(Warning! This article may contain spoilers!) With Marvel skipping San Diego Comic Con this year and Warner Bros. taking full advantage to unleash a barrage of sneak peaks and announcements at the fan-event extravaganza, rumors about just what precisely Warner plans to unveil have been swirling the last few weeks. What's definite is that the cast for the upcoming DC cinematic universe launchpad Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be on hand, and whispered rumors suggest the full Justice League lineup could even be unveiled. There will be footage from Batman v Superman as well, and the studio will have offerings from their other slate of films, including Suicide Squad. But what will WB bring to show off from the villainous team-up production? Here's something to make every fan's eyeballs pop out: they might -- just might -- bring a clip of Batman doing battle against the Joker. This is my own guess and speculation, not inside scoop or anything, so keep that in mind. But read on for the explanation... and be warned, SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!
I won't go into details of the spoiler territory, but since the word is long out about Batman appearing in Suicide Squad, and with certain illicit set images making the rounds far too widely, chances are you not only knew about the Caped Crusader having some face-time but even heard and saw some specifics about at least one portion of his role in the film. Well, it's possible that come next week everybody will know a lot more about it, if Warner brings the footage they could potentially be bringing.
A great way to dial up the excitement and buzz for the upcoming slate of DC movies, and silence a lot of skeptics, would be to show off not only the new cinematic Batman in action, but to pit him against his arch enemy, thus showing off both Ben Affleck's Batman and Jared Leto's Joker.
We're sure to see some Wonder Woman footage, and probably get the scoop on casting news and confirmation of a few rumors we've heard lately about some other films on the Warner superhero slate. But nothing would be as singularly effective at creating mass hysteria among fans and entertainment press as unveiling footage of a Batman-Joker showdown. From what I've heard, it would more than settle the question of whether Suicide Squad will be a blockbuster in its own right, and whether WB knows what it's doing.
Warner has an opportunity to dominate the superhero movie buzz at SDCC, and in fact to take over all other comic conventions this year, in light of Marvel's general absence from the playing field at these events. Using the cons to build an army of eager fans who will spread the DC gospel to the rest of fandom and the mainstream public, as a swarming buzz to complement the actual marketing in the press and elsewhere accompanying next year's two DCU starter movies (I know that technically Man of Steel was really the official starter, but Easter Eggs are one thing -- putting the superheroes on screen together is something else entirely).
And "Batman vs Joker" would create the sort of buzz that just about nothing else could, right? It's a twofer, since it gives us a Suicide Squad glimpse and also shows us the new Batman as a way of promoting Batman v Superman. Show extended footage at SDCC, then release an edited, shorter glimpse of that footage online, and let it completely take over the Internet for the entire weekend and longer.
This also allows the Batman v Superman footage to do something it needs to do -- focus on Wonder Woman and other characters, to show us more of what that movie has to offer outside of the fight between Batman and Superman. The battle is a huge selling point, to be sure, but let's face it, they shouldn't give us much of a look at that until closer to the release date (and even then, it shouldn't be spoiled too much). And we've seen iterations of that fight in different media before, so it's not like we have no idea what to expect.
But the first big screen Wonder Woman and Aquaman? More hints about the mystery of the big-bad who will serve as the physical villainous threat to the heroes? Cyborg's role in the story? That's what WB needs to unleash -- in small doses -- at SDCC, to generate multiple different headlines and feed the fan craze on several fronts now.
So right now, I'm guessing that fans attending SDCC will be lucky enough to get some glimpse of Batman facing off against the Joker -- at least a few shots of it, amid the other footage -- along with a host of other amazing reveals about what Warner has in store in the coming year and beyond. And there may even be a particularly big announcement that sends fans cheering into the streets -- but more on that later, it's too soon to tell just yet...
What do you think, dear readers? Is Warner going to unleash some epic Batman-Jokerness on us at Comic-Con? How bad do you want it to happen? Or is there something you'd rather see instead? Sound off in the comments below!
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