Batman Suit In ‘Batman V Superman’ Is A Spin On Miller’s ‘Dark Knight Returns’, First Image Leaks

One of the obvious questions for Zack Snyder’s upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice film is how how the very human Dark Knight would be able to go toe-to-toe with the god-like Man of Steel. Descriptions from a Warner Bros. San Diego Comic-Con 2014 panel hosted for the movie on Saturday reveal a very Frank Miller-inspired solution.

The original The Dark Knight Returns run of comics by Frank Miller and artist Klaus Janson depicted a 55-year old Bruce Wayne who comes out of retirement to fight crime in a still corrupt Gotham City and a United States government that disapproves of all heroes, except for Superman who works for the president.

In a final showdown, Batman used a powered exoskeleton suit (and plenty of trickery) to get the better of Superman. Descriptions of a teaser trailer shown during the Comic-Con panel today indicate a similar face off for Dawn of Justice.

Update: Here’s the leaked image from Comic-Con courtesy of Imgur.

#75 pic.twitter.com/Caj2N8iTAb

Original story continued:

— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) July 24, 2014

Coming Soon described the trailer as:

“Batman is standing on a Gotham rooftop in the rain. His costume isn’t what we’ve seen already. It’s big and bulky, like his armor in The Dark Knight Returns. His eye light up, solid white. He’s moving a tarp, revealing the bat signal. He turns it on and the camera tracks up to the sky. Superman is there, hovering in the light. He doesn’t look happy. His eyes light up with heat vision as he glares at Batman. The title come up!”

Empire’s take was:

“It was short but got right down to the heart of the matter. Set at night, in pouring rain, it begins on a rooftop with Ben Affleck’s Batman — in souped-up armor much like he wields in Frank Miller’s ‘The Dark Knight Returns,’ including glowing eyes – pulling a tarpaulin off the Batsignal. It shines into the sky, and then — illuminated against the clouds, flecked with lightning, standing inside the symbol, is Henry Cavill’s Superman. And he does not look happy, his eyes glowing red with burgeoning heat vision ray. The camera tracks in on Batman’s face as he grimaces… and cut to black. No dialogue at this point, so there’s no idea of what Affleck sounds like as Batman, or indeed a wider sense of the story, but the message is clear: Clark and Bruce are going to face off, and Bruce has enhanced his Batsuit to compensate for the most powerful man alive.

First Showing said:

“Footage shows Batman, with eyes lit up in his Batsuit, turning on the Bat signal (new design for the logo). Bass is pounding, rain pouring, darkness. The Bat signal shines in the sky, and suddenly Superman appears in the middle of the light. His eyes begin glowing red, staring down at Batman. Batman stares back. EPIC! That’s all.”

SlashFilm added:

“The short teaser opens with Batman in a fully armor suit from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. glowing eyes, raining. He puts on the light on the bat signal with the new Batman logo (reminiscent of the one from Miller’s comic). Slow pan up to Superman, illuminated in the sky amongst the pouring rain with his red glowing eyes. I can’t express to you how awesome the teaser looked. It looked like the Frank Miller comic come to life through the lens of Zack Snyder.”

What has been shown of Ben Affleck’s Batman costume in Dawn of Justice already has a very Frank Miller take on the character with the stubbier ears. The Warner Bros. Comic-Con panel from 2013, which announced Batman V Superman, also included a quote from Batman in The Dark Knight Returns. The influences from Miller appear to run deep despite cameos from Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and other DC Comic heroes.

Great time at #SDCC this year! #WonderWoman #DCTrinity http://t.co/iPhukjD0F3 pic.twitter.com/JobeSzwfH4

— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) July 26, 2014

[Image via Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 2 animated movie]