I guess I should first state that I was never a big DC comics fan but heres what I thought based on what I saw.

I'm pretty excited about the whole slate of comic book movies on tap for the next several YEARS but I am a little concerned about the quality of some of them. I think the summer is gonna be dominated by comic book movies for the foreseeable future but I feel like we run the risk of comic book movie fatigue, especially if there are a whole bunch of bad ones, and they're PG13, with happy endings, and mangle the storylines, no swearing, etc. Already, when I talk to my wife about what movies I'm looking forward to seeing she's like " capes, powers, whatever ". As I've said before, I think the comic industry is on the verge of a bubble much like it was in the 90's with all the variant covers, scarcity by design, missed issue deadlines, reboots, inflated prices, etc. and its only a matter of time before this house of cards built on a three legged chair collapses. Until then though, lets enjoy the ride.

I saw the Suicide Squad trailers and I was intrigued to some degree but I had a few reservations. I think the movie can only be as strong as its weakest link which is clearly Will Smith. I think Deathstroke ( aka cool Deadpool ) along with Harley Quinn & Joker are gonna be the characters people are wanting to see. Harley and Joker I think are covered for the most part but Will Smith simply can't act. Whatever hopes they had can only go as far as Will Smith's range which isn't far. I'm sure he'll probably be trying to work a joke or some Fresh Prince into his lines every few minutes. I think what happened is he probably had his people say " Hey, Will wants in ", and that was that, but I don't think he was anybody's choice. As for Harley, I think the character is interesting in the comic book sense but I don't know that that'll translate to film well and her actual name sure as hell shouldn't be Harley Quinzel. It'll have to be written really well. As far as Joker, I don't know that I'm feeling it all that much. I like were they're trying to go in the sense that the Joker never really looked like a criminal hence the gold fronts and tattoos but I just feel that they went in the obvious direction. Criminals have gold teeth and tattoos so lets put some on him, hey how about a tattoo that says HaHaha, nothing says crazy like HaHaHa right. I always felt that the most successful Joker storylines were so good because writers gave him style and his character was distinct. Batman is the dark knight detective, strategist, planner whereas the Joker is unpredictable and criminally insane, two opposing forces, hero and nemesis. What let you know the Joker was criminally insane were his actions, not his tattoos or gold teeth. I find Jared Leto's Joker to appear more in the moment, sign o the times, and comical whereas Heath Ledger's Joker was sinister and frightening before he even did anything. When I first saw Heath Ledgers Joker I thought he looked like what I never knew the Joker should have always looked like and what the hell was I thinking falling in love with Jack Nicholson's Joker. We'll see what happens. Whats the deal with Killer Croc, in the comics he's like a creature, and isn't he supposed to be huge, in the trailer he looks like a power ranger ( like Apocalypse ). If Marvel can pull off a believable Hulk then I'm sure DC could have done a better job with Killer Croc. Lastly, whats up with the latin american Cholo-esque character, who's he supposed to be? I can understand the desire for diversity, I'm all for that, but Chuck Tailors, Khaki's, white t-sirt, starter jacket, and a skull tattoo on his face. There were guys like that walking around the neighborhood I grew up in. I thought they could have done better. I think the crowning achievement is Viola Davis as Dr. Waller, I feel like they got better than they deserved for such a small role. I heard they initially wanted Oprah, but come on, she owns a network, is a billionairess, and has only done like 4-5 movies in the last 30 years. I don't think she's trying to cap off her career or that it'll draw middle aged women to the theater by having her in the movie.

With regards to Batman v Superman, I'm pretty excited about this one as well, until I saw the latest trailer. As with Suicide Squad, I think the weakest link is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and maybe Gal Gadot as WW, but at least you can look at her, Jesse Eisenberg looks crazy with long blonde hair. Like the Joker, I always thought Lex Luthor was so cool because he was sinister and I don't think Jesse Eisenberg can pull off sinister. Mark Zuckerberg is not sinister unless he's stealing your ideas. The conflict between Superman and Lex to me centered around the fact that Kal el is like a god, he was born that way but is totally unassuming about his power and just wants to be like the rest of us whereas Lex is supremely smart believing that it elevates him above everyone else but despite that can never have what Superman was born with. Hero and nemesis. It takes gravitas to pull that off and I don't think Eisenbergs got it, Kevin Spacey, now your talking, its like trading in a Cadillac for a Prius. As for Gal Gadot, I've never seen her act but I don't mind looking at her. I don't know how they're gonna pull off the invisible plane and magic lasso but whatever, I'm on board. As far as Afleck as Batman, I've been pretty impressed with him after The Town and Gone Girl, I can see him as a older, saltier Batman, especially after J. Lo and Gigli, I'm on board. I'm worried about the story though, the Dark Knight Returns which this movie is loosely ( and I do mean loosely ) based on was if anything a core Batman story but here we have a Batman story in a Superman movie. How is that gonna play out, I don't know how if I can see how that works. I thought the DKR conflict centered around Supes sensibilities jading him in changing times and his becoming a company man whereas Batman has always been a vigilante and outsider. I thought the endgame fight between the two was Batman proving to Supes that despite his acting like one of us he must on some level recognize that he is superior to us which entails some degree of Hubris which is the weakness that Batman exploits by opening up a couple o cans of whupass on him as only Batman can. On some level Superman would have to know or rather believe he's superior to us ( ie. " I could have killed you by now if I wanted to "). Superman thought he was going to win that fight which made the loss so painful and awesome. You've got to love the whole idea of Superman wanting to be one of us but on some level recognizing he's better than us but in our frailty we lay him low proving that in fact he is mortal after all. Masterfully done, and I especially like Frank Millers personal " I did this to you " feel which I had never really seen in Batman stories, very bitter. Unfortunately, thats not what this movie is about which worries me. Of course the battle will be awesome to watch, a real treat, but without the deeper meaning I don't think it can truly be awesome and genre defining which DKR was. I think this is what Christopher Nolan was always shooting for with his Batman Trilogy, whether you believe he accomplished it or not is a different story, but I definitely think the transcendent is wh

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