It’s finally here — the first HD footage of the clash between the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel. We’ve already watched the HD version a half dozen times, but now it’s time to pore over GIFs and screencaps, to catch every detail and all the insane drama. Here’s everything we spotted!
Warning: Some spoilers and speculation, based on what we know about this film and what we’ve heard through the rumor mill, ahead...
So first up, it looks as though they rebuilt Metropolis, and put up a statue of Superman — which we saw in some set photos a while back. But not everybody has gotten over the fact that Superman’s big fight with his fellow Kryptonians trashed their city. We hear a ton of voiceovers asking whether too much power will corrupt this guy. And the main voiceover sounds like Jesse Eisenberg, as Lex Luthor, saying that we have a track record of following people with great power and asking whether the biggest demon might be someone who fell from the sky. The other quotes about Superman could come from a TV/radio talk show, or they could come from the red carpet at a party that Lex Luthor is throwing. Some of these could be actual real-life politicians, cameo-ing in the movie, and the voice saying we never ask what Superman should do sounds like Holly Hunter, who’s apparently playing some kind of politico.
Edited to add: people are saying they can hear Neil deGrasse Tyson and Charlie Rose in there too.
And yet, Superman has a cult following. Maybe literally. He’s a Day of the Dead icon, judging from the skull facepaint. Could be some kind of doomsday cult?
Also, who are these guys bowing to Superman? It’s in some kind of vault or bunker, that he had to descend into.
What’s that insignia on their shoulders? Is that the Superman symbol?
Superman catches a Russian rocket. It has a logo that says Roscosmos on it.
Could this give credence to the rumor that the KGBeast (a Russian supervillain from the Cold War era) is in this movie?
They will look up at him and cry “Save me!” and he will whisper... “NO.” Actually, wrong movie. He’ll probably say yes. But yeah, there’s lots of messianic imagery of Superman, being embraced as a savior, interspersed with people talking about how he’s dangerous and bad.
In any case, all of this adulation for an alien who trashed a city is apparently too much for Bruce Wayne, who stares broodingly at his Batsuit. I’m guessing this means he hasn’t worn the Batsuit in a while — since he tends to stare at it more when he’s thinking about putting it on for the first time in ages. A voiceover (Alfred?) says that this is how it starts — the fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness... that turns good men cruel. (Sounds like a metaphor for xenophobia and fascism, so it’s interesting to hear it applied to Batman.)
Here’s a better look at that Batsuit, nose and all.
So Batman has to go inside some kind of weird disused fancy building — a Wayne building? — to retrieve something.
And that looks like the Batmobile.
Then there’s an action sequence where a flying drone (?) bombs a facility by the docks...
...and the Batmobile drives away at top speed.
We see Batman emerging from the fiery wreckage of some place that’s just been bombed (or trashed using Kryptonian powers?). He looks pissed.
Batman hangs out on top of a building, just cuz.
Edit: tons of people are noting he seems to be holding a sniper rifle or grappling gun.
So it looks as though the rumor that Batman has more than one Batsuit in this film is true.
So this looks like a bit of the sequence we saw at Comic-Con last summer — Batman has rigged up a makeshift Bat-signal, and he’s using it to lure Superman to him. And Superman appears in the sky over him, looking like he’s ready to throw down.
Batman on the ground, waiting for Superman to come join him. Batman has his Super-buster armor, and his gravely voiceover asks if Superman can bleed... but Batman’s pretty sure he already knows the answer.
So Superman obligingly drops to Earth, to have a face-to-mask confrontation with Bruce.
Contact the author at charliejane@io9.com.