The Tick (2016-2018) is good and the creators should feel good.

I'm not sure why it was cancelled after two seasons except that this is the timeline where we don't get the superheroes we need but rather the ones we deserve.

In other news, Batman (1989) finally appeared on Netflix (which for ages, presumably because of weird IP rights mob wars, seemed to only have Batman Returns) so I rewatched it for the first time in literally decades.

It's still pretty good, and also really dark with that 1930s German Expressionist vibe that sort of oozes "fascism is about to happen" from all its matte paintings.

My first impression when I saw just even the marketing for it back in 89 was "oh no" and that's basically the same.

Batman '89 in my opinion marks the point where American pop culture formally gave up on "the future" and let cynicism and nihilism and the expectation of violence take over, and it's never yet progressed beyond that.

The modern "edgy Batman bro" fandom traces back to that film and, I'm sorry, its invocation of some very specific 1930s vibes, which no doubt were part of the pop culture when superhero comics were being created, so are certainly its roots.

But I'd hoped we'd get better by now.

The MCU *is* better in a lot of ways, certainly more joyful and optimistic, but also, um, still quite cynical about being able to solve our problems without projecting violence onto designated villains. I dunno.

What I found interesting rewatching Batman is actually how good the acting is! I didn't really pick that up when I was younger.

But its Bruce Wayne is much softer and gentler than more modern versions, even as its Joker is really doing Nazi medical experiment kind of echoes. (and 1970s gangsterism and product tampering and industrial pollution scares; kind of a greatest hits of everything scary in the 1980s).

I wish there'd been a sequel where Kim Basinger was still the co-star. She was good.