10 Problems With Batman V Superman Nobody Wants To Admit

7. Dark Knight Returns Is Not A Good Batman Story

Man Of Steel drew on any number of retellings of the hero's origin story (of which there have been many, with marginal differences between them all), and Batman V Superman equally has plenty of comic book source material that could be adapted. Apparently the main inspiration for Dawn Of Justice is going to be Frank Miller's iconic Dark Knight Returns. Which does indeed feature the two characters punching each other's lights out, and in spectacular fashion too €“ Batman suits up in robotic armour with some Kryptonite stuff inside, and powers himself by jacking into Gotham's grid. But as a basis for the Batman V Superman film? Not so good. The power of The Dark Knight Returns is that it came a good fifty years into the character's history, and subverted a great deal of that history by leaping into a dystopian feature where Batmn's a sort of fascistic jackbooted thug, but that's apparently what Gotham needs to get all of the scum off the streets. Which isn't the sort of story that makes for a fun blockbuster that everyone can enjoy.