There was a lot of behind-the-scenes drama during the filming of many DCEU projects that had the universe failing before it was ever really given a chance. One of the most affected films by the drama, besides 2017’s Justice League, was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. According to leaks on Reddit, the film (which Snyder wanted to name Son of Sun or Knight of Night) was originally envisioned quite differently, with a different villain and a plot with events that aligned more coherently with the Black Zero event. According to those same scoopers, much of the film had to be changed. But what’s even more surprising is that many fans have found similarities between Marvel’s Civil War film and Zack Snyder’s original script for Batman v Superman.
Initial Plans for Batman v Superman
According to one Redditor, “[Batman v Superman] was going to be a very different film than the one we got. Batman was always there, but originally… Corbos, a victim who suffered from the Black Zero Event was going to be the upfront villain, who is later turned into Metallo by Lex.”
One post even went as far as to detail everything that happened in the original Batman v Superman script, which included Superman winning the fight against Batman and Superman killing Doomsday. What’s more interesting, however, is that Metallo was originally set to be the main villain of the film.
Remember this? How y’all said it was “Snyder fan fiction”? How y’all said Johns was good? This all leaked in 2018 yet since 2016 even before BvS came out we’ve been seeing clues and accusations of sabotage inside WB, all turned out to be true.#RestoreTheSnyderVerse pic.twitter.com/l1tFNpC7Zf— KingZarco’s AngelicRebirth, todo bien chinchurria? (@ZarcoPurified) October 16, 2022
Who is Metallo?
Metallo was a Kryptonite-powered cyborg and one of Superman’s most dangerous enemies. In the comics, Metallo is obsessed with Superman and often blames him for the fatal accident that leads to his gaining his cybernetics.
However, Zack Snyder had given the character a direct reason to hate Superman through the Black Zero Event, making the events that were sure to be carried out significantly more emotionally charged than a paranoid Batman hunting Superman because he believes the Kryptonian is dangerous.
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The Impact of Leaks
Unfortunately, shortly after Batman v Superman entered production in 2014, many believe the entire script was leaked to Marvel from Geoff Johns’ office. Apparently, Marvel scrapped their original idea for Captain America 3 to create Captain America: Civil War.
One Redditor even pointed out the many similarities between Civil War and Dawn of Justice, such as the “Billionaire vs Boyscout” plotline, with a strategic win but a moral loss, “[Government] and Media witch hunting”, “Prominence of Mothers”, “Bomb blasts pushing the heroes” and the “Villain pulling the strings from behind.” They also reminded fans that the Russos admitted that Civil War has only been greenlit after Batman v Superman.
Consequences of the Batman v Superman Leaks
Fans believe Snyder was forced to re-write the last two acts of his film and the main villain, which is how Doomsday was included. Corbos was turned into Wallace Keefe, a supporting character Lex Luthor uses to further his plans.
Apparently, Snyder also decided to “tighten the crew” to avoid further leaks. Unfortunately, news about Doomsday still got out. After all the rewrites and changes during production and the re-announcement of Batman v Superman’s release date, Marvel announced that Civil War would be released on the same day, forcing Warner Bros. to change their release date for the third time.
According to the scoopers, Warner Bros. lost confidence in DC and Zack Snyder, and the fight for control over the DCEU began, starting with the length and age rating of Dawn of Justice, which was cut down by 30 minutes to secure a PG 13 rating.
There has been a significant amount of speculation surrounding Batman v Superman and Warner Bros. over the years, making it difficult to determine the truth behind any of these claims. It might just be a coincidence that the MCU and DCEU have featured similar narratives throughout the years. Zack Snyder has never even mentioned these leaks during interviews. And Marvel hasn’t talked about them either. This could very well be fans just trying to create some drama between the two camps.
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Tell us, do you think Marvel stole Zack Snyder’s original Batman v Superman script and used it in Civil War?
