The Tim Burton Batman films are an exception that some people have taken exception to, but Batman '89 was basically the second or third good superhero film ever made, so the majority were happy to get what they did.
Accepting Batman killing in the 1989 movie has never been measured or proven to be audiences giving the film a "pass" on that because of the then-limited number of good superhero productions. Those very familiar with Batman comic book history knew he killed early on, so that was not a problem, or something invented for the movie, and among the non-initiated--those who knew the character, but were not necessarily comic book readers, they did not care, nor was there any sort of protest by some large number of moviegoers at the time.
Snyder and DC do *superheroes* with the emphasis on the big, the mythic, the classical overtones
Mythic is the key, an approach that DC has used in various comics or series for decades. One of the more omnipresent examples of this is the way Alex Ross created many of his DC TPBs, tabloid issues and gallery pieces, particularly of the core heroes (or as the JLA), where they appeared to exude a legendary energy, as if they were a rare, experienced group doing what no one else could, instead of giving the impression that they're just some random thing on every corner that is as common as a traffic light.
If people think of it that way, instead of wishing the DC films were just like the MCU films with different branding, it would lead to less keyboard Kombat.
Indeed, and the MCU approach only works
for the MCU, and no other film concept. The one time it was aggressively forced on a DCEU film--the theatrical version of the
Justice League movie take-over by Whedon to make it play like his Avengers--it was a confused, loud disaster from someone who clearly did not know the movie series he was hired for and its characters..It was the equivalent of trying to make Star Trek just like Star Wars, when they are two very different set of concepts despite some surface similarities, whether its space and energy-based weapons, or in the superhero movie case, capes and bodysuits.
Obviously, when WB greenlit Snyder's JL, the characters and situation fit perfectly into the solo films and running subplots built up to that time, and I recall the fact Snyder succeeded with his JL (
with his intended vision...what a surprise) when Whedon predictably crashed and burned gave those keyboard combatants who wanted to MCU-ize the DCEU another reason to scream, spit and claw in ridiculous outrage.
It’s exactly the thing Watchmen was touching on too, with its deconstruction elements and what the reality of Demigods in a normal world would actually mean. The film has a better ending than the comics in some ways, or at least, one better suited to screen than a giant squid thing.
Interesting.
