BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

METROPOLIS LIBRARY FUNDRAISER

Bruce’s car arrives outside a red carpet. The handheld camera brings us up to the driver’s side to put us in the position of the reporters covering the event, clamouring for the billionaire’s attention as a valet opens his door. Bruce steps out, adjusts his jacket, and smiles for the photographers who start snapping their photos.

Batman’s angry theme song from the prior sequence fades out here.

Deleted Footage

At the start of the second official trailer for the movie, there is an ascending crane shot of the red carpet establishing the location. This shot is not in the film.

There is also a medium close-up on Bruce that was excluded from the final film. It can be seen in an obscure foreign trailer for the movie.

Clark is standing at the far end of the red carpet by the entrance to the house. He turns to a photographer (Danny Mooney) standing behind him and asks, “Who’s that?” Though he asks this, it does not indicate Clark is unfamiliar with Bruce Wayne, only that he does not know his face. Hence the following response from the photographer only giving his name.

He turns back to Bruce while the photographer responds, “You must be new to the ‘Let them eat cake’ beat. That… is Bruce Wayne.” For those who do not know, the term, “Let them eat cake,” was allegedly employed by Marie Antoinette when asked what to do about starving peasants, demonstrating her total disconnect from the rest of society who live in less-than-ideal conditions. Here, it might work as a subtle indicator of how people like Bruce don’t really understand who Superman is. It also works in the sense that Bruce is a billionaire who beats up poor people for a living, and as we’ve seen, his crusade has had a mixed reaction among impoverished Gothamites, inspiring both terror and hope. Alternatively, it might just me a simple throwaway line, but it conveys attention to detail when the average superhero film would’ve had the line “the ‘rich people’ beat.”

As Clark watches, the camera closes on his face slightly dramatically as we hear a woman (Nicole Forester) speaking, as if describing Bruce Wayne, “Philanthropist, bibliophile…”

Cut to inside Lex’s post-modern home on the library president (credited simply as LeBlanc, “the white” in French). She continues into her microphone, “…true friend of the Library of Metropolis, Mister Lex Luthor.”

The crowd around us, including Clark visible between the guests, applauds and steps aside to permit Lex access, and we discover we are watching from his shoulder as he steps forward, gesturing excitedly with his hands. “Me? Ah! Okay,” he says, playfully feigning surprise, yet again demonstrating a very affable public persona. Clark claps as Lex walks by to approach the stage. “Nicky. Uh… You’re embarrassing me.” says the eccentric billionaire as he kisses the library president on the cheek.

Cut to the back of one woman in the crowd (Gal Gadot) standing out in a red dress. She reveals her face by turning to reject an offer of champagne from a waiter. Instead of turning back, she makes eye contact with Bruce, also clapping. Then she turns back to Lex.

On seeing her, the mystical sound of the Diana Prince Motif, its first appearance in the film, resembling a mysterious, subdued howl from what sounds like a low flute of sorts (likely wooden or bamboo) or a heavily modulated electric cello.

At the same time, Lex giggles, “Um… Speech, speech. Uh… Blah, blah, blah. Uh… Open bar.” He clears his throat. “The end.”

As the crowd laughs in response, Bruce turns away, heading somewhere else with everyone distracted.

High strings to play up Bruce’s sneaking.

Lex finally gets down to business. “Uh… The word ‘philanthropist’ comes from the Greek, meaning ‘a lover of humanity’. Uh, it was coined about 2,500 years ago…” The discussion of Greek in this speech foreshadows Wonder Woman’s presence in the film due to her Greek origin, and other hints through the Greek motif can be found throughout this scene and the film.

At the same time, Bruce moves through the crowd, quietly saying, “Alright, where am I going, Alfred?”

Cut to the Batcave, where Alfred is intently watching the Bat-computer, displaying a 3D schematic of Lex’s house. The old man says, “Go past the elevator… Do a left.”

Behind the Scene

This motion graphic flying through a 3D schematic of Lex’s house was created by designer and animator Ryan Uhrich. The full graphic, from start to finish, can be seen on his website at his page on Batman v Superman.

Cut to Clark, listening to Lex’s speech. “That’s right, must be,” we hear Alfred continue, and we can see from Clark’s expression that he heard him too with his super hearing. He looks over his shoulder to see Bruce leaving the crowd as Alfred goes on, “It’s in the service corridor in the basement. Go down the stairs.”

