For the majority of his career in comics, television and movies, Batman hasn’t used guns. They have come to represent not just the violent deaths of his parents but an “easy way out” for vigilantes, and eschewing the devices (except for the grappling hook variety) sets Batman apart from the criminals he captures night after night. But for some reason filmmakers think it’s perfectly okay to put high-caliber guns on his car.
Tim Burton got that wave started with the dual-mounted gatling guns on the Batmobile in 1989’s Batman, and Christopher Nolan followed suit in his Dark Knight trilogy over a decade later. Now, Batman is in the hands of Zack Snyder – a filmmaker whose stylish depiction of violence in Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Sucker Punch made him a fan favorite in the first place – so it was no surprise that the trend continued in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Many of us were, however, quite a bit surprised at just how violent Batman got in Batman v Superman. His body count is staggering, and lest we forget he also liked to cruelly brand the criminals he captures with the “bat” symbol, knowing full well that the scar will get them murdered by other criminals in prison. By the end of Batman v Superman it sure seems as though Batman is supposed to have learned a valuable lesson about those violent ways, but judging from this new picture released by Zack Snyder (via Coming Soon)… maybe not.
Zack Snyder/Warner Bros.
Also: We’ve Ranked All 30 DC Superhero Movies
Zack Snyder has released this new image of the Batmobile from the upcoming superhero team-up movie Justice League, and it seems to have more guns than ever before. Big, threatening guns. It’s possible that these are all of the non-lethal variety but given the history of the Batmobile and Zack Snyder’s personal interpretation of Batman, we’re guessing probably not.
Make of this what you will. We’ll find out what all these guns are used for (presumably) when Justice League arrives in theaters on November 17, 2017.
Eight Iconic Superhero Fights You Will Never See in a Movie:
Photo: Warner Bros.
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Eight Iconic Superhero Fights You Will Never See in a Movie
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Avengers vs. X-Men
Marvel's biggest superhero teams came to blows in the epic, multi-series crossover Avengers vs. X-Men (a.k.a. AvX) in 2012, but the two franchises are owned by different studios - Avengers at Disney, X-Men at Fox - and it's unlike they will ever want to share the profits on what could be the biggest movie ever produced.
Photo: Marvel
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Batman vs. Guy Gardner
Warner Bros. owns the rights to both Batman and Guy Gardner, Earth's jerkiest Green Lantern, but the odds that they'll actually put Gardner in a movie - especially when Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner are more popular - are pretty slim. So the iconic fight in which Batman took Guy out in a single punch will, sadly, probably never make it in front of the cameras.
Photo: DC
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Daredevil vs. Sub-Mariner
In one of the great early Marvel superhero fights, Sub-Mariner emerged from Atlantis to destroy humanity, and only Daredevil was around to stop him. Outmatched in every way, Daredevil fought until he collapsed. Sub-Mariner respected his fearlessness so much he figured humanity was worth sparing. Both characters are owned by Marvel, but the studio is still trying to get the rights to Sub-Mariner sorted out after the character was originally optioned by Universal.
Photo: Marvel
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The Hulk vs. The Thing
The strongest, most misunderstood monsters in the Marvel Universe have a long and storied history of beating the crap out of each other. Who is strongest? Who is toughest? We may never know in live-action, since Fox owns the rights to Fantastic Four and Marvel's got The Hulk under their own banner.
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Marvel vs. DC
It took decades for Marvel and DC to set aside their differences long enough for a comic book crossover between their competing superhero universes, and it will probably be at least that long before Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. seriously consider letting Batman fight Captain America, Superman fight Thor, and so on and so forth.
Photo: Marvel and DC
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Superboy vs. Superboy Prime
The teenaged clone of Superman and Lex Luthor repeatedly fought an alternate reality Superboy who was a dangerously insane mass murderer. Yeah, even though Warner Bros. obviously owns both Superboy and Superboy Prime, the odds that we'll ever see their weird, epic, head-exploding battle on the big screen are extremely low.
Photo: DC
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Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
Aliens have challenged Earth's mightiest champion, but when Superman steps forward, the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali points out that he's not really from Earth. So they fight to prove who is truly the greatest, and sure enough, Muhammad Ali kicks Superman's ass (in all fairness, the hero's powers were deactivated, and he put up a good fight). But it seems highly unlikely that Warner Bros. will decide to send Superman back in time to fight Ali in his prime, doesn't it?
Photo: DC
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Wolverine vs. Anyone Cool
In the Marvel Comics, fighting Wolverine is like a rite of passage. He's had iconic tussles with The Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man, and was thrown head-to-head against any rookie hero that the publisher wanted to prove was a badass. But Wolverine is owned by Fox, who only have the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. We will probably never see Wolverine fight an Avenger in a live-action movie, and that sucks.
Photo: Marvel
