THE COSMIC UNCONSCIOUS now available in print and Kindle Editions!

We live in a world where cultural conceptions of psychology and mythology are increasingly overlapping, thanks to a centralized system of information sharing. The common thread responsible for this synthesis of ideas is a globally shared popular culture. Regardless of who we are and how we’re raised, we consume the same media or, at least in large part, we all have access to it. As information technology rapidly evolves, the alarmingly escalated rate at which we are able to consume this media is changing not just the way we communicate, but the way we think. Our very consciousness is being altered as a result. But this is how it has always been. Whether we study this phenomenon through the lens of personal psychology, cultural anthropology, philosophy, or philology, we can see that ever since man was first able to construct metaphor, the means with which he did so determined how he perceived both his external reality and his internal identity. The focus of this book will not be to analyze how our cultural and personal sense of identity are changing, but to emphasize the ways in which they have always remained relatively the same. The primary classical works I will use as a reference will be CG Jung’s study of the collective unconscious and its archetypes. I have drawn from the original German texts wherever possible, but the English translations of the works I’ll most often consult are The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Psychology of the Unconscious, and Modern Man in Search of a Soul. My earnest effort will be to honestly present Jung’s ideas alongside my own, though this risks re-interpreting his original text in a way that suggests more of a collaboration than is really possible. It is not my intention to in any way appropriate or distort the meaning of these ideas, only to present them in a fun new way for those who have not had the pleasure of studying Jung’s work before. In order to harness Jung’s ideas and hitch them to a familiar metaphor, I mean to analyze them in reference to the story structure of the STAR WARS films. The STAR WARS mythology has on many levels already attempted to introduce us to the concepts of the collective unconscious and the archetypes, but I fear we’ve gotten so caught up in the metaphor that we may have missed what it can teach us about ourselves. While STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI met with some unexpected criticism for its deconstruction of its own internal mythology, I think it might be one of the best modern examples of what the Jungian archetypes can teach us about the psychology of the unconscious and how our interpretation of unconscious thought has helped us form and cultivate our shared mythology. As Jung identifies the more relevant forms of the archetypes, we can examine their appropriate analogs in the STAR WARS mythology. This book presupposes that you may not have a working knowledge of the conscious and unconscious psyche or of cultural representations in mythology, so I’ll attempt to explore the requisite works that provide the foundation for that understanding. The philosophical writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer (among others) will also play a necessary part in this exploration. Because I will be discussing the nature of consciousness as well as the unconscious, I will also be examining speculations on primitive consciousness offered up by the likes of Carl Sagan and Julian Jaynes. And because this is an exercise in comparative mythology, it would be incomplete without some analysis of Joseph Campbell’s work on that subject as well. My last book, The Myth Awakens, was mainly preoccupied with the influences of various mythologies on the STAR WARS story. This book will be much more concerned with how those motifs were influenced by shared psychology and the narrative thread that will hopefully allow it to maintain that focus will be the plot structure of THE LAST JEDI in particular.

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Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast – CCAD016 – Last Jedi Predictions

Sean and Andrew get ready for THE LAST JEDI by going over their last minute expectations of the new STAR WARS movie. How will the philosophy of the Jedi and the Sith be represented? What is the fundamental Taoist philosophy of the Jedi and the Sith? Get ready to have your mind blown.

And don't forget to buy Sean's new book, THE MYTH AWAKENS, which explores the mystery and the philosophy of EPISODE VII! Now available on Amazon... just sayin'...

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Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast - CCAD015 - Unknown Regions

Sean and Andrew continue their pre-EPISODE VIII discussion of what the future may hold. The secrets of Snoke's orgins in the Unknown Regions, the fate of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the Jakku operations of Gallius Rax... This one's got it all, folks.

You can follow even more theories of what might be and what might have been in Sean's new book, THE MYTH AWAKENS, available on Amazon in Kindle and print!

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Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast - CCAD014 - Balance of the Force

Sean and Andrew catch up on STAR WARS theories leading up to the release of the new STAR WARS movie. Gotta get this stuff out there now, since the movie’s quickly rendering these theories obsolete.

On that note, look for Sean’s book, THE MYTH AWAKENS, on Amazon, for more wild STAR WARS theories!

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EXCERPT FROM "THE MYTH AWAKENS, PART ONE!"

HOT NEW EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK THAT I WROTE THAT I'M SELLING!!!!!

Here’s another example of a visual effect that initially seems like it’s just there be cool but is actually symbolic of deeper meaning in the story: Before Poe is captured, he fires at Kylo Ren. Astonishingly, Kylo is able to stop the blaster bolt in mid-air. This is so shocking to Poe, in fact, that he is too stunned to offer any further resistance. At the end of the scene we see that Kylo just as casually allows the bolt to complete its original course, striking the spot where he had previously been standing. This imagery of the bolt, which looks like a lightning bolt hanging in mid-air, likens Kylo to mythical masters of the elemental aspects of the storm. Even his lightsaber looks more like a living flame or a harnessed thunderbolt than those seen in other STAR WARS films. Palpatine evoked the same imagery in a much more powerful way in EPISODE VI, when he literally hurled lightning at Luke Skywalker. Storm Gods and their accompanying imagery play a major role in mythology, for good or ill. Later on I think we’ll see their symbolic importance in this story as we begin to understand more about Kylo’s nature and his past.

IT'S $2.99 FOR PART ONE OR FREE IF YOU'RE A KINDLE SELECT MEMBER!

The Myth Awakens, Part One!

Download THE MYTH AWAKENS PART ONE for FREE through Kindle Select! 

With the first STAR WARS trilogy, George Lucas successfully translated the classic hero’s journey from ancient myth into the mainstream understanding of modern popular culture. We witness young Luke Skywalker, a humble farm boy, receiving a Heaven-sent message with a call to adventure which leads him to a kindly old wizard who gives him a magic sword and takes him beyond the limits of the world as he has always known it. From there he storms a fortress, saves a beautiful princess, travels through the belly of the beast to discover his true nature in a celestial temple, and comes into contact with a spiritual power that allows him to face off against a black knight and destroy a near-indestructible monstrosity capable of devouring entire worlds. It is a story resonant with the classic mythological motifs that Joseph Campbell identified in the first part of his book, THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. George Lucas followed up on Luke’s adventure by outlining the history of Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker, the hero fated to doom the galaxy to the evils Luke would later be tasked with undoing. In Anakin we find a more primordial archetype of the hero. His fate is not defined by moral pretext, but rather by a mandate to uncreate the world he is born into and recreate it in his own image. This too is echoed in THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, but instead of following the young hero as he assumes the role of the World Redeemer, the hero of the prequel saga is the pitiless embodiment of the Cosmogonic Cycle. He is the inevitable dissolution of one generation and its ideals as it is being succeeded by the next. So we have two trilogies of films covering the spectrum of classic hero stories and archetypes. This also represents George Lucas’ complete contribution to the STAR WARS saga in film. Is there anything left to say? When Lucas sold the franchise to Disney in 2012, it certainly seemed that the core story was over. Even when Disney announced that they were planning a third trilogy of films that would continue the story in EPISODE VII, the question remained as to whether there was anything new that could be introduced to the overall mythology of STAR WARS. In order to address that question, it’s worthwhile to analyze the latest addition to the saga as its own story, as a continuation of the original films, and as a return to the mythic themes the STAR WARS movies have always so successfully explored.

Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS podcast - CCAD013 - Han Solo Part 2

Sean, Andrew, and Lynn finish their discussion of the upcoming Han Solo anthology film.

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Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS podcast - CCAD012 - Han Solo Dos and Don'ts

Sean, Andrew, and Lynn discuss the recent troubles with the HAN SOLO spin-off film, providing a few dos and don'ts for the project moving forward.

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TV Ate My Dinner Episode 272: Wonder Woman!

Sean, Andrew, and Lynn discuss Wonder Woman, contrasting it with (of course) Batman v Superman and speculating about the possible future of the DCEU. Now that Patty Jenkins has introduced a brighter, more hopeful model that can make money and satisfy fans and critics, could this be a turning point for the DCEU? With Joss Whedon overseeing the new direction of the Justice League movie, what might we be able to expect from that movie too?

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Check out THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND by Julian Jaynes

Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast - CCAD011 - The Cosmic Force

Sean and Andrew explore the physics and mythology of Force Ghosts and how they relate to the prequels, THE CLONE WARS, and the original STAR WARS trilogy. What did Qui-Gon Jinn return from the grave to teach Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why do Yoda and Obi-Wan vanish when they die? Why does Anakin return as a Force Ghost? From their experiences on Mortis to Morabund, what do the Jedi learn from the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn and what will it mean for Luke Skywalker in the STAR WARS EPISODE VIII: THE LAST JEDI?

