Let’s play a little same’s and opposite’s. Two of my favorite movie franchises have come out with a new movie in the last 6 months. Batman has been rebooted, again, and Halloween Kills, came out last October. I just watched The Batman and re-watched Halloween Kills for the first time since I saw it on opening night.
I intend to write posts about each, but before I do that, something occurred to me. These two franchises have two of my favorite movie characters, Batman and Michael Myers. On paper, one is a superhero and the other is a slasher villain – you’d think they couldn’t be more different. However, both franchise icons have more in common than you’d think. Let’s look at same’s and opposite’s.
Sames:
1). Good at fighting
Let’s start with an easy one, both of them kick a lot of ass. Not too many people that can hang with them 1-on-1. Or 12-on-1.
And yet, people still try?!? The whole premise of the recent Halloween Kills was the people of Haddonfield fighting back and hunting Michael. It didn’t go well. Obviously. In any Batman movie, criminals have to fight him to stay out of jail, but they all seem confident they’ll win. No one just runs away.
2). Hard to kill
In addition to being good at fighting, another advantage both men possess is being very difficult to kill. Both have survived gunshots, falls, knives, fists and feet. How do you defeat someone who is both good at fighting AND difficult to kill? Many have tried, none have succeeded.
3). No guns
Never. Ever.
4). Donned in black
Both show an affinity for the color black. Sleek, stylish and smooth as hell. Also, it’s functional…
5). Work in the shadows
Both are insanely stealthy. They wear black and hide in the shadows. In fact, Bruce Wayne was once in a tribe called the League of Shadows. Michael Myers never joined any leagues, he’s not really a joiner.
6). At least 1 immediate family member was murdered when they were young
Very sad. Both of them were shaped by a family tragedy when they were young boys. That’s all we’ll say about that.
7). Very good posture
8). Famous in their community
Bruce Wayne is a famous billionaire, and Batman is an infamous vigilante. Everyone in Gotham seems to know who both are, though very few can connect them.
Michael Myers is a celebrity in Haddonfield, Illinois. Even 40 years later, the town is all riled up about him. People still talk about his original murders and the shadow they cast over the town.
9). Fugitives in their community
The Dark Knight is a vigilante who’s wanted by police. The (new) Batman’s interpretation of this was interesting, as the Dark Night often showed up at crime scenes with Jim Gordon. While the rest of the police expressed their displeasure, no one tried to apprehend him. More famously, in The Dark Knight, the people blame him any time violence in the city escalates, and he ends the movie fleeing a crime scene for which he will take on full blame.
Michael Myers, um, yeah.
10). The family home is sacred and means a lot
Wayne manor has housed generations of Bruce’s family. It’s a gigantic house that he lives in with Alfred. It gets burned down, he rebuilds it. It’s his biggest connection to his family. That and Gotham City.
This is the Myers’ house. It’s not better, just different.
Halloween Kills focuses heavily on how Michael Myers is always heading home. That’s his whole thing. In the original, he breaks out of an asylum, he goes back to Haddonfield and resides in his boarded up childhood home. In 2018, he did the same thing. He goes to his decrepit family home and stays there. He kills people along the way, but his goal is always to get back home.
11). The ‘real’ them is the one wearing the mask
Bruce Wayne doesn’t like being a billionaire socialite. He doesn’t feel comfortable at any fundraisers or events like that. To everyone else, he shows up to the masquerade ball dressed as himself, but symbolically it’s noteworthy, because Bruce Wayne is his mask.
Michael Myers stops killing mid-kill if his mask comes off. That’s how important his mask is. Priority list: 1) Mask; 2) Killing; 3) Everything else in the world.
12). Both know their town geography well
Frankly, this is more impressive for Michael Myers, who leaves Haddonfield for the asylum at the age of 6, and then doesn’t return until he breaks out at age 21. He manages to drive back to Haddonfield. And he sneaks around all night. The guy has a brilliant mind for geography.
13). Immunity to fire
It’s all mental. People who get hurt by fire are mentally soft.
14). Both chase the impossible
Batman wants order and justice in Gotham. This will never happen. People are corrupt and greedy. There already are multiple mafia factions and, like, 100 supervillains. Just too tall of an order. It really, definitely won’t happen if he doesn’t use any guns or kill people, but that’s a separate issue. It just seems like deliberately handicapping yourself for an already impossible endeavor.
Michael’s goal is to kill everyone. Simple. No rules. Highly improbable. Likely impossible, especially if you don’t use a gun or bombs or anything like that. Just knives, hammers, and bare hands.
15). Both are the best in their respective genres
For my money, Batman is the best superhero and Michael Myers is the best slasher. I think there is some overlap as to why they both reign supreme.
Batman is a human being with no special powers. He’s rich, which affords him gadgets and equipment that help him fly in spurts, and survive bullets and knives, but at the end of the day he’s a man. He’s not an alien like Superman or Thor, he’s not the result of an experiment like Captain America or Hulk. He’s a man. Like Iron Man. But even Iron Man has a leg up given that his family business is weapons technology. His suit is better than Bruce’s. He can shoot actual guns and fire and he can fly. Batman is basically just a way better version of Hawkeye.
