When Zack Snyder stepped on stage at Comic-Con in 2013 to announce a Batman vs. Superman movie inspired by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, excitement among DC fans was through the roof. After all, they'd spent decades waiting to see the two DC Comics icons share the screen.
In March 2016, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theaters with a record-breaking opening weekend, but negative reviews from critics and moviegoers led to a massive drop the following week. With 28% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 63% Audience Score, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice certainly wasn't a critical hit.
After grossing $874.4 million worldwide, the movie, which was the DCEU's first attempt at telling a story in an MCU-like shared world, was also deemed something of a box office disappointment. Unsurprisingly, this response led to Warner Bros. changing course with the franchise (which is why Suicide Squad was drastically changed in the months leading up to its release).
Many fans look back at Snyder's time in the DCEU fondly, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice certainly wasn't all bad. As well as pitting the Caped Crusader against the Man of Steel, Wonder Woman made her big screen debut, bringing together the Trinity on screen for the first time.
Now, several unused posters and banners for the movie have been shared by artist Joshua Ecton (you can view the full gallery on his website).
Putting the spotlight on the characters played by Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, and Gal Gadot, along with a few supporting players, many of these designs arguably improve on what was already a pretty inventive marketing campaign back in the mid-2010s. For those of you looking for a new phone or desktop wallpaper, Ecton has you covered.
Affleck previously reflected on his Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice experience—and the issues with the movie—in a March 2025 interview:
"I had a really good time. I loved doing the Batman movie. I loved Batman v Superman. And I liked my brief stints on The Flash that I did and when I got to work with Viola Davis on Suicide Squad for a day or two. In terms of creatively, I really think that I like the idea and the ambition that I had for it, which was of the sort of older, broken, damaged Bruce Wayne. And it was something we really went for in the first movie."
"But what happened was it started to skew too old for a big part of the audience. Like even my own son at the time was too scared to watch the movie. And so when I saw that I was like, 'Oh shit, we have a problem.' Then I think that’s when you had a filmmaker that wanted to continue down that road and a studio that wanted to recapture all the younger audience at cross purposes. Then you have two entities, two people really wanting to do something different and that is a really bad recipe."
Which of these unused Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice poster designs is your favourite?