It’s not exactly World’s Finest, but it will do. Warner Brothers has given the greenlight to a fanboy dream movie. Both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety report that director Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm) will be casting a new Superman and Batman within the next month in order to shoot Batman vs. Superman for a Summer 2004 release. (Update from 2023: none of this happened, though the poster did appear in I Am Legend.)
Peterson says he is more concerned with having quality actors than big names in the roles (Nicolas Cage, get off the phone), people who can, according to Variety, “…offer complex emotions as well as six-pack abs.”
“Everything after September 11 is different,” Peterson commented. “You want to change the image of these superheroes.” Take Peterson’s remarks with a little grain of salt, as he has a particularly good buddy that he enjoys working with who happens to be under contract with Warner Brothers to play Batman if the studio wishes: George Clooney.
Update: Already Peterson has said that one actor he would gladly offer either role to would be Matt Damon, with the director stressing that fresh-faced, all-American look that Damon sports. Sounds to me that if Damon wants it, Superman would be his. That should make up for losing Daredevil to best buddy Ben Affleck. And, by the way, Damon and Clooney are buddies, too. I don’t know anything; I’m just sayin’…
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the script by Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven) features three great parts for women (What? No Julie Madison?) and takes place in both Metropolis and Gotham City. From the actual title as “vs.,” you can bet that the two heroes’ vastly different home-bases would have to be crucial.
A couple of weeks ago, Peterson had been announced as director of Ender’s Game, the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s novel of the same name and its follow-up, Ender’s Shadow. But Ain’t It Cool News revealed that the filmmaker was working on a project for Warner Brothers code-named Asylum, which Harry and the gang claimed was Batman vs. Superman.
Though still intending to direct Ender’s Game, Peterson gushed, “it was too exciting to me not to do Batman vs. Superman now. It’s good to have a handful of projects cooking in your drawer. Let’s see what happens after this.”
Warner Brothers president of worldwide production Lorenzo di Bonaventura stressed that this film will not be a continuation of either previous individual franchise. (Leaving unspoken that the fourth films in both the Batman and Superman franchises sucked so hard they put pornstars to shame. It’s best to just let that go.) Instead, Batman vs. Superman will stand on its own while the studio continues work to relaunch the individual franchises. Superman remains in the hands of director McG (Charlie’s Angels) and writer J. J. Abrams (TV’s Alias), while Darren Aranofsky and Frank Miller are still tinkering with Batman: Year One.
As for Batman vs. Superman, Peterson had something to say about the plot. Obviously from the title, the two will follow comic book tradition and fight before teaming up, perhaps reluctantly.
“Superman stands for what is powerful, clear, bright, noble and just,” Peterson told The Hollywood Reporter, “Batman is dark, obsessive and vengeful. Because they are so different, they will inevitably end up clashing. It will be a battle of the titans.”
Peterson continued, “They both go through some kind of a crisis. Superman has an unwavering belief in what is right and wrong and it’s just not that simple anymore in today’s world, while Batman is on a path of self-destruction. He reacts to an act of incredible violence in a way that almost puts him over the edge.”
While some of Peterson’s interpretation may spark fan debate (and hey, isn’t that fun anyway?), it still seems like the guy cares about what really makes the characters work. It’s a far cry from producer Jon Peters describing Superman as “the ultimate outsider,” with Nicolas Cage adding, “…he’s a beautiful freak.”
Right now, it looks like our heroes are in pretty good hands.
