Superman vs Batman Movie: 3 Reasons It Could Succeed & 3 Reasons It Could Fail

3 Reasons It Could Fail...

3. You Aren't Just Recasting Batman. You're Recasting EVERYTHING Batman.

So, let's say they utterly NAIL casting Batman. Perfect. Great actor, who looks set to bounce between Bruce Wayne and the cowl and make everyone forget Bale. Awesome. Now.... 1. The costume needs to look good. 2. Batmobile? Bat-cycle? Bat-wing? 3. Don't forget the Batcave. 4. Hey! Alfred. Michael Caine was pretty solid, who's gonna do that now? 5. Gary Oldman isn't exactly a hack, so someone better be able to cut a good Gordon, too. 6. Love interest? Yay? Nay? (Probably not, but...) If you make it Catwoman/Selina Kyle, again, Anne Hathaway did pretty good. Best do it right. 7. You're REALLY not thinking of doing The Joker, right? Really? If you are, then wow - Congratulations on taking an even bigger risk with recasting than Batman. 8. If not the Joker, Ra's Al Ghul? The Riddler? The Penguin? Two-Face? All have relatively recent film references, and all were quite good. 9. Oh, and Gotham might want to suit a dark, troubled vigilante's watchful eye. Metropolis can look straightforward and clean, but Gotham should really be fit for a haunting, terrifying figure as its saviour. 10. Are you gonna flash back to Wayne's childhood/parents' murder? That's almost a character in and of itself. And you need to nail the tone, and preferably do it better than "Man of Steel" did - flashing back broke up the narrative and the urgency. Plus, do we REALLY need a Batman reboot to cover his origin so completely? Let Lois Lane research him for Supes or have the guy in the cape do his homework - Really, this one almost certainly will drag the film down if it's done wrong (or just done period). Let's not even ponder how wrong they could get Robin. (Or at least, how much of a liability he could be to come off wrong.) Casting Wayne/Batman is a huge part of getting any movie with Batman right. But this movie has to get EVERYTHING Batman right from the start (Even "The Dark Knight" got to do a do-over with Rachel Dawes, and "Begins" was a bottom up origin story - So people understood things starting out rough), and they've got to make it work in a film where 50% is gonna be Superman's turf/concerns. Granted, Metropolis and Smallville just got a whole movie's worth of establishment, so Gotham MIGHT get more screentime to build its world. But that's just going to let the film down if they get it wrong. ESPECIALLY Alfred. Alfred's pretty much going to (likely) be the easily established wall that Bruce/Batman can bounce dialogue or ideas off of, and if they keep a Caine-like dynamic, he'll be one to throw counterpoints and barbed insight in too. Blow Alfred's casting, and you've just run aground every Batcave/Wayne Manor exposition scene. But really, it's not just Batman's world we should worry about....