Last week once again saw San Diego Comicon descend upon us, the lowly masses.  It’s an event that I find fascinating but would never actually attend.  I’ve been to New York Comicon many times, and the crowds and smell can be quite overpowering.  I don’t mean to feed the stereotype, but if you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about.  Seriously, folks, it’s called soap.

Comicon does, however, provide the Internet with all the news it can handle in its brief weekend.  For a site like Enthusiacs, it’s a gold mine for material.  I’ve decided to take some time to address the topic that most had my interest, that being Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

I’m a huge DC comics fan.  I can’t say that I read the comics as much now as I did about 10 years ago, but I love the characters.  I was a fan of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy, and I honestly liked Man of Steel.  I can’t say the same for Superman Returns, though I did like Brandon Routh as Superman.  Taking all this into account, one could easily infer that I’m quite excited for this movie.

Since I haven’t spoken on it before on Enthusiacs, let’s start with the basics.  I don’t like the name Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  It’s not a good name.  It’s clunky and awkward.  If Marvel can make Guardians of the Galaxy work, Warner Bros. should probably have no issue with calling the movie World’s Finest.

The pictures we’ve seen of Ben Affleck as Batman were interesting.  The images taken from the Comicon teaser were very much Dark Knight Returns centered.  I’m not certain that Dawn of Justice has earned that kind of comparison.  DKR was set years after Batman retired, after having spent a full career working with Superman.  In Dawn of Justice, they would have just met.  I can’t say I like that kind of direct imagery being ripped from the pages.  I would much prefer this movie carve out new territory.  Of course, I’m taking a lot out of one image.  I may be way off base here.

Previous images of Affleck in the Bat-suit were encouraging.  I’m a fan of the shorter-eared Batman look.  Affleck also looks plenty muscular.  I’ve seen some recent pictures of him, and he is phenomenally ripped now.  I think we’ll see a Batman whose size rivals that of Henry Cavill’s Superman.  Also, the Batmobile looks amazing.  The Batmobile should look like a car that can handle itself.  The Joel Schumacher Batmobile’s looked so unwieldy and fragile that I’d bet a tall speed-bump could dismantle them.  Compare that to Nolan’s Tumbler, which levels any inconvenient walls in its way.  The Zack Snyder Batmobile looks like a cross between the Tumblr and the Tim Burton Batmobile, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

Moving on, I really want to talk about the first image of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.  I’ll admit, I was very skeptical of Gadot’s casting.  I really would have rather seen Gina Carano, or Gina Torres in the role of Wonder Woman.  Admittedly, Carano’s acting chops aren’t very well refined, but neither are Gadot’s.  Breaking it down to the most superficial of features, Gadot has a prettier face than Carano.  As much as I don’t think that should matter, I can’t help but picture old crotchety movie executives employing that kind of decision making.

Gina Torres, I think, is perfect for Wonder Woman.  She is in her forties, though.  Not that you would know it by looking at her.  The woman hasn’t aged a day since she appeared in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as Nebula.  But with Cavill being only 31, I’m sure the idea is for a younger actress to play Wonder Woman across several movies.

So, let’s get to the suit.  Given Snyder’s love of monochrome pictures, I can’t comment on the color.  I hope they try for a more saturated look, the way Superman’s suit was made with deeper colors than his classic comic counterpart.  I’ve never been a big fan of the bright red and blue colors for Wonder Woman.  For somebody who has supposedly stepped out of a forgotten Greek paradise, it seemed a bit too American.

In terms of design, I prefer Wonder Woman to look as close as possible to Xena.  Maybe I’m just a child of the time in which I grew up, but when I think warrior woman, my mind immediately goes to Xena.  I have all the love in the world for Linda Carter and I loved the old Wonder Woman series, but Lucy Lawless screaming, wielding a sword and kicking some serious tail will always hold a special place in my heart.

Keeping that in mind, I’m encouraged by the first looks at the Wonder Woman costume.  I’ve come to terms with the fact that Wonder Woman will likely never be depicted with pants as a permanent costume shift.  I figure that if I’m going to get a bare-legged Wonder Woman, I’d prefer her to be wearing an armored skirt much more than a Brazilian cut bikini brief.  I would like some chain-mail leggings as well, to cement the warrior look, but I got the skirt, so I’ll let that one go.  The breastplate could be more armored and less cleavage inducing, but I suppose we weren’t going to fix everything in one redesign.  Xena showed cleavage too, honestly, so if I consider Xena to be the gold standard, I can’t complain about a little cleavage.  At least she has straps on the top.  Nothing makes less sense than Wonder Woman’s halter top.

As much as I tend to despise the Hollywood hype machine, I do like to see pictures of high budget superhero suits.  I continue to be cautiously optimistic about this movie, given what I’ve seen.  I still believe Affleck will kill it as Batman, I still like Cavill as Superman, and I still think Gadot has the ability to completely surprise me as Wonder Woman.  Until then, you best believe that I’ll have an ear to the ground for this film and be speaking out from time to time.

Are you excited for this movie?  More excited for Captain America 3?  Comment below.