Snyderverse Analysis: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Scene-by-Scene

"For me, where the [Zack Snyder's Justice League] falls, it really starts to represent its own path. It's kind of separate now from the DC cinematic universe in continuity. I think it's divergent in that way, and I think that's a good thing. I think the power of DC, and one of its cool strengths, is the sort of multiverse concept. And also, they put filmmakers first, like, 'Guys, we want to hear your individual voices. Take these characters and do a run to show us what you would do.' It's the great tradition of comic book writing and runs that have been done with all these amazing characters. So I think that is a cool and amazing canvass, so for me... You know, I heard someone say, 'You're entering the Snyderverse now.'" (Zack Snyder, Beyond The Trailer, 20 July 2020)

Welcome to my analysis of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In short, I will walk through BvS in exhaustive detail to explain why I believe this film is not only an absolute masterpiece, but the best title in the superhero genre.

I do not mean to brag, but I have spent the past four years working on this analysis, collecting behind-the-scenes info, quotes from cast and crew, researching other analyses, and ensuring that everything you could ever know about this film are all available with links and references. Not to devalue any other analysis, but you will certainly find this to be the most comprehensive resource on the film outside of the actual film-makers. Beyond that, I took to learning about film, researching what defines good editing, pacing, dialogue, and story. I also revised my comic book knowledge and learned a great deal more about the characters, their stories, and their fans.

So this is my own masterpiece, methodically crafted in the name of analysing the film to the bone. I sincerely hope you find it an enjoyable and thought-provoking read, and feel free to spread it around. I ask that you please give credit for any portions you copy-paste or photograph. If you dislike the film, then I hope this analysis can persuade you to see it in a new light. I also hope that those who already enjoy this film can learn plenty more about it.

Method

It is first essential to establish my format here. In three posts each tackling roughly an hour of the film, I will first go through the film on a scene-by-scene basis, analysing each and every moment, word of dialogue (in bold), musical beat (in italics), reference, symbolism, motif, allusion, concept, Easter Egg, and parallel while outlining the overall significance of each scene, how they contribute to the plot, and how they develop the characters. I will mark every scene with a title for convenience, along with screenshots to help contextualise my analysis and help people to search for my breakdown of a particular moment they might be looking for. Each scene will include an Overview section to note its overall plot significance and a Scene Analysis section to cover the sequence as a whole.

BvS is an absolutely massive film, where almost every line has more to it than what you read on the surface. However, I am dedicated to an objective analysis of the film to the best of my ability, rather than personal interpretations. I try to look at what the film is actively doing and form conclusions from that, rather than inventing my own components of the film. I do posit my own interpretations, but I make it very clear when I do, putting them forward as mere possibility and not as fact. For the purpose of this analysis, Zack Snyder and his team are the final word on anything, and are referenced accordingly. I will also reference the theories and analyses of other proponents of this film.

I have chosen to include extensive behind-the-scenes details derived from the social media of the film-makers, bystander photos, news articles, video featurettes, director's commentary, interviews, and lastly the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: The Art of the Film book by Peter E Aperlo and the twin book Tech Manual by Adam Newell and Sharon Gosling, which both provide immensely insightful information on the film's production. I have done this partly because I firmly believe the unspoken names behind the film deserve to have their work spotlighted, and sources like these are useful for providing new contexts and quotes from the cast and crew. I will also make mention of deleted footage and dialogue.

The fourth and final post of this analysis will explore a general overview of the movie. A shorter alternative to reading the first three posts, it analyses story and plot, characters, music (plus a full dictionary on the various leitmotifs), cinematography, production design like props, sets, and costumes, and production history.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Scene-by-Scene - Part 1/3): First hour analysis.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Scene-by-Scene - Part 2/3): Second hour analysis.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Scene-by-Scene - Part 3/3): Third hour analysis.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Overview): Story, character, production.

Notes

This analysis will discuss the three-hour "Ultimate Edition" extended director's cut of the film, which is the only valid version of this movie. So if you have not seen the Ultimate Edition, please do. It is the film that was intended and the only version of BvS that anyone should watch.
This analysis is not a substitute for watching the movie, nor should it be read like a novel. It is written on the assumption that the reader has already seen the film.
This post is still a little rough around the edges, so please be patient with me and forgive any typos, broken formatting, and barren areas as I was in a hurry to meet my deadline. However, I will continue to add to this analysis over time from here on, expanding empty areas and including newly-noticed details.
There is some repetition in the Behind the Scene sections. This is so people looking for specific set/location information will not have to find the first scene where that set/location is used.
If you are looking for analysis of or rebuttals to film criticism, look elsewhere. That is a subject for another day.

A Beautiful Lie / Prologue

We start in black. The film opens on the Warner Bros Pictures logo, styled like a stone carving. As the logo moves away to fade out into the blackness, a solitary autumn leaf drifts down from above, telling us the season. Then the RatPac Entertainment logo fades in and out, also in stone grey. The DC Comics logo, again in the same style, is further accompanied by more falling leaves: symbols of death, falling from dying trees.

The music begins with with the 6-note Batman Theme A softly on piano -- the cornerstone of Batman's theme song.

Then we hear a sombre monologue from Bruce Wayne, saying, "There was a time above, a time before..."

We exit the black screen by pulling away from the roof of a shining black coffin, a crane establishing shot rising up in line with the dialogue to oversee two caskets carried in a procession to a mausoleum beside a small cemetery, telling us the deceased are of high status. The wind is howling, rustling the autumn trees as leaves continue falling on the scene.

