WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I’m not sure if you’ve picked up on this yet, but I’m just a huge Batman fan. This movie is gonna be awesome.

Lately I’ve posted a couple of negative rants, but don’t worry, we’re back on track!

I feel like I can’t really do this trailer much justice in this format as there’s a lot of overlapping dialogue and
interesting things happening on the audio front. But I will go through my reactions to each bit of the trailer and
just rant in general.

So we open with a courtyard scene, slowly zooming in to a statue that you’d have to assume is Superman. Very dark,
very promising. We can see Metropolis in the background, which is weird because I’m pretty sure Superman K.O’d the
whole city in the last movie, but stranger things have happened…

We’re hearing some very, very cool dialogue which asks a lot of questions regarding Superman’s actions in the last
movie, which is absolutely perfect. I feel like this movie is actually going to explore how the world would react
to a Superman who has not yet gained control of his powers. A lot of people (who aren’t intimately familiar with
the comics) keep asking why Batman and Superman would be fighting in the first place, and this, to me, is the
perfect reason. Batman was a witness, with the rest of the world, when Zod stomped on Metropolis and Superman
awkwardly levelled buildings trying to bring him down. Batman has always been in a moral and legal grey area when
it comes to his methods of crime-fighting, but he has never caused billions of dollars of damage and most likely
the lives of millions of people. So he heads over to Metropolis, and lets Superman know that he’s kind of a know-
nothing rookie and needs to either get his shit together or get the fuck out. Maybe Superman reacts badly to a
diplomatic request from Batman to stand down, or maybe Batman goes straight for the “let’s just take him the fuck
down to avoid even more collateral damage” approach, but either way, shit is obviously going to get real.

I really think this is the coolest and most organic way to not only introduce Batman into this shared universe, but
also to explain why they would be fighting. It’s also a perfect continuation of the Man of Steel storyline, and is
a great way to explore the fallout of Superman’s bull-in-a-china-shop style “saving” of Metropolis.

Uhh… Yeah, anyway, that’s what’s going through my mind already, and we’re seeing some more cool shit:

So Superman is being treated in this photo like a messiah, which I guess would make sense. This is also a very cool
thematic element to explore in the film: Superman, as an all-powerful being, may be hated by many for his whole-
sale destruction of the largest city in the world; but he would also be worshipped by people who see him as a god.
He may be loved by them, but my guess is it’s more of a fear-based worship. They are trying to appease the super-
powered being that destroyed their lives, and are begging him to stop his smiting and be merciful.

Another awesome picture with yet another layer of awesome implications for the story. This is clearly a Russian
rocket, there is a fair amount of damage around, and Superman doesn’t look too happy. all this would seem to add up
to the hint of international unease in the wake of the reveal of a god who has clearly chosen America as his home
country. Hopefully this means the movie will be exploring not just America’s reaction to superman, but the whole
world’s.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this. Everyone keeps referring to these soldiers as “Superman’s Army”. I’m
still not sure. I mean, obviously they’re wearing his insignia on their shoulders and are bowing to him, but I just
get the feeling there’s a lot more to it than that. But then again, maybe there is going to be a hint of the
Injustice storyline amongst the Dark Knight Returns inspired story. Maybe Superman blames himself for the damage he
caused and is traumatised by the death of Zod and the deaths of the whole city’s worth of people from the first
movie and takes over law enforcement agencies to enforce peace at the same level as the humans. That way, his
powers only need to be used in emergencies but he would still be in control of law, order, and peace. Maybe I’m
just thinking too much about it.

Here we get another shot of Superman being treated like a god. But again, there could be more to it than that.
Those hands reaching out to him seem more urgent than someone just expressing their faith and devotion to a god-
like being. They seem like they are reaching for immediate help. And Superman is not moving. Maybe Clark is having
trouble maintaining his “truth, justice, and the American way!” attitude. Maybe he has actually gone full-blown
evil dictator and has become detached from the humans who worship him. Maybe his army from the previous shot are
actually being used for more nefarious purposes than mere “peace-keeping”. Maybe the people who worship him are
more of a cult than a band of supporters, and they are aggressively pro-Superman, even going so far as to agree
with his methods of fighting Zod?

