Although Justice League vs. Suicide Squad is well underway, that doesn’t mean it’s too soon for DC to start teasing their next major crossover event. Furthermore, it doesn’t come as any surprise that the publisher realizes who’s their most bankable superhero, just as WB’s motion picture division does: Batman. And it’s likely due to that fact that he’ll find himself at the epicenter of whatever this grand tale may be.
Scott Snyder, who’s recently been devoting a fair amount of his time to All-Star Batman, will be re-teamed with his longtime collaborator in artist Greg Capullo, which will no doubt make many devoted readers raise their arms in jubilation. What makes this event even more noteworthy is the knowledge that Snyder spent considerable time breaking the story with Geoff Johns, chief creative officer at DC Entertainment and the mind behind countless definitive stories published over the course of the past decade.
Speaking with CBR, Snyder teased the following:
“Greg [Capullo] calls it our Batman heavy metal rock opera. It’s going to be a big, epic Batman story with flaming armor, an over-the-top capstone to a lot of the stuff that we’ve done with him. It’s all mapped out. I’ve just been out to Burbank with Geoff Johns going over it, and going over what he’s doing. It was great. It was one of the best story meetings that I’ve ever had. We sat there for a couple of days and really tightened up some of the screws. Geoff was incredibly generous and helpful with it.”
Considering that those three have put their heads together and the Dark Knight will be the central character, it seems like it’s a solid bet that we’ll finally see some payoff from the mystery that began with DC Universe Rebirth #1 – which involves Batman and the Flash getting to the bottom of this Watchmen jazz.
With many of DC’s event books over the past ten years or so having been penned by either Johns or Grant Morrison, it does come as a breath of fresh air for Snyder to take the wheel. Apparently, this notion’s not lost on him, as he’s more than willing to put his own fingerprint on the big picture:
“Above all, what I really want it to be for fans is to not have it feel like the kind of event that we’ve seen before. I love DC events. They’re bonkers and wonderful, but generally, they refer back to continuity, or they are all about where the line is at that moment in time,” Snyder continued. “Geoff’s best ones have been plain-out great stories, but I think Crisis, for example, is in conversation with what we need to do with the line, as good as they are. What I want this one to be is different. I want it built out of the stories happening now and creating new material and giving everybody a place to tell stories that fit what they’re doing on their books, and feels really modern and different and above all fun. I don’t want it to be grim. I don’t want it to be superheroes arguing over something. Superheroes won’t be fighting superheroes. I want it to be celebratory, and huge, and crazy. I am going for out of control dinosaurs and lasers. It should be fun.”
While this does sound exciting and all, it’s important to not overexpose Batman no matter how popular he is. The aforementioned motion picture division is already running the risk of doing just that with not only a solo film led by Ben Affleck on the way, but also Gotham City Sirens, which we wouldn’t doubt will feature a pointy-eared cameo at the very least.