We return to Lex, who says, “…uh, in a little play about a Titan named Prometheus who had to choose sides between gods and men. Prometheus went with us, and he ruined Zeus’ plan to destroy mankind, and for that he was given a thunderbolt! Choo!” He gestures dramatically at this to imitate a thunder strike. Putting the focus on him here is a deliberate choice emphasising the play he is relating…

Lex is referencing Prometheus Bound, an Ancient Greek tragedy attributed to playwright Aeschylus, which first coined the term “philanthropos tropos” (“humanity-loving character”) to describe the titular character. In the play, Zeus indeed threatened to destroy humanity, and Prometheus upset his plan by stealing fire from Olympus and gifting it to humanity, as well as teaching them arts, writing, medicine, mathematics, etc, so Zeus had him punished by chaining him to a rock in the mountains of Scythia. The connection has several interpretations…

• In a Doylist sense, Superman can be seen as Prometheus, thwarting the plans of General Zod (Zeus) to destroy mankind, only to be punished for his desire to help his adopted people by later being killed by a lightning-infused Zeus (Doomsday).
• This is likely how Lex sees himself, as a purveyor of technology and power who stands up to the false god, especially since he goes on to create Doomsday in a manner similar to Frankenstein’s creation of his monster, and Mary Shelley’s 1818 book is also titled The Modern Prometheus.
• This line also makes yet another reference to the distinction between gods and men.
• This line may also foreshadow the Knightmare scene, where an evil Superman kills Batman after getting apprehended trying to steal Kryptonite.
• Another interesting detail is that Lex may be confusing the story of Prometheus with the story of Atlas, whom Superman also resembles. Atlas sided with the Titans against the Greek gods of Olympus, and was punished by being forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders.
  • Similarly, Superman sided with humanity over Krypton and now carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Cut to Diana in the crowd, looking unamused by Lex’s use of Greek mythology in his speech, even though the others around her seem charmed by Lex’s silliness. Being of an actual mythical Greek origin herself, she is probably tired of hearing mortals relating a mythology they do not truly understand, especially considering that Lex is relating the myth incorrectly, which also says a lot about his true self-centred nature. “Hmm, that seems unfair. Um… On a serious note, the Library of Metropolis…” says Lex as Diana turns to look around.

Low strings.

Cut back to Bruce, heading down another hall away from the gathering, down which can be seen the elegant set of double doors to Lex’s study from the earlier scene. It is interesting how, despite Lex’s post-modern home, his father’s room is in such stark contrast to the rest of the building.

Cut to Alfred observing the schematics on the Bat-computer, continuing to guide: “Go to the stairs. You saw them on your way in. Down the stairs.”

Medium close-up on Bruce as he walks by us. We stop tracking him as Mercy comes into view, noticing him go by and turning to watch him.

Batman Theme B on low strings, accompanied by a digital-sounding variation of the Bat Ostinato.

Lex goes on, his voice growing more distant, “But at one time, Dad could not buy them. No. My father could not afford books growing up. He had to root through the garbage for yesterday’s newspaper.” Indeed, Lex has mentioned his father yet again. At this point, after previously mentioning how his father had to wave flowers at tyrants, there is a theme of Lex’s mentioning his father’s less-fortunate childhood, implying he would regularly compare his young life to Lex’s, either out of jealousy for the privileged life Lex was raised in or to remind Lex how fortunate he is.

Bruce descends the basement staircase, dodging an ascending waiter. He arrives in the basement, dodging another waiter heading up.

Back to Alfred’s schematics: “Alright, you got the kitchens on your right,” says the butler.

Back to Bruce, the kitchen in the foreground. He nods at the waiters and chefs to try and look casual. “Do a left,” we hear Alfred say, and Bruce turns to head down our direction.

Back to Alfred and the schematics. “Right in front of you. That’s where you want to be.”

Bruce opens a glass door into a small server room and Bruce examines the machinery. Bruce peers around cautiously to make sure he is not being watched and reaches up to attach his leech device to the wires up in the corner. After connecting, a timer is set for seven minutes.

“May I help you, Mister Wayne?” asks Mercy. Bruce to look down the hall to see her having just entered through the glass door.

Music fades out.

“Uh, I just…” Bruce tries to look confused, peering around. “I thought the bathroom was down here. I must have…”

Mercy looks sceptical.

Bruce chuckles, “That last Martini was… two too many, I think.”

“I went looking for the bathroom and I guess I got turned around. Too much champagne will do that, you know.” (Bruce Wayne, Batman: The Long Halloween, 1996)

Still looking suspicious, Mercy replies, “Men’s room is upstairs.”