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 Here's the official info on General Hux's cat:

Check out this awesome cover of The Force Theme by Scandroid!




Here are the articles being discussed in this episode:

The Living Force: The Gods of Mortis
The Living Force: The Trial of Yoda
The Living Force: The Redemption of Qui-Gon Jinn

Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast - CCAD010 - The Living Force

Sean and Andrew explore the physics and mythology of Force Ghosts and how they relate to the prequels, THE CLONE WARS, and the original STAR WARS trilogy. What did Qui-Gon Jinn return from the grave to teach Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why do Yoda and Obi-Wan vanish when they die? Why does Anakin return as a Force Ghost? From their experiences on Mortis to Morabund, what do the Jedi learn from the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn and what will it mean for Luke Skywalker in the STAR WARS EPISODE VIII: THE LAST JEDI?

Listen Now!

 Here's the official info on General Hux's cat:

Check out this awesome cover of The Force Theme by Scandroid!


Check out the EXPANDED UNIVERSE STAR WARS blog!

Here are the articles being discussed in this episode:

The Living Force: The Gods of Mortis
The Living Force: The Trial of Yoda
The Living Force: The Redemption of Qui-Gon Jinn

Body Worship in the Age of Superheroes

This isn't a new development in the world of movies, especially with the advent of superhero films, but body perfection in movie stars and heroes is becoming more and more of a troubling necessity. In an age devoted to the shaming of body-shamers, there's still no end to the amount of scrutiny that goes into the physical state of any actor with the misfortune of being cast as one of our heroes.

Including, but not limited to, armpit airbrushing scandals...

But that's too broad a topic to tackle and it's not news to anybody that it's happening. What I really want to focus on is an odd bit I noticed during my obsessive investigation of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. One of the standout items that made the movie not work for me was the fixation on portraying Batman and Superman not as men of heroic character, but as unrepentant badasses. This is comically embodied in a scene where Batman is dragging tires around the Batcave in preparation for a fist fight with Superman.

The scene goes on for a really long time during what is supposed to be an emotionally resonant sequence for Batman. So why does Zack Snyder think he's expressing Batman's mental state by showing him drag stuff around and beat a tractor tire with a sledge hammer? I just figured "so, Zack Snyder's a crossfit buff or something, I guess, right?" I don't know anything about crossfit or workout fads or, to be honest, exercise in general, but the details of Batman's training regimen were so oddly specific that they seemed like they must be part of some sort of extreme workout plan.

Then I saw this promotional picture of Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill...

"Wait a second..." I said out loud to myself for no reason. "Does that shirt say 'GYM JONES'? What the hell is a GYM JONES?!"

GYM JONES sounds like a suicide cult for fitness freaks, but I thought surely the obvious reference had to be inadvertent. So I checked out the GYM JONES web site to see what it was all about. This exploration did not make it any less weird."We call you to join our movement," their web site says, offering two levels of membership: Monk and Disciple. The site uses religious terminology throughout, encouraging prospective members to adopt a "daily ritual" to find a "path to salvation". But, more germane to my purpose here, the site boasts that it offers "TRAINING FOR SUPERHEROS [sic] AND EVERYDAY HEROS [sic]".

And that's the part that brings me to the point of this article. If you follow Zack Snyder's promotion of his films, it becomes apparent that he's a pretty big fan.

You can find pictures of Snyder in his GYM JONES T shirt on so many occasions that it's practically his superhero uniform. From a promotional panel at Comic Con (so you know he's not wearing it for the purpose of product placement), to a promotional picture for BvS, and even on the set of BvS. This last time he's even completing the outfit with some kind of Under Armor arm brace. My vision of Zack Snyder is that, at any given moment, he could cast off whatever clothes he's wearing and be prepared to engage in an impromptu workout. You know, just in case someone randomly accuses him of not being able to do a thousand one-handed push-ups.

Zack Snyder's not just a fan of GYM JONES. He's also a client. A pretty big client, it would seem, because he has brought GYM JONES co-founder Mark Twight in as the personal trainer for the stars of Batman v Superman, Man of Steel, and 300. Twight is renowned for whipping stars into shape to become literal supermen for their roles. And he does an amazing job of it.

So what's wrong with that? Don't we expect to see superheroes bursting with muscles in these movies?

Yes, but we also accepted Michael Keaton as Batman because of his performance. He didn't actually have to physically become the paragon of physical stature that Batman is in order to convincingly play the role. His preparation was more mental than physical.

In "The Cult of Physicality" a 2011 NY Times article by Brooks Barnes, Mark Twight admits that the GYM JONES name is an overt reference to the infamous Jonestown cult leader who orchestrated the deaths of over 900 of his followers. Since they knew they were going to be likened to a cult, he and his wife decided to "own the joke". That's a hell of a joke to stick your flag in, if you ask me. No matter how zealous your program is, a tongue-in-cheek homage to a mass murderer is, to say the least, in poor taste. But I guess the measure of good taste depends on who's pouring the Kool-Aid and who's drinking it.

If it were me, I probably would have gone with Scientologym. But that's just me.

GYM JONES' entire mission seems to be to forge humans into superhumans. Even their logo depicts the same graduation to physical perfection that Bruce Wayne originally attained to become Batman:

Of course, the one-handed lift isn't good enough for GYM JONES. 
If you really want that defined muscle tone, you've got to counter-ball it too.

"Meet the Trainer Building Hollywood’s Most Fit Superheroes", a 2016 Vanity Fair article by Michael Joseph Gross, outlines the arduous training of Zack Snyder's superheroes, but more importantly it explores the history of his relationship with Mark Twight. Before either of them had risen to their current stature in their respective careers, they worked together on commercial shoots that Snyder was directing. They found such a kinship in their mutual devotion to physical fitness that they have worked on numerous projects (most significantly, Snyder's films) since 2001. According to Twight, Snyder even inspired the GYM JONES name by joking that Twight could get people to "drink poison in the jungle".

This over-emphasis on body-building gives us some insight into how BvS was such a festival of greased-up man-wrestling that it could have been directed by Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. You think I'm overreacting? Look at Ray Fisher preparing for the role of Cyborg in the upcoming Justice League film:

For more details on Fisher's workout regimen, you can check out an article from Men's Fitness called, and I'm not at all kidding: "Damn, Ray Fisher Is Getting Unbelievably Jacked to Play Cyborg in ‘Justice League’" (written by Matthew Jussim).

This isn't so weird, since Fisher is preparing to play a member of the Justice League, until you think about who he's playing. In the movie, Cyborg looks like this:

"I was just nuts and bolts before I started hitting the weights."

Notice anything different about Cyborg? Yeah, he's 90 % CGI in the movie. Fisher's whole face isn't even showing, but he has to get so jacked up that even Men's Fitness is taken aback by it? Seriously, for the amount of the actor that is actually used on screen, Peter Dinklage could play Cyborg, so what makes this physical transformation necessary?

You may be thinking (hypothetical devil's advocate that you are): So what's the big deal? Zack Snyder is a fitness buff who believes in literally transforming actors into their comic book counterparts. If that means making everybody look like they just got back from a sabbatical in Eternia, that's just the price of making a movie that is a real life comic book, right?

That's where I think it's interesting to note the character who didn't have to go to He-Man boot camp: Lex Luthor. Like most comic book characters, regardless of their origin or purpose, Lex spent a lot of time parading through the comics in a spandex jumpsuit that required a certain amount of muscle (and self confidence) to wear.

Both of which apparently allowed him to survive getting punched in the face by Superman.

There have been a lot of versions of Lex throughout the years, but he's usually portrayed as being physically fit for a human being.

Even in the old Super Friends cartoon, Lex is a muscleman in purple spandex who just happens to be the evil genius inventor of... whatever the hell this thing is:

"Pay no attention to that thing back in the corner. In fact, let's just forget you ever saw that, okay?"

But not Zack Snyder's Luthor. His Luthor is the least muscular incarnation of the character ever. Jesse Eisenberg is a great pick to play Lex Luthor, if you're not trying to literally transcribe the look of the characters from the comics to the screen. But isn't that exactly what Snyder is trying to accomplish? Isn't that why he saw Henry Cavill as shown below and thought he needed a lot more work if he were going to be believable as Superman?

Sure, he's handsome and all, but he could stand to work out a little...

In a production where Snyder felt we needed an Aquaman who could beat up the Hulk and a Batman trained by a guy who trains actual Navy SEALs, he clearly went the other way when it came to the main villain. Suddenly it's ridiculous to transfer the comic book character physique to the screen, but what's the difference? Why is it necessary that everyone on the right side of the argument has to look like this...

... while the only villain in the movie who isn't a henchman or a cartoon cave troll should look like this?

