In case you haven't seen the most recent Dark Knight Internet meme to hit IM, blogs, Twitter, humor sites and just about every user-generated link farm around let Freedom Shenanigans & High Jinks be the latest site to post the "Dark Knight/Batman Trailer Split-Screen" video -- but with a twist. For those who haven't heard about it yet, the video was passed around by many 'net users who claimed it was a split-screen comparison of the eerie similarities between the trailers for the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film and the upcoming Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight.
Despite the video's sudden popularity today (with quite a few people linking to the video via the College Humor website -- which also seemed to frame it as a comparison of the two trailers), this video has been around since late 2007, and was created by YouTube user VaportrailFilms after the Dark Knight trailer was released. As many Digg.com users have pointed out, this is also not a magical moment of synchronicity in the vein of Dark Side of the Moon and Wizard of Oz, either. In fact, it's actually a "mash-up" of the Tim Burton film and the Dark Knight trailer -- made up of bits and pieces sampled from the 1989 film and arranged for the best possible match.
So, while I hate to burst a good online conspiracy bubble, that's not the original Batman trailer in the video, folks. It is, however, the product of some very nice video editing skills.
But I have to admit, the version that used the 1966 Batman film is more my cup of tea.
That being said, as much as I'm looking forward to seeing Iron Man, I still believe Dark Knight will kick it's tin ass in the theatres.What's great about Batman is that he is vulnerable. He goes in with black kevlar and a utility belt - and NO GUNS and still kicks ass. It's one reason why Superman doesn't do anything for me - unless you happen upon a piece of kryptonite - he's invincible.
Batman is the shiznit and the best franchise around. Sorry - you can't deny this.
Concerning Iron Man, the Civil War Series and the killing of Captain America, I don't care for Iron Man. Now that doesn't mean I won't see the movie or can't appreciate a good action flick with all the CGI bells and whistles. I just don't care for the overt fascist memes promoted by Marvel. (After close to 60 years in print, Marvel Comics has killed off Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, one of its most famous and beloved superheroes amid an already controversial story line, "Civil War," which is pitting the heroes of Marvel's universe against one another. In the comic series, Rogers was to stand trial for defying a superhero registration law passed after a hero's tragic mistake causes a 9/11-like event. Steve Rogers eventually surrenders to police. He is later mortally wounded as he climbs the courthouse steps.Marvel says the comic story line was intentionally written as an allegory to current real-life issues like the Patriot Act, the War on Terror and the September 11 attacks.)
Now if Marvel were using the "Devil's Advocate" technique to actually criticize the contemporary state of our Federal Fascist Union that would be great. However, they seem to be actually endorsing the fascist behavior. (How many military recruitment ads are running along with this everyday? Right, ruin the economy, devalue the money so that poor folks have no other option than to become government employees and work to capture and incarcerate their fellow citizens for things that were not crimes before this present administration stole the elections.)
Since the end of Civil War, Iron Man has been running S.H.I.E.L.D. as its current Director. His main goal seems to be making sure the SHRA is followed and that illegal heroes are shut down. This makes me wonder why the SHRA doesn't apply to the villains running around. Sure, many of them have public identities, but that isn't the same thing as registered.
We have seen many moments of Tony Stark being an asshole ever since Civil War started. From kowtowing to Miriam Sharpe all the way to taking his best friends in for being noble and selfless.
Partial list of crimes:
-Supporting a blatantly unconstitutional Law.
-Failing to provide adequate security for Steve Rogers (a man known to have many powerful enemies.)
-Employing known killers and thugs in the pursuit of unregistered heroes.
-Failing to apprehend known villains in favor of apprehending unregistered heroes.
-Attempting to use his authority to recruit a new Captain America
-Engineering two near-International situations in order to further his agenda.
-The unlawful imprisonment of American citizens
-Attempting to bind non-American citizens to the Registration Act
-Using the good name of a deceased American Hero in order to trap and apprehend
unregistered heroes.
The acts of this man are clearly fascist and elitism at its worst. The hubris of this man, who believes himself to be the one to lead all heroes leans towards megalomanicsm (yeah, I made the word up, you know what I mean) >8{D}
At this point, I don't think there is anything Marvel can do that would repair the harm to Tony's character. They may even have had a chance at retconning some of it if this did seem out of character. Instead, this looks like a direction that Marvel was headed towards for a long while now. As far as I am concerned, the only way to save Iron Man is for Stark to go away and a new man step in.
However, that won't happen, at least not in the near future. According to http://io9.com/378102/iron-man-armor-now-comes-with-proprietary-software
Iron Man! Now he's the kind of guy who's off crusading against... Linux? The latest interview promoting movie tie-in comic The Invincible Iron Man seems to suggest a more software-based approach to the character than ever before. According to series writer Matt Fraction, the battle between Tony Stark and new bad guy Ezekiel Stane is really just an allegory for the battle Bill Gates wages against smaller software providers every single day of his life.
For me, there is no redemption for Iron Man.
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