Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice remains one of the most divisive superhero movies on the market.
The 2016 DCEU release boasts heavily mixed reviews, with some viewers proclaiming it a “masterpiece” despite their peers largely viewing it as an overstuffed failure. Critics tend to see the film in a more cynical light, calling it “incoherent” as well as “humorless” and “baffling,” but fans, as is often the case, are far more invested in Zach Snyder’s second DCEU contribution. They largely praise the film for its casting, plot, and action sequences.
No one seems quite ready to agree on Batman v Superman‘s best qualities, but a recent challenge on Twitter is giving it a solid shot. User @AMagicWriter urged their fellow comic book fans to describe the flick in just three words “for science.” Their peers were quick to take @AMagicWriter up on their request, flooding the comment section with three-word takes that paint a largely negative picture of the Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill-helmed film.
The top comment hilariously trolls the film by comparing it to the “Battle of Midway,” reshaped to merely be the “Battle of Mid.” The actual battle took place in the Pacific Theater during World War II, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, but it was reshaped in user @tinoskii’s response to instead become “a major battle over two extremely mid entities or forms of media.”
This response flawlessly sums up the vast majority of the comments responding to @AMagicWriter’s post. There were several positive takeaways, of course, with some viewers throwing out glowing three-word reviews. “It was perfect,” “work of art,” and “perfect freaking movie” are all scattered in between disappointed and all-out furious reactions from the film’s far more plentiful detractors.
The majority of comments lean far more into the territory of “Snyder’s career killer” and “a cinematic disaster,” as comic book fans seized their opportunity to drag the “mediocre at best” flick. Quite a few people seem to agree that the film is the “worst adaptation ever,” despite the team of Snyder loyalists crowding into their comments to share their disagreement.
More than six years after it debuted, the debate surrounding Batman v Superman has hardly slowed down. People harbor some serious feelings about the film—and the Snyderverse in general—and its largely good news for DC. The cinematic universe hasn’t put out a film that can truly compete with the MCU in its entire run, but its fans are the definition of die-hard. They’ll defend those Snyder releases with their dying breath, and in the process keep a floundering franchise afloat.
