With Batman Vs. Superman now out, listen to an Empire Online podcast below featuring director Zack Snyder and producers Deborah Snyder and Charles Roven.
Some highlights:
Zack Snyder starts off with talk of why he killed off Jimmy Olsen, noting in the upcoming director’s cut, the character will identify himself as Jimmy Olsen. Snyder says he killed off Jimmy Olsen to help the viewer realize this is a world they haven’t seen before etc.
Mention is made of doing a possible Man of Steel sequel, with Deborah Snyder and Charles Roven explaining why they went with Batman and Wonder Woman.
Deborah Snyder also says Lex Luthor knew all along the identities of Superman and Batman.
Zack Snyder says Superman didn’t know Batman was Bruce Wayne until the end.
The reason Zack Snyder showed Batman’s origin was to tie in the “Martha” moment later on between Superman and Batman.
Deborah Snyder hits at the existence of further metahuman by teasing maybe there are files on metahumans we don’t even know about, yet.
Charles Roven says Lex Luthor is the ultimate puppet master, because he set everything up (such as the Superman Lois desert scene).
Roven says Luthor did end up losing it with creation of Doomsday.
Regarding controlling Doomsday, Deborah Snyder hints that Lex Luthor may known more than we see as Lex has communicated with the ship or who he has been communicating with, and Lex has the knowledge of 100,000 planets from the ship. Roven also says that since Doomsday is in part made from Lex’s blood, Lex thinks there may be a connection between himself and Doomsday, “rightly or wrongly.” It’s Lex’s “Frankenstein.”
Regarding the death of Superman, Roven says another reason why they killed him off was so there would be a reason to go out and form the Justice League. You wouldn’t need a Justice League if you had Superman.
Charles Roven also says the reason they went with Ben Affleck and an older Batman is to make it clear that this isn’t a continuation of the Christian Bale Batman.
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” has a March 25, 2016 release starring Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Ray Fisher as Cyborg with Callan Mulvey, Holly Hunter as Senator Finch and Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves.
Synopsis:
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. 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.
