Is Batman a Black Lantern?

Months ago we at PCM had our ears to the ground listening to the rumblings in the DC Universe regarding Batman's death. Speculation was rampant. We researched the truth of where the story was going.

Was Batman lost in time? Did he die at the hands of his father? Was he to be re-animated as a Black Lantern? Who was the Black Glove? We provided all the answers in an earlier article.

Now the worm has turned. DC has made it's big reveal. Batman, or at least the body of Batman has become a Black Lantern. What does this mean? Is Bruce Wayne truly dead and gone forever? Or is he banished in time? Grant Morrison's Blackest Night story title says it all. But notice there may be a clue in that name. Notice that Night is not Knight. Could that be the clue that the Batman in his story is in fact an impostor? Perhaps that is the answer to the mystery of Nekron changing Batman back to a skull after kills everyone.

One thing is certain. Many readers are on board with this story as this Black Lantern Batman raises hell with his fellow Super Heroes. The Black Lantern Batman can kill instantly with a look.

There are many Black Lanterns now, Batman is the newest on Earth.

The Black Lantern Corps is composed of re-animated bodies of former heroes, villains and even normal people from all across The Universe. The Black Lantern Corps is powered by the corpse of The Anti-Monitor (encased in a battery) and are led by the The Black Hand.

The question of who becomes a Black Lantern is also up for discussion. Many believe it has to do with the person accepting death. Those that accept their death do not awake as Black Lanterns, those that did not want to die will respond to the call of the Black Lantern.

If you are into comic books, this is a story that is gaining momentum. You may want to pick it up and join in to see where it goes. If you need some more back story to understand the history of Bruce Wayne as a Black Lantern read Batman Becomes A God.

Batman Three Begins

Director Chris Nolan of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight has dropped out of pre-production on the film The Prisoner to begin work on the third installment of DC's rebooted franchise Batman.

While this is bad news for The Prisoner fans, it's great news for Batman fans. It assures them Chris Nolan is on board and that he is dedicated to the project in what be the best attempt to cap off a trilogy yet.

You may recall that neither Spider-Man 3 or X-Men 3 offered satisfying movie experiences or closure. While these franchises will go on, most films die at the third film mark. They run out of steam for various reasons from bad writing, to forced continuation or simply no real story to tell. Then again, Batman failed in the past because of overkill. There is plenty for Chris Nolan to learn from in past mistakes. Let's hope he saves the Batman franchise from doom.

So when will get another Batman installment? Interviews with actors in the previous Batman films from Gary Oldman to Morgan Freeman have alluded to 2012 and 2103. Other sources indicate it will be 2011. With Nolan removing himself from The Prisoner to work on Batman at this time, one is lead to believe 2011 is plausible.

Batman May Be No More

Rumors have been swirling that director Christopher Nolan may not return for another chapter of Gotham City, and according to Christian Bale, Bruce Wayne himself, another installment to the franchise may never come to be.

"I truly don't know that we're ever going to see another 'Batman' movie," Bale told MTV News. Bale himself is contractually obligated to return, but Nolan is not. "I don't even want to think about it," Bale said, when asked what the movie would be like without Nolan. So what might cause Nolan to call it quits you may ask? "It would be purely that he would need to find a story that was good enough — and if he can't find that, then it wouldn't happen," Bale explained. I guess all we can do is cross our fingers and hope that Nolan comes across the next great script for this successful franchise.

Chris Nolan's Batman Meets Real Super heroes

So you are in tune to the super hero hype? Down with the latest? Then you know Chris Nolan, director of the rebooted Batman franchise doesn't want Batman to have any meeting, let alone awareness of Superman's existence. This is in spite of the fact in the DC world these two characters know each other quite well.

So what is Chris's problem? Well, as he sees it, if Batman knew Superman existed, he'd have no purpose or meaning as he will understand he is not really a super hero. Chris says, "-- we didn’t address it directly in the film, but we did take the position philosophically -- that superheroes simply don’t exist. If they did, if Bruce knew of Superman or even of comic books, then that’s a completely different decision that he’s making when he puts on a costume in an attempt to become a symbol. It’s a paradox and a conundrum, but what we did is go back to the very original concept and idea of the character. In his first appearances, he invents himself as a totally original creation."

So don't expect any Marvel type endings with the next Batman installment where Wonder Woman or Green Lantern approach Bruce Wayne for a team up. In fact Christopher Nolan takes on that question directly with this quote: "I don’t think our Batman, our Gotham, lends itself to that kind of cross-fertilization. "

To emphasize Chris's point, College Humor has created this great short based on Batman bumping into not just Superman, but Justice League super heroes. Real super heroes. Check it out.

The New Batman AND the New Robin!

Here is a first look at the new Batman and Robin. Let me be the first to tell you I'm not geeked up over a new Robin. I'm not geeked up about any Robin actually. But the Internet is buzzing with who is the new dynamic duo?

Bruce Wayne is no longer Batman in the current DC Universe Dark Knight franchise. The buzz behind the cowl is who is Batman? Is it Bruce? Is it Damien Wayne or even Dick Greyson? Some speculate that Damien is Robin. Every aspect of the drawing above (such as hair color) is being analyzed to determine who is who.

What we do know is that Grant Morrison is return to the Dark Knight title to a split readership. Some say he killed DC with Final Crisis while others welcome him back as savior.

One thing is certain. Most everyone thinks that Robin has outlived his welcome. In this modern era he makes no sense with Batman unless Robin was re-written as a girl sidekick. What do you think?

Rebooting Superman - Again?

Word is the Wachowski Brothers MAY take the helm of the next SuperMan film. The Brothers second unit director James McTeigue is also on board. However someone may need to remind the crew that bullet time photography in film has already be replicated in a SuperMan movie based on their Matrix film technique. Superman needs more than a good director. What it needs is a good story. And sadly Warner Brothers wants to reboot it. Just like Hulk.

What bothers me as I think it may bother you too is that why do we keep rebooting franchises? We all know how SuperMan came about. We know the origin of Batman and re-origin of Batman and Ironman, The Fantastic Four, Punisher, Catwoman, Spider-Man and god knows we know the orgin of The Hulk! Did I miss anyone?

Some of these origin stories were so bad, the franchise was killed.

Why does Hollywood keep beating us over the head with reboots? Just move the story forward please! Take for instance Hellboy. The origin of Hellboy was OK. But the second Hellboy film was a fun ride. My message to Hollywood, "Please give us a story now! Take us on a fun ride!" Origin plots are wearing out the genre of superhero films.

The logic behind the reboot? DC is taking Marvel's recent tack, to develop one character at a time in their own story slowly tying them together. This was all started in the Spider-Man franchise where characters were introduced as cameos early and eventually played prominent roles.

Dispite bringing on big name directors such as the Wachowski Brothers, Warner Brothers have failed to figure out how to consistently make a good franchise work because they think one dimensionally. A Wall Street Journal article points out this flaw by WB Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov:

Like the recent Batman sequel -- which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far -- Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

This is rediculous. Superman is not brooding and dark. Nor is Wonder Woman. Sadly we will be getting orgin films from DC on: Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Rather than just focus on the human frailties, Warner Brothers is going to give us Batman the Dark Knight versions of SuperMan, Wonder Woman and others?

This certainly puts a nail in the coffin for now on any Batman vs SuperMan match up.