Batman v Superman almost added another two major DC characters, but Director Zack Snyder explains why he didn’t use them after all.
Batman v Superman will provide front row seats to an epic fight when it finally hits cinemas on March 25, and it’s hard to think there will be room for anything else going on in the film other than the two heroes going toe to toe. But the movie also features Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, and a slew of other characters, both heroes and villains.
And it also had another pair of infamous villains joining the cast, namely The Joker and The Riddler, before Snyder decided not to pack any more characters into his movie.
Speaking with Collider, he says, “The Joker and The Riddler both came close to being in this movie. We talked about the possibility of putting them in. [Screenwriter] Chris Terrio and I talked about it a lot and felt that their mythological presence is felt in the movie and that’s cool, but I didn’t want to get my eye too far off the ball because I needed to spend the time, frankly, with Batman and Superman to understand the conflict.”
This is probably a smart move considering the scope of the film. Fans of Captain America: Civil War have been worried about the number of characters taking away from the fact that it will be a Captain America movie, not an Avengers one. BvS is clearly trying to shy away from that issue so no time is lost exploring the relationship between the title heroes.
At the same time, it’s also interesting to note that these two villains’ “mythological presence” is felt in the movie. We already saw The Joker’s graffiti on one of the suits in the trailer, but will there be more Easter eggs like this throughout the film? It sounds like we can count on it.