In his defense, he's more of a cardio guy than a weightlifter

The difference is where it all breaks down, I think, based on a few basic assumptions I'm making that aren't overtly stated by anybody. Luthor is the bad guy. Eisenberg doesn't need the spiritual awakening of excruciating exercise that Snyder thinks is a necessary rite of passage for his heroes. Luthor can't be a model of physical perfection because that model is held as sacrosanct in its embodiment of everything heroic. So instead of GYM JONESing into a transliteration of his comic book counterpart, Jesse Eisenberg's Luthor is a whiny little nerd whose main mission is to make life miserable for the world's finest superjocks.

You might argue that Luthor has had many incarnations, not all of which were classic muscle men, just as you may argue that Luthor doesn't have to be physically strong because he is defined not by his strength but by his intellect.

To that I offer two points for your consideration. First, is the conflict between heroes and villains simply a contest of brains versus brawn? It may appear that way in Superman's case, but is that really the interpretation we want to land on in how we portray them? Superman is good and dumb while Luthor is smart and mean? Doesn't that decompose the concept into a presumption that intelligence is tantamount to wickedness? And in the case of Snyder's films, where the emphasis leans so heavily toward the physical aspect of the heroes, doesn't that suggest that those who are physically fit are also somehow morally superior? That's the ultimate expression of "might makes right".

My second point is that Luthor is not particularly smart in the film. He has a lot of convoluted plans that are supposedly smart but only work because Superman and Batman are too dumbfoundedly obsessed with each other to notice them. He doesn't really do or say anything smart in the movie; he's just a sniggering little sociopath with daddy issues so profound that they stand out even in a movie where everybody is twisted up in a state of emotional paralysis over parental loss.

It would be a fair argument to note that Lex Luthor has never been portrayed in the films as a muscled-up strongman. But that doesn't carry much weight considering the fact that Zack Snyder doesn't exhibit any desire to make his Superman movies anything like their predecessors. In fact, he seems baffled at the public's nostalgia for them. In a 2014 interview with Mark Hughes for Forbes, Snyder expressed how confusing it was to him that fans still clung to the Christopher Reeve interpretation of the character. He defended his portrayal of the character as being in a real world and illustrating real-world consequences to violence.

Such as, when you punch somebody through a building, the building explodes - that's just good science.

"If you really analyze the comic book version of Superman," Snyder said, "he's killed, he's done all the things...that we've shown him doing..." Snyder fully believed that audiences were offended because he made the character real and not because he chose to focus on all the darkest aspects of the comic books and call that real. In the end, Snyder's vision isn't any more realistic, it's just a lot more depressing.

But again, Snyder's concept of reality is largely based on how realistic the actors' muscles are in the film.

"How can you be depressed looking at these sick pecs, bro?"

In defense of Zack Snyder, I was and am a fan of Man of Steel. I didn't have a problem with the story, the portrayal of the character, or the violence of that film. But in BvS he cranked the "real" violence to 11 and broke off the knob when he had Superman getting nuked by the government while trying to punch Doomsday to the moon. So the argument that Snyder was shooting for realism in the action of that film is as valid as the belief that his portrayal of Lex Luthor was in any way rooted in reality either.

Snyder's cavalier attitude towards Lex is even more dramatically represented in his regard for the character he originally approached Jesse Eisenberg to play:

Bet I can guess what movie Superman is watching.

In "Batman v Superman: Jimmy Olsen appearance revealed", a 2016 article on EW.com, Anthony Breznica discusses Jimmy Olsen and Jesse Eisenberg with Zack Snyder. Snyder explains that originally he wanted to bring Jesse Eisenberg in to do a bait and switch cameo where he would come on, introduce himself as Jimmy Olsen, then get shot in the head. As Snyder put it: "...we don’t have room for Jimmy Olsen in our big pantheon of characters, but we can have fun with him, right?”

And what's more hilarious than shooting someone in the face? It really puts this comment in perspective when you realize it comes from someone who thought naming a gym after a mass murderer was a funny idea too.

After meeting with Eisenberg, Snyder was impressed with how crazy he was and decided to cast him as Lex instead. Inexplicably, he left the Jimmy Olsen sudden-death scene in the film, but cast Michael Cassidy, a talented but less prominent actor, in the role and shot him in the head instead. I guess they realized that having an actor who hadn't been part of the marketing push get killed in the first five minutes wouldn't have as much impact, except to confuse the audience, so while Cassidy still gets to get shot in the face, the introductory scene that establishes him as Jimmy Olsen was cut from the film. Even more inexplicably, it's restored in the hardcore R-rated Ultimate Cut, because failing to provide any other narrative purpose for the scene, Snyder was still bound and determined to murder Jimmy Olsen.

Seems there's no room in the "big pantheon" of heroes for anybody's sidekicks.

I'm not trying to tear the man down, really I'm not. There's nothing wrong with being a fitness buff, even if your devotion to it borders on maniacal. A person as obsessed with Superman as I am doesn't have any business casting stones at people who have a much more useful outlet for their obsession. And it's admirable that Snyder and his actors have this level of dedication to their craft. So I'm not in any way saying that being fanatical about working out is a bad thing or speaks in any way toward your character.

You have to separate the artist from the work, but I believe these attitudes speak to Snyder's state of mind as a storyteller. There's no place in the world for Jimmy Olsen in Snyder's "big pantheon of characters" because there's no place in his story for mere mortals who lack the commitment to develop a god-like physique. Every heroic aspect that Superman and Batman display in BvS is expressed through a feat of athleticism. Neither of them seem to have an ounce of emotional maturity or a clearly defined ethic. Even when they confront each other ideologically, the only thing they can think to do is have a fist fight.

And that's where I wonder if body image in general is the problem. Superman doesn't have to have muscles. He doesn't work out, his powers come from the solar radiation emanating from our yellow sun. He'd be exactly the same hero if he looked like this...

Although his power to get through doorways might be a bit compromised.

The superhero aesthetic is athletic perfection for men and sexual contortion for women. Some of the same fans who balked at Zack Snyder's approach to Superman were questioning if Gal Godot were voluptuous enough to play Wonder Woman. I have to admit that when I first heard that Zack Snyder wanted to give Superman a villain he could go toe-to-toe with in Man of Steel I was on board, because I was sick of seeing Superman get outwitted by Lex Luthor in real estate scams that required a horrific amount of mass destruction. I loved Watchmen and I think Zack Snyder is a great director, so maybe this GYM JONES business has just been building to a head until it just reached a critical mass in Batman v Superman. Maybe giving Snyder free rein to craft an entire superhero cinematic universe was overestimating his creative vision. Cinematic Universes are a relatively new idea and so far the only people getting them right are the folks at Disney. And believe me, there is no single creative force driving the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the ever-expanding STAR WARS franchise. It takes a lot of planning and collaboration to create something of that magnitude, and DC's just gotten off to a bad start.

I can't even blame Zack Snyder exclusively for BvS or the DCEU, because Warner Brothers isn't exactly giving its directors free rein. They've wanted to do a Batman vs. Superman movie since 2001, so if that's a terrible idea for a movie (which I think it is), it's not Zack Snyder's terrible idea. Warner Brothers doesn't have a creative mechanism in place to drive the effort required to build a cinematic universe, but they have no problem stepping in and re-imagining a director's work halfway through the production. In that environment, you can see how easy it would be for otherwise good ideas to get lost in translation.

Even so, a lot of the ideas that are constraining the DCEU into being a showcase for strongman competitions instead of the modern mythology that Zack Snyder thinks he's creating are coming directly from him.

This may sound harsh, especially because I think all the actors he's brought together for these movies are amazing, but Zack Snyder is becoming more concerned with how they fit into their costumes than how they fit into their roles. He's got a great eye for talent. Henry Cavill is a perfect Superman and you couldn't ask for a better Batman than Ben Affleck. Gal Gadot is awesome and Wonder Woman looks like it's going to be a much-needed breakthrough for the DCEU. From what I've seen of Ezra Miller's Flash, he's on point in that role. And as much as I cringe at the new Justice League teaser because it looks like a drab video game, I'm super excited to see Jason Mamoa as Aquaman.

But you have to give these guys something more to do. We see the posters, we get it, these guys are more shredded than Steve Buscemi going through a wood chipper. But what is their purpose? What are they trying to do? Extreme workouts may be a spiritual experience for Zack Snyder, but that doesn't mean all Ben Affleck needs to do is 9000 power-squats to wrap his head around the complexities of Batman's pathology. And just because everybody looks the part, that doesn't mean the movie's going to write itself.

Sculpting the cast into supermen without giving them a decent script or motivation is wasted energy. That's not a matter of the creative vision getting lost in translation. That's a failure to properly articulate it in the first place.

Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast – CCAD009 – ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS Story, Part 2

Sean, Andrew, and Greg return to conclude their discussion on ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. Where is the STAR WARS mythology headed after the saga has ended? Does the new Expanded Universe contain clues about the future of the franchise?

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FATHER QUEST OF THE JEDI

The Father Quest described by Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth is a recurring theme in the STAR WARS saga.

The STAR WARS story is a classic Hero's Journey when we are first introduced to Luke Skywalker in EPISODE IV: He is an orphan seeking guidance from a mysterious mentor who sets him on a greater path and then dies, leaving Luke to complete the adventure on his own.

But Luke's mentor is not merely the mythic herald who helps Luke find his purpose. He bends the narrative a bit to set Luke on the path he believes the young hero should follow. The imperative of the Father Quest is introduced by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who does so in order to recruit Luke into his damned-fool crusade just as he had done with Luke's father before him. Luke is already aware of the actual mission (the delivery of the Death Star plans), but Kenobi offers the responsibility of honoring his father's legacy as an incentive to abandon his aunt and uncle. Even this is not sufficient to tempt Luke at first, but after their deaths he no longer has any local obligations and is therefore not restrained from joining in Kenobi's adventure.

Luke’s moral obligation is to help Obi-Wan and Princess Leia, even though he doesn't know either one of them. His personal motivation after being separated from his last living relatives is to realize what he perceives  to be his father’s final wish for him: the fulfillment of a greater destiny. This false perception comes thanks to some loose interpretations of history provided by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is emotionally manipulating Luke in order to gain both his trust and obedience. Kenobi establishes himself as an unassailable expert on all matters concerning Luke's history and his responsibility for his fellow man. He also dangles the irresistible carrot of teaching Luke to connect to a cosmic power no other living person can offer him. Kenobi informs him this path was also followed by his father, conveniently glossing over the terrible consequences that path had for Anakin. He tells Luke that his father died nobly at the hands of the evil Darth Vader, because telling him that his near fatal encounter with Anakin directly led to his former pupil's transformation into the worst villain in history may not have so easily won him Luke's awe and admiration. Luke is desperate for the level of affirmation offered by Kenobi's assurances that he is bred for better things, especially in the void left behind after his entire life on Tatooine was destroyed. He is more than happy to accept Kenobi's version of events without question.

"Vader Shmader... The point is, SOMEBODY murdered your father. Now what are you going to do about it?"

Obi-Wan becomes a surrogate father figure for Luke, which is apropos when you realize that all the hopes and aspirations Obi-Wan pretends Anakin had for Luke come in truth from Kenobi himself. He projects his need to redeem his mistakes onto Luke, just as he will repeatedly project Anakin's past failings onto Luke. This is one of the driving principles behind the Father Quest: The comparison between the son and the father that emphasizes the son's personal desire to (and often the universal responsibility to) surpass and succeed the father.

The death of Obi-Wan at the hands of Luke’s real father will have some far-reaching effects: Vader is literally tearing down the illusion of the destiny that Kenobi had laid out for Luke. The shock of seeing this in EPISODE IV is later intensified for Luke when re-visited in EPISODE V. In response to Vader's apparent murder of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke is finally able to confront him as a Jedi. But rather than vindicating Kenobi’s teachings through defeat and contrition, Vader tears down Luke’s philosophical understanding of his former master by telling him the truth that Kenobi had withheld from him. At this point in the original trilogy, the Father Quest is no longer based on Obi-Wan's deception. Now that Luke knows the truth about Vader, the Father Quest in the story is real.

The final phase of this journey occurs in EPISODE VI, when Luke has had the opportunity to confront the memory of Obi-Wan Kenobi (conveniently available in the form of a literal ghost who offers up his rationalization for Luke’s judgment). The finale of the original trilogy and Luke’s emotional arc is when he can finally face Vader with all the information, fully realized in his purpose and having made his own choices as to what he intends to do to fulfill it.

This is the culmination of the Father Quest, the final reconciliation that Joseph Campbell calls the "Atonement with the Father". In The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Campbell further clarifies this as an "at-one-ment", a transformative graduation of the son replacing and subsequently becoming the father. If Luke had defeated Vader in EPISODE V, when Yoda and the spirit of Obi-Wan cautioned him that he was not ready for the confrontation, he may well have literally replaced Darth Vader and embraced the Dark Side of the Force just as they feared. Note that during the battle Luke gave in to fear, hate, and aggression, never once embracing the cornerstones of calm and passivity that Yoda told him were the hallmarks of the Light Side. If this had allowed him to defeat Vader, then he would have become him as a result.

But Luke's goal in EPISODE VI is not to destroy Vader in order to take his place as a Dark Lord of the Sith. His goal is to redeem Vader, allowing Luke to take his place not as the man Anakin Skywalker had become, but as the savior that Anakin Skywalker was always destined to be.

Followed by some traditional Skywalker father/son quality time.

That the state of “at-one-ment” is a transformative and redemptive process for both the son and the father is what is significant here. They are both redeemed in this confrontation and the son “destroys” the father both to demonstrate that he has outgrown the need for the father’s authority and also so that he can succeed the father in his role. Having fulfilled his purpose, the father is able to transcend that role and leave it in the capable hands of the son.

Luke has the purest expression of this atonement act, much more so than we see later in the failed quests of Anakin Skywalker and Kylo Ren. Anakin, in particular, had the worst possible circumstance for a Father Quest, considering he did not actually have a father. Outwardly, his initiation was similar to that of Luke in EPISODE IV: A kindly wizard removed him from his banal existence on Tatooine to introduce him to a world of magic and adventure. The devil is in the differences though: Unlike Luke, Anakin was not orphaned. He willingly left his mother and literally had no father.

"No dad, huh? Bummer. Maybe this blood test will cheer you up. Don't tell your mom."

Anakin cannot be too harshly judged for abandoning his mother because he is a child who shouldn't be forced into making decisions of this kind and certainly can't be blamed for their consequences. Shmi Skywalker has no desire to be separated from Anakin, but wants him to have better than a life as a slave. In any event, Anakin's mother is not taken from him. The absence of a father figure in his life may leave Anakin more susceptible to the influence of a strong male figure who seems to have real interest in him, but he isn't driven by a burning desire to discover himself through his father.

Qui-Gon Jinn is responsible for Anakin's downfall, when you come right down to it.  He pulls Anakin away from his mother because he is solely concerned with what Anankin means for the fate of the Jedi and he is in no way concerned about Shmi or Anakin’s wellbeing. He fails to instruct Anakin and passes the responsibility on to Obi-Wan, who has no real interest in being a surrogate father to Anakin. Meanwhile, Anakin is influenced by another false father, Palpatine, who may have directly manipulated the Force to create him but also has no interest in developing a familial relationship with him.

Palpatine exploits Anakin’s emotional need to have a father figure, exerting his influence for the same purpose that the Jedi Council exert their influence on Anakin: They are all concerned with reinforcing their ideology rather than nurturing who he is as a human being. This pressure and the absence of a nurturing mother or authoritative father push Anakin to the Dark Side. Initially he attempts the at-one-ment process by confronting Obi-Wan, his surrogate father figure who is influencing him to follow the path of the Jedi. Much like Luke’s initial duel will be later in EPISODE V, Anakin’s confrontation with Obi-Wan ends in failure and disfigurement, leaving him with no clear idea of his identity or purpose.

Though, of the two of them, I'd say Luke got off a lot lighter.

Anakin’s next duel with Kenobi in EPISODE IV occurs, just as Luke’s will, after he is fully informed of his circumstances and fully realized in his role. He has accepted who he is and embraced his role as the Dark Lord of the Sith, so the murder of his original father figure is symbolic of a fractured and distorted version of the at-one-ment process. By striking down his former master, he believes he is completing his transformation to Master of the Force, definitively replacing Kenobi’s influence with his own ideals. Unwittingly, he is also replacing Kenobi as Luke’s father figure, something neither he nor Luke will recognize until later on.

The completion of Anakin’s atonement happens in EPISODE VI, in his final duel with his son. Not only is he defeated and succeeded by Luke (who also intends to overcome his father’s influence in favor of his own ideals), he finally faces his own corrupting father figure, turning on and destroying Palpatine. Rather than seeking his own atonement, Anakin aids his son by tearing down the pillars of his own corrupt ideology and leaving a brand new world in which Luke can, as his replacement, rebuild into something better. In this way the fulfillment of Anakin’s Father Quest lies in his acceptance of his role as the father.