Batman Theme A is soon overlaid by the haunting 3-note Bruce Wayne Motif, also on piano. It sounds similar to the Earth Motif from Man of Steel, but colder and harsher in contrast to the Earth Motif's warmth and gentleness.

Bruce's monologue continues. "There were perfect things, diamond absolutes." The past was a better time, where certain ideas and values were simple and straightforward. There was no ambiguity or shades or grey. After a pause, Bruce continues, "Things fall, things on Earth..."

Cut to another high angle beside the mausoleum, looking at the procession from the front now in a new establishing shot revealing the overcast sky and Wayne Manor standing in the moody background. In association with Bruce's words, the camera descends now as we see, at the head of the column, a young Bruce Wayne (Brandon Spink) breaks away from Alfred Pennyworth to flee.

"And what falls..." continues the monologue.

"Master Wayne!" exclaims Alfred, quietly, as he pursues.

The monologue concludes: "...is fallen." These words establish the movie's "falling" motif verbally, which is shown visually throughout the story to symbolise a regression in the status of the characters in one form or another, typically a descent into apathy for Superman or a descent into villainy for Batman.

The diamond absolutes clearly represent his former more optimistic and simplistic outlook of good versus evil before the lines became blurred for him. In short, he is saying that things used to be simple and uncomplicated, but those days are over. The establishing of the falling motif in the minds of the audience also allows them to associate that subconsciously with ample "falling" imagery throughout this scene. Superman's logo is also diamond-shaped, possibly indicating the ideal Superman represents that Batman no longer does.

"Bruce!" yells Alfred, using his first name to create a more personal connection between them.

As we descend into the tall grass around the mausoleum, we turn right to follow Bruce as he dashes into the woods, his environment alive with chaotic motion from the wind to embody the young man's turmoil. Our last shot of Alfred shows him coming to a stop, relenting in his pursuit. Bruce runs by a few tombstones, one engraved with the name Solomon Grundy and the words "Born on a Monday," referencing the Batman villain Solomon Grundy and his associated nursery rhyme.

As Bruce disappears into the woods, we hear Alfred's words echo and fade, "Bruce, it's alright!" No, it is not alright. "Bruce, please!"

Cut to Bruce running through the foliage, throwing aside branches in his way, as if in a panic. We cut to an over-the-shoulder view, tracking him through the forest to keep building the intensity of his escape.

We transition to black through the passing swipe of a thin tree trunk.

Top-down shot of a theatre entrance, the autumn leaves replaced with falling snow in slow-motion. The film's title is revealed in the black space on the right of the frame, standing out against the darkness. Here, the music changes to the Batman Tragedy motif in sorrowful descending piano chords. A couple and their son step into view from below the marquee.

The repeated Batman motif transfers to lower-voiced instruments while a new theme representing Bruce's parents and their deaths is introduced on piano. This theme only occurs in one other place in the entire score. It is a tragic, fateful, descending series of chords on piano, accompanied by strings. The gradually falling notes throughout associate with the "falling" motif of the scene.

Beside them, the first poster on the building's wall is for The Mark of Zorro (1940), a film depicting a wealthy man fighting for justice in a black mask. In DC canon, this was the film that young Bruce Wayne watched with his parents at the theatre before they were murdered, and is also the only time in the live-action cinematic history of Batman where this comic book detail has been adapted. This can also be seen in The Dark Knight Returns (1986), which heavily inspired this movie. The Mark of Zorro is now showing according to the poster, so this is likely the film the family just saw. The second poster is for John Boorman's Excalibur (1981), which is Snyder's favourite film and is also on the marquee. Excalibur will be highly relevant to this film's themes going forward. Fade to black.

"We have the mask of Zorro which has long been associated with Batman. The way Zorro leaves his mark, I wanted to kind of use that concept in the film. The beauty of Zorro is that he is also a vigilante who wears a mask. There's a lot of parallels. It's always been a cool reference for how [Bruce] got the idea to become Batman. As well as Excalibur, you see there, is a big influence on this film. Batman is Lancelot, Superman is Arthur, I would say, and you can take that metaphor as deep as you want. It's pretty archetypal and these heroes are pretty archetypal" (Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman Director's Commentary, 2021, 00:56)

Fade into a low-angle shot of Thomas (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who portrayed the Comedian in Zack Snyder's 2009 cinematic adaptation Watchmen) and Martha Wayne (Lauren Cohan). We track them, following the happy family down the street as they exit the theatre. They are dressed warmly and look very satisfied after their viewing. Thomas looks down at his son, muttering something we cannot hear as the tragic piano chords rule the tone of the scene. They pass by a door with the street number 1108, a possible reference to 11:08 in the Book of Revelation: "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Later, Superman will die in Gotham. Fade out.

Fade into a two-shot medium close-up on the faces of the couple, the latter of whom seems to laugh somewhat.

Fade out and back to to a medium close-up on young Bruce, his father's gloved hand over his shoulder. This whole picture of the Wayne family, represented in three shots, is wholesome and warm, but the atmosphere and music of the scene is fully acknowledging the coming tragedy. However, the slow-motion also makes it feel like an ideal moment for the family, and seeing this interaction contributes to the weight of coming loss of innocence. Fade out.

Coinciding with and contrasting the last shot of Bruce full of joy, we cut to a ground-level shot of Bruce's feet, tracking him through the forest as he runs. His strained panting is echoing. Time is restored to normal here, as is sound (minus the echo accompanying every fade), contrasting the past slow-motion tragedy with the "present" funeral. The music builds, maintaining the motif but growing more dramatic.

