WAMG Looks At Zack Snyder’s BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE And Batman In Popular Culture

Photos Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/ TM & © DC Comics

Warner Bros. Pictures’ screen pairing of the world’s most iconic super heroes has at last answered the question “Who Will Win?” by winning over movie audiences and setting box office records around the world this weekend with an estimated worldwide box office total of $424.1 million.

Batman and Superman. Gotham and Metropolis. Lex Luthor, Doomsday and—for the first time ever on the big screen—Wonder Woman. With its stellar lineup of heroes and villains and bigger and better battles with even more at stake than the destruction of the Earth, Zack Snyder’s BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE is an epic Super Hero journey like no other.

Pit the two greatest heroes in the world against each other and the unthinkable becomes inevitable in the form of a truly seismic clash: Batman, the underground vigilante, a knight in the darkness, and Superman, the unbeatable alien in the sky—who can possibly win such a war?

From director Zack Snyder comes BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, starring Oscar winner Ben Affleck (“Argo”) as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent in the characters’ first big-screen pairing.

Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with each other, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it has ever known before.

To capture this epic world, director Snyder turned to director of photography Larry Fong, with whom he’s worked several times. “It was exciting developing the look for the film,” Fong says. “Zack definitely has his own style but he’s not afraid to try new things as well.”

While the camera work on MAN OF STEEL was mainly handheld, Fong says for this film Snyder wanted to change it up. Therefore Fong took a more classic approach, with mostly dolly, Technocrane and Steadicam moves. “Designing the shots with these tools was good discipline. We wanted a naturalistic look, but with a heightened reality. That was the feel we were going for.”

The variety of shot designs was only dwarfed by the variety of formats. “When we first starting talking about format, Zack was immediately drawn to 35mm anamorphic with single-camera coverage. But by the end, we had shot in 16mm, 35mm anamorphic, 35mm spherical, 65mm, GoPro, digital and IMAX,” Fong laughs.

IMAX presented one of the biggest challenges, according to the cinematographer. “IMAX cameras are big and heavy, with very shallow depth of field. Zack likes to move the camera a lot,” he adds “so we really pushed the limits. We attempted some very elaborate camera moves and even handheld shots with it, and our camera operator, John Clothier, and first assistant camera, Bill Coe, were incredible. The results are amazing. You can really feel the immense scope of the format.”

The role of Batman required Ben Affleck to appear intimidating enough to go up against Superman. “It was important to me that Batman be bigger because Superman is infinitely stronger than the best that humanity has to offer,” explains director Zack Snyder.

“Theoretically, the best that man can do is still nothing in the face of Superman, but I wanted him to look like he stands a chance. Ben is 6’4”; with his boots on he’s 6’6”. And he’s handsome, smart, charismatic and mature. For the road-weary Batman that we wanted, Ben was perfect.”

Batman has been a staple of pop culture throughout the decades.

Detective Comics (1937-2011) #27 was the very first appearance of the Bat-Man in the six-page story “”The Case of the Criminal Syndicate!”” This issue also featured the first appearances of Commissioner Gordon and the revelation of Bat-Man’s secret identity as Bruce Wayne. The film’s screenplay by Chris Terrio, an Oscar winner for ARGO, and David S. Goyer (THE DARK KNIGHT) is inspired by several graphic novels and story arcs from the classic DC comics. First and foremost is Frank Miller’s seminal 1986 work “The Dark Knight Returns” which concludes with an epic battle between a greying Batman (probably a good ten years older than in the film) and the seemingly immortal Superman, who is now an agent of the government. The “bat armor” worn by Ben Affleck echoes the enhanced uniform designed by Miller. Much earlier in the film, Wayne glances at a combat suit encased in glass on display in the Batcave. On closer inspection we can see a raised “R” over the left breast. This may be a reference to the celebrated story arc that ran in Batman comics #426-429 in the late eighties written by Jim Starlin and penciled by Jim Aparo. Readers were offered a chance to vote on the fate of second Robin Jason Todd via 900 phone number. Ultimately Todd perishes when he throws himself on a bomb, this after barely surviving a brutal beating from a crowbar-wielding Joker. Another famous story arc referenced is “The Death of Superman” from the DC Superman titles in 1992, which had Kal-el giving his life to protect Metropolis from the raging, near-unstoppable monster Doomsday.

Though Superman made it to movie screens first in 1941 in a series of highly lauded animated shorts, Batman beat him to the punch in the live action arena with 1943’s Columbia’s fifteen chapter serial BATMAN. Lewis Wilson was Batman and Douglas Croft played Robin, now fully authorized US undercover agents. They were assigned to stop nefarious Axis agent, the Japanese mastermind Dr. Daka, played by the Irish character actor J. Carrol Naish. A year after Superman’s live action serial debut, Columbia produced a fifteen chapter follow-up, BATMAN AND ROBIN with Robert Lowery and Johnny Duncan in the title roles. The dynamic duo faced off against a mysterious, fully-masked scientific genius known as the Wizard (his identity a secret until the final installment). Two supporting characters from the comics were included for the first time. Jane Adams was intrepid news photog Vicki Vale and former matinee idol Lyle Talbot was Police Commissioner Gordon. The caped crusader didn’t return to movie screens until the 1966 Twentieth Century Fox feature film BATMAN, which starred the TV cast and was rushed into production in order to capitalize on the gigantic popularity of the twice-weekly ABC network show.

In 1989, Warner Bros. released the live-action feature film BATMAN; directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as the title character.

The film was a huge success; not only was it the top-grossing film of the year, but at the time was the fifth highest-grossing film in history. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The film’s success spawned three sequels: Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997); the latter two of which were directed by Joel Schumacher instead of Burton, and replaced Keaton as Batman with Val Kilmer and George Clooney, respectively. The second Schumacher film, while a box office success, failed to outgross any of its predecessors and was critically panned; causing Warner Bros. to cancel the planned fourth sequel, BATMAN TRIUMPHANT, and place the film series on hiatus. (Wikipedia)

In September 2015, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story that DC Entertainment had announced that Bill Finger, who worked with Bob Kane on early Batman comic strips as well as co-creating Green Lantern and other characters for the company, would be receiving official credit for his work in film and television projects based on his creations.

Finger, who died in 1974, made a number of critical contributions to the Batman mythos, including coming up with the names of the hero’s alter ego Bruce Wayne, as well as the city in which the hero fights crime. He was also co-creator for a number of iconic Batman characters including Robin, Catwoman and the Joker.

Although Kane received sole official credit for the character as part of the original deal signed in 1939, the artist talked in later life about Finger being an important influence on the development of the series. In his 1989 autobiography Batman and Me, Kane described Finger as “a contributing force” on the series, noting “I must admit that Bill never received the fame and recognition he deserved.”

See BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE in theaters now.

Contributed by Jim Batts and Michelle McCue