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Zack Snyder’s Justice League graced our presence last month on HBO Max, and its four hours success is still pretty fresh in our minds. That said, hype surrounding the new version of Justice League has brought out some new information on one of Snyder’s older DC films: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Apparently that film could have actually been named a number of variations, as Snyder and writer Chris Terrio had a few alternate titles they would have preferred over what ended up happening.
Zack Snyder was joined by Chris Terrio in a surprise appearance on a segment for Justice Con where Snyder did a “Deep Dive” of his version of Justice League. While talking about the recently-released title, Snyder and Terrio were asked about the alternate titles they had for their 2016 movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, seeing as Snyder previously noted he wasn’t the happiest with the title choice. Here’s Snyder’s own explanation of the naming process he went through with Warner Bros:
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]. he 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?' … I’ll say the only plus of it is that BvS is very easy.
I’m going to be honest and say that Zack Snyder’s “poetic” version of the title may be a little complicated for my tastes. While Son of Sun and Knight of Night may be a good concept, it doesn’t exactly slip off the tongue gracefully. I see what you did there, Zack, but it’s not quite working, either.
While Zack Snyder’s alternate title may have been a bit of a mouthful, Chris Terrio, though strongly opinionated, seems to have more simple tastes. Terrio said in the same interview that his preference for a title would have been a little more straightforward. If not super simple, he would have liked it to tease Justice League a bit more. Here it is in the writer’s own words:
I would’ve loved something really simple like Batman and Superman... For a while, we talked about actually titling it Justice League, colon, and then something after that 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 Justice League: Rising.
Zack Snyder’s and Chris Terrio’s alternate names for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may not have seen the light of day, but it’s definitely interesting to have this peek into the workings of their creative minds. Snyder’s preference for something a little more artistic in title, and Terrio’s leaning toward a more simple approach, definitely tell us a little bit about how the two think creatively.
While they may have been on different pages here, the two definitely compliment each other artistically, which is evident by what they created together with Zack Snyder’s Justice League. If only there was an opportunity for them to work together again on Justice League 2. For now, you can watch Snyder's past DCEU movies by subscribing to HBO Max.
