BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN: Zack Snyder Describes Seeing The Trinity In Costume And More
The Batman Vs. Superman director has shared his thoughts on seeing the stand-ins for Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot all suited up on set, and comments on a possible timeline for the first reveal of the new suits as well as how the idea to have Superman fight Batman in this movie came about...
While we all anxiously wait for the first image of Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot all suited up as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, Forbes got the chance to catch up with director Zack Snyder to quiz him on the Man of Steel follow-up. When asked what led to him deciding to include the Caped Crusader, he replied: "I gotta be honest, it definitely was a thing that… after Man of Steel finished and we started talking about what would be in the next movie, I started subtly mentioning that it would be cool if he faced Batman. In the first meeting, it was like, “Maybe Batman?” Maybe at the end of the second movie, some Kryptonite gets delivered to Bruce Wayne’s house or something. Like in a cryptic way, that’s the first time we see him. But then, once you say it out loud, right? You’re in a story meeting talking about, like, who should [Superman] fight if he fought this giant alien threat Zod who was basically his equal physically, from his planet, fighting on our turf… You know, who to fight next? The problem is, once you say it out loud, then it’s kind of hard to go back, right? Once you say, “What about Batman?” then you realize, “Okay, that’s a cool idea. What else?” I mean, what do you say after that? …But I’m not gonna say at all that when I took the job to do Man of Steel that I did it in a subversive way to get to Batman. I really believe that only after contemplating who could face [Superman] did Batman come into the picture." These comments make it clear that Batman and Superman will indeed come to blows, and his remarks about Kryptonite are very interesting indeed. A random thought for where the sequel could have gone or something we'll actually see?
"We just went through Superman’s 75th, and it was very exciting… and to me, it was just really awesome. And the idea of having the Batman 75th and the Wonder Woman 75th together is kind of an amazing thing, too," Snyder said when talk turned to what it's been like to see the new costumes for Batman Vs. Superman, with the three iconic heroes all standing alongside each other in live-action. "The thing also that’s really fascinating for me is that, even just in the tests we’ve been doing, the costumes, right? You basically have Batman and Superman — and this is without Ben [Affleck] and Henry [Cavill] in the costumes, but just like the stand-ins, just testing to see what the costumes look like. And you have them standing there and they’re standing in the same shot — and then we have Wonder Woman, you know, all three of them in the same shot. Even just for a test, you really have to go, “Wow, that’s crazy!” Not only is it the first time that I’m seeing them, it’s the first time they’ve ever existed together on screen in a movie. And that’s kind of a huge deal. Even just Batman and Superman standing next to each other… [I]t’s kind of epic. You do sort of sense the weight of the pop culture iconography jumping out of its skin when you’re standing there looking at the two of them and Wonder Woman. It’s crazy. But it’s fun. I mean, I have the first photo, I’ve got it in my archive because I was like, “Okay, I better keep this, it’s gonna be worth something,” [laughs]!"
Now, the question we're all desperate to know the answer to is when exactly we'll see the Trinity officially revealed. With the release date pushed back to 2016, it's inevitably going to be later than expected, but anticipation is at an all-time high. Will we have to wait until as late as Comic-Con in July? Sadly, Snyder was giving nothing away! "Unfortunately, I don’t even know the timeline… Because the movie takes place so far from now, it’s hard to know exactly. That all gets tied to marketing and strategies for the movie. It’s not just a free-for-all, which I’d love it to be. Because I take a picture of the suit with my camera– I’m actually staring at one right now in my office. And it’s just massive on my wall in my office and it’s epic, let me tell you! And I’m like, “God, I want to send this to the Internet immediately.” But I know I’m not allowed to [laughs]! I do value the sort of excitement of the way the film is [revealed]… the pieces that are released and sort of trickle out to everybody, and those reveals are exciting milestones for us." How do you guys feel about these comments? Be sure to sound off with your thoughts below!