Let’s compare this to Kylo Ren in EPISODE VII. From what we know of Ben Solo’s past, it does not mirror the circumstances of his uncle or his grandfather's initiation into the Force. Anakin was born lost, a slave from birth just like his mother. While Luke was born and raised to believe he was an orphan, he had loving parental figures to nurture him and build his character. Anakin's back story plays out more like a supervillain origin while Luke's is basically the Superman origin. In both cases, all of their best character traits are derived from their non-Jedi influences. Luke learns humility and responsibility from his aunt and uncle while Anakin's only sense of decency comes from his mother. It's only when removed from these positive influences that we see them begin to exhibit questionable qualities of character.

Ben Solo, unfortunately, was raised with an emphasis on the Jedi influence and a shocking lack of traditional emotional support. We know that Leia and Han both feared their son would be too susceptible to the Dark Side, so they sent him away to Luke to be properly initiated in the ways of the Jedi. This was in response not simply to any vulnerabilities of character young Ben may have demonstrated, but also to the physical threat of Snoke, who had already shown an interest in corrupting their son.

Unlike Anakin and Luke, Kylo is deliberately discarded by parental figures who choose to be unavailable to him. Anakin’s mother only let him go because she didn’t want him to live the life of a slave. Luke accepted Obi-Wan's call to adventure (a misguided effort to redeem the mistakes he made with Anakin by repeating them with Luke), but Luke did so only after his entire family was killed. He did not learn until later of his father’s abandonment, and even then it was more the result of his being secreted away rather than a lack of interest on his father’s part.

None of this is true for Ben Solo. His parents are alive and he is in their care, but they choose to send him away to be trained by Luke. It is not until years later that Leia admits this mistake to Han with the understanding that Ben did not need Luke to teach him how to be a Jedi, he needed his father to teach him how to be a man. This realization is delivered to Han in return for a promise that he will fulfill his duty to their son and put himself to the hazard of drawing him back again from the darkness.

Which did not  go quite as well as he would have liked.

Just as we did with Anakin, we see the ensuing chaos that comes from Kylo’s improper initiation. He rebelled against Luke and his teachings, allowing himself to be used and manipulated by Snoke. Like Anakin before him, Kylo rebelled against the chaos of his personal life by focusing on any path that promised the establishment of order.

Like Anakin and Luke, Kylo will also attempt a disastrous atonement with Han Solo, but this confrontation will prove to be even more disastrous in consequence.

Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast - CCAD007 - Heir to the Empire, Extended Edition

In this special super-sized episode, Sean and Andrew re-visit the STAR WARS LEGENDS Expanded Universe by looking at the novel that re-launched the saga in 1991, HEIR TO THE EMPIRE by Timothy Zahn.

In addition to creating lasting new characters to the mythology like Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade, and Talon Karrde, Zahn defined what the universe would be like in the aftermath of the original trilogy. What influence did that have on EPISODE VII and what elements of Zahn's STAR WARS are still active in the current canon?

Listen Now!

Cloud City After Dark: A STAR WARS Podcast - Episode 008: ROGUE ONE, Part 1

Sean, Greg, and Andrew discuss their impressions of ROGUE ONE. How does it fit into the STAR WARS saga as we know it and what does it mean for the future of the STAR WARS cinematic Expanded Universe?

This episode was recorded prior to the tragic death of Carrie Fisher, but everyone in the podcast was inspired by her life and her work. She will be greatly missed.

Listen Now!

TV Ate My Dinner Episode 265 - STAR TREK: BEYOND!

In one of TVAMD’s lost episodes from the yestermonths of yore, Sean, Andrew, Greg, and Lynn talk about Star Trek: Beyond, the latest and most promising installment of the most recent Trek reboot.

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TV Ate My Dinner Episode 262: PHANTASM!

Sean and Andrew return to talk about Phantasm, with a little discussion of the Rocky Horror Picture Show remake and some random musings on story construction and the art of critique.

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Cloud City Social Club - A STAR WARS Podcast - CCSC007 - STAR WARS: Heir to the Empire, Part 1!

Sean and Andrew begin a two-part discussion of the 1991 Timothy Zahn novel, Heir to the Empire, which re-launched the STAR WARS Expanded Universe and introduced us to new characters like Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Listen Now!

A few questions about Batman v Superman from Sean Gilbert and Megan Mullins

To be fair, no movie could hold up to this level of scrutiny and, frankly, no movie deserves it, but Batman v Superman is kinda asking for it a little bit. The DCEU has been preemptively exalting itself as a more sophisticated, more intelligent spin on superhero movies. That invites a more critical response and, in the case of this particular movie, raises no small amount of questions.

Starting with...

The Africa Incident

Why did/how did Lex Luthor engineer this elaborate set up in the desert to lure Superman into a frame up then kill everyone on site with special experimental bullets made with a special metal that only comes from Lex Corp? Why were Luthor’s cohorts using special bullets that could only be traced back to Luthor in the first place? Have they not seen Attack of the Clones?

Why doesn’t Lois Lane know her entire African crew is made up of CIA agents? Isn’t she the world’s greatest investigative reporter? Did they not work for the Daily Planet? Where did she hire them? 

Was that Jimmy Olsen that got shot in the head with Lois in the desert? Hey Jimmy, 1950 called and wants their huge-ass tracking technology back. Also, timing - not one of Superman's powers. 

"Don't worry. Superman wouldn't let me get shot in the face. He's my pal!"

What was the tracking device’s purpose? If it was hidden inside the camera, how could he have planted it at the camp before leaving? And if the tracker was to allow someone to track Jimmy to the camp, why didn’t anybody do that? If they had, wouldn’t someone have been able to provide backup when Luthor’s goons started executing everybody?

Why is Luthor’s super secret agent a scarfaced Russian with a neck tattoo?

Why did Superman let everyone else get murdered before flying in to rescue Lois? If he were watching over her, shouldn’t he have also saved the others?

Why do people think Superman killed all those people in Africa? Do they think he shot those people? Since when did Congress start caring about a village in Africa where some people were shot?

Why doesn’t Congress call on Superman to testify at their hearings in the first place? Why didn’t he volunteer to defend himself?

Why is the CIA/US Government covering up for Lex Corp and throwing Superman under the bus after Africa? They know that Superman didn't do this, and that the experimental bullets came from Lex Corp. What do they have to gain by protecting Lex?

 
Kryptonite

Why is the World Engine just sitting in the Indian Ocean slowly turning into a reef? 
It's been 18 months. Why isn't every government and private corporation on the planet trying to salvage it? 

Shouldn’t Superman have carried this thing off somewhere? Just in case it might be... dangerous?

Why does Lex Luthor ask permission to bring the Kryptonite into the US? Couldn’t a billionaire get a rock across the border without anyone noticing, especially when he’s the only one who knows it exists?

Why does Luthor tell the government about Kryptonite at all? Why use Kryptonite as a carrot to gain access to the Kryptonian spaceship and Zod’s body, especially when possessing Kryptonite is more useful?

Why does the government give Luthor unlimited unsupervised access to the spaceship and Zod’s body if they’re not interested in the Kryptonite? 


The “Mysterious” Bat

DID WE REALLY NEED TO OPEN THIS FILM WITH THE DEATH OF Bruce Wayne's PARENTS? I've seen this so many times I'm starting to believe this happened to me.

If Batman has been fighting crime for 20 years and Gotham City has a Goddamn bat signal, why have the cops never seen him and why do they shoot at him when they do?

Why does everyone act like they don't know Batman even exists when he's been fighting crime in the SAME 1 CITY for over 20 years? They have a huge Bat-summoning light that everyone can see, and give him Carte Blanche access to the local prison to brutalize inmates in his own private Fight Club.

Why do the girls Batman saves call him a devil? After twenty years they have never even heard of Batman?

When the cops interrupt Batman’s interrogation of the sex trafficker, why does he just cling creepily to the ceiling instead of just leaving? How did the cop NOT see him the second he walked into the room?

"I think we're going to have to work on your ninja training a little more, Bruce."

So Gotham and Metropolis are so geographically close to each other in this universe that you can see the bat signal from the tops of buildings in Metropolis, but Superman is just now finding out about 20 year veteran vigilante Batman AND billionaire Bruce Wayne who owns Wayne Tower in Metropolis, and the well-known and respected Wayne Enterprises?

Why does Batman brand people? How does he brand them? Does he have a special self-heating brand that he carries around just for that purpose?

Really, WHY DOES Batman brand people? He’s been fighting crime for twenty years so incognito that no one even knows who he is, but now he’s literally branding people with his logo? Why the sudden need to advertise? 

Why is the bat brand a death sentence in prison? At first it seems that they’re implying that only the worst offenders like sex offenders are branded, so this marks them for retribution by other prisoners, but then at the end of the movie we see that Batman himself can magically break into prison any time he wants, so are they somehow implying that Batman personally comes back later to murder them?

 
The White Portuguese

How did Batman learn the name of the White Portuguese without learning what it was? If he gained the information while torturing a crook, why didn’t the same crook also tell him it was the name of a ship?

