Batman vs. Superman – a possibility?

Over at Cinematical, Erik Davis pontificates on the possible reawakening of the long-dormant BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN film: basically, he’s against the idea, calling it an opportunity for “pissing off the entire universe.”

As you may recall, the project was first announced a couple years ago. Andrew Kevin Walker (SEVEN) wrote the script, for Wolfgang Petersen to direct. But Warner Brothers decided to make new solo movies instead: BATMAN BEGINS and the upcoming SUPERMAN RETURNS.

Davis’ post was inspired by some remarks made by director Petersen (which can be found here at IESB) while promoting his latest blockbuster, POSEIDON (a remake of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE). Basically, Petersen says he’s still interested in the project but doesn’t expect it to happen soon.

All I have to say on the subject is this: as weird as the idea of BATMAN VS SUPERMAN sounds, there is no reason to think that such a movie is doomed to failure. As any good comic book fan knows, Frank Miller used the concept for the climax of his ground-breaking graphic novel THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, showing exactly how and why it would be logical — even easy — to pit the two characters against each other.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the BATMAN VS SUPERMAN film will succeed as well as Miller did. But we shouldn’t simply assume that the project is doomed to failure by its very nature, or that it will inevitably “piss off the entire universe.”