Marvel may be the trailblazers when it comes to building shared cinematic universes, but Warner Bros has marked 2016 as the year it strikes back with two films that open up the world of DC Comics. First up is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder's follow-up to Man of Steel (with Suicide Squad hot on its heels).

Henry Cavill will squeezing his unbelievably overdeveloped quads into Superman's red and blue tights once more, with Ben Affleck slipping into a slimming black unitard and matching cape for the first time as Batman.

Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman is along for the ride too, and here's everything you need to know before this battle of the titans begins:

Warner Bros

Batman v Superman release date: Giving up superheroes for lent?

Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent will be bringing their epic showdown into cinemas on March 25 in both the UK and US.

That puts it squarely in the middle of Easter (it's early this year), which ties in nicely to Snyder's so-very-subtle Superman/Jesus imaginary. So that will be chocolate for breakfast and superhero smackdowns for lunch, then.

Batman v Superman trailer: Assembling the Justice League

The first trailer premiered at Comic-Con 2015, wowing attending fans with some Superman man worship, a first peek at new characters including Batman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor and Alfred Pennyworth, as well as a glimpse of the highly-anticipated superhero fisticuffs.

Another big trailer drew some criticism for laying out all the events of the film act by act, and spoiling the big Doomsday reveal. On the plus side, it looks like Wonder Woman is going to be awesome.

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These criticisms are obviously filtering down to Snyder, who stopped to reassure us that "there's a lot of movie that's not in the trailer".

Batman v Superman cast: Batfleck begins

As mentioned, Cavill is back as Supes, with Affleck trying to put his dark, Daredevil past behind him and impress us as the Dark Knight instead. Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot (of Fast and Furious fame) will be making her first appearance as Wonder Woman too, and it looks like she'll have a fairly big and "important" role before going solo in 2017.

Other returning faces from Man of Steel will include Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.

New additions to the lineup will be Jeremy Irons as Batman's faithful butler Alfred, The Piano's Holly Hunter as a stern-looking US senator called Finch, and Jesse Eisenberg at his most Eisenbergiest as the villainous Lex Luthor.

But don't come expecting to see The Hunger Games' Jena Malone. Her character has been left on the cutting room floor, though she will apparently be seen in the R-rated home release of Batman v Superman. She is playing Barbara Gordon – aka Batgirl – if this supposed Warner Bros survey posted on Reddit is to be believed.

And there definitely won't be any Robin because he is dead.

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Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller are expected to cameo as future Justice League teammates Cyborg, Aquaman and the Flash, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan as the ill-fated senior Waynes (RIP).

As already mentioned, Snyder is back in the director's chair for the Man of Steel sequel, with composer Hans Zimmer and writer David S Goyer also back. Affleck brought his Oscar-winning Argo screenwriter Chris Terrio along for the ride, too.

DC

Batman v Superman plot: Supes v Bats v Wonder Woman v more

So, obviously the film will centre around our two superheroes coming to blows. The authorities are a bit scared of Superman – and to be fair, he could probably punch the world into tiny pieces if he wanted to – while some people have taken to treating him like a god. Batman is clearly no fan, and the trailer implies he has some personal beef after Superman's accidental complete destruction of Metropolis in Man of Steel.

(Goyer has said that Superman will have to "deal with the repercussions" of his actions, while Cavill doesn't think there has been any "intentional move... to address any issues that people had with Man of Steel". From what we've seen so far, we'll be trusting Goyer on this.)

Superman is no Batman fan, either, accusing him of being a vigilante acting outside of the law (apparently with no sense of irony).

The official synopsis goes like this: "Fearing the actions of a god-like super hero left unchecked, Gotham City's own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis's most revered, modern-day saviour, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it's ever known before."

Gadot will be bringing Wonder Woman/Princess Diana/Diana Prince to a live action production for the first time since Lynda Carter hung up her magic lasso in 1979. It looks like she shows up once hostilities have simmered down to help face that "greater danger", and as an ancient warrior woman who first retired 5,000 years before Batman and Superman were even born, they'd better show some respect.

As for what those dangers may be, read on...

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Batman v Superman villains: Luthors and Doomsdays and Darkseids, oh my

Jesse Eisenberg was the first villain revealed for the movie, as Superman's arch rival Lex Luthor. He'll be maintaining his classic alienphobia, and seems to be placing himself to take advantage of the film's titular rivalry to bring his Kryptonian enemy down. It's also a safe bet that he's involved in the creation of enemy number two...

That would be Doomsday, the big spiky monster that famously killed Superman in the '90s. The trailer heavily implies that he is somehow made from the corpse of Michael Shannon's General Zod, who had an unfortunate mishap in Man of Steel and broke his neck. The trailer released in December was criticised for revealing Doomsday, but that apparently isn't even the last or biggest threat our heroes have to worry themselves about, if the latest teasers are anything to go by.

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The latest images from the movie show Batman looking down on a huge omega symbol carved in the earth. In the DC universe, the Greek letter is the sign of Darkseid (pronounced 'dark side'), a god of evil who specialises in robbing people of their hope and free will. Not a nice guy then.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Got a few things I have to work on, but new Justice League Darkseid #BatmanvSuperman WTF coming later tonight pic.twitter.com/lo11TWZ3QH — Charlie Schneider (@AwesomEmergency) January 26, 2016

Whether he'll be lurking in the shadows like the MCU's Thanos (who is pretty much his Marvel doppelganger, anyway) or showing up to punch Superman in the face remains to be seen, but we're guessing that – unless the film is four hours long – it will probably be the former.

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