Cut to an over-the-shoulder close-up on Bruce, his face hidden from view as trees rapidly pass by between us and the character. We fade out with yet another swipe from a tree.

Fade into another top-down shot of the street, panning up from the family to see the elevated railway ahead of them, showering sparks from electrical damage beneath. The sound is back, and we hear the rattling of the train passing up ahead, or the car driving up the road on the right. These details serve to drain away the warmth from the scene by focusing on the grime and steel of Gotham City, transforming the environment into a more unwelcoming atmosphere for the family. Fade to black.

Fade into a hip-level shot from under the railway. The silhouettes of the Waynes approach in the left background. A stranger with a high collar is on the right foreground, and he steps in their way as he peers around suspiciously. This immediately puts the Waynes in danger psychologically, the man's silhouette towering over the unfocused family behind him. This is Joe Chill, the murderer of the Wayne family from the comics (portrayed by the film's stunt coordinator Damon Caro, who also played a mugger in Zack Snyder's 2009 adaptation Watchmen).

Fade out on the echoed sound of a gun cocking, and fade into a hip-level shot beside the man's pistol, a Colt M1911A1, now aimed at the three. Courageously, Thomas removes his arms from around his wife and son and steps forward protectively between his family and the gunman.

Cut to an extreme close-up of the pistol, a blurry image that fades into clarity as we look down the barrel. This is the gun that killed Bruce Wayne's parents, and the film wants that in our heads by emphasising the significance of this weapon. The music ramps up yet again -- louder, more dramatic, and more tragic.

Then we cut back to the forest again, still tracking Bruce at shoulder height from the side.

Then we cut to a knee-level full shot of Bruce running in our direction, and we pan left to follow him, our first large shot in the "present" since the opening shots. From this distance, we can clearly see the leaves still falling.

Cut to a top-down shot, watching Bruce run below us as we stay on him. He trips and grunts as he hits the ground.

Cut to a full shot of him from the front, seeing him climb to run again. The camera ascends as he passes by underneath, but we follow with a pan down, literally turning both the camera and Bruce's world upside-down.

Cut to the street, a medium close-up on young Bruce's concerned face. Thomas balls a gloved fist, emphasised by the sound of stretching leather.

Fade cut to Thomas' face, exerting with his face.

Cut back to Bruce, where Thomas' fist is thrown forward to strike their assailant. Thomas Wayne attempting to defend his family is accurate not only to The Dark Knight Returns, but to the earliest Batman comics, particularly Detective Comics #33 (1939) and Batman #47 (1948). It may also have left an impression on Bruce growing up to think with his fists, drilling violence into him. In that sense, he is a product of his father's actions, as Lex Luthor and Superman are too.

Close-up down the barrel of the gun, which fires a single shot.

High-angle extreme close-up on the upper barrel, where the ejected bullet casing flies away. The bang of the firing is muffled, but the clang of the recoil is clear as day. This shot bears a resemblance to a near-identical slow-motion shot of an ejecting bullet casing in Watchmen (2009).

The Waynes' death theme on piano is accompanied by a rising string melody, abruptly growing more dramatic with the gunshot.

A non-fade cut here back to the forest, a knee-level tracking shot of Bruce running again, but he trips once more and face-plants the ground on the far side of an open hole in the ground.

Cut to him head-on as we watch the boy slide back into the opening, disappearing into the blackness. Bruce's fall here coincides with the sudden murder of his father, and is the first of the greater falls in the scene.

Cut to a knee-level wide-shot at the street. Ahead of us, Thomas Wayne collapses backwards from the gunshot wound as his wife and son watch in horror, but the scene is blurry. The only thing in focus is the sparks, falling between us and the characters as if the snow had turned to fire. Fade to black.

Fade in as shattered wooden planks fall aside to give us a below-angle shot of Bruce falling into the shaft, silhouetted by the daylight above. This is the first shot in the "present" in slow-motion.

In connection, cut to a ground-level shot where the bullet shell bounces on the ground with a clank that rings for a few seconds. This image is repeated again at the end of this film during Superman's funeral and serves as a very visual representation of death due to its association with the firing of a weapon.

Cut to an over-the-shoulder shot of Bruce with a shallow focus on Martha Wayne and Joe Chill. Martha is grabbing at the shooter's arm to try and wrestle the gun away, establishing that she too is trying to protect her son. The shot opens with yet another shower of sparks from above between us and the characters. As Martha's necklace flails from inertia, we hear the pearls rattling into the next shot.

Transfers from strings to a feminine solo vocalist to entwine with Martha's focus in the scene while the descending chords become descending single notes.

Fade to black and out to medium close-up shot of Martha from the side as the gun snags under the necklace during their tackle. According to VFX Supervisor John "DJ" DesJardin, these pearls are CGI. Female vocals come in to entwine with Martha's focus in the scene, which also factors into her later importance in Batman's arc, but the rest of the music begins descending in intensity now.

Cut to Martha's terrifying point-of-view. The pistol and pearl necklace are in focus, but Chill's face and the background are highly blurred to keep our attention on the weapon. Fade to black.

Fade in to a below-angle in the forest shaft, medium close-up on Bruce's fearful expression. This serves as a substitute for Bruce's face during the murder. Still, Bruce's fall is slow-motion. Sudden cut to black.