Why was Batman tracking the White Portuguese before he knew what it was carrying? Batman is only pretending to track a sex trafficking ring when it’s really the White Portuguese’s cargo – kryptonite – that he’s interested in; if this is the case, why does shaking down actual sex traffickers lead him to the White Portuguese?

How does Batman know that the White Portuguese is carrying Kryptonite? Do Luthor’s records not only reveal the name of the ship and its destination, but also the exact nature of its secret illegal cargo?

Why is Alfred always reminding Batman (as he does in this movie and the Dark Knight Rises) that Bruce Wayne is much more effective at helping the police fight crime than Batman is? Why doesn’t Batman ever believe him? Does he think that billions of dollars of crimefighting technology can’t accomplish as much as dressing up like Dracula and punching people?

Why does Batman think that if there is a 1% chance of something that they should treat it like an absolute certainty? Does he not know how numbers work? What else is he currently safeguarding against because it’s 1% possible? Does he have a Bigfoot strategy too? Why doesn’t he think there’s a 1% possibility that Lex Luthor might be up to no good?
Why does Clark Kent follow Bruce Wayne downstairs at Luthor’s library fundraiser when he could just look through the walls?

Lex Luthor has security camera footage of every Justice Leaguer, even Aquaman, who is under the ocean, so why is there no security in Luthor’s server room except for a lady in an evening gown? What's up with the security at Lex's house? Was it designed by Kryptonian ship builders? Why is evil mastermind Lex Luthor’s criminal computer server room adjacent to the kitchen, unlocked, and completely accessible to Bruce Wayne by a dangling coaxial cable? Who did the cable management for Lex Luthor’s server room? Why is there a loose coaxial connection that’s only purpose seems to be allowing easy access for hacking devices?

Does Wonder Woman think that she can steal a digital picture by downloading a copy of it? Is her understanding of modern technology the equivalent of any other 100 year old person’s? 

"I think he keeps his pictures on his facewebs..."

If Wonder Woman walked away from humanity in 1918 for 100 years, does this movie take place in the future? Even if we accept that the 100 year figure is a rounded number and not the exact amount of time she was gone, when did she have time to become a super spy if she hasn’t had contact with humanity for the last century?

Why does Wonder Woman want to get the 1918 picture back from Lex Luthor? Wouldn’t her involvement in fighting WWI be known, even if it wasn’t public knowledge? And the picture is of Wonder Woman, not Diana Prince, so why does she care if people know that Wonder Woman fought in WWI? If she wanted to keep her existence secret, why did she ever pose for a photograph in the first place?

Why is Diana Prince in metropolis at all? She says she left the world of men 100 years ago, now she's back because Lex Luthor has a picture of Wonder Woman. How does that picture threaten her in any way?

 
Luthor’s “Plan”

Why does stealing Zod’s fingertips give Luthor unrestricted access to the Kryptonian spaceship when in Man of Steel the robot scanned Superman’s body to verify not his personal identity but his Kryptonian DNA? That ship was 18,000 years old, so it couldn’t have personally known Superman, and the robot tried to kill Lois when it concluded that she wasn’t Kryptonian. Wouldn’t Zod’s newer spaceship have more enhanced security features? At least enough to know a human from a Kryptonian?

The ship submits to Luthor’s command because he impersonates Zod for access – why doesn’t it realize the ruse when Luthor drags in Zod’s corpse and commands the ship to resurrect it?

The first thing the computer says is that it contains the collected knowledge of 100,000 planets; Luthor thinks that knowledge is power, so with an Outer Space Alexandria at his forged fingertips, why is his first thought to resurrect Zod?

Suggested search: "Computer, what are the top ten ways of disabling Superman that DON'T involve creating an unstoppable poop monster?"

Superior space technology meets the greatest criminal mind of our time...
and this is basically what they come up with.

Luthor’s justification for wanting to kill Superman is that he’s a threat to humanity, so why did Luthor blow up a bunch of people to discredit Superman and create a Doomsday monster to destroy him? Why publicly discredit Superman if he was just building a monster to fight him?
Why does Luthor want to resurrect Zod as an unstoppable killing machine? Isn’t that exactly what he’s afraid Superman could become? Why does he hate Superman when he doesn’t seem to care that Darkseid is coming? Does he hate Superman because he has God-like powers or because people like Superman?

Why does the introduction of foreign (human) DNA aid in the cloning/resurrection/birthing of a Doomsday monster? Isn’t racial purity the basis of Kryptonian genetics? Wasn’t that Zod’s whole purpose?

Why did Luthor spend years doing petty things to turn Batman and Superman against each other, only to blow things up, build a Doomsday monster, and reveal himself and his plan to Superman?

Does Luthor lose faith in his Batman v Superman strategy or did he somehow predict that he would be able to use Kryptonian technology to create a Zod-cloned Doomsday monster?
If Luthor changed his strategy based on the fact that he could just build a monster, why did he break away from that just to kidnap Superman’s mom and force him to fight Batman? Did he actually consider the creation of the Doomsday monster to be a backup plan? What was Plan C, blowing up the entire Earth?

Why does Luthor believe creating the monster with his own DNA will put the monster under his control? If he doesn’t believe this, why doesn’t he think the monster will squash him too?
Why does Luthor need a Doomsday monster when he’s already discovered Kryptonite?
Why does Luthor spend years “subtly” turning Superman and Batman against each other when all he really wants is to kill Superman and he already has Kryptonite?

Why does Luthor spend years turning Batman against Superman when he’s already learned both their secret identities?

With all the unnecessary exposition and prequel nonsense in this film, why don't the filmmakers take time to explain how Lex Luthor discovered Superman and Batman's secret identities?

If Luthor’s plan is to kill Superman, why does he kidnap Superman’s mother to pressure him to kill Batman? Why does he think that will kill Superman?

Since Superman instantly complies to save his mother, why did Luthor waste two years building up to all this? Why didn’t Luthor just kidnap Superman’s mother in the first place?
Does Luthor mean for Batman to steal the Kryptonite in order to kill Superman? Why? Why not just use it himself? Or get his Russian cronies to do it? Why not offer it to Batman like he offered it to the government?

What was step 2 of the Doomsday plan after Luthor’s Doomsday monster killed Superman?
If Luthor knew about Wonder Woman, why didn’t he account for her in his master plan? Why doesn’t he at least consider her to be a threat, since she’s obviously in play as much as Bruce Wayne?

Why didn’t Luthor try to manipulate Wonder Woman into fighting Superman since she has super powers that rival Superman’s and Batman doesn’t? Why doesn’t Luthor hate her as much as he hates Superman? Why is he otherwise unconcerned about all the other metahumans he’s discovered?

Batman and Wonder Woman have both been tracking Luthor’s activities and hacking into his secret crime files. Why don’t either of them know of his plot to turn Batman and Superman against each other or his extensive research into creating an alien killing machine?

"I'm the world's greatest detective... Just kidding. I dress like a bat and punch people."

 
Knightmares and Vision Quests

Why are Batman and Superman plagued with wild hallucinations? Did Luthor poison them with crazy drugs to turn them against each other?

What's that big cairn of bricks Kevin Costner is piling up? Is he burying a bar stool? Why does he come back from the dead to basically tell Superman not to bother?

"Just came back from the grave to let you know that none of it means a damn thing.
Say hello to your mother for me. See you in Hell. son."

Why is Batman dreaming about a future where the world has been taken over by Darkseid’s parademons with Superman somehow in charge of them? Is Darkseid also trying to turn Batman against Superman? Why?

Why does Flash tell Batman that Lois is the key to what will presumably be the Apokolips invasion? Is he suggesting (as Batman’s Mad Max dream did) that if Lois dies, Superman will become a heartless world tyrant?

What the hell is Flash wearing in the premonition scene? 

"What, you expect me to go running backwards in time wearing tights?
That would make me look pretty damn silly, wouldn't it?"

Why is the "Knightmare" in THIS movie at all? We see Flash travel back in time to warn Batman that if Lois dies Superman loses his shit, but Batman never really does anything with this information. He never concerns himself with Lois' safety, and the whole thing is dropped. It only serves to take us out of the movie we've been watching.

What story are they trying to tell here? The Dark Knight Returns? Flashpoint? Injustice? Doomsday/The Death of Superman? Legends? The Fourth World/Final Crisis/Darkseid War? Did the DC multiverse just implode into this script?

Why doesn’t anyone making this movie realize that The Dark Knight Returns was satire? Why do they think they can juxtapose scenes and characterizations from that story into an otherwise “real” world without any adjustment in context?

Did Snyder know Watchmen was a satire when he made it or did he think that was a straightforward superhero movie? Does he think Rorschach and Batman are essentially the same thing?


