Jeremy Irons

WB and Zack Snyder recently released the Batman Vs. Superman trailer.

Below you can check out some thoughts and speculations on the various scenes.

Overall, I felt the trailer did it’s job by giving us a first look at the Ben Affleck Batman and setting up why Batman fights Superman.

The trailer has been getting mixed reviews online by fans. Personally, I felt it was a bit dark, and I am desperately hoping by the end of the movie that Superman gets looked at as an inspiration and a hero. 

Our movie reviewer, Lawerence Napoli, felt the trailer was trying to be dark and “edgy” similar to Man of Steel, but that it “lacked those certain moments of inspiration and light.” Lawrence didn’t like how “Batfleck, Batman and ‘darkness all over’ highjacked the franchise, and just like that, the whole planet hates Superman.” Lawrence also thinks the trailer means Snyder might be “pulling a Watchmen” again.

Our comic book reviewer, Chris “The Doc” Bushley, felt it was “way too f’n dark!” Chris said Superman needs to offset Batman’s darkness, and that “it looks like they just made an Injustice movie!”

Now on to the breakdown…

 

The trailer opens up with darkness and asks: “Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy…” 

Obviously this is a reference to Man of Steel as well as setting up the rest of the trailer (and guessing the movie). On one hand, Superman saved everyone, but on the other, is he to blame? After all, if there was no Superman, there would have been no Zod. In addition, obviously the most powerful man would be the most controversial as everyone will have an opinion as to what he should be and do. Should he be a dictator and tyrant that tells people what they should do? Or should he lead by example? Should he lead at all?

 

The first scene of the movie is of Metropolis and the Superman statue, possibly at the Zod battle scene (similar to World Trade Center site). If you recall, a set image landed online revealing part of the statue – meaning it’s real – and now we know that Snyder used practical effects for the movie.

What this tells us is that following Man of Steel, the city (or whomever) thanked Superman for saving the city and the world, so they erected a Superman statue.

The scene also has the following dialogue: “We as a population on this planet have been looking for a savior” (with “savior” giving an echo sound effect). Again, the question rises: Should Superman be our savior? And in exactly what way? Is he here to take care of every one of us? You could argue this has similar political arguments with those who feel the government(s) should be the savior of the people. The narration concludes leading to this image of Henry Cavill as Superman:

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is Superman at a parade for the Mexican Day of the Dead. I think that is what the black and white make-up represents (and not The Purge 2, lol). So we can guess Superman does something super in Mexico, with the people rushing to him. The imagery (at least to me) is also similar from Man of Steel when Superman had the Zod vision of himself in the black suit and all the skulls – obviously signifying death (and from the narrated lead-in above, possibly meaning “Superman our savior will lead to death”).

Next we hear various quotes, with the first being from American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson: “We are talking about a being whose various existence challenges our own sense of priority in the universe.”

When Tyson states “being,” there is another voice over. I can’t quite make it out, but at least to me it sounds like “Damien.” I’m not sure what that means other than an Omen reference, or “demon,” or Batman’s son, Damien (again, no clue).  Update: It’s “Alien.”

Following Tyson stating “existence” a woman’s voice states: “They are not telling us the truth.”

Following Tyson stating “priority,” it sounds as if voices are stating: “This is our place planet.”

Tyson stating “universe” leads into the following:

 

We see that the image (Superman saving a Soviet rocket) challenges humanity’s place in the universe as it’s shows an alien doing something humans can’t do. This is sort of waking humanity up to the fact they aren’t the center of the universe. This could be representative of humanity once mistakenly believing the Earth was the center of the universe. It’s the sun that is the center of our Solar System – or Superman, the Last Son, is the center of the universe.

Update: The rocket also has “300” referencing the movie.

A man’s voice then states: “Human beings have a horrible track record of following people with great power.”

A female voice says “tragedy” directy after “record of.”

A second female voice states “power corrupts” as soon as the man stated “power.”

This can obviously be read as: following people with great power causes tragedy.

The female voice then states “And absolute power corrupts absolutely” (update: possibly voiced by Holly Hunter) with a second female voice interjecting “terror” and “chaos.”