“Great, I’m okay,” Bruce says as a chef gets Mercy’s attention. Then the billionaire gestures to her feet and awkwardly remarks, “I like those shoes.” His performance here shows he is trying to act, at the very least, just slightly intoxicated. According to Zack Snyder, this last line was an ad-lib or improvised dialogue by Ben Affleck.

Mercy closes the door and makes her exit.

Bruce loses his goofy smile and whispers, “I can’t stay down here, Alfred.”

Batman Theme A plays on timpani briefly as the real Batman shows his face again.

The faithful butler responds, “Go upstairs and socialise.” Cut to Alfred in the Batcave. “Some young lady from Metropolis will make you honest.” Then he chuckles quietly and raises his glass. “In your dreams, Alfred.” He takes a sip of his beverage. This further shows us that Alfred, though pessimistic, is hoping that Bruce can find something to put some life back in his dreary soul.

“Books are knowledge,” we hear Lex say, and we cut to him on the stage, “and knowledge power, and I am…” He laughs awkwardly, panicking over his words. “No. Uh, um… No. What am I? I… What was I saying? No.” “Knowledge is power” is written on the Detroit Public Library, where Museum Gala was filmed.

Cut to the crowd, now looking uncomfortable with Lex’s loss for words. Note that Senator Barrows and Knyazev are also among Lex’s audience, but the only one not cringing is Knyazev. We also see real Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, making a cameo credited as “Metropolis Governor”. Michigan was the primary shooting location for this film.

Medium close-up on Lex now as we get to see him as he really is. He finally goes on, “The bittersweet pain among man is having knowledge with no power, because…” Then he raises his voice angrily. “because that is paradoxical! And, um…” He laughs awkwardly. After an uncomfortable silence, he quietly says, “Thank you for coming.” He clears his throat.

Lex is quoting ancient Greek historian Herodotus’ Histories (430 BC): “It is the most hateful thing for a person to have much knowledge and no power.” Indeed, no matter how much knowledge he has, a being like Superman is still far more powerful than he is without the need for knowledge. Lex feels he has earned what Superman was born with. This comes into play later with the creation of Doomsday, a monster Lex thinks will give him the power he craves. By this time, Finch has denied him a degree of power as well. This line may also reference the paradox of power in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

“The speech was written by Chris Terrio and it’s so incredible. It exactly parallels what I think my character is doing, saving humanity from Superman, and for that I’m punished. The speech is so clever because it starts out about philanthropy, and then it actually turns into this very rich, textured, layered speech about this thing that my character’s dealing with.”

Jesse Eisenberg, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Special Features, 2016

Cut to Clark in the crowd. The awkward silence is broken as they clap for their host. Clark turns his head in the direction Bruce left. More casual now, we hear Lex say, “Please, drink. Drink.”

The music that begins here is Night and Day (1932) by Cole Porter, performed by cover band Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine, one of two covers made specifically for this film. They first collaborated with Zack Snyder when he used their cover of Down with the Sickness (1999) by Disturbed in Dawn of the Dead (2004). On 25 March 2016, they released a short parody track titled Richard Cheese: Live at Wayne Financial Tower, where their performance is interrupted by the World Engine. On 6 December 2019, the band supported the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement. They later covered Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas with Allison Crowe for Snyder’s Army of the Dead (2021). This cover of Porter’s song has obvious relevance to this film that also accompanies the coming conversation between Bruce and Clark. It also fits with the “gods and men” speech by Lex.

Cut to Bruce, arriving on the ground floor from the stairs, and we follow him back into the crowd amid the applause. A waiter steps aside to reveal Diana as she appears to gather her things to leave, but not without making eye contact with Bruce, who approaches her.

“Mister Wayne?” calls Clark, getting Bruce’s attention. Pan left to see him approach, offering a hand. “Mister Wayne? Clark Kent, Daily Planet.”

On the wall behind him are various small components from the End of Days collection of paintings by Cleon Peterson, where the characters in black are authority figures exercising cruel brutality and death against the white figures. The symbolism here should be obvious. Also, the title of the collection is certainly relevant considering that a monster dubbed “Doomsday” kills Superman. Not to mention, there are horses in the piece, again adding to the horse motif layering the film.

“The large mural End of Days by Cleon Petersen was commissioned in a larger size for the walls of Lex’s party room. When I proposed this artwork to Zack, he immediately connected with the work.”

Carolyn Roucks, Set Decor, 9 May 2016

Face-to-face with Clark for the first time in cinematic history, Bruce keeps his eyes on Diana as he shakes Clark’s hand and says with a slight slurring of his words, “Uh, my foundation has already issued a statement in support of, uh… books.” Bruce does not want to talk to the press right now, so he gets out the alter ego playbook, starting with the drunk performance.

