5: Batman Gets Buts in Seats
This has been a film reality for decades. People tend to forget because of the way
The Dark Knight took theaters by storm, but Batman has
always been big business. His movies set opening weekend records in 1989, 1992, and 1995 as well as in 2008 (with 1997's
Batman and Robin being the obvious exception). At this point, pretty much everyone who goes to movies (and
definitely everyone who's going to see
Man of Steel) knows who Batman is and what he's about. His origin story, his methods, his wardrobe, it's ingrained into our collective pop culture consciousness. Unlike Nick Fury, no one would need to turn to the person beside them and ask "Wait, who's that?" if he made an appearance. So if/when the Caped Crusader shows up at the end of Superman's most recent credit scroll mentioning key words like "Watchtower" or even outright naming the Justice League, then you can bet your boots that it won't just be midnight crowds or scattered pockets of "in the know" nerds who lose their minds. If WB wants to be a bit less on-the-nose, they could go the alter-ego route and have Bruce Wayne pay Clark an after-hours visit at the Daily Planet. It would still create the kind of "Whoa!" moment that instantly generates huge amounts of public discussion and anticipation, building hype that Warner desperately wants for this still-incubating project. But the short-term benefits are pretty sizable as well. Plenty of people went back for seconds or thirds of
Iron Man because they missed "that thing after the credits" but can you imagine the word-of-mouth that a BATMAN cameo in a SUPERMAN movie would create? That would seriously boost ticket sales, possibly giving
Man of Steel box office longevity it would otherwise have missed out on. And let's face it, while Superman may have kicked off the modern comic book movie model with the 1978 Richard Donner film, his track record since is hardly sterling. Even the 2006 Superman Returns - while moderately successful - ended up failing to reignite the franchise the way Batman Begins did (which gained a
huge following once it hit DVD). Now, imagine how this would help movies with smaller potential audiences, like Flash or Wonder Woman. If, say, it was "leaked" that a certain Dark Knight would be making a "surprise" appearance. Basically, it's a move that helps WB's ledger in the short term AND long term. But that's not the only reason it should happen...