One of my primary sources of income these days is through AntiqueWeek, a weekly newspaper with several editions published across the country. I typically have 1 or 2 (and sometimes 3) articles per week in AntiqueWeek, and those articles are often printed in more than one edition. I get to write about many of the things I enjoy, including comic books, art, conventions, movies, museums, trading cards, collectible toys, and even video games.
From time to time, I reprint one of those articles on my blog, including this piece on Batman and Superman teaming up to fight crime (and probably one another) in Man of Steel 2.
The tights-wearing twosome will tangle (and, hopefully, work
together) in 2015’s Man of Steel 2,
directed by Zack Snyder (Man of Steel,
Watchmen) from a screenplay by David
Goyer (Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rises). Man of Steel’s Henry Cavill will reprise
his role as Superman, but there’s no word yet on who will play Batman.
While this will be the motion picture debut of Batman appearing
with Superman, the Caped Crusader and the Metropolis Marvel have fought
side-by-side in the comics for decades.
According to DC Comics: Sixty
Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes (1995, Bulfinch Press) by
noted historian Les Daniels, “Superman and Batman shared a brief, one-panel
cameo as early as All Star Comics #7
(1941, $5,800 in near mint), but didn’t really get together until Superman #76 (1952, $3,800),” in which Bruce
Wayne and Clark Kent independently (not to mention coincidentally) book a vacation
cruise on the same ship, learning one another’s secret identities in the
process.
Starting with World’s Finest
#71 (1954, $2,500), Batman and Superman began appearing within the same stories
on a regular bases. In previous issues of World’s
Finest, the pair would appear together on the covers, but in separate
stories. According to Daniels, the team-ups were serendipitous, occurring
“after production economics had shortened the page count and forced them to
share the same story.”
During the Silver Age of Comics, Batman and Superman were the best
of pals. However, beginning in 1986 with John Byrne’s Man of Steel Superman reboot and Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns, which is set in
a dystopian future, the duo’s disparate natures came to the forefront, kick-starting
years of conflict—much of it violent—between DC’s two biggest icons.
Industry veteran Paul Kupperberg, who has written numerous Superman titles for DC, prefers cooperation
between the characters instead of contempt—fighting evil instead of each other.
“Superman and Batman are good guys, working towards the same end,
so why wouldn’t they be friends,” he said. “Of course, that was back in the
olden days, when super-heroes were still the good guys, as opposed to the dark
and gloomy interpretations we get these days. It would never occur to ‘my’
Superman or Batman to be anything but friends. Superman could achieve the
physical things Batman wasn’t capable of doing while Batman could provide
Superman with the strategic thinking that the more direct,
punch-his-way-through-a-wall Man of Steel didn’t usually employ.”
Kupperberg’s favorite Batman/Superman team-up of all time is “The
Origin of the Composite Superman” from World’s
Finest #142 (1964, $140), in which a freak accident gives a man all the
powers of the entire Legion of Super-Heroes.
“I was nine years old when it came and it just blew my mind,” he
said. “The concept was amazing and the visual was awesome. I read and reread
that book until it disintegrated. These days, I keep the DC Direct
Composite-Superman figure on my desk.”
Regarding Zack Snyder’s Man
of Steel 2, which is set to begin filming next year, Kupperberg will
approach the movie with “VERY guarded optimism,” hoping that Batman and
Superman will put aside their differences long enough to work together as a
team.
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