2. What About Batman?
We now know that the door back into the
Dark Knight trilogy is closed and locked. The next time we see Batman on screen, it will not be the one played by Christian Bale, but an all-new iteration. This Batman will obviously be the one we see in Justice League. There are still, though, some issues to address. The last three films for the character have featured a Batman that was intentionally grounded in heightened realism. One has to wonder if audiences are ready for a Batman that teams with and fights against super-powered beings. It will be interesting to know if or how the studio plans to bridge that gap. It has been rumored before that the rebooted Batman will debut in Justice League, but that was all based on a 2015 Justice League release date that seems less realistic with each passing day. If
Man of Steel strikes gold at the box office, its sequel could be fast-tracked for 2015 with a rebooted Batman solo film arriving the same year or in 2016. This would allow for a Batman film to introduce the more fantastical elements of the Bat-mythos ahead of time, so the character's appearance in JL would be less jarring. If JL really is going to be the first appearance for the new Batman, Warner Bros. could generate a lot of buzz with a casting announcement.