1. The Approach
Subtlety is its own charm, and the subtlest of motions often reap the biggest rewards. Such is the case with Man of Steel, which bared a not-so-obvious Batman reference in the shape of a satellite that brandished the Wayne Enterprises logo....that was before Superman and General Zod smashed through it and probably cost Bruce Wayne a small fortune. But it was subtle and very effective, as it affirmed the belief that more than just one superhero shared the same universe. This of course lead to the hunt for more hidden easter eggs, with some hinting at Supergirl, Cyborg, possibly Aquaman, and Lex Luthor. All the hidden clues found pointed to one central direction: the Justice League. The one thing no one thought was possible in this lifetime loomed on the distant horizon, and lit up a trail to finally follow for DC and Warner Bros. Since the Justice League has been given some feasibility, and with DC making the decision of tagging both Batman and Superman in one film, this beginning stage is called the approach. Definition: finding a singular purpose of making sense between the joining of both Superman and Batman, thus becoming the harbinger for the Justice League. This stage opens up a batcave full of possibilities for Zack Snyder to consider, seeing as how he's been handed the reigns for this monster project. The first thing being considered for this stage is taking Christopher Nolan's Batman and employing him from his trilogy into this DC Universe. With Batman's story in the trilogy complete, some see it as a calling card for Batman to jump back into the game and partner up with Superman. But, alas, that won't and
can't happen.
Taking what the Dark Knight trilogy revealed, Bruce Wayne would be out of his element if he joined forces with Superman, even for one adventure full of evildoer-busting. When taking into account his age, lack of connection with his own company, and seemingly passing the torch to another less-experienced apprentice, it wouldn't seem plausible in the slightest to include him in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel sequel. Another massive error with this half-cocked choice is the world in which Nolan's Batman resides in. Nolan's main purpose was to reinvent Bruce Wayne/Batman into a modern world that was on solid ground, away from all the supernatural and extraterrestrial nemesis' of the past, instead relying on realistic tension and villains to build a world for which the viewers could fit in and relate to. The trilogy basically summed up the rise, fall, resurrection, and retirement of Batman as a hero who isn't a hero, but merely, as Harvey Dent once quoted, a "decent man in an indecent time." So, with Bruce Wayne's story complete and strictly taking place in a realistic universe, it would be impossible to take him and place him with Superman, even the Justice League for that matter. Because to do so would be to tarnish the image that Christopher Nolan created from the ground up; it would literally be like placing a bar of steel on top of a card tower, while you watch the instant decimation of someone's time and patience put into building it. The simple approach for which to start this project is not of taking one man's work and dedication and working it within the system. It's about creating another piece of work that doesn't fit into a non-fiction setting but instead fits into the wide open fiction setting of Superman and the Justice League. It's about creating something that IS Superman/Justice League material. With that said, one must take another approach: the inception of a new Batman. But how so? How, after ten years, does someone reinvent a new Batman without his own solo film and place him in
Man of Steel? Where would they start? Thus bringing us to the second stage....