‘Batman v Superman’ Trailer Images: Let’s Over-Analyze the New Footage

After a low-quality bootleg did the rounds twenty-four hours ago, Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. released a legit version of theBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer. Having watched it a couple times a few ideas jump right out, so naturally it’s time for us to go frame-by-frame through the footage, grabbing dozens of Batman v Superman trailer images to pull what details we can out of the footage. 

OK, here we go! Captions relate to the photo immediately above each one.

This does not look like Metropolis. We understand this film takes place two years after Man of Steel, so wouldn’t there be more cranes and construction if this was Metropolis? But why would it not be Metropolis, when this is, at heart, originally a Superman movie?

Regardless, this slow push in to a statue at the center of a city square is accompanied by some commentary seemingly aimed at the emergence of Superman into human culture. “Is it really surprising that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?”

That sounds like Charlie Rose, and if it is him, or someone like him, who is he talking to? That’s not a proclamation; it sounds like an interview. Is he talking to Lex Luthor, or perhaps the woman played by Holly Hunter, who we’ll hear very shortly? And presumably he’s talking about Superman, but the emphasis on the word “man” in the quote makes me wonder. Just a bit.

There’s talk of “looking for a savior” as we see people, some seemingly made up in Day of the Dead-style makeup, reaching towards a pensive Superman (Henry Cavill). (Is that makeup actually for the Day of the Dead, or is there an emerging cult around Superman? The latter seems possible, especially as the trailer goes on.)

Back to the statue push-in. We hear someone who sounds like Neil deGrasse Tyson, with a very awkward audio edit to emphasize the word “alien” and how that alien’s existence challenges our own understanding of our place in the universe. (In part, the use of “alien” here is why the word “man” stuck out a second ago.)

At the same time, almost like an interjection, is a woman’s voice saying “they are not telling us the truth.” There’s also a man shouting “this is our planet!” A pattern is set — a primary voice, with more strident interjections coming from other people. That’s conflict, folks.

A real display of strength here, as Superman lifts/saves/does something with a Russian craft. (That’s the Russian Federation flag there, on the left side of frame.)

That push-in to the statue doesn’t stop. The audio here is interesting — again, the audio pattern. The main voice talks about our track record of following people with great power, but the line is corrupted by an interjection of the word “tragedy” at a very specific place, and with the word “power” segueing right into Holly Hunter’s voice, saying that old line about absolute power corrupting absolutely. The word “chaos” is there, too, just as the frame changes.