A very common theme throughout the comics that feature both Batman and Superman is that Batman is aware of
Superman’s ludicrous amount of power. Batman knows that Superman could destroy the world at any moment, for any
reason, and the only reason he doesn’t is because he feels like being a hero. Superman has, at several points in
his 77 year history, gone evil. His most recent venture into not-so-good-doing has been the story I mentioned
earlier, Injustice: Gods Among Us.

In this story Superman is tricked by the Joker into accidentally murdering a whole bunch of people, including Lois
Lane, and then basically goes insane and becomes an evil dictator in order to prevent any similar situation
happening. He begins to accept that killing some people can save the lives of many more, and starts to get more and
more comfortable with using lethal force to get rid of criminals. He creates an army of soldiers that enforce his
will on the world, soldiers that look like this:

So there are a fair few similarities that you can see. Unfortunately that photo doesn’t show the symbol on the
Regime Soldier’s shoulders, but instead of wearing Superman’s symbol, they were the “Regime” symbol, which is
essentially just Superman’s Regime logo. So it’s kind of the same thing, really. This is very good news to me
personally because two of the best Batman V Superman moments in the comics are The Dark Knight Returns by Frank
Miller and Injustice: Gods Among Us. I’m not sure if you’ve been paying attention, but those two seem to have a
pretty damn strong influence on this film. Very, VERY cool.

Now we’re zooming in properly on the statue, and as a rhythmic soundtrack beats solidly, a bunch of floodlights are
activated in time with the music to reveal:

This is yet another hint that there is a lot of unhappiness with Superman. I have to admit, before I sat down to
write this article, I really hadn’t thought too much about exactly why there were so many references to people
being against Superman. I assumed it was all obviously about the Man of Steel fiasco. But I’m actually super keen
now because as I’ve mentioned already, it’s becoming clear that there may be a lot more happening. I think that
this False God label might have to do with the fact that Superman has embrace his worshippers and is trying to take
control of the world as a god. It fits with the tone of this trailer, and is a great theme to explore in a
superhero movie.

I’m kind of hoping the movie actually opens with Superman already being in power. Then Bruce Wayne can come out of
retirement as Batman to try to bring him down and restore the world to human control. Bring in the heavy themes and
shit right from the start. Yes. And speaking of Bruce Wayne:

Whoo! Oh boy. I gotta say, Ben Affleck gets way more shit than he deserves. The guy is a phenomenal actor, an
insanely talented director, and is just going to be fantastic in this film. I was initially a little disappointed
when I heard about him being cast; but it wasn’t because I don’t like him, it was because I was really rooting for
Josh Brolin. I’d heard that they were looking for an older Batman for the movie and I thought Brolin would be a
great choice. It didn’t take me long to get over that though, and once I thought about it, I absolutely supported
the choice of Ben Affleck. He looks great a Bruce Wayne AND Batman, he’s older but still in great shape, and he can
play dark, brooding characters as well as clueless, charming playboys. He’s really gonna nail it guys.

Holy fuck I love this suit. I really, really love this Batsuit. This is the closest a live action film has ever
come to portraying a comic accurate Batsuit. Grey fabric with dark grey/blue, leather-like cowl and cape. A nice
big bat symbol on the chest. A bronze/dull gold belt.

One thing I’m super keen on with this batsuit, just to go on a slight tangent; The cowl looks like the classic
comic book cowl in that it’s a solid piece and even looks to be joined to the cape directly. This is awesome.
Previous live action versions of the cowl when done like this made it impossible for the actor to turn their head.
This one, however, has been made by some truly genius costume makers, and will allow Ben Affleck to move relatively
normally. In an interview, costume designer Michael Wilkinson said: “It’s a very important thing to Zack (Snyder)
that the Batsuit would be comfortable and very flexible, but then would be able to perform in a very natural and
forceful way. So a lot of incredible engineering went into the development of the new cowl.”

That is the greatest news we could have hoped for. These guys didn’t redesign the batsuit to look more modern just
to be able to get away with him turning his head like Nolan did in The Dark Knight, they stuck with the original
comic book design, and fucking engineered the shit out of it so that he would be able to move like Batman and still
look like Batman. YES!

