User blog comment:ADour/Official title for Marvel's The Avengers sequel announced!/@comment-4651179-20130721032030/@comment-1895174-20130724011442

And Batman doesn't expand this universe any more than Nightcrawler expanded the X-Men universe. Other Batman characters may show up, but it's not like the door was completely shut to them if Batman wasn't in the movie. Amanda Waller was in Green Lantern even though there was no hint of Cadmus. Ellen Brandt was in Iron Man 3 even though there's no hint of Man-Thing. Batman doesn't need to be in a Superman movie for characters typically associated with the character to wind up in it.

If anything, the distinction you draw between Batman and Deadpool is exactly why he doesn't need to be in a Superman movie. Batman is a pop culture icon. He doesn't need Superman to have a successful movie. Clearly. Batman has a large number of well-known characters associated with him to fill a series of films.

Superman is the same way. He's a pop culture icon. He doesn't need Batman to have a successful movie. Clearly. Superman has a large number of well-known characters associated with him to fill a series of films.

If anything, they'll detract from each other. That's what Iron Man 2 proved. People there to see Superman will be disappointed with how much Batman there is. People there to see Batman will be disappointed by how much Superman there is. People there to see Batman and Superman team up will be disappointed when they spend most of the movie opposing each other. People there to see Batman and Superman fight will be disappointed when they eventually team up with no clear winner.

Also, Marvel's The Avengers isn't Iron Man 3. No one refers to it as Iron Man 3 or The Incredible Hulk 2 because it isn't nor does it pretend to be Iron Man 3 or The Incredible Hulk 2. And if it was, we'd be referring to Thor: The Dark World as Thor 3 and not Thor 2. People aren't referring to the Batman/Superman movie as Man of Steel 2 because we know it won't be called that, but they are still calling it the sequel to Man of Steel.