Ben Affleck hints at Deathstroke clash in new Batman movie

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 'will not be what fans expect,' director says

23 October

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder says the film will not follow the plot most fans expect.

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Since the movie was announced nearly two years ago, many fans assumed that the plot would be based on Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, one of the most lauded comic books of the past 30 years.

Set in the era of Ronald Reagan, the comic features an aging Batman who comes out of retirement to battle Superman, who in his view has become too closely linked with American imperialism. Of course, a mere mortal like Bruce Wayne is no match for the mighty alien Kal-El who is invulnerable to everything, except tiny (and curiously commonplace) glowing fragments of ore from his home planet, Krypton. So he jacks himself into the mains of Gotham City for the mother of all punch-ups.

The trailer to the hotly-anticipated forthcoming film, which is set for UK release in March of next year, features many of these same elements, leading most fans to conclude that the film will be a carbon copy of the famous comic. But in an interview with Comic Book resource this week, Snyder denied that there was any direct connection, claiming the movie was sufficiently different from the comic that The Dark Knight could still be used as the basis for another picture.

"You could still make Dark Knight Returns into a movie, if you want," Snyder said. "That's what I'm saying, as far as how much we used and how much we didn't use. The visual elements, there are some that I homage, but I don't think the movie [is an adaptation]."

According to CinemaBlend, there are differences in the story of the Dawn of Justice, including a major subplot featuring Lex Luthor who has been reimagined as a "Zuckerbergian entrepreneur" with a dastardly plan involving the body of the deceased General Zod.

The film is also a precursor to Justice League and so will include the first appearances of Jason Momoa's Aquaman, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and possibly Ray Fisher as Cyborg and Ezra Miller as The Flash.

"With all these moving parts, it's difficult to hone in on one comic book at the root of all this," CinemaBlend concludes.

Batman v Superman: why does General Zod have flipper hands?

20 August

Actor Michael Shannon, who is due to reprise his role as General Zod in the upcoming film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, has let slip a rather bizarre twist for the character.Shannon played General Zod, a warlord from Superman's home planet of Krypton, in the 2013 film Man of Steel. Although he died at the hands of Henry Cavill's Superman, eagle-eyed fans spotted the corpse of the villain in the Batman v Superman trailer released earlier this year.Shannon hinted at a strange new development for Zod during an interview with Vulture. "I was in my costume, and I couldn't use my fingers because in the sequel I have flippers instead of hands. "So I had these wax flippers on my fingers, and I couldn't open the door, and I could hear Zack [Snyder, the director] being like, 'Where's Shannon? Where the f*** is he?'"And the whole crew was standing around. I was like, knocking on the door with my flippers, 'Let me out of here!'"

The anecdote was seized upon by tweeters, baffled as to why Zod might have flippers for hands.

Others anticipated a Penguin connection.

But Christopher Hooton, writing for The Independent, says: "Zod is unlikely to become amphibious in the sequel, more likely is that Shannon was wearing some sort of motion capture mitts."Cinema Blend has previously suggested that Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor might transform the corpse of General Zod into the monster Doomsday, famed for his giant protruding bones, which would almost certainly need to be recreated by CGI.

In the comic-books Doomsday is one of Superman's toughest villains and actually ends up killing the superhero along with himself in one plotline

Batman v Superman: who is Eli Snyder and will he play Robin?

24 July

Eli Snyder is in line to appear in the new Batman v Superman film in a flashback scene as the boy-wonder Robin, according to rumours surfacing on the internet.

Superhero film website Heroic Hollywood broke the story, claiming that "Zack Snyder's son Eli is supposedly playing the dead Robin that was filmed with Jared Leto."

The website references a scene from the film's trailer, released at Comic-Con this year, where Ben Affleck's Batman appears to have put Robin's suit on display in the Batcave. The suit is clearly defaced with the words "HA HA HA, joke's on you Batman", a hallmark of the Batman villain, The Joker.

