Holy Martha Mother of Superheroes, Batman!

I missed out on seeing Deadpool 2 in the theater because...well, I wasn't the biggest fan of Deadpool 1, so I wasn't in a rush to see the sequel. Even though I like the character of Cable, I didn't care much for the casting (Josh Brolin, who always acts like he's above this type of stuff) or the way he was going to be depicted in the film (as the villain), so not even Cable's big-screen debut made me excited for the sequel.

So, I just only watched it. I liked it less than the first one, but that's not what I'm getting at here. In Deadpool 2, there's a line mocking the infamous "Martha Moment" of 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. That part of the movie has been mocked since its release, is still mocked by people on the internet on a daily basis, and I thought it was pretty strange for a real Hollywood movie to take a jab at it two years later, but that's me. Anyway...

I don't get what the fuck people have against Batman v Superman, and especially that scene. I mean...I didn't see Batman v Superman on opening weekend, so I had it all spoiled for me, and people have criticized the scene from day one. I remember listening to Hollywood professionals (like Kevin Smith, who likes to shit all over DC, but still gets to work for them, somehow) tear that scene apart and completely miss the point or meaning of the scene, a meaning that I understood without yet actually seeing the damn movie! So when people latch onto this scene and treat it like it's stupid or nonsense, I find it frustrating.

Bruce Wayne/Batman is terrified and repulsed by Superman. He doesn't trust Superman, he thinks Superman is nothing but a problem for the world, that he probably means the end of the world. He doesn't even see Superman as human or a man, but some alien freak, an animal, a weapon. Batman does his homework finding out Superman's weaknesses and beats him within an inch of his life, coming damn near close to killing him. Recognizing how close he is to the end of things, Superman blurts out that time's running out, that Martha (Kent) needs to be saved. Going in for the kill as this is said, Batman freezes. He freaks and panics. But it stops him dead in his tracks. He learns from Lois that Martha is the name of Superman's mom. Batman takes this all in. He throws aside the weapon he was using.

This scene goes beyond the dumb-dumb dismissal of "Heh, the fight all came down to their moms having the same name. That stoopid!" I don't understand why it's so hard for people to wrap their heads around the meaning of this scene, and the way it's presented in the movie.

Seeing a pathetic, bleeding Superman under his heel, learning that he has a mother, it humanizes Superman for Batman for the first time. What he saw as an alien freak, who could destroy the world, he begins to see as a guy, worried about his mom, being cared for by his girlfriend. (This is probably the moment Batman figures out that Superman is Clark Kent, by the way. So, for all of the weisenheimers who say "It's dumb for Superman to be saying 'Save Martha!' instead of 'Save mom," well...Superman's still in disguise here, man. He ain't going to be going "Save my mom, Martha Kent! I'm Clark Kent!" Not to mention...the dude just ate two Kryptonite gas grenades and had the shit kicked out of him. He wanted the info conveyed quickly! And also? People like to say that they wouldn't have had to fight if they just talked it out. Superman TRIED to talk it out. He lands and immediately lets Batman know he knows he's Bruce and what Luthor's planning, but Batman doesn't let him get far before he starts his attack. So there! "But Batman's supposed to be a detective!" Yeah, well, this is a broken, pissed off Batman, who's stubborn and decided on what he's going to do. And, besides, no matter what kind of great detective Batman's supposed to be...he's not going to be better than Superman. I rather like how Superman's obviously known Bruce is Batman, but doesn't let on until absolutely necessary, when the situation is dire.)

But not only does it humanize Superman for Batman, but, yes, what gets him to pause and freak out is that he hears the name Martha, the name of his mother. In this movie, Martha is his father's dying word. As with most Batman stories, Bruce/Batman still carries a lot of anguish and guilt about his parents' death. Hearing his dying opponent say the name Martha takes him by a chilling surprise. Once Batman collects himself, and Superman recovers enough to tell him that they both fell into Lex Luthor's trap and what they need to do to get out of it, Batman vows to take care of Martha while Supes goes and deals with Lex. Symbolically, Batman is being given the chance to save his own mother here. And he succeeds, in an awesome, awesome action scene that most people, even the biggest haters of this movie, call the movie's best scene!

But I also like to look at it like this... I love Batman. He's my favorite superhero. Throughout 70+ years of this character, we've had a lot of iterations of his parents' murder and, usually, 99.5% of the time, the focus goes to his dad, Thomas Wayne. Thomas Wayne is usually given dialogue. He's always given the most history. There's alternate worlds where HE is Batman. In the old days, there were stories that said he was briefly Batman even before Bruce ever thought the whole thing up, which is stupid. In Christopher Nolan's disgustingly overrated movies, Thomas Wayne is depicted as being the biggest saint who ever sainted -- until Bruce grows up, anyway. (Martha's practically an extra in Batman Begins, because Nolan likes a sausage fest.) What I'm saying is...

For the first time in the character's history, Batman v Superman makes Martha Wayne matter. She technically saves Superman's life. She technically prevents her son from making what would have been the biggest mistake of his life, and something he'd never come back from. (Killing Superman, continuing down the dark, mean path he was on, never rounding up the Justice League.) I think this is something that should be celebrated and acknowledged and NOT the source of ridicule it is. You know the biggest thing the comics have done with Martha Wayne? Have her become the Joker in an alternate history! How fucked up is that?! Batman v Superman gives you something with a little meaning and symbolism, but...fuck that, we're in the age of Twitter wannabe comedians, so let's just make light of everything, and turn everything into a meme!

And then take Justice League into account, where Bruce is down in the dumps for the way everything went down for Superman, for the way he treated Superman, where we realize how much of an impact Superman had on him in such a short time. In that moment when Superman is humanized for him...Martha Wayne saves Batman in that movie, too. At the start of Batman v Superman, we see a very dark and angry Bruce/Batman. We're told of how much Batman changed in the way he fought crime, how isolated he was, how brutal he had become, ESPECIALLY once Superman comes into the picture. And then not only is Superman humanized for him, but he realizes how wrong he's been about him, and what a good person and actual hero Superman is -- something he's gotten colder and farther away from being. There's that line in Justice League where Bruce confesses that he thinks Clark was a better human being than he was.

What I like about Affleck's Bruce/Batman is how haunted he is. People think the characters turn too quickly in BvS and that the rewrites and reshoots of Justice League make for inconsistent characterizations -- "LOL, they're about to kill each other and then 1 second later they're Super Friends!" -- but I think Affleck does a surprisingly good job of conveying all of the internal damage of the character, the psychological reasoning behind his actions. Bruce knew his enemy, he knew the Daily Planet was pro-Superman. So, seeing Lois come to his aide, I think that helps him take on the point of view of maybe all of the stories about him are true. But certainly his opinion changes once he, Superman and Wonder Woman fight alongside each other against Doomsday. He witnesses how selfless Superman is, ultimately sacrificing himself to stop the monster. It basically makes Bruce see all that he did wrong, all of the darkness he harbored, and I see him as in the midst of a deep depression in Justice League, on a suicide mission to round everyone up and make amends. You get the feeling he's willing to die to resurrect Superman, because Superman's better than he is, because Superman's the one who can actually save the world, and maybe, just maybe because he feels guilty for all of the problems he caused Superman, and feels he needs to pay.

Man, Batman v Superman is unappreciated. It has 20 movies worth of material in one movie! I mean...did you ever think you'd see a Superman movie where Batman is the villain?! And even though I ended up being a little let down by Justice League, I don't think that movie's as bad as people pretend it is, either.