“Sir?” asks Clark, a bit confused.

Throughout this exchange, the camera has rotated around the two men to watch Diana move through the crowd in the background, landing on a shoulder shot from Bruce. Now she passes by them both as she leaves to steal Bruce’s drive, as we soon discover. Bruce follows her movements, saying, “Wow.” He turns to Clark and now employs the womaniser act: “Pretty girl. Bad habit. Don’t quote me. Alright?” Bruce getting distracted by Diana in her red dress may be a reference to the Woman in Red in The Matrix (1999), one of Snyder’s favourite films. In this shot, a displayed motorcycle can be seen over Bruce’s shoulder, which Snyder revealed he later gifted to stunt coordinator Damon Caro.

Goof

In the last shot, Clark was facing Bruce. In this shot, where Bruce says, “Wow,” Clark’s head is turned right, facing Diana too, before he turns back to Bruce again. This suggests there was a longer shot where Clark turned to follow Bruce’s gaze, possibly with deleted dialogue.

Just as Bruce is about to go somewhere else, Clark asks, “What’s your position on the Bat vigilante in Gotham?” The fact that Clark asks this quickly shows he has caught on, and suspects Bruce of being the Batman. Or, at the very least, he sees this as a chance to get the billionaire’s opinion of the vigilante Clark has come to resent.

Stopping, Bruce looks Clark up and down. “Daily Planet. Do I… Do I own this one? Or is that the other guy?” Now Bruce is invoking the third and final act in his alter ego arsenal, the billionaire playboy who buys everything in sight. It may also be a reference to Superman #168 (2001), where Bruce Wayne bought the Daily Planet.

Stalwart in his efforts, Clark persists, “Civil liberties are being trampled on in your city. Good people are living in fear.” He says this sombrely.

Having used up all his tricks in a failed attempt to make this nosey reporter dismiss him as an obnoxious waste of his time, Bruce finally drops the charade after a moment and gets serious. In a more quiet tone, he responds, “Don’t believe everything you hear, son.”

With a tone making it sound almost like an appeal to Bruce’s conscience, Clark says, “I’ve seen it, Mister Wayne. He thinks he’s above the law.” His eyes remain locked with Bruce’s as he says this.

This seems to amuse Bruce. “The Daily Planet criticising those who think they’re above the law is… a little hypocritical, wouldn’t you say?”

Clark shakes his head, not quite understanding.

Bruce continues, “Considering every time your hero saves a cat out of a tree, you write a puff piece editorial about an alien who, if he wanted to, could burn the whole place down.” The mention of saving cats stuck in trees, an act iconic for Superman, suggests this iteration of the character has done the same thing at one point. From this we also know the Daily Planet loves to glorify the red-caped superhero. Now the camera shifts closer to Bruce as he finishes, “There wouldn’t be a damn thing we can do to stop him.” As he speaks, Bruce’s words become more quiet. This is his first instance of openly discussing his views on Superman. Note how he deflects the questions regarding Batman by criticising the Daily Planet for their glowing praise of the alien, which also confirms that he knows more about the Metropolis newspaper than he let on earlier. Breaking the fool’s role like this shows how personally he takes this subject.

Henry Cavill’s acting here is immaculate. His performance succinctly conveys Clark looking visibly hurt by Bruce’s perspective, but then he also conveys Clark righting himself to keep up the façade of just some reporter. But he looks back up at Bruce and, with a slight confident smile, retorts, “Most of the world doesn’t share your opinion, Mister Wayne.” Clark is now on the defensive, having given up the Batman questioning. This could almost be Clark reassuring himself, convincing himself that Bruce is wrong.

“Maybe it’s the Gotham City in me. We just have a bad history of… freaks dressed like clowns.” He says this while looking Clark up and down, as if picturing Superman’s colourful outfit. This is an obvious reference to the Joker, and considering that he killed Robin (referenced in the scene immediately prior), that speaks volumes of just how much hate Bruce has for Superman.

Deleted Footage

In the second full trailer, around here with the waiter in the background, Bruce smirks at Clark, but this was removed from the final film, perhaps to avoid the implication that Bruce knew that Clark was Superman.

