Arcs of the Trinity

Arcs of the Trinity

Each member of the “Trinity” has an arc in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). I’d like to examine each of them one by one.

We’ll get Supes (Henry Cavill) out of the way first because he doesn’t really get a character arc. Before I go any further, I’d like to share a little something. Here is a quote I found in an interview with French magazine Studio Cine Live about how Superman has evolved since Man of Steel (2013) before Batman v Superman was released:

Firstly, you know you’re in trouble when one of the films lead actors says that titular hero he plays isn’t all that different from when we last saw him. The simple fact of the matter is that people grow, people change, that why Character Development exists in films. We’re not who we were, we change. Both in films and in real life – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst but regardless, we all change. Henry Cavill’s description of Supes in Batman v Superman is a prime example of how little the people involved in the making of this film care.

All that aside, the lack of character development for Supes means he gets only to one of two things: Mope & act depressed.

He continues to feel conflicted about where he belongs in our world, he hates Batman because he’s a “vigilante” even though he’s technically a vigilante himself.
Rather than do something proactive like I dunno deduce Batsy’s true identity using his X-ray vision when he’s in costume or his journalist skills and threaten to expose him with a news story. 
Instead, he feels blue because humanity rejects and fears him, yet he continues to help people and yet still, takes no pleasure in it and ultimately never comes to a conclusion as to where he belongs.
Which makes his “heroic” sacrifice to defeat Doom all the more contrived and frustrating as it’s the completion of an arc that was never set up to begin with. I get the sense that all of Supes’ moping and feeling conflicted was going to fleshed out and further developed and executed better when Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer were going to this film as Man of Steel 2 but at some point (I’m not quite sure when) all of that got lost in the huge amount of studio interference.

It might seem funny to do Wonder Woman second but like Supes she doesn’t get a character arc.

In fact, she proves to be completely pointless and superfluous. Her role in this film can boiled down to little more than a glorified cameo. She has 3-4 scenes that could easily have been cut from the film and her only real contribution is showing up at the end to help Batty and Supes fight Doom. Because of this, she, like Supes, doesn’t get a character arc. Throughout the film, she’s used for either one of two things, muscle and eye-candy, she dukes it out Doom as easily as if he were a punching bag, without suffering so much as a scratch. As a result of this we also never see her grow as a character. There’s even a scene where after Supes sacrifices himself to defeat Doom and Wonder gives Lois Lane as sad look of empathy and I was just not buying it. Like, flip no, you’re not sorry he sacrificed himself and that you “never got a chance” to know him. You’re sorry you didn’t get off your lazy butt and arrived to help earlier.

And there’s really no reason that Supes’ “heroic” sacrifice should have taught her anything. As I said before, she didn’t even get to know Supes and she even says to Bruce at Supes’ funeral that “A hundred years ago I walked away from mankind, from a century of horrors…” As shown in Wonder Woman (2017), her encounter with Ares and Steve Trevor’s equally heroic left her with PTSD and she went into exile as a result. Given that Wonder Woman came out after Batman v Superman, we’re left wonder what it is that Wonder saw in Batty & Supes that made her come out of retirement.

I’ve saved Batman for last because he actually has something of an arc that actually goes somewhere – unfortunately it’s a pretty stupid arc. The film clearly establishes him as an older, more world-wery Batman – someone who has already fought the Joker, possibly had his back broken by Bane, apprehended Deadshot, had a fling with Catwoman, formed the Batman family consisting of Robin, Nightwing & Batgirl, lost Jason Todd/Robin, arrested Harley Quinn, extinguished Firefly, maybe encountered Man-Bat etc – yet everyone in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice acts as though he’s new – I don’t understand it.

We're constantly told that he's an older, wearier Batman. But we're never shown any of the adventures that led to evolution of that character. A basic rule in screenwriting is "show don't tell". It's a simple rule but it's one that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice manages to break a lot. We never see him take down the aforementioned villains from his rogues gallery, we never see him forming bonds of partnership between Commissioner Gordon or in flings with Selina Kyle or Vicki Vale. We never see act selflessly to protect the image of Harvey Dent. So for us as an audience it's nigh on impossible to feel the loss of Batman's humanity because we're given any concrete evidence that it was there in the first place.

According to Zack Snyder, this version of Batman is inspired by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the problem is that this character comes right the f*ck out of nowhere with no build up or proper intro at all. Christopher Nolan has also cited The Dark Knight Returns as a source of inspiration for The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the difference here is that that version of Batman was built up over two predecessors Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008).
Using the The Dark Knight Returns as jumping off point for the DCCU version of Batman was just a lazy and cheap to introduce him without an origin story.

How would you like it if the version of Tony Stark/Iron Man that was introduced in MCU in Iron Man (2008) was an older werier Tony Stark ala Captain America: Civil War (2016).
We’d just be confused and it would be ultra weird. 

It honestly feels as if there’s something missing. Stuff’s implied through Easter Eggs like graffiti on Robin’s costume and throwaway lines such as “Freaks dressed as clowns” but there’s nothing concrete here. What that key rule again? Oh yeah “Show don’t tell”! i.e. all of the above would have been very interesting to explore but the film and the rest the DCCU glosses over all of that as though it’s not that important.

Because of all of the above and because we're never given anything concrete to support Batman’s emotional & physical pain, loss, exhaustion, disillusionment or his “new” cynical, pessimistic view of the world, we never form any sort of emotional attachment to this version of Batman or are given a chance to root for him or get on his side and as a result of this, like Wonder Woman, there’s no reason that Supes’ sacrifice should have taught him anything, I mean he spent 18 months (a year and a half) planning to take Supes down and now that he “selflessly” sacrifices himself to defeat Doom now does he realise he was wrong about Supes all along? If you’re constantly being distracted by elements that just don’t add up, then you’re not experiencing the conflict. It’s the literal definition of forced!