We ’re just one month away from see Batman v. Superman , the long - look smackdown between the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel . But if things had turned out differently , we could have seen Batman fight down Superman back in 2004 . Here ’s everything we know about Batman vs. Superman : Asylum , and how it would have been unlike than Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice .
Minor spoilers and speculation for Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice ahead …
Batman vs Superman was set up by Andrew Kevin Walker , the writer of Se7en , who write an ultra - dark screenplay about the two heroes clash . According to the bookSuperman vs. Hollywoodby Jake Rossen , the studio apartment apparently thought this edition was too dark , so they employ Akiva Goldsman ( the writer of A Beautiful Mind who also wrote Batman Forever and Batman and Robin ) to do a rewrite . Wolfgang Petersen ( Das Boot , The Perfect Storm ) was all position to direct .
A rough drawing of Batman vs. Superman , as rewrite by Goldsman , has been float around the internet for years , and is easy enough to find out . Plus a few dozen books have included elaborated summary of the plot at this decimal point . And there are some pretty life-threatening problems with the storyline .
In Batman vs. Superman : Asylum , Batman and Superman are best friends , but they ’re both get a bit of a midlife crisis . Batman has been retired for five years , after the last of Dick Grayson , Jim Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth . ( Batman has programmed a holographical Alfred , who acts almost like the real Samuel Butler . ) The Joker is also presumed dead , after he lessen to his death at the destruction of Tim Burton ’s Batman . We learn betimes on that Bruce discontinue being Batman because he dread that he would start belt down his enemy and going after retaliation alternatively of justice .
Meanwhile , Lois Lane is disunite Clark Kent ( because “ Truth , Justice and the American Way ” do n’t exit much meter for relationship . ) Clark spend destiny of sentence moping around Smallville and rekindling his in high spirits schooling love affair with Lana Lang , who ’s a Dr. now . Clark talks a fair bit about how he ’s an noncitizen and he ’s wasted his time on this little planet full of petty humans , which seems kind of out of character .
The action at law starts when Bruce Wayne marries a beautiful , magnificent adult female , Elizabeth Miller ( with Clark as Bruce ’s best adult male ) . And then she ’s murdered on their honeymoon by the Joker ( who ’s been brought back to animation by Lex Luthor , using DNA and stuff . ) To make matters bad , it wrick out that a terrorist that Superman block off an wild crime syndicate from murdering was actually the Joker , so it ’s Superman ’s fracture for keep start the Joker ’s lifetime . Batman want to shoot down the Joker once and for all , but Superman wo n’t let Batman become a manslayer .
So the two heroes crusade , even though they both kind of bed that they ’ve been pull strings into fighting by Lex Luthor . That ’s the uncanny matter about the confrontation between Batman and Superman in Batman vs. Superman : mental institution : They both cognize that their competitiveness is senseless , and they even say so before they start fighting . But Batman still tries to slay Superman with kryptonite , and comes incredibly close to succeeding .
In the end , Batman face the Joker — who bring out that Batman ’s wife was really the Joker ’s macrocosm , all along . Once Lex Luthor had tell the resurrected Joker that Bruce Wayne was Batman , the Joker knew how to create the everlasting cleaning woman for Bruce to fall in passion with . The proof ? The doughnut she return Bruce has the Joker ’s face engraved all over the interior of the band . Batman ’s supposed to be the great detective , the Joker gloat — but he totally missed this obvious affair .
And then Superman miraculously outlive Batman ’s murder endeavor , and help Batman take down the Joker and Luthor .
The best bit is when Luthor escape from prison by dispatch his attorney . And then he uses his fingernail — his fingernails!—to do extemporary head operating theater on two prison house guards at once , removing their free will and turning them into his snake god slaves . Let me just repeat that : Lex Luthor expend his fingernails to do encephalon operating room on two people simultaneously .
Of course , the script that ’s float around on the internet may be fake , and all the patch summaries and details in various account book may be inaccurate . Plus the hand was in all likelihood still being retread when the film was shelved , and it ’s never fair to judge a film from a script conscription , because it ’s just a work in progress . We ca n’t know how this picture show would in reality have turn out , full stop .
But the notion that Batman and Superman are manipulated into fighting because Batman want to kill the Joker and Superman wo n’t let him feels a chip chinchy . And the fact that both heroes allow in that they ’re being manipulate into fighting , but they do it anyway , is kind of bonkers .
The effective account of the rise and fall of Batman vs. Superman : Asylum comes from David Hughes ’ indispensible bookTales From Development Hell : The majuscule Movies Never Made . And fortuitously , Hughes ’ chapter on this flick ( along with Darren Aronofsky ’s Batman : Year One and J.J. Abrams ’ Superman : Flyby book ) is really online , as an excerpt at Movieline .
