If you were on the internet yesterday, you might have seen some images from the set of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice leak on to your computer screens. Part of the problem that comes with shooting on location in a real city — as opposed to in front of a blue screen inside a giant soundstage — is that there are real people with real cameraphones lurking around every corner.
BvS:DoJ has had its share of set leaks in the past, and this one isn’t all that revealing, honestly. But for me, it reveals something that I assumed we had moved past in a Batman movie. I won’t reveal anymore until after the cut, but if you’ve read the headline, you’ve already been spoiled. Sorry.
Here’s the thing: is it really a spoiler to reveal that Thomas and Martha Wayne get gunned down on the mean streets of Gotham City? It’s only the single most defining moment in all of the Bat mythos.
The image of Bruce Wayne kneeling at the feet of his dead parents has been depicted countless times in the comics, movies, animation, video games, and anything else that has the Bat symbol emblazoned on its cover. I mean, it was basically the entire cold open of the pilot episode of Fox’s not-Batman series Gotham.
In fact, the title of this post was lifted from this brilliant supercut of the Wayne Murders that was put together by Vulture a couple months back:
I guess the answer to the question is: at least one more time in 2016. Over at Superhero Hype, they’ve come across a bunch of set photos that show an old theater playing The Mark of Zorro. And every Batfan knows that this is the fateful last movie of Thomas and Martha Wayne (unless, of course, you get your Bat mythos from Christopher Nolan, in which case a night at the opera was the Waynes’ choice for pre-murder entertainment).
There’s even video footage of mini-Bruce and his Walking Dead parents being confronted, presumably, by Joe Chill (or the Joker, who knows at this point?):
Here’s the thing, I thought the whole point of casting Ben Affleck as an “older, established Batman” was to spare us yet another origin story? Do we really need another flashback to that night in Crime Alley?
I guess Zack Snyder really wanted to get in on that supercut.
UPDATE 11/18/14: Jason Concepcion (aka @netw3rk) just power ranked each Wayne Murder for Grantland.