Evidently offended, Clark holds Bruce’s gaze for a few seconds before he seems to falter. Put this into perspective. Like a gay man — and the allegories are numerous throughout the film — what makes Clark different is something people can’t immediately see, and so Bruce has no idea how cutting his venomous words are, so this would be akin to someone calling gay people perverts or degenerates obliviously right in front of one. It’s deeply hurtful, and Cavill delivers the appropriate reaction perfectly. He struggles to keep up appearances, but sadly, this kind of prejudice is something he has to live with. It’s the tragic reality of being a good person with good intentions yet nonetheless being demonised for things he would never even think about.

Throughout this exchange, the camera has also been getting progressively closer to each character, furthering the subtle tension of their verbal confrontation. As the emotions grow, this classic filmmaking technique subtly makes us feel uneasy too, like someone could throw a punch at any moment. It’s the first fight scene between the two characters, a back-and-forth of verbal attacks against each other.

Behind the Scene

“The architecture of that scene is simply building into close-ups. You start with a wide moving shot that follows Bruce as he enters from the stairway and then gets stopped by Clark, who asks him a question. It’s a wider shot where you see Diana in the background and you see Bruce is watching her. So although there was closer coverage at this point, we had to stay wide. But that’s okay, because you want to build into close ups…

Even sonically we wanted to build in the same way… focus closer on their conversation. So at first we hear the source music and the walla of the party and then, when we’re getting closer visually and the conversation gets more intense, we took those background sounds and reverbed them out and focused in on the dialogue. The reverb we chose gave the background an eerie uneasiness. What’s interesting is that some of the close-ups had a bit more variation in sizes for Bruce, so they felt like they could build into the close-up. But for Clark there was really only a med wide shot and a super-close one, so we ended up resizing — pushing in and making a medium version of that so we could build him up a little bit.”

David Brenner, ProVideo Coalition, 10 April 2016

“Boys! Mm!” Lex interrupts.

Cut to Lex.

The younger man gestures to each of the two men as he says, “Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent. Ha!” He claps. “I love it. I love bringing people together!” Of course, it was Lex who invited both Clark and Bruce to this event, and it is perfectly in line with his character to exert his power in this way, manipulating the movements of both heroes while they remain totally oblivious to his true knowledge. Also, Lex unintentionally brought Batman and Superman together as allies in the end, being the central villain whose monster they unite to defeat. His enthusiasm also makes it appear as though he reads Clark’s articles, so seeing two people he likes together would naturally make him happy. Or rather, that’s what he wants people to think.

Then Lex approaches the two, eagerly extending a hand to Bruce.

He asks, “How are we?”

“Lex,” is all Bruce says, shaking the other billionaire’s hand. His flat, far less enthusiastic response is a subtle reminder that Bruce knows of Lex’s criminal connections.

“Hello. Good,” says Lex. Wide shot of the three men, where the chandelier hanging in the background above Lex’s head resembles of a halo, possibly symbolising him as the pleasant philanthropist he presents himself as. He shakes Clark’s hand now. “Hi, hello. Lex, it is a pleas–Ow! Wow! That is a good grip!” he exclaims, flicking Clark on the chest. Pointing to Clark, he remarks, “You should not pick a fight with this person.” Considering he is orchestrating a conflict between the two, this is likely a conscious tongue-in-cheek joke. Then he turns back to Bruce. “Ha! So, after all these years, we finally got you over to Metropolis.”

Bruce responds more relaxed now, “Well, I thought I’d come drink you dry.”

Lex responds, “Well, you’re welcome. You should hop the harbour more often, though. I’d love to show you my labs. Maybe we could partner on something.” Technically, they are essentially working towards the same goal of destroying Superman, especially since Lex is nurturing Batman’s hate. Lex mentioning his labs is also curious considering the small Kryptonite fragment in his possession, soon to include the larger sample. One can theorise that Lex is manipulating Bruce in this very moment, planting subliminal ideas. As Mercy comes up behind him, he finishes with the ominous, “My R&D is up to all sorts of no good.” Of course, this is a gleeful reminder of the mad science he has been working on.

The live music from the band (not part of the score) fades into high string textures in anticipation of Bruce getting back to work.

Cut to the device downstairs nearing the completion of the data transfer.

Shoulder shot from Alfred at the Bat-computer to see the countdown finish. “That’s seven minutes,” he says. To the lower left of the screen, some text reads, “ORACLE NETWORK”, a reference to Oracle in the comics, the non-combatant alter ego of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) assumed the year of the release of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke (1988), in which she was crippled by the Joker.

At Lex’s house, Clark glances sideways at Bruce as Alfred speaks, reminding us that he can still hear Alfred over the hidden communicator with his super hearing.

“Looks like the transfer’s complete,” says Alfred as Bruce shifts around.

