Like many fans, I’ve been obsessively watching this trailer ever since its release last Saturday. Somewhere north of 20 times; probably closer to 30. In that time, I’ve managed to examine it very closely, and now I thought I’d share what I’ve found concerning the movie’s plot points on here. Keep in mind though:

• This analysis will not be entirely objective. After all, I’m only human. Though I will try to keep my opinions to a bare minimum.

• This will not be a review of the trailer. All I’d have to say anyway is that it’s freaking awesome and I can’t wait for the movie.

• This is complete speculation, based on the limited knowledge we have of the movie today, July 17th 2015. It is likely subject to change in the future.

• My conclusions were drawn after a frame-by-frame analysis, and are my own; keep in mind I could very well be wrong.

• This post will be a long one, and there won’t be a TLDR.

With that out of the way, let’s get right to it.



UPDATE 18/7/2015: Someone on Reddit pointed out to me how two of my points didn’t match up with some of the information that came out of Comic-Con for this movie. I’d like to thank the person for it, and have edited both points to make them fit - points #16 and #19, respectively.



1. “Today is a day for truth.”

“The world needs to know what happened - and to know what he stands for. That kind of power is very dangerous.”

The trailer opens with narration by Holly Hunter’s character, a United States senator. It becomes clear that Superman is under investigation by the government for what happened in Metropolis at the end of Man of Steel - something that seems to be on everyone’s minds, as we see a significant number of people protesting against Superman’s presence on Earth. This indicates the struggle that Kal-El faces in the movie (aside from having to face Batman); more on that later. What’s important here is that Superman seems to abide by humanity’s rules: he will show up to court like a good citizen, even though he has the power to rip the entire building apart if he wants to.

Interesting to note is that Lois Lane can be seen standing among the protestors, behind the fence - likely to report on the event for the Daily Planet. This will become of importance in a later shot, though.

2. The video then cuts to several shots of Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne on the streets of Metropolis, his eyes on the fight between Zod and Kal-El; more specifically, the moment when Zod uses his heat vision to tear apart an office building. Bruce seems to be on the phone at that time, and we see him screaming; as if the person he is talking to on the other end is present in the building as it goes down. What follows is a shot of Bruce running down the street, becoming enveloped in the dust cloud but seemingly not stopping.

What this symbolizes, at least for me, is a return of the hero in Bruce; it’s been widely speculated for almost two years now that this Batman has hung up the cape and cowl and gone into retirement - but now he’s coming back. And this seems to be the very moment of that happening, as what Bruce is doing is exactly what the Batman would do: save people.



3. The next shot is one of Bruce hugging a little girl amidst the ruins, looking up as the camera pans over a Wayne Financial sign. He looks extremely pissed off at the two superhumans fighting above the city; partly due to the fact that the building is revealed to be his own Wayne Tower.

Ironically enough, it’s the exact same building that had a “Keep Calm and Call Batman”-poster on the wall as an easter egg in Man of Steel.



4. “Let the records show that this committee holds him responsible.”

This line seems to indicate that the conclusion of the court hearing is that Superman is responsible for what happened in Metropolis, and must therefore be punished accordingly. Later shots in the trailer migth be indicating what exactly that punishment shall entail.

Furthermore, the coupling of this line with a shot of Bruce Wayne implies that the latter holds Superman responsible as well - which is in line with what we know so far.



5. Following this is a shot of Jeremy Irons’ Alfred walking towards a burned-out and ruined Wayne Manor, hinting at Bruce leaving his childhood home behind after some incident, whatever that entailed. It could also be an homage to the end of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, where Wayne Manor also ends up in ruins.

The state of the house does lead me to believe that the shot of Batman standing inside an abandoned building in the first teaser trailer for this movie actually took place in the manor.



6. We get a quick glimpse of the Batcave, with Jeremy Irons reciting his lines from the first trailer. What’s interesting is the letter we see Bruce holding is a newspaper article about the destruction of Wayne Tower. I managed to decipher some of the text in the article itself. Third column (between the red D and I), second sentence from below:



It is clear that the city will need several years to rebuild what was lost, and longer to heal the deep emotional and physical scars. Both Wayne Enterprises and Lexcorp have (…) and donating material to the cleanup efforts. Up to this point, there is over 12 million dollars allocated to the Rebuild Metropolis Fund. Many across the bay in Gotham have different feelings about this fund. Gotham Mayor Buckley has said: “While we all grieve for those who lost so much in the attack-”



I couldn’t make out anything else (I will try though, so stay tuned), but so far this gives a bunch of clues as to how both Gotham and Metropolis (which seem to be sister cities across the bay from one another - makes sense to have Wayne Tower in Metropolis then) are dealing with the situation. The former has been revealed to be a lot poorer and more downtrodden, which is probably why people there think they have enough problems to deal with on their own.

