When it was revealed that Zack Snyder's follow-up to Man of Steel would be titled Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I think it's safe to say that most of us rolled our eyes at the clunky title, and it seems that Snyder himself was never a fan. While speaking during a Justice Con panel this past weekend, Snyder confirmed that the title was the only one that Warner Bros. wanted, but if he had his way, the film would have been titled something more poetic.
I remember when there was a back-and-forth that I had with the studio, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was like the only title that [Warner Bros. liked]. The whole ‘v’ instead of ‘versus,’ it was like this crazy negotiation. I was like, ‘Guys, can’t we just do something like Son of Sun and Knight of Night, or something that’s a little bit more poetic?’ And they were like, ‘Absolutely not’ [Laughs]. I was like, ‘Is it a court case?' The only plus of it is that BvS is really easy.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice co-writer Chris Terrio was also present during the panel, and said that he would have "loved something really simple, like Batman and Superman." The writer added that for a while, they were considering "titling it ‘Justice League: [Subtitle],’ to suggest that this movie was going to be the beginning of the Justice League, even though it didn’t really look like it. Like ‘Justice League: Foundations,’ or you know, ‘Justice League: Rising.'" I can't imagine that Warner Bros. ever seriously considered Zack Snyder's title preference, not when two of their biggest characters were set to appear in the same film, but you can't help but wonder what might have been.
Speaking of Zack Snyder, our own Paul Shirey was on the set of Army of the Dead many moons ago, so be sure to check out his articles explaining everything you need to know about the zombie epic, as well as interviews with Dave Bautista and Zack Snyder himself. Army of the Dead will debut on Netflix on May 21, 2021.