Forget Batman V Superman, Toyota has Badman V Supperman

Taking advantage of the buzz around battling superheroes with the premier of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Toyota is hoping its road safety message will be a hit with fans.

The series of video spoofs centre on Badman and Supperman (inspired, we know). Badman is a cunning and petty restaurateur who bears grudges easily and will go all out for revenge. Supperman, on the other hand, is an avid foodie but when he is unhappy he can get really nasty.

Each episode features a cameo appearance from THUMS (Total HUman Model for Safety), Toyota’s safety mascot, very much in the vein of Stan Lee’s own cameos in movies starring his creations.

There’s also a game which challenges players on how fast they can buckle up that can be found on Toyota’s safety website.

So Ad Nut watched all three episodes and couldn’t help but marvel at the unintended similarities between the spoofs and the movie that it inspired and hopes to take advantage of.

Just like Batman V Superman, on paper it ought to be a good concept, after all, there’s a long storied history of advertising spoofs that have garnered much acclaim.

And just like Batman V Superman, Ad Nut found the setup for the revenge spree a bit flimsy, or at least, in need of a stronger explanation of motivations.

Ad Nut did enjoy the animation style though, and would watch more episodes, if only to play “Where’s Thums?” and count just how many ways you could ask people to put on their safety belts before repeating yourself.

Despite being universally panned by both critics and comic book fans, Batman V Superman still managed to rake in an estimated US$424.1 million worldwide during its opening weekend. So Ad Nut remains hopeful that Buckle Battle will enjoy similar impact.