Furthermore, the article provides an interesting clue to a co-operation between Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne, both of which are in the anti-Superman camp, and that will likely factor into the main story pretty heavily.



7. The focus of the paper, though, are the words “You let your FAMILY DIE”, written in red. Upon first thought this must be a letter from the Joker, taunting Batman about his loss and provoking his rage. However, this letter was clearly sent to Bruce Wayne, and the article is about the Wayne Tower. Which leads to one of two conclusions. Either

A) Joker knows Batman’s identity, and is out on the streets.

B) The letter was sent by someone else.

I tend to lean towards B. Who do I think it is? Well, as we’ll see later, Robin appears to have died quite some time ago in this universe. However, there’s a famous story arc in the comics that details Robin’s death and return (Robin thereby being Jason Todd), many years later, as an enemy of both Batman and the Joker, the latter of which being the one that killed him. I think the possibilities of a similar story happening in the DCCU are very high, and that this letter is one of the clues to that happening.



So my conclusion is then that this letter was sent to Bruce by Jason, presumed to have died many years before. Obviously he knows Batman’s secret identity - and the message itself would then be a clear nod to how Robin perceived his own ‘death’: Batman failing to stop a member of his own ‘family’ from getting killed. And now it’s happened again with the destruction of Wayne Tower.



If this is true, I feel like a letter from Jason Todd like this would be a great setup for his return in a standalone Batman movie.



8. We briefly see Bruce training to get back into shape, followed by a shot of Jeremy Irons as Alfred. What’s interesting is that he doesn’t look to be much older than Ben Affleck’s Bruce - 10, maybe 20 years. This indicates more of a brotherly relationship between the two, rather than a surrogate fatherhood.

To Alfred’s left one can make out a computer screen, with what looks footage of Superman playing . The way Alfred looks at Bruce (offscreen) indicates that his lines pertain to both of the titular heroes in the movie.



9. Switching to Clark’s perspective, we hear how he seems to be investigating Batman using his job at the Daily Planet, with Perry White going into an argument with him. This implies a return of Batman to be noticed in public; something that could factor heavily into the universe going forward.

Furthermore, we get to see two cops of the GCPD apprehend a chained criminal, his torso being revealed to have been branded by “the Batman” himself. It is very likely this is customary for this incarnation of him. Which fits with Batman’s overall theme of instilling fear into the hearts of his enemies, and could make things incredibly easy for him should he want to know if he’s met a criminal once before already.



10. What we see next is a glimpse into the internal struggle that is plaguing Kal-El following the events of Man of Steel, with him seeking guidance from both his mother and his girlfriend. It’s very similar to the struggle that he faced in the first movie, with both his adoptive and biological father being the angels on his shoulders there. And it looks like they have kept Martha Kent’s world view in line with that of her late husband. “You don’t owe this world a thing,” she says. “You never did.” Whereas Lois seems to urge him on to be the hero that the world needs.



11. “Do you know the oldest lie in America, senator? Devils don’t come from hell beneath us; they come from the sky.”



Here we finally get a glimpse of Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor as he gets a visit from Holly Hunter’s character that we saw earlier in the trailer. Not a lot can be concluded from this shot alone, except that both Luthor and the senator are in the anti-Superman camp. It is clear, however, that they have come to some kind of agreement, as one of the next shots reveals Luthor’s assistent and two members of the military bringing in the body of the dead General Zod, who was killed by Superman at the end of MoS. More on that in a bit.



The shot in the GIF above is the most interesting here, though, because it shows Superman kneeling in front of Luthor, who seems to observing him with some kind of awe and reverence. Note that his hand seems to be bandaged, as this will come into play later.

There’s a number of reasons for why Superman could be kneeling in front of Lex. One is that this is his punishment I mentioned before, and that Luthor has been granted the authority to examine Superman, as it were - which could be a part of the agreement between him and Hunter’s senator, along with the acquisition of Zod’s dead body and a rock of kryptonite (as shown later in the trailer).

