Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice First Trailer and Thoughts

     It's been a few days since the full trailer hit the internet and I wanted to really digest it before coming on here to comment about it.  It's much better than my original, restrained optimism had hoped for and really builds the light and dark sides of the two icons up, creating a great divide.  That is exactly how it should be.  This trailer is, in my opinion, already far better than Man of Steel.

     On the light side you've got the hope of salvation through Superman.  An alien that wants only to help people, but in his path we get the realists that see the destruction and cost he has wrought on the world in that effort.  People like the scientists talking about his controversial position, and Lex Luthor using the fact that he might be a devil from above, killing not out of want, but out of accident.  Lex is using that fear of the unknown- a strange man from space doing impossible feats- to great effect.  He's probably going to use it as a lever to cause a mass public revolt against the "False God."  He's turning peoples reverential worship to outright hate.  He's essentially saying Superman is becoming a threat to human safety, not the extraterrestrial messiah some believe him to be.

“That’s how it starts. The fever. The rage. The feeling of powerlessness that turns good men… cruel.” -Alfred Pennyworth

     Opposite of this we have the dark of Batman.  In the trailer it shows clips of Superman looking down from above people, and in one of the cases, it's overwhelmingly bright which contrasts nicely with all the dark shots of Batman.  Residing in shadows he seems to exude the same initial thought of Lex- Superman may have started a hero, but with the soldiers surrounding him, he's become something worse.  If you note the soldiers, they all have his "S" insignia on their shoulders and are bowing to him.  Hope, at least in his Kryptonian symbology, has been weaponized.
     To me this looks like Batman has taken it upon himself as the man needed to bring Superman down- to essentiall ground him back to the Earth and remind him what he stands for.  Of course, I must also add that the end of the trailer is straight out of Frank Miller's tremendous The Dark Knight Returns run.  Because I've judged Zack Snyder's direction quite harshly in the past (flashy looks over substance) I must say, he's done that scene perfect justice.  And the eerie Batman voice...  absolutely amazing.

"Tell Me, do you bleed?  You will."

     "Maybe he's just a guy tying to do the right things..."  
          "But we know better now, don't we?"

     Those quotes could pertain to either hero, but used in this trailer they form a hell of a statement cutting both ways, and Snyder has done everything a great trailer should.  It teases and gives us a little of what we want, and then leaves us wanting so much more.  It has set up the ultimate light versus dark dichotomy between the two most well-known superheroes in history, and I must applaud this trailer's effort, for it is exemplary.