 
Superman’s Ultimatum

Why does Batman shoot a ridiculously huge bat tracker onto the Kryptonite truck and then do everything in his power to destroy that tracker? Why is he chasing the truck at all when the very first thing he did was tag it with a tracker?

Why does Superman just show up and threaten to kill Batman if he answers the bat signal again? If someone’s using the bat signal, wouldn’t that suggest that the city is asking for Batman’s help?

Why does Superman stop Batman who is clearly chasing bad guys, then let those bad guys escape? Why isn’t Superman at all interested in the people Batman was chasing or what they were doing?

Why wasn't Superman able to detect that Kryptonite was being transported in that truck? Or located on Batman later? Wouldn't this stuff be so noxious and caustic to him that he could see it, or smell it, or feel it?

If at this point Superman knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, and he has super hearing that lets him hear Lois yelling for help MILES AWAY, why can't he hear or figure out that Batman is plotting to kill him since he is frequently talking to Alfred about this and mutters it under his breath while Superman is flying away?

Why is Batman a psychopathic, murderous moron in the movie? If his hatred of Superman is based on the collateral damage that occurred in Metropolis during the fight with Zod, then why is Batman’s response to rampage through the city blowing things up and riddling populated areas with machine gun fire?

Why is Batman using machine guns? Why does he have no regard for human life? Are the writers ignorant of his no-guns no-kill policy or did they just think that was lame?

Is the underlying message of the movie that morality is impractical and ultimately unnecessary? If not, why does that seem to be the message that gets communicated?
 

The Turning Point

Did anyone else notice that the second someone called for meaningful dialogue in the movie, everything exploded and the movie degenerated into an endless parade of mindless violence?

Here's how every scene in this movie should end.

Was that strange meta-moment where Holly Hunter stops the whole movie, looks directly AT Superman and says “we need less fighting and more dialogue" intentional? Is this movie a satire? 

Luthor’s entire strategy revolves around Batman learning about Wallace Keefe’s returned checks, so why wasn’t it part of his plan that Batman learn about it? If Batman hadn’t just randomly learned about this, then wouldn’t that part of Luthor’s plan have failed?

How did Luthor know to start stealing Keefe’s checks 18 months before the start of the movie? The second he learned about Superman’s existence, Luthor just hatched this plot to turn Batman against him? 

Why did Wayne Enterprises keep sending the checks without following up? Why did Bruce Wayne never check in on that guy? If he had, he would have uncovered Luthor’s plot almost immediately.

Why are they sending him checks through the mail at all? Who doesn’t have direct deposit?
Why did Keefe lose his office job because he was disabled? What the hell kind of show is Bruce Wayne running here?

If Luthor wants Batman to believe in the sincerity of the returned checks, why did he blow Keefe up? Shouldn’t this have tipped Batman and Superman off to the fact that there was a larger plan at work?

Why DOESN’T blowing up Congress tip Batman and Superman off that to the fact there was a larger plan at work? Do they believe that Keefe planned the bombing by himself?

How did Luthor know Keefe was going to turn into an anti-Superman extremist? His strategy depended on this being the case, but Keefe only meets Luthor for the first time when Luthor gives him the wheelchair, so how did Luthor insure that Keefe would behave the way he wanted him to? How did Luthor know that Keefe would not immediately complain to Wayne Enterprises about not receiving his checks? Why DIDN’T Keefe report this to Wayne Enterprises?

Why did Bruce Wayne never personally follow up with Keefe after saving him and setting up a trust to financially sustain him? He is lauded as a hero for saving Keefe, but we are supposed to believe that they were never in contact or that no one ever interviewed Keefe as a part of the news story? If Batman had discovered the checks were coming back earlier, wouldn’t he have also learned that it wasn’t Keefe who was sending them back? How did two years go by without anyone talking to anyone about someone stealing Keefe’s checks and pretending he didn’t want them?

If Keefe’s entire story depends on the presumption that he is financially ruined, why doesn’t anyone think it’s suspicious that he’s rolling around in a million dollar wheelchair? If it were public knowledge that Luthor gave him the chair, wouldn’t this directly implicate Luthor in the bombing?

Does Batman hate Superman because of his experience in Metropolis or because Luthor is manipulating him or because he has nightmares that make him act like a maniac? If his outrage over the destruction of Metropolis isn’t enough to make him want to kill Superman, why does Luthor think a few returned checks will tip him over the edge? Why do they?
Why did Luthor let his assistant get blown up when neither of them had to be there? Why was there a chair with his name pinned to it when no one even knew he was planning to be there?

Why couldn’t Superman super-smell that there was jar of urine in front of Senator Holly Hunter? Why can’t he smell explosive elements like gunpowder or C4 when he’s five feet from them?

Why was Superman still just standing there after the explosion like he didn’t know what had just happened? Could he instantly tell there were no survivors that might need his help or did he just not care?

Why doesn’t Clark Kent attempt to track the mysterious source that tells him Batman is bad? Isn’t that the first thing a reporter should do, verify his source?


The Justice League

Why did Lex Luthor take the time to give all the Justice Leaguers code names and logos?
Why are there only files for the expositional second-stringers that need to be introduced to set up the sequel? We know Luthor had files on Batman and Superman, because he knows their identities and has a 2-year Batman/Superman plan, so why didn’t they have logo apps in his database too? Did Batman take the time to delete his and Superman’s files before sending them to Wonder Woman? Why would he not send her Superman’s information? And if he is so concerned about security, why decrypt a database and send it to her via email? How does he know her email?

Why did Lex Luthor have a comprehensive video diary of Cyborg’s origin?
Why does Cyborg’s father have a Mother Box? Have Darkseid’s forces already invaded? What are they doing then? Laying low and giving Batman nightmares to make him go crazy?

What “clinical protocols” is Cyborg’s father violating by using alien technology to turn his own son into a robot man? What kind of government agency is okay with pinning your son’s living torso to a circuit board and doing experiments on it, but frowns on the use of a mother box to reanimate it? Just how specific are these protocols? Why was it only necessary to cover the camera lens and stop the video when the experiment started to work?

Why does the security footage of the Flash change angles from wide shot to close up?

Why was there an underwater camera filming close-ups of Aquaman? Why did he stab it with a trident? If he was protecting his secrecy, wasn’t getting in front of the camera and poking it the exact opposite of what he should have done? Why is he hiding in a shipwreck with a trident like a clownfish in a sea anemone? Why is his one and only effort at maintaining his secrecy to slowly glide toward the camera and poke at it with his stick before shooting off at super speed? Does Aquaman just swim around with a trident all the time, whether he’s in a fight or not, just in case he might need to poke something with it?

"What, did you expect me to be riding around on a giant seahorse?
That'd make me look pretty damn silly, wouldn't it?"

The Fight of the Century… or whatever

Why does Batman think cross fit will help him prepare for a fist fight with Superman? Isn’t that a problem that exclusively requires a technology solution? How is hitting a tire with a hammer a useful preparation for this, as if limbering up were what he had been forgetting to do this whole time? Is he training to fight Superman or box Dolph Lundgren?

Why did Batman want Lex Luthor to know that he stole the Kryptonite? He jammed a razor bat thing into the podium it was sitting on. Wouldn't the police who Batman works with on a daily basis be unhappy to see he stole it? 

Why does Lois’ kidnapper pose as a janitor? Why is it necessary to establish that cover just to grab her in public and run away?

Why does she walk up to him and ask him if she recognizes him? How does she remember that face but not remember the terrifying circumstances under which she’s seen him before?
Why did Luthor’s goons go all the way to Kansas to kipnap Superman’s mom, only to “hide” her in the one place they knew Superman and Batman were going to be?

Luthor provides no reliable proof of life and tells Superman he doesn’t know where his mother is. Why bother keeping her alive, then? Wouldn’t it have been more efficient and crueler to just kill her and pretend she’s still alive?

Why doesn't Superman take care of his mother the same way he takes care of Lois Lane? He didn’t even know she was missing and he has no way of knowing where she is. What’s up with that, Supes? 

Why does Superman think he needs Batman's help to find his mom? Wouldn't he have saved A LOT of time just finding her with his X-ray vision and super hearing, like when he heard Lois drowning thru the noise of the climactic fight?

Batman has a Kryptonite gun and a Kryptonite spear, so why does he waste time shooting Superman with machine guns? Why does he use the Kryptonite last? Why does he use it at all, since it’s obvious that Superman could have torn his head off twenty times already and didn’t?

Didn't it seem like Batman created a whole arsenal of weaponry out of that Kryptonite? He used 2 gas grenades and 1 spear. Speaking of that spear... It's the one weapon that can kill a Kryptonian, and Batman LEAVES IT lying on the floor. Not only is it incredibly dangerous, but it's incredibly useful. What's wrong with this Batman?

