Trailer Trashin’: Heroes Square Off in the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Teaser Trailer
It’s here, dear readers, I’m on vacation! I’ll be out of town for the next couple weeks, and in order to not deprive you of Trailer Trashin’, I’ve written four columns that will make their way to you over the next week or so, covering four of the biggest trailers 
that dropped in the later part of April. Third of these is the teaser trailer for next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Premise: Two years after the end of Man of Steel (2013), Superman (Henry Cavill) has taken a place among society as an icon and hero and has made the world safer to live in, but many distrust his altruism due to remembering the destruction from his battle in Metropolis, the foremost being corporate mogul and prominent Metropolis citizen Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). Into the debate enters the billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who uses his alter ego of the mysterious Batman to test and challenge Superman to see if he can be trusted.
My take: We start on a black screen, with a voice – believed by some to be that of newscaster Charlie Rose – saying “Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?” The scene cuts to the city of Metropolis, now rebuilt after it was devastated during the final battle of Man of Steel. In the middle of a city square, an enormous statue of Superman has been erected, although it is covered in shadow. As we move closer to the statue, we hear a man’s voice say “We as a population on this planet have been looking for a savior.”
Cut to a shot of Superman surrounded by a group of people. They reach their hands out, trying to touch him. The word “savior” from the previous bit of voiceover echoes as this shot begins, really laying the whole Superman-as-Jesus metaphor from the previous film on thick. The scene appears to take place in Mexico, given that all the people in the crowd appear to be Latino and several of them are wearing the traditional black-and-white face paint of the Day of the Dead celebration. But you also have to think the resemblance to the imagery of the Joker is more than mere coincidence.
As we cut back to the Superman statue, still moving closer to it, we hear the voice of scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson saying “We’re talking about a being…” a different voice cuts in, saying “alien…whose very existence challenges our own sense of priority in the universe.” We also hear a woman say, “They are not telling us the truth,” and a man angrily snarling “This is our planet!”
We next see Superman standing amidst an industrial site, surrounded by smoke and fire. He holds a damaged Russian space capsule above his head. It is nice to see this version of Superman actually doing heroic stuff, and doing it in and for places other than the USA. Over this, a man’s voice says, “Human beings have a horrible track record of following people with great power,” 
which continues as we cut back to the Superman statue. We then hear Holly Hunter, who is rumored to be playing a US Senator, say, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Cut to one of the most intriguing shots of this teaser. We see Superman standing in what looks like an underground bunker or something, with metal or stone walls, a ladder leading up, and sand on the floor. In front of Superman are four soldiers in black combat gear, including masks and helmets, and carrying submachine guns. But they also all have red patches on their shoulders of Superman’s “S” shield. The four of them all kneel down and bow their heads to Superman. Who are these guys? Are they working for Superman? Or were they inspired by him and trying to follow his example, like the Batman imitators wearing hockey pads from The Dark Knight (2008)? Over this, we hear a man say, “Maybe he’s just a guy trying to do the right thing.”
As that line finishes, we cut back to the Superman statue, now very close and getting closer. A series of spotlights around the statue begin to turn on. “Well, we know better now, don’t we?” asks another voice, apparently in response to the previous statement. A man shouts, “He’s out of control!” A voice which some believe is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor says, “Devils don’t come from hell beneath us. No, they come from the sky.” Between the two sentences of that line, we hear a man, sounding fearful and panicked, saying, “They brought their warrior.”
The scene cuts to a shot of Superman floating in the sky, backlit by the sun. A man wearing what looks almost like a monk’s robes reaches a hand up to the superhero. A woman, possibly Holly Hunter again, says, “The world has been so caught up with what he can do, that no one has asked what he should do.”
As that line finishes, we cut back to the Superman statue. The camera is now very close to the statue and swings around to face the figure’s torso. As the final set of spotlights turn on, we hear angry voices chanting: “Go home! Go home! Go home!” The final spotlights come on, and we see that the words “FALSE GOD” are written in red paint over the emblem on the statue’s chest. After a moment, we hear the unmistakable voice of Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of Bruce Wayne. “That’s how it starts,” he says as the scene fades to black.
We fade to a shot of Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne with a grim expression on his face, standing in a place full of metal and glass – is this maybe the new Batcave? Alfred’s voiceover continues “The fever. The rage. The feeling of powerlessness….” We then see what Bruce was looking at: his Batsuit, hanging in its compartment. The suit is actually quite different from what we’ve seen in most of the previous live-action films, looking more like an armored fabric than actual armor plating, while the cowl has angry-looking brows and shorter bat ears reminiscent of the suit from Frank Miller’s classic Batman story The Dark Knight Returns; the film appears to be drawing a number of elements from that story. Alfred’s line continues “that turns good men cruel.”
We next see someone, possibly Superman, standing in the middle of an abandoned, rundown building. There are bits of rubble on the floor and graffiti covers the walls and pillars. Some have suggested this is the place in Metropolis where the final battle between Superman and General Zod in Man of Steel ended with Superman snapping Zod’s neck. We next see an exotic-looking black aircraft – is this the new Batwing or Batplane? – flying over a riverside shipping area. Down on the ground, the aircraft swoops down and opens up with automatic guns on some trucks parked in front of a warehouse, blowing up the trucks and probably killing the guys in and on the trucks who are firing guns at the aircraft. The shot of the explosion immediately cuts to what might be a different explosion, which silhouettes what is clearly the Batmobile, although it’s not clear if the car is driving towards or away from the explosion.
We then see Batman in full costume standing amidst a partially destroyed building, with a fire burning behind him. A shot of Batman from behind, standing atop a building and holding what looks like a sniper rifle. Although one of the defining characteristics of Batman is his hatred of guns, it should be noted that he did use a modified sniper rifle as a way to fire a grapple a long distance in The Dark Knight Returns.
A lightning strike illuminates Batman, wearing what looks like the armor he used to fight Superman in the climax of The Dark Knight Returns, standing on a city street at night in a pouring rainstorm. While the armor does look fairly cool, there is no way to look at the helmet and not be at least somewhat reminded of Lego Batman from The LEGO Movie (2014). We cut to a shot at Batman’s level, as he looks up at Superman floating in the sky above him. A voice says, “Tell me, do you bleed?” as we cut to a shot at Superman’s level, as he looks down at the small figure of Batman below him. Superman zooms down from the sky and lands on the street in front of Batman, the impact of his landing sending rainwater flying. As the scene cuts to black, the same voice says, “You will.” But it’s not clear who’s saying these last lines. The easy assumption is that it’s Batman, but if that’s the case, why does the voice sound so mechanical and processed, when the armor clearly leaves Batman’s mouth uncovered? Is Batman using a voice-changer to better disguise himself? Or is it actually someone else speaking, someone we haven’t seen yet?
At this point, I’m approaching this film with cautious optimism. I enjoyed Man of Steel the one time I saw it in theaters, but it did have its share of problems. The first time that Batman and Superman have appeared together in a live-action film is a big event, and I really want it to turn out well. I’m almost certainly going to see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice when it opens next March, and I’m crossing my fingers that it’ll be good.
ANTICIPATION: I’m not expecting “World’s Finest,” but hopefully we’ll at least get “World’s Pretty Good.”
Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot, Tao Okamoto, Ray Fisher, and Jason Momoa
Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, based on characters published by DC Comics
Timothy Monforton
