‘Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice’: Controversial Ending Explained And How It Leads To ‘Justice League’

The negative reviews from the critics and harsh reaction to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice did absolutely nothing to hurt it from breaking box office records in its opening weekend. Now, the focus is turning away from how the film is, but more to what actually happens in it. There is a rather controversial ending, and director Zack Snyder has now explained why it ended that way and how it leads into Justice League directly.

Please note that there will be spoilers for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice from this point on. If you don’t want to know anything about the movie and what happens, then stop reading now.

Seriously, you will not want to keep reading if you plan on seeing the film and haven’t.

So, the film does detail the battle between Batman and Superman, and it is even called for in the title. Many were concerned about the trailers and other things giving away far too much before the official release of the movie into theaters.

Well, there was a serious plot point that was fortunately not spoiled at all. Many that have read the DC comic books were wondering if it was going to happen, and they thought it possible, but never really expected it.

Then it happens…Doomsday kills Superman.

Yes, Superman – otherwise known as Clark Kent and played by Henry Cavill – is killed by Doomsday in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Those that are familiar with the comic books aren’t necessarily surprised by this, but those that have no idea about DC Comics’ storylines are quite confused and do find it to be controversial.

This is a storyline that many have wanted to put into film for a long time. It’s a storyline that ran in DC Comics back in the fall of 1992, and it happened pretty much the same way that it did in the movie, as Doomsday was strong enough to do it and killed Superman.

Den of Geek even speaks on how this storyline is straight from the comics and how Superman sacrifices himself in order to stop Doomsday’s destruction. From that point, there were a number of spin-offs and other stories before the resurrection of Superman

Still, director Zack Snyder, executive producer Christopher Nolan, and screenwriters David S. Goyer and Chris Terrio have killed Superman.

Collider spoke with Snyder about the decision to kill off Superman, and it was no last-minute inclusion. It was not something that they just decided to do. No, it was in the plans the entire time.

“It was pretty early, and [Christopher] Nolan and I had long conversation about it, a really great, sort of philosophical conversation about it. He was really cool because he played an amazing devil’s advocate about why not to do it, and then in the end was like, ‘No you’re right, it’s better to do it.'”

It is clear that Nolan had a lot of influence and input into Batman V Superman, and he didn’t just sit back as a producer. As soon as Doomsday was revealed as one of the primary villains, everyone started wondering if the “Death of Superman” storyline was ever going to happen.

Well, it has happened, but Snyder has explained that there are a number of reasons as to why Superman was killed off. Not only did the new group of superheroes have to learn what it’s like to protect the Earth without him, but also it will lead to Bruce Wayne having a true reason to form the Justice League.

“We had a version that we talked about where [Superman] just—this isn’t it, but where he got frozen and shot into space or something, so he’s kinda gone. Because one of the big things I wanted to make sure of was that as we went into Justice League, Bruce Wayne was the one who was gathering the Justice League. I thought it was really important to have Bruce Wayne be the samurai who goes and finds the other samurai, that to me was important. And with Superman around it’s kinda hard, because Superman’s Superman so it’s kinda hard for Bruce to be like, ‘Yeah I wanna put a Justice League together’. It’s like, ‘Okay, but maybe Superman should be doing that. You’re just a guy. You’re a cool guy, don’t get me wrong, but you’re just a guy.'”

So, in turn, Superman’s death is going to be the movie reason why the Justice League ends up being formed. Yes, Wonder Woman is a key piece of the puzzle already, but Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg were also introduced in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The death of Superman is then the reason that the subtitle is the “Dawn of Justice,” as it is the beginning of the Justice League. Make sure you stayed around until the final seconds though, so you could see the dirt levitating off of Superman’s casket, because it’s obvious that he won’t stay dead.

The main question now is how does Superman return, and no, it will have nothing to do with the movie where he was played by Brandon Routh. Snyder does have everything in the works already, though, but fans are going to have to wait for it.

“I’m gonna say this: the second you do the first part of it, the death and resurrection are the same thing in a weird way. You have to know. The reason I wanted to do it the way we did it is because I don’t want the audience completely off the hook with it. They still have to go like, ‘What the f*ck? Are you kidding me?’. There’s a way to signal towards a more definitive resurrection concept, but I didn’t wanna do that because I want that to be real for them when they see it, I want the experience to be real and then the sort of need to be real later on. Suffice it to say there is a plan, but that’s gonna be—you need to wait and see.”

It does seem appropriate then to call Batman V Superman a prequel even though it was an introduction to Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck’s Batman, and the rest of the team. It’s the early story of the Justice League and will lead directly into the team movie.

Justice League Part 1 isn’t hitting theaters until Nov. 17, 2017, so there is a good bit of time to wait until fans find out how the “Man of Steel” comes back to life. Still, the death of Superman is a key part of this entire process and him dying in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice may be controversial and confusing, but it will all make sense in the long run, according to Zack Snyder.

[Image via Warner Bros.]