We've known for a while that the destruction of Metropolis at the end of Man of Steel is going to play a pivotal part in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Superman won't be getting off lightly.
Speaking with DC All Access, Zack Snyder explained that despite his best efforts Superman will still be heavily scrutinised in Batman v Superman; "Over the last two years he’s basically been Superman as pop culture would know him. He’s been righting wrongs, there have been floods, mines have collapsed, bridges have collapsed, churches have caught on fire. He’s basically been a hero."
"When we find him, he’s been dealing with the everyday world of being a superhero, but there’s a paradigm shift happening in that the unintended consequences of some of those rescues are starting to come into fruition. He’s starting to see that every action has a reaction", Snyder continued. "Like, if you’re just taking a cat out of a tree, you can’t touch anything or the arborists will say, ‘He damaged the tree branch when he got the cat down.’ Or, ‘The cat wasn’t neutered, so now there’s thousands of cats.’ There’s no winning anymore for Superman."
This is definitely an interesting problem for Superman and the storyline fits into Snyder's game plan of showing how the world reacts to a superpowered alien. For Ben Affleck's Batman, it's with a healthy amount of scepticism.
"It’s interesting to see how Batman perceives Superman, because he doesn’t know who Superman is", Snyder explained. "All he knows is the public face of Superman. And if you have an idea about someone or if you start to doubt someone’s intentions, you can always read in the media, you can always see the face that you want to see, based on how it’s reported."
"Batman’s seen the destruction of Metropolis. That’s the thing he knows for a fact. So if thousands die, is that okay? What next? Millions? Is everyone okay with that? Because I’m not. That’s Batman’s point of view."
Of course, we know that Batman's initial perception of Superman won't last, and it will be interesting to see who or what changes his thoughts on the Man of Steel. We wouldn't be surprised if Wonder Woman was involved...
Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Fishburne, and Amy Adams, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will arrive in UK and US cinemas on March 25, 2016.
Images: Warner Bros