So Petersen was all place to take Batman vs. Superman in 2003 , for a 2004 departure . There was already tons of casting speculation flying around , with Christian Bale being rumored for Batman and Jude Law for Superman . ( Matt Damon was also in the running for either role . ) Petersen sacrifice various consultation , where he utter about howthe clash between Batman and Superman was thoroughgoing for the post - September 11 world : “ Superman represents sort of everything clear and shiny and baronial . He make up our hopes and ideals . Batman , on the other hand , stand for the dark and obsessive and vengeful side . ”
And then , all of a sudden , Warner Bros. seemed to alter its mind about Batman vs. Superman . Studio President Alan Horn was apparently convinced it was better to relaunch both hero separately , with J.J. Abrams ’ Superman book and some translation of Aronofsky ’s Batman origin news report . Horn distributed copy of the Batman vs. Superman script and Abrams ’ Superman : Flyby hand to 10 Warner Bros. execs , and they all preferred the Superman script .
Warner Bros. VP Lorenzo di Bonaventura was still a steadfast supporter of Batman vs. Superman , and fence that they could do the squad - up movie first and then release Superman : Flyby . But J.J. Abrams , in one coming together , reportedly recite di Bonaventura that “ You ca n’t do that , ” because it would be consanguine to bring out When Harry Divorced Sally followed by When Harry Met Sally .
In the death , harmonize to Hughes ’ book of account , the fate of Batman vs. Superman apparently came down to Alan Horn versus Lorenzo di Bonaventura — and after BvS was killed , di Bonaventura leave the studio apartment a few days afterwards .
There was a cosmopolitan sense that Warner Bros. could make more money ( on toy , continuation , etc . ) by launching two freestanding Batman and Superman franchises . But also that the Batman vs. Superman construct was blemished . As David S. Goyer , co - writer of Batman Begins , separate the L.A. Times in 2005 :
“ Batman vs. Superman is where you go when you admit to yourself that you ’ve exhausted all possibilities … It ’s like Frankenstein Meets Wolfman , or Freddy vs. Jason . It ’s somewhat of an admission that the dealership is on its last pant . ”
Goyer , of course of instruction , went on to be one of the writers of Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice .
So based on what we know about Batman v. Superman , how does it approach the clash between the two heroes differently than the 2004 film would have ?
There are a ton of major differences , starting with the fact that Batman and Superman are n’t old friends at the start of Batman v. Superman — in fact , they ’ve apparently never met , and know nothing about each other . ( We see Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent meeting for the first sentence , in the trailers . )
And their reason for combat is totally different , too . In Batman vs. Superman , they ’re only fight because Superman gets in the way of Batman ’s bloody vengeance against the Joker . But in Batman v. Superman , Batman actually has it in for Superman straight because he believes Superman is too powerful , and too alien , to be trusted . And Batman ’s distrust of Superman has a concrete motivation : the sweeping destruction in Metropolis at the end of Man of Steel , which apparently claimed someone Bruce cares about . Of course , in both motion picture , Lex Luthor is behind the whole matter .
Another major difference is the fact that Batman v. Superman puzzle to one major baddie — Luthor — with Doomsday looking like an extra , stakes - raising baddie . The Batman vs. Superman storyline relies on both the Joker and Lex Luthor , with both arch - villain needing to get major screen time .
And the other Brobdingnagian conflict is that Batman v. Superman is clear aimed at jumpstarting a whole DC Comics movie world , with lots of potential to follow Ben Affleck ’s Batman and his supporting cast alongside Wonder Woman and the ease of the Justice League . By contrast , it ’s grueling to imagine just how Batman vs. Superman , back in 2004 , could have led to much of anything , since it have a wash out - up Batman , and a fairly burned - out Superman as well .
So the melodic theme of Batman going up against Superman , on the big screen , has been around for virtually 15 year . But the biggest challenge in this conception has always been finding a cause for Batman and Superman to struggle that in reality constitute some sense . How you do that question calculate on how you see both of those heroes : The 2004 movie answer it by become Batman into a revengeful killer , who can only keep from murdering people by hang up his bonnet , and Superman into Batman ’s conscience . By contrast , the new celluloid play on the fact that Superman actually did murder General Zod , and he inadvertently tear apart a vast ball of his own city .
Neither of these reasons for their clash seems quite as compelling , on the face of it , as the apparatus in The Dark Knight Returns , where Superman is kind of a administration stooge and Batman is kind of off the rails . ( That manner , both of these men are a minuscule compromised . ) But then , part of the problem is that a movie ca n’t automatically take out on the foresightful history these characters have in the comic — any movie that pits Batman against Superman has to commence fresh , enter both zep and then putting them in the tintinnabulation .
But the bottom line is , you were probably never going to get a Batman / Superman score match on the large screen , without one or the other of those paladin being slightly stain in the process first .
All images are from Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice .
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