Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

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About

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 American superhero film featuring DC Comics' iconic characters Batman and Superman. It is the second installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) crossover film franchise after Man of Steel, the 2013 reboot of the Superman universe, and the first live-action film to feature both Batman and Superman, as well as other DC Comics characters like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash.

History

In June 2013, Warner Bros. announced that director Zack Snyder and screenwriter David S. Goyer would return for a Man of Steel sequel film, with the initial release date slated for sometime in 2015. In August, Snyder revealed at San Diego Comic-Con International that the proposed sequel to Man of Steel would feature both Superman and Batman in lead roles, marking the first time that two DC Comics heroes would cross paths in a cinematic feature film. In May 2014, the official title of the film was confirmed as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with the director and cast noting that it would be manifested as a crossover expansion of the DC Comics Extended Universe first introduced by Man of Steel, rather than a sequel to the reboot of the Superman franchise.

Development

The film was directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, with Ben Affleck making his debut role as Batman and Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman, and starring other well-known actors like Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Gal Gadot. In addition, Christopher Nolan, the director of the Dark Knight trilogy, served as an executive producer in an advisory role, while Hans Zimmer, the composer behind the film scores for Dark Knight trilogy and Man of Steel, returned to his role for the film.

Promotion

On May 13th, 2014, Zack Snyder tweeted the first picture from the set of the film featuring Batman (played by Ben Affleck) standing next to the superhero's iconic Batmobile. Within 48 hours, the photo gained over 44,000 retweets and over 24,000 favorites.

On April 16th, 2015, Warner Bros. Pictures unveiled the first teaser trailer on YouTube; it was released four days ahead of its schedule after it was leaked online a few hours earlier that day (shown below, left). The first official trailer made its debut at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International, which was met by positive reviews and a standing ovation from the audience, in stark contrast to the reception of the teaser trailer (shown below, right).

On December 3rd, 2015, the third trailer made its debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, followed by the release of the final extended trailer on February 11th, 2016 (shown below, left and right).

Release

In January 2014, Warner Bros. announced that the release date for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has been delayed from July 17th, 2015 to May 6th, 2016, before it was moved once again to March 25th, 2016 in August later that same year. On March 19th, 2016, the film premiered at Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, followed by the box office release in North America, Europe, China and Japan on March 25th, 2016.

Reception

Upon its release, Dawn of Justice was largely met by mixed to negative reviews from the film critics, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting an approval rating of 29% based on 231 reviews (average rating of 5/10) and Metacritics giving an average score of 44/100 based on 50 critics reviews.

#Batfleck

On August 22nd, 2013, Warner Bros. announced that Ben Affleck will replace Christian Bale as Batman for the film series, beginning with the upcoming Batman-Superman crossover film slated for release in July 2015. The news of Affleck's casting immediately triggered negative reactions on Twitter, where many fans demanded Bale to remain on the project and others expressed skepticism towards Affleck, citing his previous superhero role in the 2003 film adaptation of Daredevil.

According to social media analytics firm Fizziology, 71% of the 96,088 tweets within the first hour of Warner Bros.' announcement were negative comments. In the following 24 hours, several Batman-related hashtags began trending on Twitter, most notably #Batfleck and #BetterBatmanThanBenAffleck, as well as a slew of photoshopped images portraying Affleck as Batman and his close actor friend Matt Damon as Robin (shown below).

Meanwhile, Kentucky resident John Roden submitted a Change.org^[2] online petition pleading the film studio to remove Ben Affleck from the cast, which gained more than 14,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.

Online Presence

Aside from the DC Comics' official website^[17] for the film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice maintains several official accounts in the social media, including a Facebook^[14] page with more than four million likes, a Twitter^[3] feed with over 490,000 followers and an Instagram^[15] account with more than 641,000 followers, all as of late March 2016.

Sad Batman

Sad Batman is a photoshop meme based on a black-and-white photograph of actor Ben Affleck posing as the sullen-looking protagonist on the set of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Similar to Sad Keanu and Sad Kayne, the meme involves editing a cutout exploitable of Ben Affleck's Batman into the background of images that accentuate his apparent loneliness.

"Tell Me, Do You Bleed?"

"Tell Me, Do You Bleed?" is a memorable quote from the teaser trailer for Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice in which Batman taunts the seemingly invincible alien Superman with the rhetorical question, insinuating that he too is mortal.

Sad Affleck

"Sad Affleck" refers to the peculiar look of dismay worn by the actor Ben Affleck during a Yahoo! interview in response to a question about the majority of mixed reviews from the film critics surrounding Dawn of Justice. Affleck's saddend face quickly went viral on Youtube, prompting the creation of parodies and remixes using sad audio and imagery to emphasize Affleck's perceived feelings.