Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder and Warner Brothers Creative and Worldwide Production President Greg Silverman talked about what to expect from future DC movies.
But first, Snyder gives a small, potentially spoilery preview of how the Batman versus Superman fight scene will go down, citing that Batman’s cunningness and mastermind-like ability to plan ahead will give him an edge over Superman.
“Superman doesn’t have to be as much of a chess player as Batman. Superman has might on his side, but before the fists start flying, we see an armored Batman placing various traps in an abandoned stockyard, then walking along and driving a Kryptonite spear into the ground. He paces it off. Then when he throws Superman, the spear is right there. So you’re like, wait a minute, did he [plan] every bit? He know every move?”
WB executive Silverman discussed the difficulty of building an interconnecting DC Cinematic universe, stating that it is all about laying a proper groundwork of plot lines for the future movies to pick up on.
“Once you you know what the next movie’s going to be, then it becomes about, ‘Okay, where are we going to go from there?’ What do [moviegoers] really want to see Wonder Woman and Superman talking about in movie four, and how do we get there?”
The best example of building a foundation for potential future plots is teasing the Lexcorp and Wayne Enterprises logos in the General Zod/Superman fight at the end of Man of Steel.
Of course, making the interconnected movie universe does not just require easter egg teases for upcoming films. Silverman also stressed how important that each individual movie stands on its own. This is evident in WB’s decision to push Batman v Superman back from its original date of July 2015.
“You have to get each individual movie right, and that’s been our focus. We pushed the release date of Batman v Superman to March. It was supposed to be out last year. The gift of time that [we gave it] allowed it to live up to its full potential, and for anybody else thinking of doing it, that’s the thing to do. Every movie has to be treated as if it’s the only movie — while you’re falling in love with how they’re all going to connect.”
Speaking of pushing things back, there was also some discussion about Green Lantern and the news that he will not appear in Justice League-Part One and possibly even in Part Two. Silverman weighs in on the matter:
“[Green Lantern] is an incredible character. He’s actually multiple incredible characters. There’s real opportunity there. We didn’t do a great job on that first Green Lantern movie. This is a character who deserves to be treated in the same way that Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman are being treated now, which is with great reverence. I guess I can say to the Green Lantern fans: if they can be patient with us, I think they’ll be really happy…there’s the possibility that he may or may not be in Justice League 2. For now, we felt that we were introducing enough characters that the best possible place we could put Green Lantern is some introduction in Justice League 2, or barring that, a movie after.”
With all of this planning, preparing, and waiting, we are really hoping for some awesome things to come of not just Batman v Superman, but also Justice League. Good luck, Zack Snyder and WB!
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters March 25, 2016.
Justice League-Part One hits theaters November 17, 2017.