Fade in to close-up on Martha's look of despair. The necklace is hooked over the back of the pistol pointing at her neck. We hear the rattle of the necklace.

Cut to an extreme close-up side angle on the pistol. The weapon fires again, snapping the necklace with the barrel's recoil. The pearls go flying with the second bullet casing. This shows the two parents were always doomed as the psychotic mugger executes them both.

Low-angle medium shot of Martha from behind, falling aside as the pearls fall everywhere. She reveals Chill, looking frozen. We fade to black as Martha falls out of frame.

Connecting Martha's fall to Bruce's, sudden cut to a knee-level shot of Bruce hitting the bottom of the shaft on a cushioning bed of dead leaves, normal time. Sudden fade to black.

The strings, piano, and vocals fade out. The Batman motif resumes on soft piano. The murder is done.

Fade in on Martha's limp arm falling on the cover of the storm drain, quite literally dying in the gutter as Bruce later mentions. Her fall is accompanied by the many pearls clanging down around her. One falls into her open palm before bouncing off into the drain below, a visual which has been compared to the opening scene from Citizen Kane (1941), where Charles Foster Kane dies and the snow globe slips from his limp hand to smash on the floor below. Fade to black.

Fade into a medium close-up of Bruce, who screams inaudibly at the death of his parents. Fade to black.

The Bruce Wayne motif is played a final two times on a single, haunting, distant trumpet audibly substituting Bruce's scream. From this moment on, those trumpets in the Bruce Wayne motif will be that scream.

Fade into a wide shot of the scene, putting everything in focus. Bruce stands aimlessly over the bodies of his parents, the Excalibur title on the marquee of the Aragon theatre directly above him. Joe Chill turns and flees on the left, indicating anything from assuming he is going to get caught to the sudden realisation of his own actions based on his shocked expression, which would also tie into Batman's later realisation of his own, but before he could make an unforgivable mistake. Fade to black.

Fade into a ground-level medium close-up of Thomas, lying on his back as he reaches out to his wife.

Close-up on Martha's face, audibly gasping weakly for air.

Extreme close-up on Thomas' face as he breathes, "Martha." We hear this loud and clear. This might be a reference to the "Rosebud..." moment from Citizen Kane, as both films are about a powerful man whose desire for power brings him down morally.

The closest shot thus far, we cut to an extreme close-up on Martha's lifeless eye as it dilates.

Cut to a below-angle shot from inside the drain, Martha's lifeless hand visible through the grate as the pearls fall into the darkness. Fade to black.

Fade in on a close-up of Bruce's hand, clenching the leaves as he recovers. Connecting the previous shot with this one, a solitary pearl falls down beside him, a surreal detail already indicating this is a dream sequence. It connects with the pearls falling into the drain, physically placing this location below the sidewalk where Bruce's parents died. He is essentially in the sewer, beneath even his dead parents in the lowest, darkest place he could possibly be. Leaves are also falling around him, surrounding him in symbols of death.

The distant notes of the Batman motif and the whining trumpets fade away. No music.

Rear shot on Bruce, face in the leaves before he groans to turn.

Below-angle shot looking up at the shaft entrance up above on the upper right of the frame, opposite Bruce's silhouette on the lower left, raising his hand to shield his eyes. Snyder confirmed in the director's commentary (03:27) that this shot homages the Bat-signal.

Close-up on Bruce's face as we hear flapping wings. Bruce slowly turns his gaze down, eyes on us. The squeaks of bats become audible.

Over-the-shoulder shot, racking focus from the back of Bruce's head to writhing bat colony ahead as the camera climbs above him.

Extreme close-up on Bruce's face looking anxious.

Cut back to the bat colony, the camera closing in on the dark spectacle of squeaking flying rodents.

Back to Bruce, overcome with anxiety. The activity of the bats dies down, and a silence takes over. Bruce composes himself.

Back to the bats, the creatures suddenly swarm at us in a cacophony of squeaking and flapping.

Back to Bruce, he panics and flails his arms.

Rapid cuts from full, medium, medium close-ups, and close-ups of Bruce as the bats swarm around him before he suddenly stops flailing. His struggles cease as he looks up at the light.

The music returns with the Bat Ostinato, a quick and frantic series of repeated notes on high strings, much like a group of bats fluttering about.

Cut to a ground-level shot of his shoes as they lift off the ground.

Batman Theme B is introduced on slow, rising notes -- the chords now elevating just as Bruce does in contrast to the falling motif prior -- layered over a percussive and strong Batman Theme A.

Cut to a cowboy shot, where we see he is being raised up to the exit, toward the light, arms out to his sides as the bats seem to carry him in a circling tornado of wings. The sequence is shot as though either Bruce is slowly spinning or we are slowly circling around him.

We cut to below, looking up as he ascends, and the CG artists here even took the liberty of ensuring that the sunlight shines through the wings of the bats.

Medium close-up on Bruce's face as he spins, still focused up and calm as the camera dips into a low-angle shot.

Back to the below-angle shot, Bruce and the bats melding together in a blurring mass of black and white. This may be a reference to Gustave Dore's painting Rosa Celeste for Divine Comedy, where Dante and his beloved Beatrice look upon heaven through a tunnel of angels, which would make it one of at least two Dore paintings referenced by this film.

The music here, in contrast to the falling notes of the previous track and the persistent visual theme of falling, instead builds with an angry choir, accompanying the visual idea of the Batman persona lifting him up from the darkness. Before, everything was falling. Now, everything is rising.

Music cuts out, leaving a quiet, lingering feminine vocal note.