Why doesn’t Superman tell Batman what’s going on the second he sees him instead of getting pulled into a lame fist fight? Why does Superman fight Batman if he doesn't want to fight Batman? He has plenty of chances to say, "Dude, Lex has my mom, I need your help." But he keeps walking into Krypto grenades. They're both kinda assholes.

Why was this fight so boring? Was it because this punch had been telegraphed from so far that it was stale when it finally arrived or because we hadn’t been given any reason to care what happens to either of these two characters?

Why does Superman call his mother Martha?

Why is Batman only sympathetic to the fate of an innocent if they have the same name as his mother?

Why is Batman shocked to learn that Superman has a mother?

If Batman is the world’s greatest detective, how come he couldn’t detect that Clark Kent is just Superman with glasses when he’s stood nose to nose with both of them?

"Nope, sorry. I just don't see it."

Why does Batman go from being a murderous maniac in a frenzy for Superman’s blood, to being Superman’s friend and cracking jokes with him? How does the utterance of one woman's name change Batman's psychopathic, raging need to murder Superman into a desire to help him? He has spent years obsessed with and plotting to destroy Superman. He has nightmares, visions, AND his future self actually sent the Flash back in time to warn him that Superman would turn into an unstoppable dictator/theocrat. How and why is he suddenly cured of this mania?

How does Batman have time to change clothes between fighting Superman and going to save his mom?

What did Batman get out of cloning the data in the Russian’s phone, except the ability to track down Superman’s mom? Shouldn’t he have been tracking all the Russian’s movements? And if he were, shouldn’t he have noticed that the Russian had kidnapped two people?

Alfred puts Batman in the building on the second level because it has fewer bad guys in it, so why is Batman’s first move to jump into the middle of all the bad guys and fight them?
Why can Batman's suit deflect bullets, even multiple shots to the head at point blank range, but not a stab with a small tac blade?

Why does Batman choose to save Martha Kent in the way most likely to kill her? All Batman does is bust through the wall of the room where Superman’s mother is being held after letting everyone in the building knows he’s there and giving them time to prepare for him. Why not just bust through the window while you still have the advantage of surprise? Why does he have to work his way up to boss level like he’s Mario trying to save Princess Pauline from Donkey Kong?


Lois is Superman’s world

Is Lois Lane an alien in disguise? JUST LIKE IN Man of Steel, Lois Lane ALWAYS manages to show up in the nick of time to cause a scene to start or end. How does she always find Superman 9 seconds before he's about to die, kill someone, or fly off to save the day, or be emo?

Superman watches over Lois so closely that if she’s in danger anywhere in the world, he’s there to help her, to the point where if she’s thrown off a building he can catch her before she hits the ground. So how did she manage to get kidnapped?

Why doesn’t Superman watch over his own mother with the same vigilance he devotes to Lois?

Lois is a tough reporter who looks like she’s in good shape, so how is it she lets a 90 pound nerd boy billionaire throw her off a roof?

If Lois is Superman’s whole world and presumably his only link to humanity, why did he spend his life in Man of Steel wandering the world and doing good deeds before he ever met her? Why is Snyder crediting his relationship with Lois for his goodness and not the upbringing his parents gave him? Is it because he intends to kill Lois in the next movie as an excuse to make Superman act like a maniac?

"I mean, we're all just one bad day away from trying to
destroy the whole human race, am I right?"

Is Lois Lane the only thing keeping Superman from becoming a monster and dominating humanity? Why did he help people before he ever met her, then?

Why is Lois Lane in this movie at all? She only serves to neuter Superman's sense of agency. He never takes any personal action in this film that is not a reaction to her or another character. He actually states at the end of the film that he is choosing not to sacrifice himself for the world or for principles, or for his ideals, (which, by this point, Snyder has shown he is too ethically weak to have), but only for Lois. What's wrong with this Superman?

What is anyone in this movie trying to accomplish? More specifically, what would any of them be doing if they had never met each other?

Is Snyder’s message that there is no such thing as a hero?

What is the message of this movie?

 
Doomsday

Would detonating a nuke in the upper atmosphere not cause fallout to settle into the lower atmosphere? Is that how that works?

Can the US government just shoot nukes into space with a moment’s notice without even informing the rest of the world community that this is happening? Would this not trigger some kind of failsafe response from another country’s nuclear defense systems?

Problem solved.

Before he was nuked, Superman’s plan was to throw Doomsday into space. That almost worked, so why didn’t he just try again?

Does Wonder Woman take her suit, sword, and shield with her as carry-on luggage on planes?

Why were they planning live disaster footage on the plane just before takeoff? 

Why did Lois throw away the Kryptonite spear by dropping it in a hole that was about six feet deep?

When they decided the Kryptonite spear was the key to killing Doomsday, why didn’t Superman locate it with his X-ray vision and tell Wonder Woman where it was?

When they discover that Doomsday absorbs energy and gets stronger every time they hit him, WHY DO THEY KEEP HITTING HIM?

Why does Superman have to be the one to stab Doomsday with the Kryptonite spear? Couldn’t he just have given it to Wonder Woman? Or couldn’t someone have THROWN it at Doomsday? Isn’t that what spears are for?

If the destruction of the Genesis chamber in Man of Steel made it impossible to resurrect the Kryptonian race (as is specifically stated by Zod), then why can Luthor use it in this movie to resurrect Zod? Is it only good for making Doomsday monsters now?

Why would the filmmakers go to so much trouble to resurrect Zod, then replace him with a CGI Hulk-troll? Why not bring Michael Shannon back when they went out of their way to create a story reason to have him in the movie?

Why does Batman lead Doomsday back to Gotham instead of leaving him on the UNINHABITED Stryker Island? Why not go back, get the spear, and fight there considering that your WHOLE BEEF with Superman is that he had a big fight in a populated area?
Why does Lois go back for the spear? She doesn't know that Doomsday can be hurt by it at this point in the movie.

Is Superman’s suit as invulnerable as he is? And if it is, is it just as susceptible to Kryponite, since it becomes as vulnerable as he is when he is exposed to Kryponite?
 

God and Superman

Was it necessary for Luthor to remind the audience in every scene of the God/Christ allegory?

How much more of this insulting, heavy-handed, sacrilegious, and worst of all, clumsily executed, glowing alien Jesus imagery are we supposed to take? Can they fit one more moment of a Kal-el floating like a god over raving, paint-faced Mexicans, flood victims, in space, in front of Omega Marines, or with Lois gazing at him gape-jawed in awe (VOX.com describes these scenes best as: Creed album covers!!! LOL!!!!), then rising from the dead more than once, and being pierced by the Spear of Destiny? Goddammit. WE GET IT ALREADY. 

Why did Batman use most of the Kryptonite to make a spear when he had figured out how to make Kryptonite bullets? Was this imagery completely necessary to further communicate the Super Jesus metaphor?

Do they understand that if they have to constantly state it, then it isn’t a properly communicated metaphor?

How did those people paint that perfect Superman symbol on top of their house in the middle of a hurricane?

Why is it always Day of the Dead in Mexico, even when it is clearly NOT actually that time of the year? Does Snyder thinks it’s more believable to show a poor Mexican village worshiping Superman as a god than it would be to do the same scene in a normal American town?

No, this makes much more sense.

The Ending(s)

Why is everybody sad about Superman’s hero’s death when they thought he was a monster the whole time? Why does everyone like him just because he got killed by another monster? Did they have a hero’s funeral for Zod at the end of Man of Steel? Didn’t he die under the same type of circumstances?

How do people know Superman’s dead when they never see the body? Did Batman and Wonder Woman make off with off with his body, leaving Lois Lane there to explain what happened? Did everybody just take her for her word? Doesn’t anyone wonder what happened to his body?

Why does public opinion sway to Superman’s favor just because he mysteriously disappeared and Lois told everyone he died a hero? Why would they call him a hero just because she wrote that he was? Hasn’t she been writing favorable Superman stories this whole time?

What kind of community is Smallville? What was with the guy on the wagon and the bagpipe player?

Why does Batman “have a feeling” that bad things are coming? Because of his dreams and visions? Weren’t they the same dreams and visions that turned him against Superman, which turned out to be false?

How would Batman go about recruiting the other metahumans? “Hi, I’m the guy that spent two years plotting to kill Superman – what say we all pool our resources and you tell me all your greatest weaknesses?”

How is Batman honoring Superman’s memory by breaking into prison to torture Lex Luthor?

Why was Luthor in prison at all? What evidence tied him to any of what happened? Why was the government covering up the evidence of Luthor’s involvement in Africa only to let him get arrested for something else?

How does Luthor know Darkseid is coming?

Is hair not allowed in prison these days?

How is this the “Dawn of Justice”?