After months of anxious anticipation, the trailer for Zack Snyder's Justice League finally dropped over the weekend. The film looks like a huge step forward for the DCEU, but one particular sequence of shots leads us to believe that the movie actually could tie back into Batman v Superman's Knightmare sequence in some fairly unexpected ways. Check out the Justice League shot in question below.
Aside from the fact that those are some pretty badass shots of Bruce Wayne, several astute Reddit users are convinced that this sequence (which sees Batman recruiting Aquaman) will tie into the Knightmare sequence from Dawn of Justice. The rationale for this argument is the sheer number of similarities it shares with the scene in Batman v Superman where The Caped Crusader unsuccessfully tries to get his hands on Kryptonite to take down the tyrannical Superman.
For the sake of comparison, check out the similar shots from Batman v Superman below to see why the shot sticks out.
For the people who are convinced by this argument, the similarities extend beyond the framing of Bruce Wayne in each shot. The goggles (and the way he removes the goggles) are also incredibly similar, and his mission in each of these sequences is more or less the same. In Knightmare, Batman tries to get his hands on a weapon (Kryptonite) to take down Superman, and in Justice League, he is trying to recruit a weapon (Aquaman) to fill the void left by the Man of Steel in the wake of his death. These missions have the same goal in mind, but while Knightmare's is motivated by cynicism, Justice League's is driven by hope.
Before we go off and get too excited about this particular parallel, we should mention that not everyone is convinced. There's some pretty clear DNA shared between these two sequences, but that might simply be due to the underlying structure of cinematography more than anything else. Using shots such as these to establish a location is not uncommon, so it's entirely plausible that this is simply a habit of Snyder's and not an indication of a greater vision.
What do you think? Do you think Zack Snyder has intentionally framed these shots the same way, or do you think it's a pure coincidence? Let us know what you think in the comments section. In the meantime, the Justice League will unite for the very first time on November 17, 2017. Make sure to take a look at our movie premiere guide for more information related to the rest of this year's theatrical debuts.