Mercy is beside Lex. “Mister Luthor.”

Lex leans in her direction. “Yes?” he asks excitedly.

“The Governor.”

“Governor,” Lex repeats, playfully feigning a look of concern. He begins to step away. “Excuse me.”

“Next time,” says Bruce, cheerily. The moment he turns away, his smile vanishes and he is back to business.

Lex approaches Debbie Stabenow’s Governor of Metropolis, saying, “Governor! Hi!” as Bruce steps away to return to the basement staircase. Clark watches Lex, but shakes his head and turns to see Bruce leave.

Cut to the basement, a low-angle shot looking up at Bruce as he descends the staircase buttoning his jacket. Behind him, Clark steps into view in pursuit, investigating his suspicions. As Bruce descends, we hear a news reporter saying in Spanish, “Ahora nos dirigimos a las últimas noticias donde una situación peligrosa se ha convertido en un desastre,” translating to, “Now we turn to the latest news where a dangerous situation has turned into a disaster.”

The high strings are joined by low strings.

Bruce opens the door to the server room once again, glancing briefly over his shoulder.

Clark, now in the basement too, continues tailing before glancing to his right, doing a double take before stopping in his tracks. He takes a final look at Bruce before giving his full attention to the nearby kitchen seen earlier, where chefs and waiting staff are now focused on a news report on the television. Clark steps toward the kitchen, where a panicking woman on the screen reaches out desperately from a crowd as civil services hold her back.

The reporter goes on, “No sabemos la [duración?] pero todavía estamos recibiendo informes de testigos, pero como se puede ver en estas imágenes en directo, un incendio en la fábrica mortal ha interrumpido el Día de los Muertos en Juarez. Los sobrevivientes que han sido evacuados…” Subtitles translate the tail end of the penultimate sentence as such: “…a deadly factory fire has interrupted the Day of the Dead celebration in Juarez,” but the start actually translates to, “…a fire in the deadly factory.” The line was probably not spoken by a native Spanish speaker. The full intended translation of the reporter’s dialogue is, “We do not know the [duration?] but we are still receiving eyewitness reports, but as you can see from this live footage, a deadly factory fire has interrupted the Day of the Dead in Juarez.”

Clark steps in behind the small gathering of waiting staff. They murmur over the reporter’s dialogue. One on Clark’s left says, “Mira, se está quemando!” meaning, “Look, it’s burning!”

Another on Clark’s right asks his co-worker, “Qué está pasando?” meaning, “What’s going on?”

The other waiter responds, “Hay gente ahí,” meaning, “There are people in there.”

In the server room, Bruce reaches up for the leech device only to find it missing. He looks down on the floor, but when he turns to his right, we see Diana standing outside the glass door. She turns and hastily walks away.

Diana Prince motif announces her mysterious presence yet again.

Bruce pursues, looking determined. Pushing open the glass door, he calls, “Excuse me!”

The Bat Ostinato returns to intensify Bruce’s pursuit, soon after joined by Batman Theme B on low strings yet again.

As he heads to the stairs, we can see Clark on the far left edge of the frame, still transfixed on the kitchen television. We can hear the same reporter explaining, “…se extendió a través de la fábrica textil…” meaning, “…it spread through the textile factory…”

Diana hurriedly turns the bend half-way up the stairs, and Bruce continues to pursue her, slowed by two descending waiters.

He reaches the top of the stairs, bumping into one of the guests. Then he is delayed yet again by the passing of two chefs transporting a cake resembling a Greek temple. Snyder confirmed in the director’s commentary (52:38) that this was a little hint as to Diana’s mythological origin, and would’ve been a great detail had the character’s presence in the film not been advertised prior to release.

Bruce now frantically looks for her through the party.

Back to the kitchen television. Text over the footage indicates this is the city of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The time indicated is 9:02 PM. The event was set for 7:00 PM, presumably Eastern Standard Time, and Chihuahua is Mountain Standard Time two hours behind, so either the party was meant to start two minutes ago or the news channel is broadcasting to a different Mexican region.

The headline says, “La celebraciones para dia de los muertos fueron interrumpidos por un incendio en una fabrica,” roughly intended to mean, “The celebrations for Day of the Dead were interrupted by a fire in a factory.” However, the headline was clearly spelled incorrectly. “La” should be “Las” to fit the plural “celebraciones”, there should be an “el” between “para” and “dia”, and “interrumpidos” should be the feminine verb “interrumpidas” to match the feminine noun “celebraciones”.

