Nolan takes on Superman. Aw crap.

OK, Christopher Nolan is batting .500 with his Batman movies. BATMAN BEGINS was really great with a great balance of action, story and charm. THE DARK KNIGHT was two murders away from being 'terrorist porn', as a good friend put it whose name I will not mention because I'll be taking the ire today. I know saying something bad about THE DARK KNIGHT is considered high blasphemy in geek circles, but Batman getting the crap kicked out of him for three hours by the Joker was about as enjoyable as watching someone kick a dog over and over again.

But there's going to be a third movie of course because THE DARK KNIGHT made an obscene amount of money, fanboys think its the greatest movie ever made (hell some website put it in the top 10 of all time, of course they neglected GONE WITH THE WIND), and leaving the series in such a depressing state that the last film did would be horrible. Nolan said recently that the third movie will be his last and next up he'll be taking on Superman. So Nolan's Batman will be a trilogy featuring Bruce Wayne realizing that he's been trapped in the Nolan-verse due to the Omega Sanction, and while it's a set up from being trapped in ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER, it's time to go sit in a cave in prehistory since quite frankly that would be a refreshing change of pace for the character.

What the hell is up with me and run-on sentences this morning?

Onward.

So here's where I'm disturbed, by news, not in the usual way. SUPERMAN RETURNS was a flop. Of course it was, it was playing off of movies that came out twenty years ago. Also, it was boring and in parts insulting to my intelligence. Obviously the franchise needs a fresh start. However, when I see statements with the whole "going in a direction no one has before with the character" bit I'm left shaking my head. I don't panic, because that's stupid. No one can make me see the movie. It's not going to fundamentally change how the character is handled forever and forever. Its just a movie.

I'm disturbed because I'm going to have to hear about this damn thing. Geeks are going geek out and, Heaven help me, I got a lot of geeks surrounding me in my life. If Nolan brings the same sensibilities to Superman that he did to the Batman movies and MEMENTO then its going to be a crapfest. I'm not waving a doom and gloom banner. I'm not saying that Nolan has no chance of bringing something fresh and good to the table. What I am saying is that what works for Batman does not work for Superman every time. Nolan did say that he did not want to try to connect the two characters and that's fine. What we don't want to see is Superman doing the grim and gritty thing. It just doesn't work.

Of course maybe Nolan is going to do something fresh with the movies and actually have Superman throw down hard with a decent threat. That's why SUPERMAN II is the best of the series. He had to face something that could give him a good fight. They'll probably have Lex Luthor as the villain, which is fine, as long as he's got power armor that puts Ironman's to shame.

Now we just wait and see.