Trailer Trashin’: The Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Comic-Con Trailer Shot By Shot
Hello again, dear readers, and I hope a lot of you have gotten out to see Ant-Man at this point. To help make up for my recent absence, this week’s return of Trailer Trashin’ brings you my looks at both of 
the big DC Comics movie trailers to come out of San Diego Comic-Con earlier this month. Now, I use my X-ray vision on the new trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Premise: Gotham City’s own vigilante, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck), travels to Metropolis to take on Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill), fearing what would happen if the latter is kept unchecked. As Batman and Superman confront one another, a new threat arrives to put mankind in greater danger than it has previously known.
My take: Before we start, I’ve decided to again change the format I use for these columns. In order to not bore you with walls of text, dear readers, I’m going to use time stamps for each shot I discuss, so you can easily go to the exact point I’m talking about.
0:07-0:16: As Senator Finch (Holly Hunter) speaks, we see Superman land outside the United States Capitol building. Gathered outside is a massive group of protestors, holding up signs with various anti-alien messages. Superman is, we assume, here to be held accountable for his actions during the climax of Man of Steel.
0:16-0:24: Superman walks into the Senate chamber, similar to a moment early in the premiere episode of the 2001-2004 Justice League animated series. But this also raises a serious question if you think about it. There are obviously going to be cameras filming this whole hearing, which will be able to get a very close, detailed look at Superman’s face. How are we supposed to still buy that none of Clark Kent’s coworkers at the Daily Planet will put two and two together?
0:25-0:30: Bruce Wayne running through the streets of Gotham City, in a flashback to the climax of Man of Steel. According to the film’s Comic-Con panel, Gotham and Metropolis are located very close together, across a bay from each other. Clearly, the battle between Superman and General Zod spilled over into Gotham. The red-orange energy beams cutting through the building are clearly Superman’s and Zod’s heat vision.
0:33-0:39: Very nice moment as, while everyone else is running away from the advancing cloud of dust created by the destruction, Bruce Wayne actually runs into it. Even if he’s retired from being Batman, he can’t get rid of that need to help people. Also a fun little detail that his outfit is the traditional Batman colors of blue and gray.
0:40-0:48: Bruce holds a scared little girl amidst the wreckage of the Wayne Financial building. He looks pissed. I kind of like this element of Bruce having a more personal reason to initially distrust Superman, because Supes unintentionally cost him not only a building, but presumably the lives of people who worked for Bruce.
0:54-0:59: Bruce looks at a newspaper clipping, which was apparently mailed to him, given that he’s also holding an envelope. The clipping is from the Daily Planet and shows the destruction in Gotham, with the headline “Wayne Tower Devastated.” Written over the article in red ink letters are the words “You Let Your Family Die.” This seems like something the Joker would do, doesn’t it?
1:00-1:01: Why is Bruce Wayne, a billionaire who can obviously afford any piece of gym equipment imaginable, training by dragging a big tire with a rope like some stereotypical gym-bro meathead?
1:07-1:08: Good look at Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons), Bruce Wayne’s butler, mentor, and friend. I really like this take on Alfred so far, with him looking a bit rougher around the edges, and I can’t wait to see more of him.
1:10-1:14: Having come out of retirement, Batman is not only beating up criminals and leaving them to be found by the police, but actually marking or branding them with the bat-symbol. This kind of brutality is similar to what Batman was like in the classic 1986 miniseries The Dark Knight Returns, which also was about an older Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement to put the cowl back on and start fighting crime again.
1:15-1:20: In the Daily Planet office, editor-in-chief Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) tells off Clark. Always nice to see Fishburne, but the line “Nobody cares about Clark Kent taking on the Batman” feels a little too applicable to all the jokes that people have made about Superman being almost turned into a supporting player in his own sequel.
1:24-1:29: This shot finally gives some context to a shot from the previous teaser trailer, of Superman backlit by the sun while a woman in the foreground reaches up to him. It’s a scene of a flooded town, with several families up on the roofs of their homes; the house in the foreground has a giant Superman “S” symbol pained on the roof, probably as a way to signal for help.
1:30-1:47: At the Kent farm in Kansas, Superman with Martha Kent (Diane Lane), his adoptive mother. She talks about how people think different things about him and what he does, intercut with shots of Superman around the world. She says “Be anything they need you to be, or be none of it. You don’t owe this world a thing, you never did.” That last part has really stuck in some people’s craw, because it feels contrary to the idea of Superman being the paragon for us to look up to. But it is possible there might be some additional context we don’t have yet.
