universe building
What BVS means f or t he DCU
Batman’s lost a Robin – but which one? The memorial suit in the Batcave is daubed with the Joker’s graffiti, nodding to 1988’ s infamous comic book tale A Death In The Family, which saw the crime clown slaughter Jason Todd, Dick Grayson’s replacement. Could we see flashbacks to the Boy Wonder’s demise in Suicide Squad?
The desert dream sequence finds the Dark Knight fighting Parademons, the troopers of Darkseid, warmongering ruler of the planet Apokolips ( we glimpse his omega symbol too). The Big Bad of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World mythology, Darkseid brings a truly cosmic scale of threat to DC’s screen universe.
There’s more connective tissue to the Fourth World in our glimpse of Cyborg’s origin. Victor Stone’s transformation into a man- machine utilises a Mother Box, a sentient piece of tech that accesses the power of the Source ( Kirby’s equivalent of the Force).
Yes, that’s Chris Pine as Steve Trevor in the vintage photograph of Wonder Woman, cueing up her WW1- set solo movie in 2017. Will we see the events that compelled her to abandon humanity for almost a century? “I’ve killed things from other worlds before,” she tells us – another hint?
In a vision, Superman blames Batman for the loss of “her” – Lois Lane, we imagine, given the Flash’s warning that the Daily Planet jo ur no is the key to this hazily defined future armageddon. The scarlet speedster’s cameo here recalls his desperate dash through time in 1986’ s Crisis On Infinite Earths. Superman blaming Batman for Lois’s death was a key plot point in videogame and comic series Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Are we really doing The Death Of Superman already? It feels unearned, given this is only Cavill’s second shot at the role. If the films stick to DC continuity we’re in for a take on Reign Of The Supermen, which saw four pretenders attempt to replace the Man of Steel.
Lex’s prison number is 167TK. Issue 167 of Superman saw supervillains unite in “The Team Of Luthor And Brainiac!” – just a coincidence?
“He’s coming and he’s hungry!” warns Lex. But who? Darkseid? Brainiac? Matter- Eater Lad from the Legion of Superheroes?