As the scene fades to white, we hear the older Bruce conclude his monologue: "In the dream, they took me to the light. A beautiful lie." Upon the death of his parents, Bruce metaphorically fell into darkness. The beautiful lie is that Batman raised Bruce up towards something good and light, but in reality, he is still consumed by that darkness. There was never any light for him. He fell into that cave and metaphorically never came out.

"The idea is that, in the dream, the righteous man, the good man, seeks justice. But that quest for justice leads him into darkness and his own moral code may be in question or may only be a construct of his grief. So the lie of the light becomes "justice = light". For Batman, it's the opposite." (Zack Snyder, Vero, 2018)

Scene Overview

To begin, we are swiftly reintroduced to the pivotal Wayne murder for the Snyderverse without re-treading an origin story. Themes of powerlessness, death, and falling are established by melodramatic narration, visuals, and music to tell the viewer what to expect from here. Young Bruce's powerlessness in the face of his parents' murder forms the cornerstone of his story and arc. For Bruce, as he explains to us, the classic ideas of Batman as a being of light were merely a beautiful lie: He fell, and will continue to fall, establishing the deconstructive method of the movie. The film's sombre tone and melodramatic style are set with its minimum dialogue and maximum drama.

Scene Analysis

This sequence is heavily inspired by imagery straight from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986), and this is only the beginning of the visual references to that comic. Take a look at the pages above to see just how much inspiration was taken, right down to angles and ideas.

"I wanted it to be half dream, half reality. It's memory, but it's also mythologies. The movie tries to play with those relationships as much as possible. What you remember and what you perceive as reality are not necessarily the same thing. The mythological you and the real you over time become inseparable, and that was a kind of thing I was interested in playing around with in this film. It was cool." (Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman Director's Commentary, 2021, 03:37)

The purpose of this scene is to set up the point where Batman's conflict with Superman is resolved. By introducing Martha Wayne's death at the start of the film, its inclusion in the story later as a narrative device is necessarily more organic and less forced. Starting the film with the murder also makes this film a convenient alternative to an origin story -- telling a Batman story that began that fateful night without retreading the old process of becoming Batman. Though BvS is not an origin story, it thusly still works as an introduction to the character by tying his arc to his origin.

"Hence why I wanted to have the death of the Waynes at the beginning of the movie. Just so I could plant the Martha reference in there and get a chance to see Martha alive for the briefest time so that you could connect with her on some level." (Zack Snyder, Empire Film Podcast, 30 March 2016, 00:09:47)

"When we were shooting the title sequence, that whole idea about, 'Do we really need to see the death of the Waynes again?' is a big thing to take a shot at again. But you realise you need it, because it actually pays off. And I really wanted to do it all the way." (Zack Snyder, Forbes, 1 April 2016)

Every beat of the Wayne murder is designed with foreknowledge in mind. The film knows the audience has seen this before, so everything is meant to feel like the build-up to the inevitable. The scene opens with the funeral before we even see the deaths. This is emphasised with the consistently sombre music, as if to say the tragedy started the moment we saw that theatre entrance. The joy on the faces of the Wayne family is made bittersweet.

"I really wanted to add these leaves to signal fall and the fall of." (Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Watch Party, 29 March 2020)

Death and falling are motifs established here to symbolically set up the narrative of the film and its character arcs. Recall Jor-El's line from Man of Steel: "They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall." Prophetically, Jor-El's words are coming true. The death and falling motifs are richly exaggerated through visual and audio details:

Falling leaves, snow, and sparks.
Autumn, also known as "fall", is the season filled with the death of nature. But, like Superman, nature is inevitably reborn.
Bruce's monologue: "Things fall. Things on Earth. And what falls is fallen."
The falling bodies of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
The falling pearls.
Bruce falling into the cave.
The falling notes of the soundtrack.

Miscellaneous observations:

Half of this sequence is in slow-motion, whereas the funeral and forest is almost entirely in normal time until Bruce falls down the shaft. The huge majority of the film's slow-motion is in this scene.
It makes sense to start the film with a focus on Batman considering his name is the first in the title and Superman has already had a whole film to himself.
This scene includes the film's opening credits, where this is the first Batman movie to ever credit Bill Finger as a co-creator of Batman.
The font used within the movie from here on for all titles resembles some variant of FF DIN.

The first music track in this scene is Main Titles (Part A). Accompanying the murder of the Waynes and their funeral with Batman Theme A, Bruce Wayne Motif, and Death of the Waynes. The second track is Main Titles (Part B), introducing Bat Ostinato and Batman Theme B as the bats lift Bruce from the cave. Together, these tracks set the musical stage for the film with a full palette of Batman components accompanying the character's introduction. All Batman or Bruce Wayne-centric tracks will incorporate variations of these themes from here on. Both tracks combined correspond to A Beautiful Lie in the released score.

Behind the Scene

"Cold morning landscape while filming
Batman v Superman."
Clay Enos, Vero, 2 July 2016

Joshua Mellin, Flickr, 14 November 2014

The funeral sequence was filmed in Orion Oaks County Park, 2301 Clarkston Road, Lake Orion, Michigan. The small cemetery and the mausoleum were constructed for the film. Batman News and OLV provided several detailed photos of the set. A distinctive lone tree on the grounds was photographed by set photographer Clay Enos, production supervisor Matt Hirsch, camera loader Jule Fontana, art department assistant / model maker Liz Ritenour, electrician Erica Kim, and Kate Altair. Michigan film production stalker Bananadoc snapped photos of the shoot here, showing the hearses and extras for the funeral procession. Wayne Manor is fully CGI. The design was based on Sutton Scarsdale Hall, a ruined stately home in Chesterfield, England. The interior set for the ruined version of the building was incorporated into the VFX model. Filming evidently occurred in October 2014 around the 25th and 26th.

