Oxymoronically, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy might well be both the best and worst thing to ever happen to live-action DC Comics adaptations, with Blue Beetle the latest to run the risk of a comparison that’s cursed countless blockbusters before it.
It must be the default setting any time one of the franchise’s newest movies has its social media embargo lifted, because almost instantly the internet becomes swamped with hot takes touting the title in question as “the best since The Dark Knight,” or an approximation thereof.
Of course, for all we know Blue Beetle could really be the finest standalone DC outing since Nolan conspired to deliver arguably the genre’s greatest-ever effort, but you don’t have to travel too far to find somebody rolling their eyes and wincing at the cliche being dusted off for the umpteenth time.
We’ve been down this road before with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Black Adam, and The Flash to name just four, to the point where hearing anything DC-related being named in the same breath as The Dark Knight is more likely to be ignored than acknowledged.
Having been burned by The Flash being touted as one of the all-time great superhero stories before it did nothing but implode at the box office and fail to live up to expectations, there’s also an element of heaping too much pressure on Blue Beetle‘s shoulders in spite of its box office projections rising by almost 300 percent on the back of an impressive grassroots fan-driven campaign.
Will it be the best since The Dark Knight? Maybe, maybe not, but we’re tired of hearing it either way.