“La chica que habíamos visto antes sigue atrapada!” exclaims the reporter on television, roughly meaning, “The girl we saw earlier is still trapped!”

Another reporter mutters, “Ay yo no puedo creer que van a dejar a esa pobre niña morirse,” which the subtitles give as, “I can’t believe they’re going to let that poor girl die.” The screen shows someone in the window of a burning building, waving for help amid the flames.

Clark loosens his tie and steps away determinedly, no doubt preparing to change into his Superman suit, setting up the next scene. Rather than continue to investigate Bruce, Clark’s priorities lie with one innocent person in danger thousands of miles away. In contrast, remember that Bruce’s top priority earlier was to torture a human trafficker for information rather than guarantee the safety of his victims.

A hit of percussion turns the fading strings into the subtle Krypton Motif.

Cut to Bruce rushing out the front door. Then he slows down.

Beyond the red carpet, Diana stands over the far side of her car, a 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C. She glances at him before descending into her vehicle. Bruce looks annoyed as the engine revs up before Diana speeds away.

Bruce looks around aimlessly, angry and frustrated with his failed mission.

The Krypton Motif of the next scene comes in.

SCENE OVERVIEW

At an event at his home supporting a good cause, Lex Luthor gives us more insight into his psyche with his vain mythological comparisons before showing vulnerability as his inner demons come through. He has brought Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent together for their first meeting on the big screen. Bruce hacks Lex’s mainframe while Clark pursues him, suspicious after hearing the billionaire speaking to Alfred over an earpiece, before a fire a country away steals his attention and he leaves in a hurry. Diana Prince has made her first appearance, stealing Bruce’s drive for her own purposes.

SCENE ANALYSIS

A significant portion of this scene can be watched on the official HBO Max YouTube Channel.

The house is also covered in glass, and like the symbolism of Bruce’s glass home, Lex is also a hypocrite who feels humanity is threatened by Superman in some way, but ultimately hates Superman for deeply personal and destructive reasons.

It is important to note that, with film, every little detail is chosen and decided upon for a reason. If the chefs here are watching Mexican television, it implies that Lex might be hiring illegal immigrants as employees, which is a serious crime and certainly speaks of the underside dealings of Lex’s proclivities.

Lex wants Bruce to steal the files, hence why Superman and Batman are both missing from the files (as we will see) despite Lex keeping tabs on the two of them. He orchestrates giving Bruce what he needs to steal the Kryptonite, weaponize it, and possibly even make enemies of the other Meta-humans.

The music track in this scene is Metropolis Library Fundraiser. It still illustrates that even with the physical appearance of Bruce Wayne, it is Batman who is acting in the scene, complete with a digital-sounding Bat Ostinato to reflect his digital thievery. This also marks the first musical appearance of Diana Prince in film history with the Diana Prince Motif. The second track is Transfer Complete. Most of it is simply ambience and uneasy textures to fit the mystery mood, building tension in an otherwise relaxed environment. These two tracks combined correspond to May I Help You, Mr. Wayne? on the Deluxe Edition of the soundtrack.

BEHIND THE SCENE

Zack Snyder wanted a scene where Batman and Superman would have a tense non-physical confrontation inspired by a scene from Michael Mann’s crime thriller Heat (1995), where the professional thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) have a tense confrontation over coffee. To maintain the seriousness of the confrontation without allowing the inherent absurdity of the scenario to damage the tension and tone, Snyder chose to keep this confrontation confined to their civilian guises…

Zack Snyder: “I kind of came to the conclusion, also, that they couldn’t really talk in their suits with any credibility. You know what I mean? We had to get them back in their civvies.”

Chris Hewitt: “So you couldn’t have that version of the Heat coffee scene?”

Zack Snyder: “We can’t in their suits. The honest truth is we talked all about, ‘We need the Heat scene!’ That was my mantra. I kept saying, ‘We need the Heat scene! We need the Heat scene!’ But, when they’re in their suits, it was impossible. We tried, and it’s just one of those things. You know, if there are more than four or five lines and you start to notice — wait, these are two guys dressed up! One of them is dressed up like a bat and the other one has a big red ‘S’ on his chest, and they’re being super serious about how mad they are at each other. And it’s a dangerous thing, you know?”

Empire Film Podcast, 30 March 2016, 00:06:39

Chris Terrio: “I seem to remember, Zack, I think, we and Ben had a conversation about Michael Mann’s movie Heat, right? About the cop who’s been around, you know, Pacino and De Niro, they’ve been around a minute. They’ve seen it all, and there was a bit of that tone even in Batman. The James Bond tone that we wanted to introduce a little more into his civilian scenes.”