"The dilapidated Wayne Manor was based on the Sutton Scarsdale Hall which is located just outside of Chesterfield, Derbyshire in the UK. In the film Wayne Manor isn't quite as damaged as the Sutton Scarsdale Hall and has some minor changes that Zack wanted. A small interior set piece was built in the middle of a large field in Metamora, Michigan, and we integrated that into the interior of our model." (Bryan Hirota, Art of VFX, 11 April 2016)

James Cappleman

The Wayne murder was filmed outside the Aragon Ballroom, 1106 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago, Michigan. The entrance was given a makeover for the film, transforming the theatre's digital marquee into a classic, brighter variant. Gotham taxicabs and other cars with an 80s aesthetic lined the road. The Chicago Transit Authority sign on the elevated train track above became the Gotham Transit Authority, and the Lawrence Red Line station above became the Gotham River Green Line station, complete with station signs for the Bowery and Westword Bridge, a map, and station lists, an excruciating attention to detail. Luis Gomez shot this footage of the set. Many locals and bystanders caught photos of the set which you can see on DNAinfo here, and @samsoir on Twitter got these shots of the construction. Joshua Mellin has the best photos. The crew set up base camp in the parking lot directly beyond the track, 1128w West Lawrence Avenue.

On 10 November 2014, the City of Chicago announced filming permits and road closures for "Sage and Milo" around Lawrence Avenue for the period of the 5th to the 8th of November. On the 10th, these dates were officially changed to the 11th to the 14th. After two days of construction, the Wayne murder was evidently filmed on the 13th. In this video by Luis Gomez on Instagram, Bruce and Thomas play fight for a moment before continuing their exit down the street, a shot that was evidently cut from the final film. @danimalish on Instagram caught distant footage of their encounter with Joe Chill here and here. During shooting, @ashleyariane on Twitter snapped this photo of the happy trio, and @danimalish on Instagram got this photo. Production designer John "DJ" DesJardin posted this stunning photo to his Instagram. The set was deconstructed the day after on the 14th.

Their War Here

We then cut to a sandy blank screen where some simple words gently materialise, one line at a time...

Following from the previous scene, the Bruce Wayne motif plays very lightly on piano as the vocals fade out.

This is a powerful introduction that gets along a sense of the immensity of the significance of Superman's existence. It is also a likely reference to a line from Watchmen: "The Superman is real and he is American." This is also where the track The Tower Falls plays.

The screen fades into blue skies. Low-angle shot on a descending black Bell 429 GlobalRanger helicopter, the visible underside revealing the Wayne logo. Squadrons of fighter jets scream overhead, firing off missiles. Bruce Wayne exits the chopper before it even touches down on the oceanside helipad and breaks into a sprint.

Rising suspenseful drum beat.

"There was Ben jumping out of the helicopter a little early. He got in trouble for that. The safety guy was like, 'Don't jump out of the helicopter until it's landed. It's not cool to,' and he was like, 'Look, I gotta go save Metropolis!'" (Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Watch Party, 29 March 2020)

Shoulder shot from Bruce as he stops to look up at Black Zero (the unmentioned name of Zod's prison ship), pummelling the Earth with bursts of intensified gravity and a deep buzzing noise. Looking daunted but determined, Bruce ducks inside his solid black 2016 Jeep Renegade.

Burst of dramatic choir vocals over the apocalyptic imagery.

With a long shot of the scene facing the city, the helicopter takes off and flees while a fighter jet crashes into an elevated road.

Zod's suspenseful theme from Man of Steel -- identical save for a few notes -- gets the action going.

On the ground, the Jeep's confused driver watches Bruce screech away in the vehicle down the pier. The following scene was shot in Detroit, and for convenience in outlining the events, I will use the actual street names. (movie-locations.com)

Bruce emerges from the Cobo Parking Garage and speeds toward West Larned Street before making a sharp left into Washington Boulevard to avoid the plume of fire and debris a block away.

Up ahead, Black Zero's gravity beam sends a cloud of dust towards Bruce's vehicle, and he makes a sharp left down West Congress Street, heading North-East. Through the windshield, Bruce urgently prepares his phone and makes a frantic call.

Cut to Jack O'Dwyer (Hugh Maguire) inside the Wayne Financial Building, turning around as he raises his phone to his ear.

The intensity of Zod's theme plummets for this moment, but slowly builds up again.

"Jack," says Bruce on the other end.

"Bruce," responds Jack.

Turning the wheel rapidly, Bruce says, "Jack, listen to me. I want you to get everyone out of the building, right now." This immediately tells us that Bruce is heading for the Wayne Financial Building and intends to guarantee the safety of his employees. As he says this, we hear the ringing build-up of the World Engine.

Shoulder shot from Jack looking out the windows as Black Zero brings another wave of intensified gravity down on the city once again, and the employees in the building scream as a skyscraper crumbles in the distance. "You understand?" asks Bruce over the phone.

"My God," mumbles Jack. Then some flying shrapnel hits the window, cracking the glass as he lowers the phone, turns, and barks at the employees, "Let's go. Come on. Start moving, people. Let's go." He rushes through the panicking crowd while yelling, "The boss wants us out of the building, so let's make it happen!"

