This was the biggest surprise to me when I saw Man of Steel, and one that took me some time to fully grasp. Fans of Christopher Nolan have certain expectations for anything he’s involved with, and so I was anticipating, as I’m sure many others did, something of an heir to the Dark Knight franchise. And in a way it is. In the same way that Batman was reimagined for a contemporary world and current cinematic sensibilities in Batman Begins, this film does the same thing for Superman. It’s just that Superman is really, really different from Batman.
I’m not a comic fanatic or a Superman enthusiast or any sort of expert on the subject compared to countless others on the internet; my familiarity extends as far as the cinematic representations of these characters. But Batman seems like it ought to be more about ideas and moral quandaries and technological solutions to impossible problems. He’s just a dude. Superman seems to have much more in common with god-like characters, the supernatural likes of Thor or the Hulk or Doctor Manhattan. These types of characters face an entirely different set of dilemmas, don’t they? Not only are they different; they’re bigger. So while Batman fights to preserve Gotham, Superman’s literally trying to save the entire world, even though the villain has targeted him in his hometown. These cosmic consequences and quasi-divine characters result in a hero that’s elusive rather than relatable, and grand scale rather than intensely focused. But you mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger. Once I grasped the Superman-ness of this movie’s scope, everything fit together perfectly.
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