The Joker does kill Robin in the comic book series the film is based on. Following Ben Affleck's apparent appearance as the caped crusader in Suicide Squad, it's not such a leap to imagine the Suicide Squad's Jared Leto might appear as The Joker in Batman v Superman as well.

Eli Snyder is no stranger to acting, having appeared in his father's films as young Leonidis in 300 and young Rorschach in Cold War superhero film The Watchmen. Since then, Eli has been concentrating on his studies at Maranatha High School in California and has reportedly become the school's star American football player.

Clay Enos, photographer and friend of the Snyders, alluded to the rumours with a tweet of the father-and-son duo pictured together with the caption "Boy Wonder?"

However, there has been no cast-iron guarantee of Eli's involvement and Heroic Hollywood did add a caveat to their claim by referring to the "secretive nature surrounding the film", which means the supposed news remains a "hot rumour for now".

Batman v Superman trailer: will the Joker return? - video

13 July

The internet is abuzz with speculation about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice after a new trailer for the 2016 film was aired at Comic Con in San Diego this weekend.

Major events in the trailer include Wonder Woman's big screen debut, Jesse Eisenberg's introduction as Lex Luthor (who appears to possess a sizeable piece of kryptonite) and an unnamed antagonistic US senator.

Reaction to the trailer was "swift and overwhelmingly positive", said Mark Hughes at Forbes.

The trailer reveals the origin of Batman's hatred for Superman, with a fight between Superman and his enemy General Zod causing the collapse of Wayne tower and possibly the death of Bruce's family, says the Daily Mirror.

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Some viewers noted references to other classic DC Comics characters in the trailer. Entertainment Weekly forecasts the return of the Joker, pointing to what appeared to be Robin's suit vandalised with the words: "HAHAHA joke's on you BATMAN".

In the comic books, the Joker kills Robin, and Bruce Wayne keeps his apprentice's suit on display in the Batcave, which the trailer seems to depict.

Jared Leto is set to play the Joker in another upcoming Warner Bros comic film, Suicide Squad, so an appearance in Batman v Superman is certainly plausible. In the Comic Con trailer for Suicide Squad, Leto's character can be heard saying: "I'm not going to kill you, I'm just going to hurt you really, really bad."

Mark Hughes at Forbes believes that Robin's murder at the hands of the Joker will occur in Suicide Squad, or will be seen in a flashback in Batman v Superman.

Regardless, the Batman-Joker connection could boost both films' popularity, potentially giving Warner Bros the upper hand in the battle with superhero rival Marvel.

Batman v Superman: what the new official pictures reveal

13 July 2015

New official images from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice have been published this week, showing Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in character as the two superheros.Entertainment Weekly first revealed the images, which include Gal Gadot as her Wonder Woman alter-ego Diana Prince.

Here's what we can see from the pictures:

Wonder Woman looks wealthy

Vox says Wonder Woman's civilian alter-ego looks like a "society woman" in one of the new pictures. The image is not dissimilar to the scene in which Christian Bale's Bruce dances with Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises, although Selina turned out to be a thief in costume. But Vox says Prince looks "very, very rich — the kind of rich that would grab Bruce Wayne's attention".

Lex has hair

The Social Network actor Jesse Eisenberg plays Lex Luther in the film – but in one of the pictures he is seen with "flowing locks that would make Fabio jealous", says HitFix. This differs from previous images of Eisenberg as Luther with the more traditional skinhead. "Does this mean Lex going bald is a plot point? Probably," says Hitlix.

God-like Superman

An image of Superman being touched by dozens of fans has prompted several comparisons between Henry Cavill's superhero and Jesus – a parallel that has been made many times over the years. Cavill tells Entertainment Weekly: "I like to think that Man of Steel was the perspective of the world from Clark, Kal-El, looking at the world and trying to exist within it. Batman v Superman is definitely more mankind's perspective of Superman."