On 9/11, the huge majority of employees in the towers did not evacuate right away. They took their time to phone loved ones, collect work, save data on computers, etc. At times like these, employees in a building do not really know what to do. They are confused, unsure whether to wait for orders, not sure what is even going on, afraid of making potentially bad decisions, etc. A lot of us prefer to assume that someone else is calling the shots and we should wait for their word. So, Bruce calling Jack to have the frozen employees evacuate is a detail that adds to the authenticity of the scenario.

Back Bruce, shouting into the phone, "Jack. Jack!" He lowers the phone in frustration without an answer and continues driving.

The Renegade is now travelling South-West from the far end of West Congress Street. Some cars collide ahead, blocking the path, and Bruce takes a sharp right down Griswold Street. He looks desperate, compressing his lips as he wrestles with the wheel.

Zod's theme returns in full intensity again as the action continues.

A stray missile hits the ground ahead, followed by another crashing fighter jet tearing a crevice along the building on the right before crashing down, heading right for the Renegade. The vehicle swerves to the left and we cut to the flames of the passing debris, quickly dispersing to reveal the Renegade speeding down an alleyway between 615 Griswold and the Penobscot Building.

Close-up on the vehicle's front bumper to see the license plate, I4R 8J7. The car turns hard and hits a dumpster before driving down the turn, emerging into a parking lot where one can glimpse an aged Dr Pepper sign with their 1940s slogan "Good for life", and 1940 was the year Batman and Superman first teamed up in comics.

Return of the drum beat, more subdued after narrowly avoiding death to make this moment a relief.

The speeding vehicle tears the open driver seat door off another car as Bruce heads through the parking lot back onto West Congress Street heading South-West, Black Zero up ahead once more. He is heading right towards the danger.

Looking focused, Bruce swerves to avoid an idle car in the road. Black Zero can be seen and heard pounding the Earth up ahead. Then the Renegade turns again North-West up Shelby Street. Bruce looks tense while performing his manoeuvre.

Top-down shot of Metropolis as the Kryptonian scout ship descends into the city, slicing through buildings like a hot knife through butter and causing the skyscrapers to topple around it. The Renegade dodges cars beneath the passing alien ship as destruction falls from above. Bruce tenses and turns the wheel, pulling the Renegade again onto the same junction from Congress to Shelby to escape the falling debris.

Dramatic choir vocals again when the scout ship cleaves through the city.

Bruce looks more relaxed suddenly, focused forward. Slowing, he brings the Jeep to a stop at the junction of Shelby and West Fort Street facing South-West, where a crowd of idle citizens are looking up at Black Zero, having clearly stopped terraforming for a few minutes now. Even fire-fighters are observing the ominous spaceship no longer pummelling the Earth. It is quiet.

Zod's theme ceases. A few ominous, sustained, low string notes play while the crowd holds their collective breath.

Bruce steps out of the car, also looking up. We rotate around him to a shoulder shot on Black Zero when an Air Force cargo plane becomes visible from the right, connecting to Black Zero via arcs of electricity before colliding. A shockwave bursts out, and Bruce and the crowd shield their eyes. Screams abound and papers fly in the air.

Black Zero begins to cave in on itself, and the rubble from below is pulled into the new singularity. Bruce dashes forward, his only resort being to travel on foot to reach the Wayne Financial Building. We follow his turn down into Shelby Street again, and he sprints down Shelby through smoke and past a burning car while people flee in the other direction.

Zod's theme returns on low strings, the drum beat soon returning.

Inside the office, Jack O'Dwyer heads to the window. The rest of the office seems to be empty, so we can assume he noticed the World Engine had stopped terraforming and curiosity got the better of him. Beyond the window, Superman crashes through a distant building, through the air towards us, and into the floor below Jack's. The building shakes. Jack peers around fearfully, dust falling from the ceiling. We hear the whistle of another entity flying into the building, presumably Zod pressing his attack.

The suspense music relaxes and transitions into slow, solemn high strings the moment we realise what building this is.

Bruce runs from Griswold onto West Congress Street. A plume of smoke hangs by the façade of the Wayne Financial Building up ahead. He slows down and raises his phone, other concerned citizens standing quietly in the fog of smoke in the left background, also looking up. We hear an automated operator on the phone saying, "We're sorry. All circuits are busy right now. Will you please try your call again later?" as Zod's heat vision tears the building apart, perfectly matching the movements of Zod's head in Man of Steel. At this same moment in that film, a sign can be seen in one shot that reads, "Keep calm and call Batman." Technically, Jack has recently been on the phone with Batman in this scene, so this may be a callback too.

In the office, beams of fire swipe through the background behind Jack as he says a prayer: "Heavenly God, creator of Heaven and Earth, have mercy on my soul." He says this as a god-like Kryptonian destroys the building, like a plea for mercy from his killer.

Back to Bruce as the building collapses ahead. Superman can be seen making his uncontrolled exit left. The opposite angle on the collapsing building can be seen in Man of Steel from down the street.

Bruce screams, "Jack!" Then he runs onto the road and down West Congress Street at speed, straight for the erupting cloud of dust from the collapsing building while everyone else flees, a strikingly heroic image reminiscent of real heroes on 9/11 who risked their lives by charging into the smoke cloud to rescue the victims.

The strings pick back up again with a grandiose, rising heavenly choir as Bruce charges.

Then he disappears inside the thick grey smog.

The music stops abruptly.