Another could be that Superman is being held down by the use of said kryptonite, weakened by its presence. In any case, what’s clear is that Superman is not happy with the situation, as a consecutive shot shows him with an angry look on his face.



12. One of the most important shots in the trailer is this one: the outfit of a (presumably dead) Robin, spray-painted over by what could very well be the Joker. This has lead me to believe that the Joker killed Robin with Batman unable to prevent it (which ties back into point #7) - who then subsequently hung up the cape and cowl and retired. Ben Affleck’s narration here seems to confirm this:



“Twenty years in Gotham; how many good guys are left? How many stay that way?”



This points towards twenty years having passed since Bruce started out as Batman, and that he’s now come to the conclusion that playing hero just gets people killed - which might be one of his main inner arguments for going after Superman.

Fun to note is that this line is very reminiscent of the famous “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.



13. What follows is a brief glimpse of Gal Gadot as Diana Prince - but more on her later. The main thing to look at in this part of the trailer is the following shot of Superman walking between two rows of kneeling soldiers; the S-symbol on their shoulders.



This is one of the few moments in the trailer that’s not easily figured out. What exactly is Superman doing with these soldiers? The whole scene has a very Darth Vader-like vibe to it, and the narration by Ben Affleck (”He has the power to wipe out the entire human race.”) does nothing to go against that. The look on Superman’s face however, one of disgust and rage, does.



What this could be is another part of Superman’s aforementioned “punishment” imposed on him by the government, and connected to the senator’s deal with Lex Luthor. What’s interesting is that they are kneeling, though; that points towards a certain reverence that government troops would not have.



Therefore it seems much more likely that this is reminiscent of the opening moments of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, where gunmen dressed as Batman fought criminals in his name; something he did not like one bit. What we see here in this trailer could very well be similar: soldiers that have been inspired by Superman to fight in his name. With Superman being extremely pissed about it, as this is not what he wants. Later we’ll see Batman getting involved in this too.



14. “I’m gonna have to destroy him.”



The next part of the trailer shows us Batman standing on a roof in his armored suit, turning on the bat-signal. Odd, you would think. Why would Batman need to turn on the very signal that is used to call him?

It’s clear that this is his way of calling Superman. In the comics, the most well-known fight between these two heroes (that in The Dark Knight Returns, which this Batman is said to draw heavily from) has Batman deciding where and when it will take place. Which is logical, as Batman needs preparation time to be able to take on a being as powerful as Superman. The suit is an indication of that as well: director Zack Snyder revealed during Comic-Con that it’s built mainly to defend him from whatever Superman can throw at him, rather than enhance his strength and skills.



Which means Batman had the time to prepare for the fight; it also means Batman had the pleasure of encountering Superman once before in combat - we’ll see that at the end of the trailer.



15. What follows is a bunch of quick shots - someone swimming underwater; horsemen riding on a hill in what looks to be a desert; the death and funeral of Bruce Wayne’s parents.



That last shot is the easiest to draw a conclusion from: it’s clear that the movie will feature a flashback to briefly explain Batman’s origin story for whoever does not know it already, and provide a foundation to build the character upon. Not that it’s needed, but I figure it can’t really hurt to include it.



The other two shots are close to a mystery. The men (or women) on horseback are likely related to the Super-soldiers - what I will call the soldiers with the S on their shoulders from now on.



The underwater shot could be one of two things: either it is related to Aquaman, who has been confirmed to be present in one way or another in this movie, or it has to do with the World Engine in Man of Steel, which was destroyed over the South Indian Ocean. Remnants of it likely remained - possibly even kryptonite, due to the engines terraforming process. What this underwater shot could be is the discovery of a rock of kryptonite; the object we see the person (kid?) swimming towards is roughly shaped the same way. But at the moment it’s too soon to tell.



16. The aforementioned shots are followed by the one in this GIF; a jet plane, flying across destruction of apocalyptic proportions. An untouched skyline in the distance.



I’m sure what we’re seeing here happens near the end of the movie, after the titular fight between Batman and Superman. This is happening on an island in the bay; what we see in the distance is Metropolis. What’s causing all this destruction? I will touch on that later.