Directed by Zack Snyder, and also starring Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is due to be released in March 2016.

Batman v Superman trailer to launch on Monday

16 April

The trailer for the forthcoming superhero crossover movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will premiere at Imax screenings from Monday next week, the film's director Zack Snyder confirmed on Twitter.

The first full-length trailer will be shown at a series of "screening events" at selected Imax cinemas across the US next week, the director said.

Each screening will also feature a "special intro" from Snyder. Seats are available via the Imax website, but many sessions are already fully booked.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a highly anticipated sequel to the 2013 Superman reboot, Man of Steel.

The movie sees Henry Cavill return as Clark Kent/Superman and will star Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also features Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred and Holly Hunter in an as yet unspecified role.

Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane will also reprise their roles from Man of Steel.

The film is written by Chris Terrio, the Academy Award-winning writer of Argo.

Dawn of Justice has been shot with specialist cameras to be shown on Imax's large screens. According to Variety, Snyder is one of the few directors allowed to shoot using bespoke Imax cameras.

Imax has reportedly selected a handful of filmmakers to use the new technology. They include Snyder, Brad Bird for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Christopher Nolan for Interstellar and JJ Abrams for the forthcoming Star Wars film, The Force Awakens.

Batman v Superman: popular character 'dead' in new film

December 11

The hotly anticipated Batman v Superman film, scheduled for release next year, will see the death of a popular character from the Gotham universe, online rumours suggest.

Warning, this article may contain spoilers – read no further if you do not wish to have possible plot details revealed.

Cinema forums have been abuzz with speculation that Batman's trusty sidekick Robin will be dead at the beginning of the new movie, but new information from pop culture website Badass Digest suggests that rumours of the Boy Wonder's demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

According to the website, the original script called for the death of Robin, but after the film went into production, the character was substituted out for Commissioner James Gordon.

The site says: "While [early] drafts of the script mentioned a deceased Robin, later iterations closer to the start of shooting don't."

Some sites had previously speculated that the new film could feature a female Robin played by Jena Malone. Others have speculated that the film may also see the first appearance of Jared Leto as The Joker.

Cinemablend attempts to bring all the rumours together as follows: "With Commissioner Gordon's death assumed to be at the hands of The Joker, and with The Joker recently finding a new actor to play him in Academy Award Winner Jared Leto, is it possible that Leto's first appearance as the clown prince of crime could come in Batman v Superman?"

To find out, fans will have to wait until Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice opens on 25 March 2016.

Batman vs Superman: set photos hint at visit to dead parents

28 October

A leak from the set of the hotly anticipated new Batman film has given away a glimpse of the set being built at Lake Orion in Michigan – and hinted at a subplot in which Bruce Wayne visits his family crypt.

Eagle-eyed fans of the forthcoming film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, spotted a mausoleum under construction deep in Orion Oaks County Park on the edge of Detroit, as well as a collection of vintage cars and a hearse parked in a nearby field.

The death of Bruce Wayne's parents is a key moment in the superhero's mythology. After both parents are killed by a petty criminal in a street robbery, the young Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to fighting crime, ultimately adopting the role of Batman.Further set leaks have hinted at other key moments from the forthcoming film, including a scene where protesters take to the streets of Gotham City waving placards with anti-Superman messages written on them, ScienceFiction.com reports.

Pictures have also shown a heavily-armoured Batmobile to replace the version used by Christopher Nolan in his trilogy of Batman movies.

Yesterday, the official Imax Twitter account tweeted that the final film in the Hobbit trilogy would feature a Batman v Superman trailer, although the account later removed the tweet and wrote a short apology.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is scheduled for release in the US on 25 March, 2016.

Returning members of the casts from the 2013 Superman film, Man of Steel, include Henry Cavill playing Clark Kent/Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Diane Lane as Martha Kent.

New cast members include Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Jeremy Irons as the butler Alfred Pennyworth.