The screen is grey for several seconds, a ringing in our ears.

Then Bruce emerges from the haze, now on 1200 Sixth Street, Corktown. Interestingly, the ruins of the Wayne Financial Building are right outside the World Trade Centre Detroit. A horse without a rider emerges from the left, trotting aimlessly through the haze, imagery evocative of chaos and a loss of control. Horses are a common motif throughout the film. On Vero, Snyder discussed the horse motif with Revelation 6:8: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." Bruce peers around when a survivor shambles by, staring at him. Then we hear the creak of metal, and Bruce dashes off to help those in need.

The creaking metal transitions the music back with ambient, tragic strings to represent the devastation.

We track him further into the haze by a group of survivors before Bruce encounters a procession of children, holding hands while they are led to safety by their teacher (Stephanie Koenig), who says, "Buddy hands! Everybody show me! Good job! Hold on tight. Come on guys!" She looks afraid, yet still leads the children hastily. She is a hero too. The column of schoolchildren show fear or confusion on their faces while crying can be heard. "Hold on tight. Come on, guys!" the teacher calls further.

Bruce runs aside suddenly, grabbing a child collecting her teddy bear from the ground, and places her back in the column of children. Though small, this simple act of keeping the child from getting separated from her group does a good job of endearing Bruce to us further as a heroic character.

Then he hears someone calling, "Mister Wayne! Mister Wayne!" Bruce runs to one of his employees (Scoot McNairy), covered in dust and pinned to the ground by the legs beneath a steel beam. The man whimpers painfully, "I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my legs."

"We need help over here!" calls Bruce, crouching beside the beam.

The man reaches for Bruce, pleading, "Help me. I can't feel my legs!"

Bruce reassures him, "You're going to be okay, you hear me?" He looks at his name tag. "Wallace? What do they call you, Wally? Huh?"

Wallace slowly relaxes and soon responds, "You're the boss, boss."

Bruce smiles reassuringly at his fearful employee. This brief exchange also tells us that Bruce is a great boss. He cares about the people who work for him and knows how to comfort the victims of a disaster, quickly endearing him to us further after demonstrating his courage in the face of cataclysm. Though Bruce plays a heavily antagonistic role in the film, this scene shows us that he is not an evil man. It also helps us understand the man he used to be.

Other survivors rush to help. They are heroes too. They take Wallace by the arms and Bruce exerts, lifting the beam with help from another survivor above Wallace's legs as the others drag him free. "Oh, my God. I can't feel my legs," Wallace murmurs. "I can't feel my legs!"

Then we hear the sound of heavy steel grinding, and Bruce looks up to see a little girl (Ripley Sobo, her character credited as Sage, a likely reference to Snyder's daughter of the same name) standing beneath a cross-shaped steel beam, looking upwards in tears. The metal groans louder as dust falls around her.

Bruce dashes at the girl when the debris begins to collapse. Shoulder shot to see him go. Low-angle on Sage as tons of steel come down behind her. Shoulder shot from Bruce closing in, spreading his arms to grab her. Low-angle on the beam falling. Full shot of the scene as Bruce rushes from left to right, snatching the girl, and leaping clear of the debris before it slams down. BvS: By The Minute pointed out that Sage's red blanket combined with Bruce's blue clothes gives him the red and blue colour scheme and vague silhouette of Superman as he saves her.

Bruce, on his knees, puts the girl safely on the ground. He immediately comforts her, "It's okay. You're gonna be okay. You're okay. All right? Huh? You know what? We're going to find your mum. Where is she?"

The tearful child points up behind him. Bruce turns to follow her gesture, and the camera pans up along her raised arm to reveal the eviscerated remains of the decapitated Wayne Financial Building, sparking and smoking.

Bruce closes his eyes in regret. Indeed, he knows exactly how she feels, so this affects him profoundly. He takes hold of the girl's shoulder to comfort her.

Then we hear a sonic boom and the scream of an atmospheric re-entry. Then Bruce holds Sage protectively while she throws her arms around him, looking up over her shoulder in prominent contempt.

The sombre strings give way to the thundering rage of Batman Theme A, literally back with a vengeance, non-verbally telling us Bruce will pursue his -- we can hear his feelings in the music.

Low-angle shot of the Metropolis skyline, where a shower of burning debris descends on the city. As the fireballs make contact, we cut to a closer shot of the debris flying through a skyscraper, whereupon we snap zoom on Superman and Zod tackling each other down from the heavens, impotently bringing destruction and debris upon the world. Samuel Otten pointed out that, while the cinematography in this film is more relaxed, the use of a snap zoom here on the battling Kryptonians is a fitting callback to the camera work in Man of Steel. Then another building passes between us and the two super-beings.

High-angle on Bruce cradling Sage. We pull up to reveal the wrecked Wayne Financial logo laying nearby, but now upside down. Its prominence here is unlikely coincidence. For the second time, Bruce's world has turned upside down. On the ground, it also conveys the idea of something having collapsed, destroyed. Note it also resembles the Justice League logo. As we gain distance, Bruce becomes ever more miniscule -- all he can do is protectively hold the motherless child, powerless once again. Bruce is out of his league here, a speck of dust beneath these two battling gods.

"He looks up in the sky and sees Superman, and it's the moment, the inception of his rage towards Superman -- that emotional, almost irrational sense of desperate anger and hatred." (Ben Affleck, The Art of the Film, p94)

Cut to black.

The rage of Batman Theme A stops abruptly and all goes quiet.