When Warner Bros. decided to turn 2013’s Man of Steel into the springboard for its own Marvel-style cinematic universe populated with DC characters, Zack Snyder wasted no time fleshing out that universe in the 2016 follow-up, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Love BvS or hate it, it’s definitely a lot of movie.
Marvel released four origin stories and a worldbuilding sequel before assembling the Avengers, but Snyder brought the Justice League together, teased the apocalypse, and killed off Superman all in the second movie. With all the story material in BvS, Warner Bros. could’ve made these 10 separate DC movies.
Although Snyder was clearly more interested in making a Batman movie than a Superman movie, Supes’ early scenes in BvS build on the plot points and characteristics established in Man of Steel. He’s still unsure about whether he wants to be a hero, which is exacerbated by humanity turning against him following Zod’s murder.
The themes and ideas set up in these scenes could’ve been fleshed out into a full Man of Steel sequel in which Superman is held accountable for the ramifications of his immense power. Unfortunately, in BvS, this storyline gets drowned out by Batman repeatedly punching Superman in the head.
Just like pretty much every previous time an actor was cast to play Batman, fans were up in arms when Ben Affleck was cast as Bruce Wayne in BvS. However, he ended up being arguably the best part of the movie. Affleck nailed the rage simmering under the surface of the Bruce facade and the brutality of the Bat’s fighting style.
Unfortunately, since the introduction of Batfleck was crammed into a larger narrative encompassing a fight with Superman and a precursor to the Justice League movie, we only got to see glimpses of Affleck’s performance. His take on the character deserved a full movie to establish his place in the DCEU.
With BvS, Snyder had the privilege of introducing audiences to Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, complete with the epic sounds of Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL’s “Is She With You?,” which has since become her theme tune in the DCEU.
But since Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman solo trilogy has so far revolved around gradually bringing Diana across the 20th century into the present day, it seems like introducing the character into the modern world should’ve been saved for Jenkins’ upcoming threequel.
BvS introduced fans to the DCEU’s Lex Luthor, played by a woefully miscast Jesse Eisenberg, who evokes Heath Ledger’s Joker more than Gene Hackman’s Lex.
At the beginning of the movie, Lex is already a tycoon with the wealth and resources to track down superheroes, but the rise of Lex Luthor is a rich, complex enough story for its own movie. In fact, Todd Phillips’ Joker has since proven how successful villain origin stories can be.
One of the many random non-sequiturs in BvS is The Flash randomly appearing to Bruce Wayne from the future and babbling semi-coherently: “Bruce! Listen to me now! It’s Lois! Lois Lane! She’s the key! Am I too soon? I’m too soon!”
It’s still unclear exactly what was going on in that scene, but it seemed to set up Amy Adams’ Lois Lane for a crucial role as “the key.” This is yet another Easter egg squandering a concept that could’ve been a whole movie.
In theory, the plot of Batman v Superman should’ve focused purely on Batman and Superman themselves and their growing rivalry. Bruce Wayne’s investigation into fellow “metahumans” to set up the Justice League movie just gets in the way of his hatred for Kal-El.
Assembling the Justice League should’ve been saved for its own movie, and the assembly of the team ended up being redone in Justice League anyway.
Bafflingly, in setting up a cinematic universe that was supposed to go on indefinitely like Marvel’s big-screen output, Snyder started out the DCEU with a grizzled older Batman nearing the end of his career. Just like starting the Star Wars sequel trilogy with the First Order in power, Snyder started Batman’s DCEU arc with no more story left to tell.
In the Batcave, there’s a Robin costume with “HA HA HA joke’s on you, Batman” painted on it, suggesting that this Batman once had a Robin and he was killed by the Joker, which seems like something we should’ve seen on-screen.
The “Knightmare” sequence is a non-sequitur cutaway in BvS that has nothing to do with the rest of the plot and plays like a teaser trailer for a movie that doesn’t exist. It opens with Batman in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, fighting Parademons.
Suddenly, an evil Superman in a black suit shows up. However, Batman fighting an evil Superman in a demon-infested post-apocalyptic hellscape straight out of Mad Max could’ve been a whole Batman v Superman movie of its own.
In telling the story of Batman and Superman coming to blows, Snyder was clearly heavily influenced by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Kevin Smith said about BvS, “It’s almost like Zack Snyder didn’t read a bunch of comics, he read one comic once, and it was Dark Knight Returns, and his favorite part was the last part where Batman and Superman fight.”
Instead of cramming a bunch of Dark Knight Returns motifs into the Iron Man 2 of the DCEU, Snyder should’ve waited a few years and directed a straightforward adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns.
Introducing a new Batman and setting him up to fight Superman should seem like enough plot for one movie to handle, but after Batman and Superman make amends, Snyder launches into an adaptation of The Death of Superman as Luthor sends Doomsday after them and the Man of Steel ends up getting killed.
The second movie in the franchise seemed way too early to kill off the flagship hero. The final scene with the dirt hints at resurrection, but still, if The Death of Superman was going to be adapted for the DCEU, it should’ve at least been a few movies in.
