. That's why he works in so many different ways. The reason all of these characters sing Catwoman being a thief and Batman loving her is him feeling the guilt of that. The reason all this works is Batman is all of us, but we should aspire to be Superman. And I love the idea of Batman being all of us and going, I never had a family. I have a son of Batman going like look at this little shit he's killing people and harming others I gotta fix that but he's my son so I can't do what I usually do with criminals that's gonna be a great story

and because of when it takes place in his life him being older that allows for Dick Grayson to RDB Nightwing that allows for potential Red Hood greatness that allows for all of these stories deeper into the mythos and because we haven't had a Batman with a family yet this is a great way to separate Robert Pattinson's you can have your dark and brooding Batman that I love

the David Fincher Batman while also having a fun a little bit lighter perhaps even as light as like, you know, shark repellent, probably not. But you could have a lighter Batman in the family Batman, and that's because of Damien Wayne. I'm not saying he's slapstick. I'm not saying it's going to be brightly colored tights. It might be Neil Adams Blue. That'd be cool.

I'd like to see Neil Adams Blue. But I do think Damian Wayne establishes a tone. I think that was a very smart announcement. I think putting Batman older than Superman allows for a very interesting story of Batman being a more seasoned veteran while maybe Superman's on year three. He's not, it's not our origin. Everybody keeps saying the Superman origin. But I do think having Superman younger than Batman allows for a different kind of conversation about Batman's fear and apprehension at first of Superman and how a lighter Superman is going to be much better suited to the broad Justice League strokes. A lighter Superman is much better suited to encounter a Green Lantern.

If Green Lantern landed in Gotham that penguin Colin Farrell is running around in, that would ruin the entire world. That world they built would be done. So I think this Batman is the best possible thing to fit in the Justice League and expand that shared universe out. I think the Superman is the best possible thing for our shared universe because we need to believe in things again So if this video pissed you off, I'm sorry and I don't want you to take that out on me or anyone else I think Superman will be something that hopefully you can find to not see as cheesy for being bright that you can not see as Wow, he's just got all these powers that's boring because the point is Hope and aspiration and to believe in something greater than our

He's supposed to be better than us. We're supposed to want to be him, and he's supposed to want to be us. Superman should not reflect our world. Our world should try to reflect Superman. Batman should not be something we want to be. We should want to help Batman. I really, really think these new takes are going to be fantastic, and I really, really hope that if you've been dealing with some of the more angry DC fans,

it hasn't changed your love for DC Comics. I love DC Comics. I love these characters. I talk about Marvel a lot, because I've never felt comfortable. dealing with some of the more negative DC fans and they've only gotten bigger, more empowered and stronger in their might. It started with me not having as much to say

because there weren't as many adaptations of DC then the adaptations came out and just I got driven out of town and I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm not going to be weak. I'm not going to be a subservient to trolls. I'm not going to let the enemy win. So don't make yourself an enemy of comic books.

Don't make yourself an enemy of DC. Change is important and these characters are important to a lot of people. Stop being a dick. All right. Much love. You love. Please, citizens of reject nation.

If you liked this type of video, let me know.