The plane we are seeing is the same as in the teaser trailer - it’s had many speculating that this is the new Batwing. I think it isn’t, however; this is the DCCU’s version of Wonder Woman’s invisible jet. One of the later shots provides a clue that led me to this conclusion.



EDIT: I have been told that this is in fact the Batwing, or “BatJet” as it is being called now, that we see flying here. So it is not Wonder Woman’s ‘invisible’ jet. I have also EDITed point #19.



17. This next shot ties directly into the trailer’s very first scene.



We see Lois Lane looking up among a crowd of scared protesters. She’s standing exactly where she stood in this post’s first GIF, leading me to believe that this takes place right after the court hearing, with something going down. Interesting to note is that where she’s looking is exactly where Superman was looking in that first GIF - likely in the direction of the building’s large dome.

This is really interesting; what could possibly be going on here? Is Superman pissed after being deemed responsible and shooting off into the sky? Has Batman arrived? Wonder Woman in her jet? Neither of these seem all that plausible, however: the first suggestion might, but it doesn’t explain these people’s reactions. Something to think about - but it’s too early to conclude anything more.



18. Then we catch another glimpse of Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince - the alias of Wonder Woman. She seems to have just met Bruce at a party, and is now leaving. What I immediately noticed is that they don’t seem to be wearing the same outfits as in the photos released by Entertainment Weekly ; which had the real-life identities of the two superheroes meeting at some kind of party as well. This indicates they meet up more than once, and as it has been revealed (in that same article by EW) that the two know of each other’s respective identities, it should provide for an interesting dynamic.

My take on this is that Batman and Wonder Woman are becoming allies of one another; maybe Bruce feels the need for help has arisen, or the time has come to assemble the Justice League - as Batman has often been depicted to be the mastermind behind the League. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to conclude then that is what he is doing with Wonder Woman. Most likely because of Superman at first, but things will shift when a new threat arises.



19. Finally we get to see Wonder Woman in action.



As with the shot of her(?) jet, I think this takes place after the battle between Batman and Superman. Wonder Woman smashes her bracelets together, causing an explosion of some kind - perhaps magical. It does not seem to be the deflection of a projectile: nothing can be seen shooting towards her as she smashes them together. Likely done during combat with some kind of external thread - which brings the Trinity (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) together. Again, more on that further down below.



Notice how behind her, we see what looks like an opened pod. I believe this is a part of her jet - whether the cockpit itself, detached from the rest, or an actual escape pod (perhaps with a similar working to the Batpod in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy), I do not know. In any case, it looks very similar to the jet itself, which leads me to believe the vehicle is hers.



EDIT: As I pointed out in my EDIT to point #16, the jet we see is in fact this universe’s incarnation of the Batwing, which means that this is not Wonder Woman’s vehicle. However, I still think that pod behind her was part of it - and that she was flying it. Which would point to some sort of alliance between Bruce and Diana, as speculated in point #18.



20. A scene with Batman, in a desert-appropriate Batsuit, fighting the Super-soldiers we saw before. What caught my eye is the fact that one shot of the Super-soldiers had them gunning down people that seemed to already have surrendered, making this an execution. Likely these people are the very same ones that were seen on horseback earlier in the trailer. How they factor into the Super-soldiers subplot, I do not know. Batman, however, is a different story.

If these soldiers are indeed acting in Superman’s name, as I said before, then it is plausible that Batman would go after them - which would explain why the earlier shots gave off a Darth Vader-vibe: as that would be Batman’s perspective on the whole situation. He might not realize Superman does not approve of what they are doing, and go after them, resulting in added layer to the conflict between the two heroes.



21. What follows is a couple of shots of the Batmobile and a quick one of Batman fighting while holding what looks like the grapple gun he will use later - which might indicate this is taking place around the same time as that particular scene. As for who he is fighting: I can not tell.



22. “He is not our enemy.”

In line with Alfred’s role in the Batman mythos, Jeremy Irons’ incarnation of the character seems to be a voice of reason for Batman, arguing against his decision to go and fight Superman. Same scene as Affleck’s line in point #12.



23. Now we get a shot of the Lexcorp building, outside of which firemen and Metropolis cops have amassed, and a fire is raging in what looks to be the parking booth. It definitely looks like something went down here. Which this next shot will confirm.



