There is a new movie in cinemas called Batman v Superman. I am guessing that the storyline doesn’t involve a punch up between the two because there is only going to be one winner here: Superman. Unless Batman turned up with a boxing glove rammed with Kryptonite, which gives the Man of Steel some form of erectile disfunction (I am a bit hazy on the facts here), we would be looking at a very quick ending and the Pearl and Dean ads would last considerably longer than the film.
I have to admit that I have never seen a Batman film or TV show which didn’t feature Adam West as the caped crusader. I do accept that his costume was not exactly flattering on a middle aged man who may have indulged slightly on the finer foods in life, but he had a nice, if someone stilted, line in delivery.
Gotham City – I have still not been able to find it on the map, after all these years is not the kind of place I want to live. Whilst we have to put up with muggers, petty thieves and drivers driving 25MPH in a 20 MPH zone, Gotham has characters with names like The Joker and the Riddler who, curiously, carry out their crimes in one city. Superman, who will always be a cartoon character to me, is a lot less interesting. Christopher Reeve, bless him, did at least give it a good go but like all the other big movie Supermen, he never looked remotely like the cartoon character, even if he did act like it.
It is a source of eternal regret that I threw away my enormous collection of superhero magazines because I thought I had grown out of them. More fool me. The Flash, Green Lantern, the Fantastic Four – all legendary names of the cartoon era about whom I remember absolutely nothing. I can’t even remember what their super-powers were, apart from the Flash who could run fast.
There have been films about all of them and I can honestly say I have not seen one of them, apart from the first Superman movie, and that was quite enough, thank you.
I’m sure the movie-makers have done a good job with Batman v Superman, but I am afraid I have reached the age where I don’t believe a man can fly.
