BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

METAMORPHOSIS

Top-down shot of Zod’s bodybag, unzipped as Lex reveals the face of the Kryptonian corpse inside, and we pan up to see Lex pulling the corpse free. The computer informs him, “Alexander Luthor, your security override has been accepted. Genesis Chamber ready to analyse genetic sample.”

The periodic piano motif from when Lex first entered the scout ship returns with the very subtle Codex Theme in the background against low foreboding strings.

Lex pull Zod’s body into the orange-lit waters of the Genesis Chamber below, obscuring the corpse’s nudity. Two squid-like drones that once tended to Kryptonian embryos converge from the murk.

“Acknowledging presence of genetic material. Analysing…” says the computer.

Then Lex looks down at the body. As the drones swim below, he caresses the body’s cold face.

“I’ve identified the host as… General Zod of Kandor.” This is the first reference to Kandor in this universe, which is the Kryptonian city from which Zod originates. In the comics, the city was shrunk and stolen by the galactic supervillain Brainiac.

Low-angle medium shot on Lex. The flying drone hovers over his shoulder when he suddenly flicks open a pocket knife, emerging into view from the lower frame, potentially startling viewers. He looks nervous. He removes his other hand from Zod’s face, slowly, before suddenly cutting his palm around the blade with a pained grunt.

High-angle medium shot on Zod, Lex’s bleeding hand in the foreground as he squeezes blood from his fist, dripping onto Zod’s face.

“Acknowledging presence of foreign genetic material. Analysing.”

Lex is now starting to tear up, indicating this is an incredibly powerful emotional moment for him, giving life to a creature that he will be personally related to by blood, subtly indicating his father-son feelings toward the creature he is making. Looking down at Zod, he whispers, “You flew too close to the sun.” Zod begins to sink. “Now look at you.” This references the Greek story of Daedalus and his son Icarus, who built wings from wax that allowed them to fly and escape their captivity, but Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted, causing him to fall to his death. The moral of the story is that being too ambitious can come with severe consequences. In this context, Lex is likely referring to Superman as the sun, whom he later compares to the Greek sky god Apollo. Snyder confirmed on Vero it is also a double meaning in reference to “son” as in “Last Son of Krypton”.

“That’s right. Also, ‘son’ as in ‘Last Son of Krypton’. Big fan of double meaning and more for another time.”

Zack Snyder, Vero, 30 March 2018

Higher strings for a few seconds add a distinctly emotional element to this moment.

As a drone comes to retrieve the body, the computer warns him, “Advising. Action forbidden.”

Lex looks terribly emotional. He closes his eyes and a tear falls down his face.

The computer goes on as the body is carried away, “It has been decreed by the Council of Krypton that none will ever again give life to a deformity so hateful to sighted memory. The desecration without name.”

As tendrils descend from above to reach for Zod, Lex asks, “And where is the Council of Krypton?”

“Destroyed, sir.”

Dramatic, fast-paced version of the Codex Motif on high strings. Four notes of Lex Luthor Theme B on piano in the background — a synthesis of Lex Luthor and the Kryptonian.

As Zod is slowly lifted, Lex says only, “Then proceed.”

More tendrils emerge, slithering down from above with a snake-like hiss as the computer verifies, “Very well. Preparing chrysalis and commencing metamorphosis.” A chrysalis is the stage of a caterpillar’s life whereby it cocoons itself before emerging as a butterfly.

Cut to black.

Music abruptly terminates on the final note of the Codex Motif.

SCENE OVERVIEW

At the scout ship, in an emotionally profound moment for him, Lex begins creating a monster that will share his blood, and therein lies his belief that Doomsday will give him the power he desires. Herein lies the genesis of Superman’s death.

SCENE ANALYSIS

Zod resembles Frankenstein’s monster, likely drawing parallels to how the titular mad scientist obsessed over the monster he created from bits and pieces of corpses, just as Doomsday is built from Zod’s corpse. Lex displays the same reverence for the thing he is creating here, also in how his hubris prevents him from seeing the risks of undertaking this course of action. This brings back the Prometheus theme Lex mentioned in the party scene, as Mary Shelley’s original book had the subtitle The Modern Prometheus.

kingofthesevenseas on Tumblr pointed out how Lex’s provision of blood here may be referencing occult or pagan rituals, summoning “a sacrilegious deity”, and that the imagery here may be symbolic of a twisted baptism in murky, sickly waters. The result is the arrival of what Lex refers to as “the Devil”.

The scene is, for lack of a better word, absolutely gross. In the cold dead womb of an ancient ship, Lex cuts his hand and drips his blood on the face of a corpse, which submerges into the amniotic fluid as squid-like machines begin transforming it. Everything here tells the audience that the metamorphosis underway is a heinous crime against nature. A deformity, an abomination, a devil is being created.

The music track in this scene is My Blood. It serves mostly to keep with the Kryptonian origins of the ship. The Codex Motif here does not represent Kryptonite as it has thus far in the film, but instead harkens back to the original Codex. The Codex itself is not present (still being within Superman), but it dictates what every Kryptonian birth was to become in life. In his own way, Lex may be doing the same thing, representing the very ideas that led to Krypton’s end as this abomination might for Earth. This track is not on any commercially-available version of the score.

BEHIND THE SCENE

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.

Zod’s body is a sculpt created by Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc (StudioADI), and you can watch the process of the creation of Zod’s body here on their official YouTube channel. I definitely encourage you to pay them a visit if you are interested in models, puppets, and practical effects in general. Such arts are dying out and they definitely deserve the appreciation.

Michael Shannon alleged that he recorded unused dialogue for Batman v Superman of General Zod’s spirit communicating with Lex Luthor. However, much like his comment that he wore “flippers” for filming Batman v Superman, he was most likely kidding.

Metro: I’m not sure if your appearance in “Batman v Superman” should even count. I think you’re on a screen on a video monitor, and you’re just lying there. You don’t have any lines.

Michael Shannon: Yeah, that really shouldn’t count. To be honest, I never went to the set of that movie ever. I did some ADR, I recorded some lines that Zack [Snyder, director] wasn’t even sure he was going to use — like, creepy s— I’d be saying to Lex Luthor in the spirit world or wherever. I don’t even know if it’s in the movie or not. I do seem to recall a giant, rubber, naked version of my body.

Metro: They actually made a naked version of you?

Michael Shannon: They couldn’t pay me enough money to take my clothes off.

Metro: The way Snyder had you record lines that he may or may not use makes it almost like a Terrence Malick movie.

Michael Shannon: I think he actually gave some of the lines to Terrence Malick for his history of the world movie [Voyage of Time]. Every once in a while you’ll hear General Zod saying, “And your spirit will be crushed.”

Metro: That must be in the longer, non-IMAX version of the movie.

Michael Shannon: Yeah, the 10-hour version.

Michael Shannon, Metro, 14 November 2016