14 DAY TRIAL // We already knew that “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” the first film in Warner Bros.’ Justice League franchise, would involve some kind of showdown between the caped superheroes, despite the studio’s early denials that the “V” didn’t stand for “versus.” Now, it’s official.
Warners has released the official synopsis for the film, which marks the first time ever Batman and Superman share the big screen. It’s light on spoilers, of course.
A new threat that may or may not be Lex Luthor
“Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs,” the synopsis says.
That part was also referenced beautifully in the first trailer, which showed a statue of Superman marked with “False God,” while angry voices in voiceover spoke about the destruction caused to the city by this alien creature in the previous film “Man of Steel.”
They also claimed that humanity needed one of their own to protect them, because otherwise they had no guarantee their hero would think of their best interests first and foremost. You can see the trailer in full below, if you missed it so far.
“And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before,” the synopsis continues.
This threat could be the movie’s villain Lex Luthor, or it could be someone even more dangerous than him, someone more powerful - so powerful that it can put the entire mankind in danger.
A new Batman, higher stakes
“Dawn of Justice” will make or break Warners’ Justice League franchise. “Man of Steel,” the rebooted Superman and the first step towards getting this universe off the ground, opened decently but failed to perform according to studio expectations.
More importantly, it upset many fans for the way it relied on Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, borrowing from it everything from the coloring to the tone and the music. Snyder directed “Man of Steel” but Nolan served as producer, and the movie turned out more his than Snyder’s.
Another aspect that upset fans deeply was the way the conflict between Superman and General Zod was solved, with the death of thousands, the near-destruction of the city and Zod’s death at the hands of Supes. Superman is a lot of things, but a killer he is not - and fans saw in this a line that had been crossed: Superman was officially “too dark.”
So “Dawn of Justice” has a lot riding on it, and it didn’t even get off to an amazing start. Fans disagreed with most casting choices, from having Ben Affleck as Batman to having Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.
The only casting choice that was received warmly by fans was that of “Game of Thrones” actor Jason Momoa as Aquaman, not because he was considered a right fit for the part (he wasn’t), but because he is that popular.
The second video available below is of the new Batmobile, as unveiled in Vegas at the Warner Brothers Consumer Products expo.
We’ll see it in action on March 25, 2016.
