In honor of Batman and Superman finally going head to head on the big screen in Dawn of Justice, Honest Trailers is giving two classic versions of the characters their signature treatment. Not George Clooney and Brandon Routh — at least not yet — but Michael Keaton’s Batman from Tim Burton’s 1989 cultural phenom and Christopher Reeve’s iconic Superman.
What we get is concrete evidence that Batman is a murderous guy on the big screen, usually killing at least one major villain per film and plenty of henchmen. There’s also plenty of proof that Superman The Movie might actually be the most boring superhero film to ever hit the big screen. It’s beloved, sure, but does anybody get punched through a building? Not at all.
Speaking of punching people through buildings, Man of Steel actually gets one of the best defenses you’ll hear and it comes from a kid of all places. Superman has to kill to grow, folks. If a kid can understand that, why can’t you or Mark Waid get it. Who cares if you’ve written one of the greatest Superman stories of all time.
The thing that is missing here is who would win in the actual battle. I’m going with Superman due to the whole time travel premise laid out in the film. He could technically fly backwards through time and ensure that Bruce Wayne never exists, nullifying any real fighting that might happen. It’s the classic movie Superman thing to do. Keaton would probably try to use that big cellophane S against the Man of Steel and fail miserably.
