Set to establish the DC Films universe going forward, "Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice" will feature the titular heroes, along with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, and rumored glimpses of more characters we’ll see in "Justice League" and beyond. And according to director Zack Snyder, at one point, two iconic Batman villains were considered for appearances.
"The Joker and The Riddler both came close to being in this movie. We talked about the possibility of putting them in. [Screenwriter] Chris Terrio and I talked about it a lot and felt that their mythological presence is felt in the movie and that’s cool, but I didn’t want to get my eye too far off the ball because I needed to spend the time, frankly, with Batman and Superman to understand the conflict," the director told Collider.
That’s the right move, really. We’ll see Jared Leto’s Xtreme Joker in a few months anyway in "Suicide Squad," and sometimes, less is more. However, Snyder’s comments seem to suggest that even if we don’t see those villains, they may be referenced in some way. All of this, along with constant rumors of a solo movie, suggests that Batman is going to be a key player in the DC Films world going forward, but Henry Cavill is still very much eager to dive into more of Superman’s story.
"I really want to tell the full story of Superman. There’s a complexity to the character, and we’ve only just scratched the surface and there’s a lot to be done," he told ScreenSlam. "So if the box office on this is fantastic, there is a whole world opened up of potential and possibility for me to be able to continue telling the Superman story and really dive into the psychology and personality of the character."
The box office numbers will be revealed after this Easter weekend, with ‘Batman v Superman’ opening Friday. Check out some new featurettes and TV spots below, plus a tease of how big the movie will look in IMAX.
Only in IMAX do select sequences filmed on our cameras expand vertically to fill the entire screen! #BatmanvSuperman pic.twitter.com/qZi2RNZaPP
— IMAX (@IMAX) March 18, 2016
