--- title: Watch the Honest Trailers for Superman and Batman description: Screen Junkies has pitted the honest trailers for 1978's Superman and 1989's Batman against each other. canonical: https://time.com/4268336/honest-trailers-superman-batman/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-22T21:33:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:03.915Z og:title: The Honest Trailers for Superman and Batman Show How Much Superhero Movies Have Changed og:description: "Return to the superhero film full of fun, optimism, bright colors and camp" og:url: https://time.com/4268336/honest-trailers-superman-batman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6607ac167989a680/69888c132dce01267a9e84e7/christopher-reeve-superman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Christopher Reeve og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Honest Trailers for Superman and Batman Show How Much Superhero Movies Have Changed twitter:description: "Return to the superhero film full of fun, optimism, bright colors and camp" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6607ac167989a680/69888c132dce01267a9e84e7/christopher-reeve-superman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Honest Trailers for _Superman_ and _Batman_ Show How Much Superhero Movies Have Changed  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 22, 2016 9:33 PM UTC  Christopher Reeve in 1978's "Superman" Christopher Reeve in 1978's "Superman"ullstein bild—ullstein bild via Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Mar 22, 2016 9:33 PM UTC In anticipation of the March 25 opening of [_Batman v Superman: Dawn of_ _Justice_](http://time.com/4242658/batman-superman-dawn-of-justice-throw-down/), the team at [Screen Junkies](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOpcACMWblDls9Z6GERVi1A) has pitted the [honest trailers](http://time.com/4234305/honest-trailer-oscars-best-picture-nominees/) for 1978’s _Superman_ and 1989’s _Batman_ against each other in a battle of [vintage superhero](http://time.com/4259474/1960s-tv-wonder-woman/) movies. The YouTube channel finds plenty of opportunities to poke fun at the actors in both films, which starred Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton as the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, respectively. “Witness one of the best superhero castings of all time in Michael Keaton, a man so perfect for the role his eyebrows are shaped like the logo,” the narrator says. “He’s a reclusive billionaire dressed like your 10th grade English teacher who’s so unstable it actually feels plausible he would pretend to be a bat and beat up poor people.” **Read More:** [The Honest Trailer for _Mockingjay — Part 2_ Is Totally Over _The Hunger Games_](http://time.com/4259849/honest-trailer-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2/) Screen Junkies will determine a winner between the two based on most combined views and shares of the videos. They promise to create one of their signature previews for either _Batman Begins_ or _Superman Returns_ based on the victor. Watch the full trailers below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4268336/honest-trailers-superman-batman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4268336/honest-trailers-superman-batman/"},"headline":"The Honest Trailers for Superman and Batman Show How Much Superhero Movies Have Changed","datePublished":"2016-03-22T21:33:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:03.915Z","description":"\"Return to the superhero film full of fun, optimism, bright colors and camp\"","url":"https://time.com/4268336/honest-trailers-superman-batman/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Michael Keaton","Superman","Batman","honest trailers","Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice","tim burton","screen junkies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6607ac167989a680/69888c132dce01267a9e84e7/christopher-reeve-superman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6607ac167989a680/69888c132dce01267a9e84e7/christopher-reeve-superman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Christopher Reeve","caption":"Christopher Reeve in 1978's \"Superman\"","creditText":"ullstein bild—ullstein bild via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4268336/honest-trailers-superman-batman/","name":"The Honest Trailers for Superman and Batman Show How Much Superhero Movies Have Changed"}}]}] ```