Release: April 19, 2016
Film: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Tagline: Angry Joe helps the Nostalgia Critic take a look at the crossover everybody wanted but nobody returned to see again.
This review contains examples of:
- Affably Evil: As lame as some of his excuses for the movie's flaws are, Zack Snyder (or "Schneider") doesn't come off half as unlikable as some of the other directors parodied in the series; the Critic and Joe are more angry at him over his lack of understanding of the DC universe, despite his best intentions.
- Anvilicious: Walter!Snyder tries to hammer in all the Jesus symbolism on Superman's apparent death and eventual resurrection, while showing a Pietà Plagiarism moment with the faces of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Lois superimposed over those of Jesus, John, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, respectively, while promising to guide the Critic and Joe over his version of the Stations of the Cross.
- Bait-and-Switch: The review opens with the Critic and Joe recreating Batman and Superman's first tense encounter. However, rather than duke it out (like the last time they did a crossover), they instead join forces and storm Walter!Snyder's office.
- Big "NO!": An angry variation pulled out by Joe against Walter!Snyder (while the Critic flatly looks on) after the latter claims to have appealed to emotions with the ending of the film.
- Call-Back:
- Also, it took around four years but Joe finally got his Joe Signal.
- Clip Show: Inverted — as the film is still in theaters as of the review, much of the film had to be reenacted, with Doug as Batman, Joe as Superman, Walter Banasiak (host of the Awesome Comics podcasts) as Zack Snyder, Malcolm as Wallace Keefe, Tamara as Lois Lane, Martha Kent and Wonder Woman, Trevor Mueller as Lex Luthor, Jim as Alfred Pennyworth, and Rob as Doomsday.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Joe!Superman says Martha's name at the end of the climactic fight, Doug!Batman takes this to mean that his own mother is still alive.
- Composite Character:
- Trevor!Lex appears to share several characteristics with The Joker. The recreations lampoon it by showing him putting on the latter's iconic purple tuxedo and getting smacked in the face with his own color candy by Superman, creating the lipstick smile from the Heath Ledger version in The Dark Knight.
- Doomsday in the film is a combination of Lex Luthor and Zod's DNA. The recreations lampoon him by making him (portrayed by Rob) look like Zod, but with long red hair.
- Crossover: With "Angry" Joe Vargas.
- Damsel Scrappy: The Critic and Joe's thoughts on Lois Lane, with the recreation parodying her kidnapping by having Tamara!Lois perform an Instant Sedation on herself.
- Destructive Saviour: During the confrontation with Doomsday, Doug!Batman lampshades how the heroes keep becoming examples of this trope in DCEU movies when Tamara!Wonder Woman questions the plan of bringing Rob!Doomsday into the city.
- Disproportionate Retribution: At the end, for suggesting writing up the next movie, both the Critic and Joe receive a beatdown from Walter!Snyder, and the review ends with them leaving the room with black eyes.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Critic is shocked to realize that Doomsday's origins in this film (a combination of DNA from Lex and Zod) reeks eerily of that of Nuclear Man (Superman's hair strand launched with a nuclear missile) from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which he already condemned as the worst in the franchise.
- Dope Slap: Tamara!Lois gives Doug!Batman a smack on the head to tell him that he and Superman's mothers have the same name.
- Face Palm: The Critic and Joe's reaction to Walter!Snyder's second attempt to deflect their questions about the pointlessness of Batman and Superman's second duel by distracting them with an Aquaman cameo.
- Follow the Leader: The Critic thinks that this film was DC's attempt to cash in on Marvel's success in Crisis Crossover films with The Avengers.
- The Critic still thinks Snyder's trying too hard to make Henry Cavill's Superman Batman, even with the man himself here. Especially evident with their portrayal of Lex Luthor.
- Food as Bribe: Trevor!Lex convinces Malcolm!Senator to let him into Zod's ship by giving him Jolly Ranchers.
- Gun Nut: Doug!Batman is constantly shooting everything with a gun, to the point he even tosses his glass before shooting it when he meets Clark. Lampshaded at the beginning when discussing how people mistook a shootdown as Superman's fault.Zack: Well, if you can't see how they would mistake Superman shooting people in the desert.
Critic: Yeah, who do you think he is? Batman? - Hypocritical Humor:
- The recreation of Batman and Superman's first encounter in their civilian guises has them calling each other out for their flaws, while the scene pauses to show a stats screen of each side having the same flaws he charges the other with.
- When confronting Joe!Superman, Doug!Batman says that he values human life... while shooting several of Lex's minions behind himself. Superman even lampshades it.Joe!Superman: Just stop hypocriting where I'm hypocriting.
- If I Wanted You Dead...: Joe!Superman outright states that if he truly were a murderous psychopath, he would have killed Doug!Batman the moment they met.
- In Name Only: Joe complains that just because someone named "Doomsday" is present doesn't mean it's the same Lightning Bruiser who was Superman's greatest match in the comics.
- Offhand Backhand: Both Doug!Batman and Joe!Superman give one to Trevor!Lex when he butts into their argument, giving him two black eyes.
- Practically Joker: Parodied to Hell and back with Trevor Mueller's Lex Luthor who grows to look more and more like Heath Ledger's Joker as the review progresses.
- Quality over Quantity: Both the Critic and Joe rant at what they perceive to be Snyder's preoccupation with jamming in as much stuff as possible within one film instead of fleshing out the main characters.
- Questionable Casting: The Critic and Joe's opinion on Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Joe in particular laments that this Luthor has none of the comics' suave, cunning and manipulative charisma.
- Running Gag: The random appearances of various DC characters in the movie, such as Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
- Shout-Out:
- The first scenes of the recreation takes cues from the transitions of the Adam West Batman series.
- To highlight how crazy the film's Luthor is, Trevor's portrayal of him is shown leaving Batman and Superman's first encounter in their civilian guises by exclaiming "Smokin'!", complete with his head being left behind by his body.
- So Okay, It's Average: The Critic and Joe's final opinion on the film.
- Stealth Hi/Bye:
- How Tamara!Wonder Woman appears in the recreations, casually passing by and greeting "Hello!" to the audience. Subverted at the end during the fight against Rob!Doomsday, when Joe!Superman pulls her into the action.Tamara!Wonder Woman: Oh, I can stay this time? Awesome.
- Also happens when Walter!Snyder points out that Aquaman is in the movie, who does the same thing Wonder Woman was doing.
- How Tamara!Wonder Woman appears in the recreations, casually passing by and greeting "Hello!" to the audience. Subverted at the end during the fight against Rob!Doomsday, when Joe!Superman pulls her into the action.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Joe goes at length to chew out Walter!Snyder over the way he portrayed Superman's death (that is, in a rather cheap way, unlike his dramatic Heroic Sacrifice in The Death of Superman). At first it seems like one of his trademark over-the-top rants, but as the rant goes on it becomes clear that he speaks as a Superman fanboy who is not as much offended by Walter!Snyder's interpretation as he is disappointed by it.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Two cases:
- Both the Critic and Joe lament that the film wasted the opportunity to put Batman and Superman's rivalry at greater depth through displaying the interactions of their diametrically opposite principles.
- Joe also believes that because he and many people lack an emotional connection with this universe's Superman, his death didn't have even near the same impact as the comics.
"And I'm Batman!"
