Empowered & Informed.
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Re: Man Of Steel 2/Superman vs Batman (2015)
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Originally Posted by Gene Parmesan
I enjoyed it. My only gripe is the Martha thing. Pretty stupid way to resolve the title of the movie.
"Wait, his mom has the same name as my mom? I love my mom. Let's stop this fight to the death and be friends.."
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Not that I'm in any position to try to convince anybody to like something I like, and I'm more than willing to accept a difference of opinion, but I think Kev and I did a decent job of summarizing the importance of the "Martha" moment a few months ago in this thread:
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Originally Posted by KevinTH
I won't lie and say I don't get why some may feel the "Martha" scene didn't play out well, but it worked for me. I do get it, but knowing the history of Bruce Wayne and being as close to the character as I am it resonated with me. I do think people aren't looking into the scene as deeply as it was intended, and thus they lose sight of the point and it just comes off as "silly". I just think that it was an interesting view into the soul of Bruce Wayne, and what drives him. I think it also shows a unique innocence that I don't think we're too familiar with seeing in most iterations of Bruce. Ultimately Bruce Wayne was pushed into becoming Batman due to the loss of his parents. Right, we all know that. But what does that do to a person? What did that do to a 10-11 year old boy, to see his parents violently murdered in front of him? How does that affect his psyche and growth as a man? Something that's often overlooked is that Bruce is somewhat psychotic. For someone to be so inclined to dress up as a BAT and run around taking the law into his own hands, I'm inclined to think there's a mental instability there. On top of that, when something happens that's as traumatic as witnessing your parent's murder, I'm not a doctor, but my guess is that halts someone's growth a bit. What makes Batman so compelling, and why he resonates with so many people, is because he is just a man. Bruce is driven by the death of his parents, and hearing his mother's name and reacting the way he did just shows how broken he is as a man. When he hears that name he ceases to be Batman and reverts to a childlike innocence that can only be found in Bruce Wayne the man. It humanizes him. This in turn strengthens his redemption and push to do right by Clark/Superman upon his death.
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Originally Posted by M. Steng
Right, and you have to remember, this is Bruce at his absolute breaking point. He's been fighting crime in Gotham for twenty (20!) years. That's a long time to work tirelessly and still feel like you haven't made any progress. "Weeds are like criminals, Alfred; you pull one up, another one grows in its place." He's worn down. He's broken. And the advent of a being who could destroy the world and who has no accountability makes him feel pathetic and small and like his war on crime has been meaningless.
He's tried to do the right thing. He's tried to abide by his code, and none of it has mattered. He's on the brink of losing everything he's held onto as "diamond absolutes" since his parents were killed. His anger is totally misdirected at Superman, but he's convinced himself that this will be his legacy- saving the world from a destructive force that cannot be held to any standards.
But in that moment, the most crucial moment of the film, Bruce is about to commit absolute murder in the truest sense of the word. Sure, he took out some bad guys in other parts of the film; but that killing was no more or less tangential or collateral than it had been in every other Batman movie to date (yes- Batman kills in the Nolan trilogy). But here he will, with his own hands, stab someone in the heart and go past the line he drew in the sand 20 years ago. But right as he's about to step past that line in the sand, he hears the name Martha- coincidentally, the name that is shared by both of the two heroes' mothers. It triggers an emotional response that brings him back to the very moment that spawned his whole war on crime- his father's last living spoken word- his mother's name. It brings him back to reality, makes him pause to think of the thing that made him into the man he had become. It not only makes him realize that what he is about to do will be the end of his time as Batman, but it also forces him to realize that Clark is a person all his own, with a family and loved ones and real ties to this planet.
I've said it before, but it's the most powerful moment in any Batman movie or comic book I've ever read, rivaled only with the scene in The Dark Knight where Bruce sits with the cowl in his lap following Rachel's death.
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Concerned, but powerless.
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