Funny thing about the Batman vs. Superman movie that Warner Bros. is shooting as we speak… even though everyone and their parents has been calling it “Batman vs. Superman,” that’s never been the movie’s official title. Warner Bros. had for some reason kept entirely mum about the official title of their first superhero team-up movie, and as of today we finally know why: because the actual title is pretty darned stupid.
Batman and Superman will team up (and presumably fight) for the very first time in a live-action movie on May 6, 2016, in a movie called… Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And we don’t even know where to begin describing why that’s a silly-ass name for a movie.
Was Batman vs. Superman taken? Is Warner Bros. trying to streamline their Twitter hashtags by cutting the lower-case “s” out of “vs.”? Or is their confrontation actually just a court case? And who is this “Dawn” person, and why is she “of justice?” Or, if we resist the urge to be cute about it, where was all the justice before Batman and Superman fought each other? Is Warner Bros. accusing every law enforcement official mankind’s ever had of not doing their jobs?
Granted, we know what this Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is really about. If Warner Bros. had announced that the title of their movie was exactly what we all assumed it was, it wouldn’t be much of a news story. And “Dawn of Justice” is clearly a tease for the upcoming Justice League movie that Zack Snyder will direct after Batman v Superman, much like the title of Captain America: The First Avenger teased the upcoming Marvel Studios Avengers team-up. But that was kind of a dumb subtitle too. Everyone calls that movie Captain America anyway, just like they’re going to refer to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as “Batman vs. Superman” no matter how hard Warner Bros. tries to arbitrarily rebrand it.
Whatever the hell Warner Bros. is trying it, Batman vs. Superman will be coming to theaters on May 6, 2016. And if they don’t like it, we can always start calling it Facepalm: The Movie instead.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
