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The Lego Batman Movie has this line by Batman:

Hey Mom, hey Dad, I saved the city again today. I think you would have been really proud.

Here, Batman is speaking to his mom and dad in his family picture. They are long dead at the time of speaking.

If they were alive, the conversation would have gone like this:

Batman: Hey Mom, hey Dad, I saved the city again today.

Parents: We are really proud.

Based on this hypothetical response of his parents, I'd think that Batman should have said, "I think you would be really proud". But he said "I think you would have been really proud" instead.

Why is that?

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JK2
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    they 'would have been proud' if they hadn't died. They are both past tense. – marcellothearcane Jun 20 '17 at 18:02
  • @YosefBaskin If 'would be' works, why use 'would have been'? And what's the difference in meaning between the two? – JK2 Jun 21 '17 at 01:33
  • @YosefBaskin What about this context? Batman: "Hey Mom, hey Dad, I'm going to save the city again today. I think you would __________ really proud." Which Batman says before he goes out to save the city. Is "have been" still better than "be" in this case? – JK2 Jun 21 '17 at 14:56
  • @YosefBaskin But even in my rewrite, their living parents would say, "We are really proud," wouldn't they? So I don't know why the counterfactual utterance should be different. – JK2 Jun 21 '17 at 15:25
  • @YosefBaskin Please don't answer a question with another question. It's only confusing. – JK2 Jun 22 '17 at 01:09

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"Saving the city again today " is a past event. And if you talk about a past event from your present situation , you have to use "would /could / might have as far as the hypothetical situation is concerned.

You can use "would be " in the same hypothetical point of view if you save the city again someday.

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