Is There a Need for a Batman Reboot?

I had a friend ask me the other day about Affleck being announced as Batman. He said, "I feel like they should be waiting a few years before rebooting Batman again." I think that's a fair comment, but let's consider it.  We've actually known there was going to be a Batman reboot for a month or more now, but now that there is an actor cast, it's become real.

While Batman is being rebooted, we're not really seeing him in a Batman movie. Let's remember, this is Man of Steel 2. It probably won't be called that, but that's what it is. Batman is the antagonist in the next Superman movie. We also still aren't sure how big of a role Batman will have in the movie.

Still, it is a Batman reboot, however you put it in perspective. Let's look at the quickest superhero reboot. Spider-man 3 opened in 2007. I didn't like that movie for so many reasons, so I was glad they rebooted it in 2012 (five years difference). Still, it was a very quick turnaround. Dark Knight Rises closed out an amazing trilogy in 2012. While it wasn't as strong as the first two movies, it still was so much better than Spider-man 3. Man of Steel 2 is expected to release in 2015 (three years difference). The Amazing Spider-man was mainly a reaction to Sony about to lose the rights to a profitable movie franchise. If they could have had a fourth Tobey Maguire movie, they may have gone that way.  The reboot of Batman is a reaction to WB needing a competition to Avengers. 

The Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy is one of the only superhero movie series to end on a popular note. I think that's the reason there is backlash against Ben Affleck as Batman. There would be backlash against anybody other than Christian Bale. But, ending on a high note and having a director and actors that are done with the series is exactly the reason for a reboot. Movie companies want to capitalize on popularity. How can they do that with nothing to continue with? Reboot!

Additionally, Nolan's Batman wouldn't work in the Man of Steel world. In order to have it work, reboot! Why do you need Batman though? WB wants something to compete with Avengers 2 in 2015. Man of Steel 2 alone will not do that. There is absolutely no way to do a Justice League movie in that short of a time. However, they can continue the success of Man of Steel and then boost it more with the success of the previous Batman franchise. 

I think the reboot and announcements of Batman are coming at a perfect time. They have stolen any thunder from Marvel character movies. Very few people are talking about Amazing Spider-man 2 (opening in 2014) or even Avengers 2 (opening in the same summer in 2015). Both have teased big things (casting and future movie plot lines) the past couple of weeks. Now all we can do is talk about the movie possibilities for 2 years, waiting for more news (can't wait to find out who Lex is).