Guys, I have to say that seeing the “blockbuster” film Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice a couple of weeks ago, as well as the lukewarm reception  the aforementioned film has received from both viewers and critics has left me feeling a tad blue.

“Hello, darkness, my old friend…”

You see, we here at Twinsanity are Superman fans. We have been for years now, and speaking as a Superman fan, I have to say, it’s really hard these days to be one. There hasn’t been a decent take on Superman in the media since Superman: The Animated Series and if one counts it, Smallville. And Big Blue’s latest venture on the big screen has just been one flop after another. Granted, neither Man of Steel nor Batman V Superman bombed at the box office, but the reception for these films has not been stellar. Many fans (myself included) feel that our hero Supes is just being continually dumped on through both of these movies. And while Batman is enjoying the success of the Arkham Asylum video games, Superman’s most noteworthy game Superman 64 is is infamously known for being one of THE WORST video games of all time. In this current society of “Dark, moody and angsty = AWESOME!!” and most kids preferring the darkness of Batman, it’s especially trying on those of us fans who prefer the light.

One can only imagine what must be going through Supes’ head right now…

The thing of it is, Superman used to be The Man, and he can be that again, but a couple of things need to happen first. For one, writers and directors need to stop getting these two guys mixed up with each other.

Superman is NOT Batman! The 2 heroes AREN’T the same! They’re at opposite sides of the DC Heroes’ spectrum. Batman is dark, brooding and gritty. Superman is not!  Superman represents hope, light, idealism. Supes is the hero that other super heroes aspire to be like. And while we’re on the subject, Superman’s city Metropolis does NOT look like this:

This is Gotham City. Gotham is the seedy, crime infested hell hole. Metropolis, by contrast, is a beautiful city.

You see this? Notice the bright colors, the blue sky and how everything here isn’t shades of gray?

My point: Don’t write Superman the way that you would Batman because they AREN’T  the same. Superman averts Armegeddon while Batman deals with the crazies. I’m not denying the awesome-ness of Batman, Wolverine and their ilk, but not every super hero needs to be Batman or Wolverine. Much like how you can’t have a top without a bottom or a front without a back, dark super heroes can’t exist without the light ones. A world in which every single super hero is dark and angst ridden is not a world that I’d want to live in. I can’t put it any better than JustSomeRandomGuy voiced through Spider Man on his YouTube channel:

“The light super heroes compliment the dark super heroes and vice-versa. If every super hero were dark, that would be boring because they’d all be exactly the same.”

There is a ray of hope, though. Reportedly, after the lukewarm reception of BVS,  DC plans to be more “hands on” with the future DCEU films, and there’s even talk of bringing in the likes of Bruce Timm as a consultant for the Justice League movies. It’s too late for Warner Brothers to give Zack Snyder the boot as director (as much as I’d like for that to happen), but word is that while Snyder will still be directing Justice League Part 1, there may be a different director for JL Part 2.

You see, Superman used to be The Man, and he can be again, but Big Blue needs to directed by someone who understands the character and who respects the character’s mythos and just plain gets Superman. I’d like to see another good Superman movie in my lifetime, so it’s time to step your game up, WB.

Wouldn’t you like for things to be like this again?