What's Really Going on In the Latest "Batman v Superman" Teaser?

CBR

By Stephen Gerding

Published Dec 1, 2015

In the new teaser for "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," a menacing Superman unmasks a vulnerable Batman -- but is there more to it than that?

At barely more than 30 seconds long, you'd think the new teaser hyping the upcoming second trailer for "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" would be filled with quick cuts, flashes of characters and not much more. But you'd be wrong.

Instead, viewers were treated to a brief scene between the titular heroes, though the Man of Steel comes off as decidedly un-heroic while the Dark Knight seems uncharacteristically fearful; culminating in a shackled Batman being unmasked by Superman.

As a result, a number of theories have surfaced online, from the CBR Community to YouTube to Reddit and all across social media. Here are a few of our favorites, in no particular order:

Superman is being mind-controlled by Lex Luthor, possibly involving the use of Red Kryptonite.
Batman is experiencing a fever-induced nightmare.
Superman is experiencing a Kryptonite-induced nightmare.
The scene is a vision of the future, perhaps also involving mind control.
It's an elaborate scheme between the heroes to draw out Luthor or some other enemy.
That's not Superman at all -- it's a robot, or a pre-crystallized/degenerated Bizarro created by Luthor to discredit the real Superman and destroy Luthor's enemies.

Of course, there's also the possibility that the footage should be taken at face value -- the film is "Batman v Superman" after all. We already knew they was going to be conflict, and lines like "Tell me, do you bleed?" let us know it likely isn't going to be pretty. Either way, in this type of often deliberately misleading marketing-driven tease, it's always important to remember context -- and in this instance, we have very little of it. Perhaps more will be explained when the new, full trailer arrives Wednesday night, or maybe things get even murkier from now until the opening of the film.

Ambiguous scene aside, there is one major revelation in the teaser: Ben Affleck's Batman has the greatest range of motion in that cowl we've seen in live action since the days of Adam West.

Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot and Jesse Eisenberg, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is scheduled for release on March 25, 2016.