BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

COMMUNION

Cut to a hole in a dark ceiling, light pouring through. The same entrance Superman made when he flew into the Kryptonian scout ship to confront Lex. Two masked SWAT officers descend on a line, and we pan down to see them join their comrades in the foreground, a team of troops assembled in the ominous halls of the ship, aiming the flashlights mounted to their M4A1 Carbines. This method of entrance confirms that Lex naturally had the scout ship locked down, preventing anyone from being able to enter while he was cooking Doomsday.

The team leader crouching at the head of the group signals his men to advance. He stands and moves as his troops follow close behind him, scurrying down the moody hallway.

The rear soldier turns to aim his weapon down the other direction, covering their flank. A noise can be heard nearby, resembling static, and if you listen carefully, a distorted voice mutters the name, “Lex Luthor”.

Above the Genesis Chamber, the soldiers enter to assemble and aim their weapons into the space below. We approach between them and see, floating above the chamber, is a series of chrome spheres orbiting around a central sphere, presumably our solar system.

Finally, we descend to see what the soldiers see. Standing in the goo at the base of the chamber is a huge devil-like monster layered in razor-sharp shards. Like the spheres above, he is chrome. He holds a cube in each hand, with one levitating above the liquid in front of him. A single red laser sight is trained on the demon’s head. Below it, hands raised as if in prayer, is Lex Luthor, shoulder-deep in the liquid, with several sights trained on the back of his skull.

In a bellowing rumble, the creature lets out a threatening growl to the ceiling. Then it breaks down into the countless molecules of the liquid geometry that defines Kryptonian communication technology, spreading outward to leave the frame like smoke. The monster is gone.

His suit coated in the viscous Doomsday afterbirth showing he must clearly be in some unusual mental state, Lex blinks for a moment before shuddering, as if suddenly awakening from a trance with a start. Shaking, he turns his head to look up at the soldiers, whose laser sights continue flying over his back. Still shaking, he looks surprised.

SCENE OVERVIEW

In the aftermath, a SWAT team descends into the Kryptonian scout ship, discovering Lex in communion with a monstrous demonic alien, teasing the first antagonist of the Justice League in anticipation of the next film and setting up events to come in the distant future. Lex is arrested following the encounter.

SCENE ANALYSIS

This has been our very first introduction to Steppenwolf, a minion of Darkseid and the primary antagonist of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. In going from Superman’s death to this, since Kryptonian communication technology is an accurate 3D representation of the speaker, we know this monstrous entity is out there somewhere in the cosmos and will soon be coming for us, creating instant feelings of discomfort with Superman gone.

Lex evidently communicated with Steppenwolf. Their conversation remains unknown, but Zack Snyder confirmed that, “Lex is now part of the plan, I would say, in some way,” and that Lex was enlisted to help Darkseid one day fulfil his scheme…

“The implication is that Steppenwolf has told [Lex] that he serves something greater in Darkseid. So, Darkseid, even at this point, he doesn’t know that the Anti-Life Equation is here, but he does know that the Mother Boxes are here, and that this planet is ripe for conquest.”

Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Watch Party, 29 March 2020

“Lex was communing with [Steppenwolf]. You’re not going to see it in [Zack Snyder’s] Justice League, but in the stories that follow, Lex would have made a deal with Darkseid. Then, of course, he would have remained on his trajectory, and this was just the first sign that he had made a deal with Steppenwolf, and then later he would have been the one who finds the Anti-Life Equation and/or deciphers it using the Riddler.”

Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Director’s Commentary, 2021, 2:41:47

Musical analysis coming soon.

BEHIND THE SCENE

This scene first appeared on the official Warner Bros Pictures YouTube channel on 28 March 2016, just a few days after the release of the theatrical cut. Early on, Snyder considered making it an after-credits scene, but this idea was dropped due to wanting to differentiate from the MCU…

“You know, that scene I guess was our way of — I kind of thought like, ‘Oh, that would be a cool after-credits sequence.’ But then I was like, ‘I don’t know, can I do that?’ Because Marvel kind of does that. ‘Is that a thing?’ So we were like, ‘Oh! Well, maybe there’s another way to do it, by just having it –‘ Does that make sense?”

Zack Snyder, Collider, 29 June 2016

The creature was designed by concept artist Jerad S Marantz, who posted concept art and the model used for Batman v Superman. This design for Steppenwolf was scrapped early on in development for Justice League, likely due to being “deemed too scary” like the method by which humans were turned into Parademons as outlined in Victor Martinez’ concept art for Justice League. The design resurfaced with some slight updates in Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021.

The original scout ship interior set was demolished after Man of Steel filming, so a new set was constructed at the late Michigan Motion Picture Studios along Centerpoint Parkway, Pontiac, Michigan. The sequences here were shot in June or July 2014 when the crew were filming in Pontiac.