BATMAN V. SUPERMAN Gets A Subtitle, Logo, As David Goyer Insults She-Hulk, Geeks

Just in time for production to begin in earnest, the sequel to The Man of Steel gets an official title and logo. No, we can no longer call it Batman vs. Superman, we must now call it Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The added subtitle confirms pretty much what we already knew–that this film will act as the set up for the forthcoming Justice League film. I mean, why would they include a subtitle as clunky as “Dawn of Justice” is that weren’t the case?

The films also has an official logo, which doesn’t look all that much different that the fan made logos that were bandied about when the project was first announced.

The announcement comes at the same time that The Mary Sue reports on an appearance made by BVSDOJ writer David S. Goyer made on screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin’s podcast, Scriptnotes. The segment was dedicated to superhero blockbusters, and after the self-promotion was over, the guests were charged with revamping existing comic book character to the big screen. One was the She-Hulk, which led to this rather unctuous exchange between Mazin (writer of such high-brow fare as Scary Movie 3 & 4 and the two Hangover films that sucked)

Craig Mazin: The real name for She-Hulk was Slut-Hulk. That was the whole point. Let’s just make this green chick with enormous boobs. And she’s Hulk strong but not Hulk massive, right? … She’s real lean, stringy…

David S. Goyer: She’s still pretty chunky. She was like Chyna from the WWE.

Mazin: The whole point of She-Hulk was just to appeal sexistly to ten-year-old boys. Worked on me.

Goyer: I have a theory about She-Hulk. Which was created by a man, right? And at the time in particular I think 95% of comic book readers were men and certainly almost all of the comic book writers were men. So the Hulk was this classic male power fantasy. It’s like, most of the people reading comic books were these people like me who were just these little kids getting the shit kicked out of them every day… And so then they created She-Huk, right? Who was still smart… I think She-Hulk is the chick that you could fuck if you were Hulk, you know what I’m saying? … She-Hulk was the extension of the male power fantasy. So it’s like if I’m going to be this geek who becomes the Hulk then let’s create a giant green porn star that only the Hulk could fuck.

Technically, She-Hulk was created to protect a copyright, but, you know, run with the Hulk concubine theory, David. Also, if this thought process wasn’t creepy enough, it is clearly established in the character’s creation that the She-Hulk was the Hulk’s first cousin. I guess incest is also part of that male power fantasy Goyer was talking about.

Goyer wasn’t done. He went onto discuss the Martian Manhunter, where he managed to work in an insult at his fan base as well as another shot at She-Hulk. Here are some choice quotes:

“How many people in the audience have heard of Martian Manhunter? How many people that raised their hands have ever been laid?”

” He can’t be fucking called the Martian Manhunter because that’s goofy. He can be called Manhunter… The whole deal with Martian Manhunter is he’s an alien living amongst us… So he comes down to Earth and decides, unlike Superman who already exists in the world now, that he’s just going to be a homicide detective… So instead of using super-powers and mind-reading and like, oh, I could figure out if the President’s lying or whatever, he just decides to disguise himself as a human homicide detective. Dare to dream!””

“I would set it up like The Day After Tomorrow. We discover one of those Earth-like planets… So maybe like… we get the DNA code from that planet and then grow him in a petri dish here… He’s like in Area 51 or something and we’re just basically… doing biopsies on him. Then he gets out and he’s really angry and he fucks She-Hulk.”

Ah, that old chestnut, the “If-you-know-this-character-you-obviously-haven’t-had-sex” gag. Never gets less lame.

Now, if we were to be generous to Goyer, we could say that he was only playing to the room, and that his jab at geek’s sexless nature was a “laughing with” scenario not a “laughing at.” But even taking that into consideration, Goyer’s remarks are troubling.

How so? Well, as we all know by now, Goyer is introducing Wonder Woman into the DC Cinematic Universe with this film. Wonder Woman is the most recognizable female character in comic books, a feminist icon, and a role model to women young and old. If Goyer is willing to discount 30 years of stories that portray She-Hulk as a competent woman, a skilled attorney, a loyal friend and person with a great sense of humor and simply view her as a male power fantasy, how is he going to view Wonder Woman. If he is so off on the characterization of the She-Hulk and Martian Manhunter, how can we hope that he’ll figure out the best way to bring Wonder Woman to the screen.

We can hope because Argo‘s Chris Terrio, originally brought in to do a script polish, has been bumped up full writer who adapted Goyer’s screenplay. Hopefully, Terrio could bring in a better feel for the characters that Goyer, a man who actually wrote for DC Comics, appears to be able to.