I love Man of Steel in part because it is roughy in a deconstructionist vein same as BvS and Watchmen, implicitly asking 'if superheroes existed for real and actually inhabited our real world, would that acctually be a good thing? Is that something we would really want?' Etc. Because MoS is more of a first contact scf-fi film about an extraterrestrial living among us and an alien invasion than it is about the traditional Superman character from the comics. I think the Black Zero event is a metaphor for humankind exerperiencing a psychological shock in learning it is not alone in the universe, the trauma of that paradigm shift. But anyway it's because of this layer of meaning that, for me, personally, I actually love the film much, much more than the 1978 Reeves film. Snyder commented once that earlier depictions of Superman in film annd television reflected an American identity that is an "apple pie and Chevrolet, American Dream in a weird way" sort of vision and personally I agree. MoS and BvS are the collision of postmodernism with that sensibility that what society tells you is absolute truth can be trusted, that the world can easily be made sense of, right and wrong are simple, etc.
I'm hopeful for the Matt Reeves trilogy, but I do find it hard to accept that WB reportedly kept messing with Ben Affleck's script for his own solo Batman film to the degree that he walked. And Reeves I'm sure doesn't deserve this from me, but WB bringing him on board to revamp Batman reminds me of them bringing Whedon aboard to reshoot Justice League. I absolutely loved the 'fallen' older TDKR inspired Batman that Affleck portrayed, and wanted to see him finish out the 5 film arc that was originally planned for him, plus his own solo film. Intellectually I can understand that we're going to see a new Batman with the Reeves trilogy. But it bugs me that I won't see my favorite Batman continue. And emotionally, unfortunately that may sour me somewhat to the Reeves trilogy.
