Nowadays it’s perfectly normal for an upcoming comic book movie to generate several rumors and for key plot points to be revealed well in advance. Obviously, the rumors don’t always pan out, but sometimes they do, or they were at least similar to the truth. For Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, one rumor continues to pop up: Doomsday is in it. Could this powerful foe be the thing that unites Justice League? We could see that happening – Doomsday is ridiculously powerful, after all.
Since the initial rumor dropped, a few more things have given the villain’s possible appearance more weight. First and foremost, the movie’s official synopsis says “a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.” There’s no denying this statement could apply to a huge number of villains in the DC universe, but Doomsday certainly appears to be a strong contender. With it being confirmed that Lex Luthor has General Zod’s corpse (temporarily, at least), the brilliant villain studying the alien to discover Superman’s weaknesses is probable. Could he then attempt to reanimate Zod into his own titan to control? It’s not far-fetched, especially since Michael Shannon – the actor who portrayed Zod – shared a story about needing to wear “flippers” on his fingers while he was on the BvS set. Those could, of course, be used to give his character bigger, sharper hands which will later be enhanced by visual effects. Who would have spiked fingers? Doomsday, of course! However, Shannon later claimed the story was something he made up just for fun. That seems… well, odd, and more like Warner Bros. asked him not to give so much away, but we’ll be nice and take his word for it.
If not Doomsday, could it be a character who draws more parallels to Bizarro? After all, Superman’s opposite was created by Luthor in The New 52 and it’s crystal clear WB is trying to keep one villain a mystery – there’s some shots in the trailer that are edited so it doesn’t reveal who is sometimes doing the attacking. Well, according to one of the people who worked on BvS’ visual effects, Doomsday is not in the movie.
As reported over on Batman News, the employee was asked about Doomsday’s role, and he replied, “Hahaha lol unfortunately he’s not in the film, maybe in the Man of Steel sequel or justice league film who knows.” Seeing as the employee was saying they’re a big Superman fan, this does seem like a sincere response from someone who’s passionate about the movie, especially since the comment has now been deleted. Odds are this employee was enthusiastic about the project and made a mistake that just about everyone has made before: Posting something on the Internet that they really shouldn’t have posted. However, there’s always the little voice of doubt that’s asking, “Could he be lying to help keep the villain’s role a surprise?” Maybe, because lying about movie characters has happened before (e.g. Talia al Ghul in The Dark Knight Rises; Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness). If a role is meant to be a secret, can you really blame them for at least trying not to spoil it, though?
No matter who the unnamed villain is in Batman V Superman, it’s obvious WB is trying to keep their identity a mystery. But here’s the real question: Do you really want to know who the surprise villain is (if there truly is one at all, that is), or would you rather go into the theater not really knowing which big bad will emerge on the big screen?
Source: Batman News