The wait is over, and boy was it worth it! Tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live! we saw the new full trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Warner Bros. revealed much more of their DC cinematic superverse with this latest footage, coming on the heels of Monday night's Gotham unveiling of footage of a mysterious scene of Batman chained up in Superman's desert dungeon (read my report about that footage here). We got confirmation of many rumors, and the buzz for this movie is now going to skyrocket significantly. This is the same place we got our first public look at the initial trailer for Captain America: Civil War, and that trailer was received with mostly rave reviews -- however, it didn't really provide any big surprises, nor change the narrative buzz about the film. Not so for Batman v Superman, as you're about to see...
Without further ado, here is the new trailer in all of its glory!
Okay, dear readers, if you skipped that trailer to avoid spoilers, now's the time to turn away from the rest of this article, since I have to talk about it a bit.
We get a lot more sense of humor this time around, obviously, even amid the action sequences. So those arguing the film is too angry or too somber can relax a bit -- no, as I already told you many times in the past, the claim that the studio said "no jokes" was simply a gross exaggeration of the point the film is meant to be darker and more serious than most other mainstream superhero cinema.
I will admit to knowing Doomsday was in the movie for quite a long while, and knowing about the link to Zod's corpse (details of which aren't public knowledge, so I'll refrain from discussing that further until more is officially revealed). But I wasn't free to discuss said information until it was unveiled through marketing, so I'm happy this secret is out.
Just that one shot of Doomsday (well, two really, both from the same moment though), plus the knowledge previous footage seemingly showing Batman and Wonder Woman battling Superman was really from a sequence of the three heroes battling Doomsday, is sending fans into overjoyed overdrive on social media tonight.
Will the mainstream public know much about Doomsday? Not really, despite the fact he's the villain created for the Death of Superman comic book story that made headlines in 1992. On the other hand, as the media inevitably explain who Doomsday is (as I just did) and audiences find out more, that could help further increase anticipation -- after all, the appearance of a villain knowr for killing Superman has certain implications...
Knowledge that we'll see Batman fighting Superman, as well as the "Trinity" fighting Doomsday, and that this leads to the three of them forming an alliance that they expand by reaching out to other superheroes -- specifically, Aquaman, Cyborg, and the Flash (for starters...) -- helps increase the perception that this movie has a lot more to offer than just a battle pitting one hero against another.
The combination of actually seeing Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman side-by-side battling a villain, and of a lighter tone at times that has more fun and action-spectacle elements with a much more mainstream-friendly tone, is precisely what the film needed heading into Christmas and in advance of the much larger marketing blitz waiting around the corner after the New Year.
Future marketing will no doubt alternate between the sort of serious tonal stylings audiences have come to expect and adore in Batman movies, and a more action-packed popcorn spectacle that drives billion-dollar box office for Marvel's big superhero team-up films. Straddling both territories could potentially allow Batman v Superman to cash in on both fronts, significantly increasing its box office power.
Meanwhile, fans who've spent months debating whether this is a Batman or Superman movie, and which one should be portrayed more heroically, now have had their expectations sort of flipped as they realize the characters are being intentionally pitted against one another by a villain (Luthor) with ulterior motives and a much larger scheme.
In private conversations with other writers and sites, I discussed the earlier footage of Superman seemingly attacking Batman and Wonder Woman with heat vision as likely a case of clever editing of a battle between the "Trinity" and Doomsday, and that's precisely what it was. There was even still a bit of that going on in this new trailer, too, by the way -- not everything lined up precisely as you might think it does. So keep that in mind as you rewatch the trailer on endless loop in the coming days.
And just wait until they find out the true nature of that bizarre desert-dungeon footage we saw on Monday... It makes sense in context, and not all is what it seems to be, I assure you. How? I'll tell you more as soon as it's safe to do so, but for now just appreciate the fun of some things actually still remaining a mystery!
That said, if you're among the crowd insisting that particular sequence is too out of character for the heroes and somehow proves Zack Snyder's film is getting everything wrong, I assure you you'll be eating crow after seeing the film and finding out what's really going on there and elsewhere.
What did you think of the trailer, dear readers? Sound off in the comments below!
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