After teasing us with a shot of the Batmobile yesterday, Superman vs. Batman director Zack Snyder has just unveiled a black and white shot of Ben Affleck as Batman, standing next to the Batmobile. It’s hard to see all the detail in this monotone shot (even after I adjusted the brightness/contrast), but I love the direction they’re going.

The short ears are awesome, I was actually worried they were going to go with really long ears that would have looked strange. I love these. Also, Batman is huge. I love how thick he looks. I always felt that (even though he was buff) Christian Bale looked tiny in his batsuit.

I totally dig the big Dark Knight Returns bat-symbol, and I love the 90s utility belt filled with pouches. The big thing I’m waiting to see is the color(s) of the suit. I’m really hoping for some gray and not just all-black, but we’ll see.

What do you guys think?

I loved Man of Steel.

Know what I love more though? The fact that it’s inspiring debate among geeks. I get the issues that people have with this movie, and I’m just glad that we have a Superman movie that has enough going on to actually get people talking. My hope is that the issues people are having with it won’t be issues when the inevitable sequel gets here, and that Man of Steel can serve as a springboard for a robust Superman (and DC Comics) Cinematic Universe.

If you haven’t seen Man of Steel yet, don’t read this. I don’t think I can talk about the movie without giving anything away.

The Movie

I’m a huge Superman fan. In fact, Man of Steel made me remember just how big of a Superman fan I’ve been my whole life. I was pretty much obsessed with the Big Blue Boy Scout up until I was about fifteen years old. Then I got busy and paid less attention to DC superheros (Spider-Man and X-Men were just hitting the theaters) and it wasn’t until Superman Returns that I started thinking about the character more again. I liked that movie, but just as a nostalgic homage to the classic movies, and I totally understood everyone’s complaints about it. It was not an action-packed Superman film.

Fast forward a few years and the world is superhero movie crazy. We’ve had a great Batman movie trilogy and we’ve seen Marvel craft an incredible interconnected Marvel Universe on screen. It’s time to bring Superman back. When I heard Christopher Nolan was going to be involved I was excited, but then I was less excited when Zack Snyder was announced as the director. I wasn’t a fan, but I am now.

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Well, that escalated quickly. Disney hasn’t even announced a director for Episode VII yet, but apparently they’re already thinking about non-numbered side films. Everyone ever is reporting today that Zack Snyder is making a Star Wars version of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, a movie that I’ve been meaning to see for years and have never gotten around to it.

I’m not a fan of Snyder, but Man of Steel looks pretty good, and I like the idea of creator-driven standalone Star Wars films, so I’m going to stay cautiously optimistic about this. In fact, that’s the biggest thing I’m taking away from this news. The next few years (decades?) could be filled with serious, standalone Star Wars films from top directors who have been dying to play in this universe since they were kids. While this could also signal Disney’s willingness to overwhelm us with new Star Wars movies, at least they haven’t announced anything completely ridiculous yet.
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English actor Henry Cavill has been cast as Superman in the upcomming Christopher Nolan produced, Zack Snyder directed reboot. Apparently he’s almost played a lot of huge roles, like James Bond, Batman, and even Superman in the failed McG version. This is probably why I’ve never heard of him, but I’ll admit, he looks the part.

A lot of bloggers are whining that Henry isn’t from America, but I’m sure he’ll do fine. Christian Bale is British and crazy and he made a pretty awesome Batman.

What do you think of this casting?