1:49-1:56: Our first looks at Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). So far, I’m not sure how I feel about it. When Eisenberg’s casting was first announced, my general feeling was “huh, that’s interesting.” But based on what we see in this trailer, I have much more mixed feelings. He just looks kind of goofy, like he’s trying to ape what Gene Hackman did as Luthor in the old Christopher Reeve films, but not really nailing it. And yes, we do know he’s going to be bald, but the wig he’s wearing here just looks stupid. I’d make a joke asking why one of the world’s richest men would buy a hairpiece that bad, but then I remember that Donald Trump exists.
1:57-1:59: Lex Luthor’s assistant Mercy Graves (Tao Okamoto) leads two soldiers, who are pushing a large metal box shaped rather like a coffin. This is immediately followed by a body-bag being opened, and inside is the corpse of General Zod. If Lex has Zod’s body, then I have to imagine he’ll be messing around with it. Don’t be surprised if the corpse ends up being used as the basis for a version of a more monstrous Superman foe like Bizarro or Doomsday.
2:00-2:02: Inside the Batcave, Bruce looks at a suit inside a glass case, with the words “Ha Ha Ha, Joke’s On You Batman” written in paint on the chest. Given that the suit has a small mask instead of a cowl, and is holding a staff weapon in his hands, this must be a Robin costume. This tracks with rumors that Robin did exist, but has been dead for some time, having been killed by the Joker. We also hear Bruce say “Twenty years in Gotham, how many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?” This establishes a timeline of how long Bruce has been fighting his war against crime.
2:03: Our first look at Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), in her civilian identity as Diana Prince. She looks like she’s at some kind of fancy shindig.
2:09-2:24: Batman, in full battle armor, pulls the canvas off the Bat-signal and turns it on. He glowers up at the rainy night sky, while I am again reminded of Lego Batman’s “Darkness! No Parents!” from The Lego Movie (2014).
2:28-2:31: Flashback to the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Thomas Wayne. Why? What is the point of this? Is there seriously anyone left who doesn’t know Batman’s origin story? In a movie with this many characters and so much going on, why spend precious time rehashing something that the vast majority of the audience will already know?
2:35: Diana Prince gets into a car, wearing a very fetching dark red backless dress. The valet or whoever he is behind her is clearly checking her out, which just cracks me up for some reason.
2:36-2:38: WONDER WOMAN!!! We finally get to see Diana in full costume, in action, and she looks awesome. We still don’t know how exactly she fits into this story, but I can’t wait to see more of her.
2:38-2:41: Batman, wearing what looks like a trench coat and goggles over his costume, in some kind of war-torn, almost desert-like environment. The paramilitary guys with the Superman crests on their shoulders are blazing away with their guns. A group of them are struggling to subdue Batman, who unsurprisingly won’t go down without a fight.
2:44-2:45: “He is not our enemy!” Alfred says to Bruce, presumably referring to Superman. Glad to see at least one person isn’t on the “let’s persecute the guy who saved the whole freaking planet” bandwagon.
2:48: Lex Luthor looking through a glass case at a glowing green rock, which is obviously Kryptonite.
2:49-3:01: Various battle shots of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Armored Batman jumps boots-first onto Superman, sending them both crashing down through the roof of the building they’re on. Wonder Woman, sword and shield in hand, slams against a stone wall with fire behind her. Batman using his grappling gun to swing away just in time to avoid what looks like Superman’s heat vision. Over all this, Luthor says “Black and blue. God versus man. Day versus night.” Eisenberg’s trying his hardest, but I’m just not buying it.
3:03-3:09: In his office, holding a glass of surely expensive liquor, Luthor says “The red capes are coming! The red capes are coming!” Seriously, these deliberately goofy lines aren’t helping sell Eisenberg as Luthor.
3:10-3:19: Superman strides toward the wrecked Batmobile, in the ruins of what looks like a destroyed garage or service station. He rips the armored canopy off the car in two pieces and tosses them aside. Batman stands up, and the two heroes stare each other down.
At this point, I’m still cautiously optimistic about this film, but I’m leaning a bit more toward the “cautious” right now. The visuals are amazing, and I’m so glad that Wonder Woman looks like she’ll be good, but I’m kind of disheartened by how Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor just doesn’t seem menacing. I’m definitely going to see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice when it comes out next March, but for the moment, I’m keeping my expectations in check.
ANTICIPATION: Please be good, please be good, please be good.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot, Tao Okamoto, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Christina Wren, and Harry Lennix
Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, based on characters published by DC Comics
Timothy Monforton
