He's a big Cory Hart fan.
WB's Justice League 2017 movie pre-discussion thread
- Thread starter Samurai8472
- Start date
The Comedian is Batman's dad and Doctor Manhattan is the Flash's dad… And Silk Spectre I is the voice of the Fortress of Solitude's computer…
"…We're being watched".
http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/rebirth-button.jpg
"…We're being watched".
http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/rebirth-button.jpg
I actually knew that, I just wasn't thinking about the actor so much as the giant glowing blue guy who hates pants.
I didn't know Nite Owl was going to be a member of the Justice League
Well, he is playing Flash's father...
Edit - damn, beaten to it.
Honestly, I wish the idea of the Bat-Signal had been retired a couple of decades ago. It made sense as a way of getting Batman's attention in the 1940s, but we have mobile phones and the Internet now. If ever a part of the Batman mythos needed to be modernized, this is it. Heck, even in the '60s show, they mostly used the Batphone and only rarely made use of the Bat-Signal.
One of the better ideas in the animated series The Batman -- aside from its name -- was the Bat-Wave, a computer system that monitored crime reports and alerted Bruce when there was a crime in progress, through the Batcomputer or through a pocket pager (which had a prominent Batman emblem on it, not a good idea for when Bruce answered it in public). He needed it in the first two seasons because he was at odds with the police and needed a way to be alerted to crime without their knowing cooperation. But then at the end of the second season, they did a retool, brought in Commissioner Gordon, and replaced the sensibly high-tech Bat-Wave with the traditional Bat-Signal, which really felt like trading down.
Ironically, it's kind of a modernized version of Clark Kent's reason for getting a job at a great metropolitan newspaper -- because, in the '30s and '40s, that was the best place to get immediate notification of dangerous situations in progress. (Well, I suppose working at the police station would get him faster notification of crimes, but not necessarily of fires, natural disasters, plane crashes, etc.)
Theatricality and deception are powerful weapons". Not to mention: "As a man I’m flesh and blood. I can be ignored. I can be destroyed. But as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting". In both cases the bat-signal is more helpful than an app.
Sure, that's the excuse that modern Batman comics and films have come up with to justify the continued use of a 1940s technology. We've seen stories about the police shining the Bat-Signal in the sky as a warning to criminals. But if you really take a look at it critically, does it hold up? Is that really the best way for actually getting Batman's attention? Leave aside the fact that it would be completely useless on a clear night, let alone in the day. Leave aside the fact that it isn't 1942 anymore and we have e-mail and Twitter. Doesn't it stand to reason that there would often be times that it would be better for Gordon and Batman to meet clandestinely, without alerting the whole city? Wouldn't it often risk provoking a criminal to strike sooner, or scaring off someone they wanted to entrap, if they blatantly advertised that Batman was being called in? How does that constitute deception? Heck, the only times the Bat-Signal really seems to serve a purpose anymore are in stories where Batman's missing or believed dead and the cops want to pretend they're still in touch with him. That's deception, sure, but it only works in the absence of Batman.
There are times when symbolism and advertisement are useful. But they are not necessarily the same times that communication is desirable. They're two separate goals, and they don't always align. So if the only justifiable modern excuse for the Bat-Signal is symbolism, then clearly it's not an ideal means for communication per se.
Also, the reason modern stories still use the Bat-Signal is because it's remembered from its uses in the past. But in a modern adaptation, Batman would be a product of the 21st century (or at earliest the 1990s) and he and Gordon would most likely come up with a more modern way to communicate.
Batman in front of the bat-signal…
…is there a more iconic image in comics or movies? So the problem for modern writers isn't how (and with what) to replace the 1940's bat-signal with. In the modern world there are a lot of communication apps and devices. I'm not arguing your points on all of that. The problem contemporary writers face is how to find good enough reasons to keep that roof searchlight and that iconic image.
I thought Nolan did a great job on that department.
Sure, it's iconic, but that doesn't absolutely require it to be kept. I mean, the cover to Action Comics #1 is iconic, but few Superman productions have gone to the trouble to recreate it (although a rendering of it was visible on Bruce Wayne's bulletin board of Superman clippings in Batman v Superman). The Batman managed pretty well without the Bat-Signal for two years. The '66 series rarely used it, and I don't think it ever actually had Batman in the same shot as the signal, just the cops operating it in hopes that Batman would see it and rush to Commissioner Gordon's office.
