Popular Theories: Who Are The Trinity Battling?
Time for another round of popular rumors! This time I'm diving into the DCEU and checking out the ending to Batman v. Superman. From the trailer we can tell that something big is going down near the end of the movie. There is Zack Snyder’s signature destruction, Wonder Woman in action, Wonder Woman getting punched by something powerful, the Batwing flying over burning landscape, and some wild out of control heat vision. Something is going down in that third act, lets take a look at the popular theories floating around on what it could be.
6) LEX LUTHOR (IN BATTLE ARMOR)
The Theory: Lex Luthor uses remaining Kryptonian technology from the first film to create an advanced suit of armor to battle the Trinity. When Batman fails to take down Superman, Luthor finally has to take matters into his own hands.
Likelihood: VERY LOW
Why?: First off, this version of Lex Luthor seems to be the more manipulative sort and less physical. This comes from the casting of Jessie Esenberg, who hardily seems the type to jump into the action, personally. Plus, wouldn’t that do major harm to his public image? You’d think he’d want to avoid that. Plus, he's be going up against Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Even in robot armor, it sounds like this fight should be short lived. Lastly, there is near no evidence to support this theory.
5) METALLO
The Theory: In the trailer, Lex Luthor has a good deal of kryptonite in his possession. His company is also supposedly at the forefront of technology innovation. The idea here is he uses a combination of robotics from Lexcorp and the kryptonite to create someone who can easily take advantage of the Man of Steel's main weakness.
Likelihood: LOW
Why?: Metallo is a great villain for Superman, because he takes advantage of the heroes Achilles heel. Unfortunately there are two other heroes he has to go up against, Batman and Wonder Woman, and kryptonite isn’t going to do a whole lot of good against them. This makes him a poor villain to go up against all three and a better villains for a Superman solo film. Similar to #6, there is almost no evidence to support this theory.
4) RESURRECTED ZOD
The Theory: In the trailer, we see that Lex Luthor is in possession of General Zod’s corpse. Shannon has also confirmed a “limited” involvement in the film. The idea here is that Zod will be resurrected by LexCorp technology and will go after Superman in retaliation for the events of the last film.
Likelihood: LOW
Why?: Though we see an out of control heat vision, which could support this theory, Zack Snyder has stated that he wants to use Zod’s death as a justification for Superman’s “no kill” policy. If Zod returns, it kind of negates that moral lesson. Also, we've already seen Superman take on Zod on his own (in a pretty impressive action scene), so what could Zod possibly do to the trinity on his own. If a single superhero beat him last time, certainly that same superhero could beat him again, especially with two more teammates backing him up. This would cause the climax to lack tension and feel redundant to the last movie.
3) MIND CONTROLLED SUPERMAN
The Theory: Lex Luthor is seen gloating over Superman and Batman almost gets hit by an out of control heat blast. The idea is that Luthor manipulates Superman into a corner and by experimenting on Zod’s corpse, learns how to control Superman or sets him on a rampage (similar to Red Kyptonite from Smallville, or Richard Prior Kryptonite from Superman III). This would force Batman and Wonder Woman to team up to defeat the out of control Superman.
Likelihood: MODERATE
Why?: Lex Luthor seems to be more manipulative in this version, so it is believable that he would take this route to try and discredit Superman. He is also seen in the trailer with Zod and kryptonite, so its not far fetched that he’d learn how to manipulate it to negatively effect Superman. Also, this route would put Batman in the right and give him a legitimately good reason to have to take down Superman, playing further into the title of the film. However, in the trailer we can see Superman fighting in what looks like the climax and he seems very in-control. The subtitle also states “Dawn of Justice”, which many people assume means that the heroes will team up at the end. This theory doesn’t really put the characters on a direct course to create a Justice League.
2) BIZZARO
The Theory: Lex Luthor uses Zod’s body to create a more-powerfull-but-imperfect clone of Zod. This twisted version goes on a rampage and the trinity has to stop him.
Likelihood: MODERATE
Why?: Why not? Luthor has everything he needs. Cloning has been around for a while and he has Zod’s body. In Man of Steel, Zack Snyder almost seemed to tease this story route with an image of a reversed S (Bizzaro’s logo) reflecting in an eye. This could account for Shannon’s comments about having flipper hands on set, as Zack Snyder may have made the character far more twisted than in the comics. However, this would be a departure from the normal origins of the character. You also run into much of the same problems as #4. Mostly though, this concept is too similar to #1- but nowhere near as visually interesting.
1) DOOMSDAY
The Theory: Lex Luthor uses Zod’s body to create a weapon he can use against Superman. This appears in the form of Doomsday, a character famous for being one of Superman’s most powerful enemies. This creature goes on a rampage and the trinity has to stop him.
Likelihood: HIGH
Why?: There are a lot of things supporting this theory. Doomsday has been a popular rumor for a while. Stories have slipped out that he may have been in an early script, other reports have said that Gadot let slip that she chops off a bone hand, and worst of all, there was Shannon’s shenanigans. Shannon stated that he appears in film in some capacity. He first told a story about wearing flipper hands (which may have been prosthetics for motion capture), then he claimed he was lying, but when someone pointed out that he visited the BvS set, and he changed his story by saying he recorded lines for a “ghost”....despite there being no recording studio... It smells suspiciously like a cover up. Ever more so, Doomsday is a big enough threat to warrant the trinity teaming up at the end of the film. He also temporarily “killed” Superman in the comics. If this happened in the film, this could force Wonder Woman and Batman to create the Justice League. Lastly it would just make for a helluva climax with a villain that would appeal to Zack Snyder’s gloriously over the top visuals.
So what do you think? What do you think is going to go down in for the Batman v. Superman finale? Tell me in the comments below.
Check out previous Popular Theories below.
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