9 Ways Batman V Superman Has Doomed The DC Extended Universe

2. Warner Bros. Have Promoted The Fan-Critic Divide

One of the biggest defences of Batman V Superman is that it's for the fans, not the critics. Whatever that means; critics are fans. We now have two generations of film writers raised on geek culture and a high proportion ofRottenTomatoes' accredited critics come from fansites in some for; the only distinction is that these are fans who, for the most part, have an analytical slant and shy away from blind franchise patriotism.

But taking this argument legitimately for a moment,let's pause and look where this thinking has come from. Because it sure ain't from the fans - it's from the studio. Yup, that whole "for the fans" argument was started in interviews by Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill and even Sad Affleck once those initial reviews hit (crucially before release) and has since been taken up by Warner Bros. themselves. And, judging by the polished delivery, this is something they've been working on for quite a while.

This means DC is willingly promoting this divide, almost in resignation of getting only one of financial or critical success, missing that over the past eight years Marvel have consistently been able to achieve both. The impact this could have on cinema as a whole is worrying, further perpetuating the idea of critics as stuffy snobs who want to hate anything (rather than the truth - obsessive film fans who want nothing more than to love movies), but it sets the DC Extended Universe off as a Transformers' partner. And even the biggest defender of Dawn Of Justice doesn't want that.