Which leads to:

 

Now there is a lot going on in this image. For one, it shows soldiers bowing before Superman. Notice the Superman shield patches on their arms? They are a part of “Superman’s army.” As I stated in a previous article, I am guessing they are an independent faction who worship Superman or view him as their savior (which references the above: “We as a population on this planet have been looking for a savior.”) They also appear to be wearing black masks to conceal their identity and black clothes. I’m guessing Superman is here to whoop their ass for doing some bad stuff in his name. They see the Man of Steel come down in their bunker and immediately bow before Superman (referencing Zod’s own demand “bow before Zod“). I’m also guessing this is Snyder taking a dig toward the Christian conservative right groups, i.e. they are “militant” and “domestic terrorists.” The image also has a heavy Nazi feeling with the helmets. Perhaps the bigger question: Who is the leader of Superman’s Army? Another interesting aspect of the image is that it’s similar to the Injustice Gods Among Us video game.

Check it out:

[[wysiwyg_imageupload:20118:]]

 

The scene ends and goes dark with: “Maybe he is just a guy trying to do the right thing.”

Next, a closer look at the Superman statue is shown with the following said, which looks to be said by Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor: “We know better now, don’t we?” Again, this is a reference to the above image being representative of Superman as a dictator (leader of the Nazis, Hitler, or whatever dictator) as “we know better now” because we already lived it (those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.)

The same voices that stated above, “This is our planet,” now can be heard stating, “He’s out of control.” This is the anti-Superman crowd (set pics revealed people picketing against Superman) declaring, “This is our planet. [Superman] is out of control [something must be done].”

Lex Luthor continues with, “Devils don’t come from hell beneath us. They come from the sky.”

Between Luthor’s two statements, what sounds like an elderly man saying, “A brother warrior,” can be heard. More than likely, this is some sort of “priest” that is part of Superman’s army. Superman is their “brother warrior” in their fight against – whatever they feel Superman and themselves are fighting against.

Following Luthor stating “[Devils] come from the sky” the following image appears:

 

Superman is the devil from the sky. He is the false savior, the false god (at least Luthor is trying to convince people that). 

Another voice says: “The world has been so caught up in what he can do” – and then a closer look at the Superman statue is shown – with it questioned, “That no one has asked what he should do.”

This is more repetition of the savior theme: Should Superman be our savior and tell us what to do? Or for that matter: Should we be telling Superman what to do (referencing the end Man of Steel scene with General Swanwick where Superman tells him they will never control him).

The anti-Superman voices then chant,”Go home! Go home. Go home!” –  which means Superman (you alien) go home back to Krypton; with the following then shown:

 

And this is the end of the first half of the trailer, which introduced us to Superman being looked at as the bad guy (though we did apparently get two images of Superman “saving the day” in Russia and Mexico). 

Now it’s the Batman half of the trailer, which is kicked off by Jeremy Irons voice speaking as Alfred.

“That’s how it starts,” Alfred says, right before the above image goes black. 

 

We get our first look at Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne. Now this is it, our first impressions are made from this image and what comes next. 

Alfred continues, “The fever. The rage.”

The camera zooms in on Bruce – “The feeling of powerlessness,” Alfred says.

Bruce is looking at the Batman costume:

 

Bruce Wayne felt powerless when he couldn’t stop his parents’ death. Batman gives him power (interesting: now that there is a super man, does that make Wayne again feel powerless?).

“That turns good men cruel,” Alfred concludes.

Alfred full words: “That’s how it starts. The fever. The rage. The feeling of powerlessness. That turns good men cruel.”

Now is this just a reference to Bruce Wayne? It probably can be looked at as a reference to how humanity is feeling as well, and especially Lex Luthor. 

The trailer then cuts away to the Superman shield “in 2016” image:

 

[[wysiwyg_imageupload:20120:]]

 

We then go into the following:

I believe this might be Wayne Manor. Set pics revealed that Bruce Wayne has been staying at a cabin or house by a lake. If it’s Wayne Manor, obviously it’s been vacated for a while as we see graffiti all over the place. Easter Eggs include the Riddler question mark, and maybe “Joe” is a reference to the Joker (Joe being an alias of the Joker in the comics).

Update: There is a Wonder Woman Easter Egg as well with “Aphrodite” (under the Riddler question mark) as Aphrodite was the creator of the Amazons and Wonder Woman. It’s also possible the above scene takes place at an abandoned subway station.

 

Next the following is shown: