5. Fear Of Fun (AKA Batmanitis)
The Nolan Batman films were very successful, both critically and financially (though, if you ask me, the last one was kind of lame), but that doesnt mean every single DC movie has to try to capture the same lightning in a bottle. Man Of Steel was clearly their attempt to turn Superman into Batman, with its muted colour palette and dour tone. Just because Green Lantern suffered from a bunch of lame jokes doesnt mean humor should be avoided completely. Yes, Marvel sort of has the action-comedy market cornered with its movies, but just look at something like Netflixs Daredevil for how to make something that is dark without also taking itself too seriously. Man Of Steel is serious business. Even the few jokes that are tossed in are either cut short, like Lois Lane being interrupted before she gets the chance to say Superman in the interrogation room, or barely able to be considered jokes at all like Lois Lane being interrupted before she gets the chance to say Superman in the interrogation room. (I cant think of any other point in the movie that tries to be humorous.) Ever since Batman and Robin failed, DC has been afraid to do anything but take its movies deathly seriously. If you have people leaving a Superman movie feeling depressed, youre clearly not doing the right thing. The dark and serious tone works for Batman because hes friggin Batman. And guess what, even a lighter tone would work for him, too, like in the excellent Batman: Brave And The Bold cartoon show or the resurgence of Batman 66 in the comics recently. DC thought making Superman more like Batman would save Man Of Steel and when that didnt work, they figured why hide it? Lets just shove Batman in the next one and make everyone happy. People are worried about superhero fatigue? What about Batman fatigue?