Pictures of Batman and Superman? It's Not Stalking!

It’s not stalking! Okay, let me explain…

First, guess who’s in our neighborhood? None other than millionaire Bruce Wayne and Daily Planet reporter, Clark Kent. And that means their alter-egos – Caution: Spoilers here for those who haven’t been paying attention in the last 70 years -- Batman and Superman are close by.

You probably have heard or seen photos, (more on that in a sec) the multi-million dollar budget, greatest-movie-ever(!!) is being filmed just down the road in Downtown Detroit!

I, along with millions of other superhero fans, at least are hoping that it’s the best movie ever. It’ll be the first time on the big screen that Batman (this time played by Ben Affleck) will meet Superman (role reprised by Henry Cavill), and the comicbook world is ready to burst out of their collective mother’s basement.

And yours truly is at the center of the action. Well, okay, left of center. Or maybe just outside of the center, being shooed away by security. Yeah, it’s more that last thing.

If you’re somewhat clever, check social media, and pay attention to what’s happening around you, you can find filming locations and get “close” to uncovering the biggest scoop since Watergate. Again, that might be over-stating things a little, but people are dying to know what “Batfleck” looks like in the Bat costume!

I’ve been carrying my camera around the city for the past month or so. Security has been very tight, and for the most part, they’ve been pretty nice when they tell you “no pictures please”. But then they surprise you by leaving some items visible, prime for the shooting. I’ve managed to visit Metropolis (Superman’s hometown) and take pictures of a destroyed bus and collapsed building; then a few blocks away I was walking past the Gotham City Jail where some sort of jail-brawl was taking place!

Who knew that Metropolis and Gotham were that close? And Washington D.C. was the block in between, as evidenced by a few cars marked “Capitol Hill Taxi” with the D.C. license plates and phone numbers on the side.

I snapped pictures happily and even garnered a minor scoop when my friend (another Tim) and I noticed an actor with “Green-Screen” legs coming out for a smoke-break. We posted pictures to Twitter and became (minor) internet sensations! Our photos were seen by a potential total of 345 thousand Twitter subscribers.

345,000?! (There’s an app that calculates if you told two friends and they told two friends…how many people could wash your hair.) Apparently, we were pretty popular in August.

Next, we were getting tips on Twitter to “come have a beer with us”. Well, at first you’re thinking, “I’m going to end up in a bathtub missing a kidney.” It turns out we should’ve gone, as the Batmobile itself was racing around the Atwater Brewery earlier this week.

We drove by the next day, I turned a corner and Tim M. literally dropped his phone on the floor, “The BATMOBILE!” Actually, it was the stunt version of the famous car. TWO versions of the stuntmobile. We were able to snap pictures and post our scoop to the Twittersphere. Again, we’re famous. Sorta…

I snuck close and noticed that one of the cars had a Dodge Ram steering wheel. It was the main chassis used and then built upon for one of the two stunt cars.

The good folks at MLive.com picked up on my “The Batmobile is Ram Tough!” tweet and wrote a whole article showing off our pictures. (http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/detroit/index.ssf/2014/09/batman_v_superman_in_detroit_i.html)

It’s been a fun ride so far. They’ll be doing some night-time filming soon, but I’m afraid I only stalk – er – chase them during lunch hours.

See, the family thinks what I am doing is stalking. I say that’s not true. I’m not following an actor to dinner, or trying to get a picture of Ben Affleck breastfeeding his baby while driving, or anything. I’m just hoping to see something cool – like a superhero… Or at least his car.

--Tim

Wanna see more pictures? Log onto Twitter and search for the user names @treinman (me) and @D3T0N8R, my buddy Tim Malin. Scroll through our tweets. Give us a “follow” if you’d like, and hopefully we’ll get that selfie with Superman!