To ease a couple of fears...
Christian Bale (of Nolan's Batman trilogy) has outright refused to play Batman again. (Then again, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill et al. also said that about Star Wars, and now look....) But barring that-- no, it isn't going to have anything to do with those movies, unless they--
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-- bring in Joseph Gordon-Levitz to be the new Batman. Keep in mind that MoS is still a Chris Nolan film, and he loves re-using actors (you'd be surprised to find how many times JGL is in his different movies, along with many others). If however they do have him take up the mantle of "Batman" it would not be Bruce Wayne's Batman, which throws a kink in the whole World's Finest arc. Meaning, in my opinion, THERE WILL BE NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER TO THE LAST 3 BATMAN FILMS. In fact, I would expect them to go with a relatively unknown actor to play the caped crusader. (
Fun Brackets for you to choose the next Batman! )
That said... I was expecting Bruce Wayne to be in the next MoS, just because of the little easter eggs that hinted at Wayne Enterprises (same goes for Lexcorp), and everything that can be read on screen is supposed to be important. I'm actually fine with them even using the World's Finest arc-- loved it in the cartoons. I can even be okay with a Clark-Lois-Bruce love triangle (IIRC, Lois actually dated Bruce Wayne for a brief period of time in one of the cartoons). In fact, I would appreciate it, since they already eliminated the triangle-built-for-two option in the first film, and it would give a little bit more interest to the romance department. Will Lois choose the man with powers or the man with the means?
I can even be okay with Batman existing in this movie (aside from Bruce Wayne). As MoS is basically (from what I understand) restarting the DC movie franchise, and Superman is the first superhero to come out of it, I can see slowly introducing future Justice Leaguers on the scene through the MoS series. (Kinda like what Marvel did with Ironman, branching out to other Avengers films before dropping them all in one.)
My problem comes in where they make the entire movie about Batman fighting Superman. First of all, sure, there can be a little conflict. There is. But if they turn each other into villains, I'm gonna ask for my money back. I also have a problem if they decide they're going to make this all about Batman and not Superman-- in a Superman movie sequel!! Include him, run a quick backstory on him-- but don't lose sight of what's important, and that's Superman. And Clark. I still want to see Clark adjusting to life as a reporter, and trying to date Lois, or whatever. We need more Clark or else nothing will make sense. And finally, I need a real villain. I love the ideas that come with Lex Luthor. Maybe he doesn't even get caught in the end, maybe he escapes prison, like he always does, maybe he's got Bruce Wayne on his side to start. But in the end, it CANNOT be just Batman versus Superman. It will not work. I hope the studios are smart enough to realize that.