Zack Snyder: “Yeah, didn’t we talk a little bit about having Heat inspire the first meeting also of Superman and Batman?”

Chris Terrio: “Yeah.”

Justice Con, 17 April 2021

Lex’s home is shot at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, 547 East Circle Drive, East Lansing, Michigan, on the Michigan State University campus. You can check out a virtual tour of the building, or check here for detailed images and even schematics. On 22 January 2014, Zack Snyder scouted the location for an hour with production designer Patrick Tatopoulos and MSU’s film liaison Kevin Epling, who had suggested the location to the crew. While there, Snyder had a photo taken with athletic director Mark Hollis and basketball coach Tom Izzo. Lansing City Pulse got an interview with Epling. Set construction began in early October, adding a red carpet, step and repeat banner (depicting logos for LexCorp, Metropolis Public Library Renewal Project, Under Armour, and Dodge), fake walls and hedges, and replacing the Starbucks with a modern bar. Michigan film stalker Bananadoc snapped several photos of the exterior construction site. By the 19th, the set had been deconstructed. Art director Lorin Flemming designed the set, and you can find detailed photos of the layout and conceptualisation at her website.

“We created the industrial kitchen in an art storage closet of the museum, as well as the server room, which was shot in a small side gallery. While the main part was shot in the largest gallery space, in the background, you see the entrance to Lex’s library.”

Carolyn Roucks, Set Decor, 9 May 2016

Deleted Footage

In an Instagram post, Kevin Epling — the Michigan State University film liaison — was in a scene side-by-side with Ben Affleck which didn’t make the final cut, saying on his personal Instagram, “He walked by and pushed past me as the camera tracked behind him — towards me (it’s covered by the schematic).” His inclusion as an extra was also mentioned in this article by City Pulse, where Epling said, “I think I saw a glimmer of myself over Henry Cavill’s shoulder.”

“In the fall of 2013, I started working with a location scout for ‘Sage&Milo’. January 2014, I spent an hour with Zack Snyder and Patrick Tatopoulos at the Broad Art Museum on the campus of Michigan State University while they scoped out shots (like watching two kids in a candy store). The location became Lex Luthor’s house. From then until filming in October, I coordinated university resources with the location manager (building interior sets/extra housing /make up tents/security/etc). During filming, I was lucky to share the stage with Zack as he talked with film and media students (They were very surprised). Then my wife and I spent two days on set as extras in the party scene (one fleeting glimpse behind Clark). Honestly, my ‘scene’ with Ben got cut out.”

Kevin Epling, Instagram, 18 March 2021

“On this date several years ago, I spent a day with Zack Snyder and Patrick Totapoulos at the Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University as a location scout for a small film code named ‘Sage & Milo’. I was the MSU Location Manager for the project and I worked with the WB location manager to coordinate multiple university resource units along with the fantastic museum staff to make it all happen. The museum became Lex’s house and I got to be an extra as well. (Was even in a shot side by side with Ben but it didn’t make the final cut- of course he towered over me and probably looked funny) So for a while I was a small part of the ‘Snyderverse’ A cool highlight of my time at MSU.”

Kevin Epling, Instagram, 18 February 2024

In September 2014, the Michigan Film Office published a casting call for extras for all-night October filming on the 16th and 17th with a pay of $65.20/8 for eight hours. The museum’s official event listings announced it would be “Closed for Private Rental” from the 13th to the 20th. State News confirmed Batman v Superman would film there, and WILX reported public opinion with Fox 47 and Michigan Live. Bananadoc took several photos of the two late night shootings showing the extras dressed in waiter uniforms, the red carpet, LexCorp cars, Lex’s white Rolls Royce Wraith, and the crowd of onlookers who had gathered to observe the filming. Other photographers shot Metropolis news vans, guest cars, and a LexCorp truck. Tao Okamoto, Jesse Eisenberg, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot were all seen arriving to the set. MSU chefs provided cookies for the shoot. Set costumer Kate Abraham posted this photo on the 15th, and set photographer Clay Enos posted this photo on the 16th. The Parthenon cake was made by chef Sarah Williams, who spent 100 hours creating the cake primarily from rolled-out fondant, buttercream frosting, royal icing, and gum paste. It was commissioned for a cost of $5,000. Snyder confirmed in the director’s commentary (52:37) that they sadly knocked it down afterwards. The Lansing State Journal got an interview with Jeffrey Zenner, one of the extras. Kevin Epling and his wife were extras, the former briefly visible over Henry Cavill’s shoulder.