Michael Myers is also a man, kind of. Other slashers are demons (Chucky, Pazuzu) or aliens (Xenomorph, The Thing) or super-powered in their own right (Jason Voorhees). Michael Myers is just a man. A focused, brutally strong man, who can take a beating.
Opposites:
Despite the litany of similarities between the two, there are, in fact, some areas where the two are vastly different.
1). Killing
Probably their biggest philosophical difference. If the two could sit down and have a chat, this would be the one thing they could never agree on.
As mentioned earlier, Batman refuuuuuuses to kill. He wants to take down the worst people in Gotham, but he wants to do so without killing, and without the most lethal weapons because he doesn’t want to risk it.
One of the reasons The Dark Knight is so great is because it was the Joker’s focus to force Batman to kill him, breaking his one rule. Although the “no killing” policy has always been there, this was the first movie I recall where it was an active goal of the villain to corrupt Batman’s ethical code. It raises an interesting philosophical argument for the viewer – how many people have to die because Batman refuses to kill? No, it’s not his fault the Joker kills the people, but he could theoretically save some people from dying by just eliminating the threat altogether. Is Batman’s hard ‘no killing’ rule, actually the morally right thing?
Michael Myers has his own rule. It is the exact opposite of Batman’s.
2). Talking
Bruce Wayne talks. Then Batman talks in a different voice altogether to avoid detection. He needs answers, he has to ask questions.
Michael doesn’t talk.
3). The mask – half face vs whole face
Oddly paradoxical situation here – Batman wants his identity to remain a secret, but he wears a mask that only covers half of his face. Everyone already knows Michael Myers is the one doing the murdering, but he still covers the full face, and as noted above, he will drop whatever he is doing if his mask comes off. Somehow despite the half mask, no one can figure out who Batman is, even though Bruce Wayne is apparently a celebrity.
4). Budget/Lifestyle
Bruce Wayne is a billionaire blue blood. Everybody in the city knows it. Given everything Batman has, there could only be so many people who could afford all of the gear and gadgets.
Michael Myers has no money. I don’t even know if he knows what money is? His mechanic outfit is stolen from a mechanic he murdered. He often stays in his old family home, which is boarded up and abandoned (because of when he murdered his sister as a boy). He eats…a dog (that he likely killed). He steals the mask from a store. In one of Rob Zombie’s movies, he’s actually homeless.
5). Gadgets/Weaponry
This is related to the last entry, but Bruce’s money means that Batman has unlimited gadgets and tools. Basically everything except a gun and a knife. He brings all of it to every fight, and he seems to have a tool for everything.
Michael Myers brings nothing to the party. He finds weapons. Kitchen knives, hammers, etc.
6). Preparation vs Improv
Related to gadgets, Batman has tools for every conceivable scenario. At times he gets called to particular locations and goes to save the day. He obviously has to improvise, but he is always prepared.
Michael Myers has very short term plans, if any at all. It lines up with many definitions of psychopathy. He “shows a carefree nonnplanness”.
7). Big-picture thinking
Related to the past entries, Batman is trying to restore order and justice in Gotham. He has a vision for what the future of the city will look like. He’s working toward a higher goal. When he’s figuring out the evil plans of The Riddler or Penguin he needs to understand who they are and what they’re after.
Myers thinks about killing and going back home. That’s it.
8). Training
Bruce Wayne trained with the League of Shadows. He is clearly well-versed in martial arts. He drank the green juice in Batman Begins. He takes care of himself.
Michael Myers is just a specimen.
9). Enemies
Both men have many enemies. The difference is that Batman’s enemies are well-defined and very specific. Bane, The Joker, The Riddler, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn, Two Face, and many, many more.
Michael Myers doesn’t have specific enemies. He just wants to kill everyone he can.
10). Evolved vs Primitive
This ties into some of the other entries, but one of them uses the latest technology and thinks about the big picture of what his city can become.
The other doesn’t use money, he basically just kills, hides and eats.
11). How their immediate family members were murdered
This is another big one. A commonality noted above is that both of their lives were forever changed after immediate family members were murdered when they were very young. The difference is that Bruce looks at his parents’ death as a tragedy…
12). Patience
It may not be fair to say Bruce/Batman has no patience, since that isn’t really something a movie is likely to showcase. But he’s a man of action who hears about crime and immediately goes after it. He’s a billionaire, he doesn’t wait for anything.
Michael is, to quote Dr. Loomis, “inhumanely patient”. He lives to kill. It doesn’t matter how long he has to wait. Think about when he kills Annie in the original Halloween, he’s outside the house watching for a heck of a long time, before ultimately killing her in the back seat of her car. Despite being an apex predator, he walks slowly because he’s in no rush. He knows he will catch up.
So, there it is, Batman and Michael Myers actually have a lot more in common than they do that’s different. If you like one, you’ll most certainly like the other.
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