I think this takes place inside the Lexcorp lobby. Walking among the rounds and ammo clips here is Lex Luthor himself - in a very Mark Zuckerberg-like style. Now, if this is indeed Lexcorp, it provides us with a plot point that could be crucial to the film, and immediately begs the question: what happened?

Back to Zod’s dead body, which was being given to Lex by the government/military. I said this was likely for examination and research. Add to that a desire to create someone like Superman.



In earlier shots, and the kryptonite shot that will follow immediately after this one, Lex has been shown to have some kind of reverence for the alien known as Superman. He sees him as a threat, sure, but at the same time there is this fascination that he has for a being from Krypton that inspires him to examine this further. And, I think, create something or someone similar to Superman, or at least intended to be. Which is where Zod comes in; more specifically, his DNA.

Mow there are a couple of scenarios here. The most rumoured one is that Lex creates Doomsday; in the comics, a Kryptonian being that evolved like none other. If Doomsday is indeed what is being created here, that would shake up his origin quite a bit. Another scenario is that Lex reanimates Zod and turns him into a Bizarro-type ‘person’ - a Frankenstein monster, if you will.

Now, I’m not willing to put money on either of these, but I bet that the real thing is one of or very similar to one of them, or possibly both. This will be the threat that unites Batman and Superman after their fight - and Wonder Woman too. It’s the catalyst for creating the Justice League as we know it.



24. Following this we get a shot of a green, glowing rock - kryptonite, being admired by Luthor himself. Brought to him for examination and research, just like Zod’s body, and possibly being used in the creation of the “threat” mentioned above.

If you noticed in how point #11 how I mentioned the bandage around Luthor’s hand: this is how I think he came by it. He ‘burned’ himself on the rock, or was at least injured by it. Similarly, I think he will lose his hair much the same way - due to some kind of radiation that the rock emits.



25. “Black and blue; god versus man; day versus night.”



What we see here is a shot of Batman using his armour to jump on top of Superman and smash him through a roof; the very same roof that he was stood on when he turned on the bat-signal. This becomes apparent when you look at the roof tiles and what looks like the signal itself behind him when he jumps. I believe this happens at the start of their final confrontation.



26. Following this, we see Superman flying through debris and fire - a very apocalyptic terrain - while firing off lasers from his eyes, followed by a shot of Batman using his grapple gun to sling away from an incoming laser attack.

Both of these shots happen during the battle against the aforementioned external “threat” - but they’re not consecutive like they appear in the trailer. There’s a bunch of evidence for this.



A) Superman fires off two precise lasers, yet the one nearly hitting Batman is a giant single beam, much more like Zod’s lasers as seen in Man of Steel and at the start of this trailer.

B) In the second shot - which clearly pays homage to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns -, Batman does not wear the armored suit. Which doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not fighting Superman here, as I have said before that they have more than one confrontation, but the destruction around Superman suggests otherwise.

C) The level of destruction does not seem like a result of a confrontation between Batman and Superman - much more like the consequences of the actions of the aforementioned threat.



Therefore, I believe both Batman and Superman are allied here, fighting whatever Luthor created. The laser does reinforce the idea that he used Zod’s DNA to do it - as lasers are mainly a Kryptonian power (on Earth) in the DC Universe.



27. “The red capes are coming.”



The final line in the trailer, spoken by Lex Luthor himself, is a clear reference to Paul Revere’s famous quote (”The redcoats are coming!”), uttered at the start of the American War for Independence to warn the colonists for the arrival of the British army. An invasion, of sorts.

Which is what Superman is to a lot of people. An invader of America, wearing a red cape. Which is exactly what I think Lex means here. A show of intelligence and patriotism on his side, mixed with a feeling of awe about said invader.



28. The trailer ends with a shot of Superman ripping apart the Batmobile doors to face Batman, who then slowly stands up to face his opponent before the screen cuts to the movie logo.

This is the earlier confrontation between the two I was talking about. Batman clearly does not have his armoured suit on here, and the way Superman seems to have the upper hand tells me Batman has not experienced fighting this guy in before. He likely went in too fast, too quick, and took a beating. Which he will need to draw lessons from in order to stand a chance next time.

- - - - - - - - - -



So that was it for my analysis of the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Comic-Con trailer. Stay tuned for an analysis of the Suicide Squad trailer, and more on Batman v Superman as the year progresses and we get closer to release.