A major complaint about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was that its tone was unremittingly grim, but one of the filmmakers has claimed that was always part of the plan on the road to Justice League.

Damon Caro – who served as assistant director on both films – has pulled out some familiar Star Wars comparisons to explain what Warner Bros is doing with its DCEU movies.

"[The] interesting thing is, on Man of Steel, in [director Zack Snyder's] head he had the storyline treatment of where they were going to go, and at the beginning of BvS it was even richer and deeper," he told Heroic Hollywood.

Warner Bros.

"The arc was BvS was the midway point and the darker movie. Hence what happens at the end; the whole tone of it was darker. If you play your story all at one level, there are no peaks and valleys, there's no life. The great stories, the Greek tragedies, even life, we have to be knocked down before we can build our way up.

"Justice League was always the rebirth of hope and the rise. People try to say that it's a response to the backlash, and I'd definitely say that criticisms were heard, but it's not like we threw everything out and started with a blank slate. It's a bit like Star Wars. Empire Strikes Back? Dark movie! But then Return of the Jedi is the rise and the rebuilding of hope."

Lucasfilm Warner Bros.

Feelings about comparing Snyder's DC films to Episodes IV-VI will no doubt vary.

The upcoming film will star Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen and JK Simmons.

Justice League will be released on November 17.

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