Much has been said about the Warner/DC plans to bring their superheroes and supervillains to the screen. There's no doubt they have their icons - Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Joker, but many of talked of a less coherent battle-plan than the more structured constructions of the Marvel Universe. After the mixed reception to Man of Steel - which many felt was a decent superhero movie but not one very suitable to the temperament of the more noble 'Superman' character - all eyes turned to the proposed sequel and our first glimpse of the plans for the wider DC landscape.
And now the first REAL decent-length trailer has arrived at the SDCC's famously big 'Hall H' panels... and it confirms that director Zack Snyder is maintaining that dark and ominous tone that proved so controversial. The trailer also indicates he's taking a lot of visual and mood cues from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, though Snyder claims the story is different. Much of it seems to spring out of the physical and emotional consequences of Superman's fight with Zod at the end of the first film in which many of the citizens of Metropolis died. It's a circumstance that the often opportunistic Lex Luthor campaigns should never be allowed to happen again - and the stage is set for Luthor, Bruce Wayne and Superman (plus his alter-ego, Clark Kent) to head on a collision course of values.
The cast and crew met the fans at this year's SDCC and promised that they've taken their jobs very seriously. The panel came a few days after confirmation that Ben Affleck will be appearing in a solo Batman outing, which he co-write with Geoff Johns (acclaimed comic-book scribe and DC Comics’ chief creative officer) and which he intends to direct.
The film itself opens 25th March, 2016. So for the moment, the trailer above will have to suffice - and it's worth noting it's our first look at a big-screen Wonder Woman in... forever. It's certainly full of the necessary sturm und drang, but time will tell if it's the sum of its parts...