I like this picture a lot. There is so much potential packed into it. This looks like it is the site of Zod’s death
from Man of Steel, with Batman taking a look around, seeing the destructive power of Superman firsthand. I also
really love the question mark graffiti. Even if the Riddler doesn’t show up (which I think it’s likely he won’t;
the movie’s already got a full enough cast and enough of a story to deal with) it’s a cool nod to a wider universe.
This also shows that Batman is definitely going to be upset by Superman’s unchecked power. Either that, or Batman
is investigating Zod’s death and potentially trying to find a weakness of Kryptonians to exploit in his inevitable
battle with Superman. I would assume that after that battle with Zod, there would have been quite a struggle for
Zod’s remains for that very purpose. The American Government, Lex Luthor, and Batman at the very least would have
all been gunning for the Kryptonian’s corpse for the research possibilities it would provide. An early rumour had
it that Luthor found Zod’s body and used it to create a weapon to take down Superman. That weapon varies depending
on whose theory you subscribe to, but the most common suggestions were either a mech suit or a genetically
engineered super soldier with Kryptonian DNA. Either way, that sounds pretty badass, but I for one am hoping Batman
at least got some kind of material for his own research, as he would definitely need something to give him an
advantage when it comes to fighting Superman head on.

Either way, I’m pretty damn keen to see this scene in context and find out more about it.

Oh yeah, it’s Batman vehicle time!

Batwing attack!

Batmobile!

YEAH!

I love the Batmobile design in this film, it’s a great looking vehicle. For anyone who hasn’t already seen it,
here’s a slightly clearer view of it:

Look at that thing. Hell yeah. That’s also a great look at the batsuit itself. Very awesome.

Anyway, I don’t really have much to say about the vehicles other than they look amazing and I can’t wait to see
them in action!

Here’s another great look at the batsuit. I don’t know about you, but to me this looks like he’s in contact with
Superman, as he’s looking up and stepping out of the shadows. But it’s interesting if that is the case because he’s
not wearing the armoured suit that would presumably let him fight Superman. Which means this might be more of a
first encounter scenario, or just a by chance meeting of the two heroes. Either way, it will be very interesting
and awesome to see a confrontation between the two with Batman in his normal Batsuit instead of his crazy armour.
I’m really hoping there’ll be a scene reminiscent of the first conversation between Batman and Superman in the
animated DC film Justice League: War.

The animated movie is sort of an alternate take on the forming of the Justice League in the New 52 universe. In the
scene I’m talking about, Superman and Batman know of one another by reputation only, and Batman especially is still
a mystery to most of the world. They meet, and a short fight ensues. Batman holds his own surprisingly well, but it
is clear that Superman will win if the fight continues much longer. But Batman is awesomeness personified, and
shocks Superman into ending the battle by revealing to Superman that he is fully aware of his secret identity.

So I’m hoping for something like that, because it would just be awesome to show the audience that Superman’s
ridiculously weak “disguise” really doesn’t fool Batman for a second. It would also be a great way for the film to
showcase an aspect of Batman’s personality very rarely portrayed in live action: his skills as a detective.

Now this is interesting. Those of you who looked closely enough can see that Batman is holding a rifle in this
scene, clearly breaking his “no guns” policy. Now, obviously any fan of the comics would know that there is one
scene where Batman does in fact use a rifle in the comics, and it is of course in the Dark Knight Returns graphic
novel:

Now, in this scene Batman is actually using the rifle as a long-range grappling hook launcher, as he was
intercepting a joint attack on two separate but close buildings and needed to be able to get from one building to
the next very quickly to stop both attacks. The fact that this film is obviously very heavily influenced by The
Dark Knight Returns, coupled with the fact that Batman is standing on a rooftop in this picture, means that we’re
going to be getting a very similar scene, though I would have to assume the circumstances surrounding the scene
would be quite different. Should play out as quite a fun scene to watch though.

And here, we have another amazing reveal and another great reference to The Dark Knight Returns:

Holy crap. That thing is beautiful. It’s so close to the comic book armour!

Here’s a close up for comparison:

AWESOME.

I just cannot wait to see this scene. It’s scenes like this that make comic book movies the coolest ever.

Then we get this awesome little face off bit:

Along with the stunningly badass line from Batman:

“Tell me, do you bleed? … You will.”

Umm… Yes please. I want to go to there.

That is seriously going to just be the greatest moment in DC movie history. I don’t even care who wins the battle at this point, I am just so damn excited for this movie!

(P.S. I actually do care #TeamBatman)