Justice League: Batman’s Battle Plan Was Dumb

It's been bothering us for months, and now that Justice League has been made available on home video, it's time we got this off our chest: Batman's plan of attack in the movie's final battle is pretty dumb. Justice League is back in the headlines thanks to its release on digital download earlier this week. And while the talk of the town is currently on the deleted scenes featuring Superman and the rising calls for the infamous Snyder Cut, we're taking a minute to look at Batman's distinctly un-Batmanly behavior in the climatic showdown against the villainous Steppenwolf.The Dark Knight we see in Justice League is a very different hero than the one we met in Batman v Superman. After being brought back down to Earth by the Man of Steel's death, the Caped Crusader has lightened up a bit, even in the face of armageddon. Realizing that he can't take on this incoming threat alone, Bruce Wayne recruits a team of metahumans to stand against the invading Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons. But the way our hero goes about saving the world, specifically in the third act of the film, is heavily, heavily flawed.Related: Ben Affleck Not Wanting To Commit Fully' To Batman FutureBatman's plan is pretty straightforward: drop the team off on the outskirts of the battlefield, take out the force field, and lead the horde of Parademons away from Steppenwolf. Clearing the field so that his fellow Justice Leaguers could take out the big bad is an honorable move ” if it works. It doesn't, and the Dark Knight only ends up delaying their world-saving efforts. And that's where the real problems begin. Take a closer look and see why Batman's Final Justice League Battle Plan Was Pretty Dumb.

Going solo

Though we were hoping that Batman would take charge and lay out some sort of strategy while the team was en route to Bizarnov, the Lasso of Truth scene with Aquaman is charming enough that we don't mind him keeping things close to the vest. Honestly, revealing his plan of attack to his teammates at the last second so that they don't raise questions about his suspicious behavior is a pretty Batman-y move. The short-sightedness of that plan, however, definitely isn't.

Bats drops the team off outside the force field, telling them that he's going to take out the tower powering the dome. He blasts through the force field and takes out the tower with a few rockets from the Flying Fox, leaving us wondering if that wasn't something that almost every other Justice Leaguer could've done without going solo. But never mind that, because part two of the Caped Crusader's master plan involves blaring this random siren noise through the Batmobile's speakers that Batman has learned the Parademons really don't like. (Thanks, random inclusion from the first act!) Again, this is intended to attract Steppenwolf's foot soldiers so that the other Justice Leaguers have a clear path to the main villain. It works to a degree, as hundreds of Parademons come flying after the Batmobile. This marks the end of the nice-ish things we have to say about Batman's strategy.

The Dark Knight doesn't appear to have planned on surviving this phase of his scheme. The Batmobile can't even outrun the Parademons, who quickly close in on him and begin tearing through his beloved ride. Our hero seems to accept his fate with an "oh, son of a bitch", and that appears to be that.

Except of course it isn't, because the rest of the Justice League then arrives on the scene to save his ass. And this is the major flaw in Batman's battle plan: did he really think his teammates would just leave him to die? They may not like him all that much, but there was no way they were just going to let him get torn apart while they went after Steppenwolf. So instead of attacking the dome as a team and giving the distraction siren to someone that could actually outrun a Parademon attack -- like, say, the Fastest Man Alive -- Batman actually delays the team from getting to Steppenwolf. Aquaman sums things up nicely when he tells the Caped Crusader œso your genius move...is dying. You really are out of your mind.

Side note: humanizing Batman with an "oh, son of a bitch" moment only really works if your iteration has been built up as unstoppable hero who thinks of everything, something the DCEU hasn't quite managed to do yet. But hey, maybe the Dark Knight can salvage things in the next part of his plan, right? Well...

"We might not have thought this through"

Here's another glaring problem with Batman's attack strategy: it ends with the Batmobile maneuver. After his teammates rescue him, the Caped Crusader ends up trashing his car and fighting the Parademons hand to hand. And even though he's sporting an extra layer of armor with his new tactical suit and he's more than capable of taking on an Apokoliptian foot soldier or two at a time, he's still pretty outmatched on this particular battlefield. With both the Flying Fox and the Batmobile out of commission, he's on his own.

Now, one could make the argument that the Dark Knight had no intention of still being alive at that point, so it makes sense that he didn't have a more precise plan of attack vs. Steppenwolf and the Parademons. And if we were talking about any other hero here, that would be a perfectly fine explanation. Except we aren't -- this is the goddamn Batman. As a character, the Caped Crusader's greatest weapon is his brilliant mind. His ability to think ten steps ahead of everyone else, to foresee virtually every possible scenario and concoct a contingency plan for it, has become one of his most defining characteristics. It's what makes him a valuable member of the Justice League. Seeing him charge into a battle against an alien invasion with a shortsighted strategy, sans backup plan, is incredibly frustrating.

So for the second film in a row, Gotham's finest finds himself relegated to the sidelines in a battle with an OP alien that he can't get within five feet of without dying. What's a Dark Knight to do?

Stop putting guns in Batman's hands!

Sigh.

Folks weren't too thrilled with the Caped Crusader's use of firearms in Batman v Superman. Whether he was gunning down baddies in the Batmobile, blowing up dudes sporting flamethrowers, or just sort of watching the Doomsday fight while holding a Kryptonite grenade launcher, Batman was surprisingly pro-gun in his DCEU debut. On the surface, the main problem here is that almost every iteration of the Dark Knight is staunchly against the idea of using guns, as it was a gun that took the lives of his parents when Bruce Wayne was a wee little one. (Easy, fanboys and girls; we're aware that Batman has used firearms several times over the years. Let's stay on point here.) So, when our frustratingly underprepared hero takes up arms once again in Justice League, we may have been looking around for a table to flip.

Honestly though, Batman's comic history with guns isn't really what gets under our skin here. The real problem is that this marks the second straight climactic battle in which the DCEU's Caped Crusader has picked up a firearm and barely contributed to the final outcome. Batman actually had an excuse for it in BvS; there's no way he could have foreseen Doomsday, and with his mech suit trashed, that Kryptonite gun was all he had. Even then, he's the one who comes up with the game plan to take the monster out for good. The major difference this time around is that Batman had prep time. Any DC fan worth their salt knows that if the Dark Knight is given time to prepare for a fight, he'll figure out a way to come out on top. He may not have known much about Steppenwolf and the Parademons, but taking command and operating as a field general surely would've been more helpful than grabbing a gun and picking off strays.

Which brings us to our biggest concern: Batman's use of guns in two consecutive third act showdowns tells us that DC has no idea what to do with the character in these situations. Rather than bring the character's history as a master detective/strategist/all-around polymath to the fold, or even have him utilize some nifty new gadget that he thought to bring because he thought ahead, the DCEU dumbs him down and gives him a gun. And just like that, Batman became the most useless member of the Justice League.

We still don't know when exactly Batman will be returning to the DCEU. He could make an appearance in any of the shared universe's upcoming films (Aquaman, Shazam!, Wonder Woman 2, etc.), or he could be held back until Matt Reeves' solo movie is ready to go. Hell, we don't even know if Ben Affleck will be the man behind the cowl next time out. But in the meantime, we'll be praying to the DC gods that the folks behind the scenes will get our beloved Crusader straightened out.

What do you think of Batman's plan of attack? Are we nitpicking, or does the DCEU Dark Knight need to start thinking things through? Sound off in the comments.

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