A while back, I lobbied that Kevin Smith should have an active role in Zack Snyder’s Batman-Superman movie, for various reasons. Smith’s a brilliant Batman mind. He knows how to write dialogue for Affleck, having done it for years in movies like Dogma and Chasing Amy. Having him on board could only help.
As it turns out, Smith might be closer to the developing Batman movie than people expected. On his most recent podcast, Smith tells a story of seeing pictures of the suit Snyder plans to use in the movie … and the writer-director just about lost his geek mind.
I saw the Batman costume. More than that I saw a picture of him (Affleck) in the costume," Smith says. "Now, I don't want to give anything away 'cause that is up to them and stuff, but I am going to say this: I instantly bear hugged him (Snyder). You have not seen this costume in a movie on film before. And for a comic book fan, it was mind bending. I was like, 'Get out of here, only you have enough power to pull this off.' Because everyone always like does this Matrix/X-men black armor. … It was fantastic. I'm already a flag waver for this movie, but the costume, it blew my mind. I think everyone is just gonna be like 'Holy ****!' It's its own thing, man. It's like we haven't been down this path at all. I was so elated. ... Even the hardest core "**** all this" person will be like 'alright, I'm ready.'"
He’s right. Every costume on every superhero (save for maybe Spider-Man) adheres to the pitch-black armor costume, even bleeding into Dredd and the new RoboCop. Snyder needs to do something different. Could Smith be referring to something like this?
Or could they be pulling in the trademark yellow insignia on Batman’s chest?
You would be surprised at how important the costume can be to a passionate fan base. Read some of the comments on the story we recently posted about Hugh Jackman almost wearing his classic yellow suit at the end of James Mangold’s standalone Wolverine sequel. There’s real passion tied to a superhero’s suit. Smith gets it. Maybe Snyder has figured this out, as well?
Snyder was teasing a few other major secrets about his upcoming team-up movie during a Yahoo fan event over the weekend. Smith, coincidentally, hosted the event, and jumped on Snyder as he answered a question about Lex Luthor’s place in the developing Man of Steel universe. Said Snyder:
At its core, Superman is an alien. He comes from an alien world … Lex loves to call him an alien."
Smith pounced, telling those who had tuned in, "That’s a spoiler, folks."
So we think we’ll see Luthor in the Batman-Superman movie. And we think Batman will have an amazing new costume. There’s a LOT left to reveal as we build toward the 2015 movie. That can’t get here soon enough.
