News Report Shows Footage of 'Batman v Superman' Set. Who Tore Up Metropolis?

Gwynne Watkins
·Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated

Looks like Batman and Superman are tearing it up in Detroit. This weekend, Detroit ABC-7 News sent a helicopter over the set of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which is currently shooting in the Motor City. Their flyover footage doesn’t catch Ben Affleck (Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman), or Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) in action — but it does raise some tantalizing questions about the movie’s top-secret storyline.

The helicopter video clearly shows a city in the throes of destruction. Amid the rubble, there is a crushed police car, a smashed city bus, and a fallen Wayne Financial sign next to a demolished building. Which raises the question: What city is this? The police car and bus both say “Metropolis,” the city in which Superman passes as Clark Kent.

However, Wayne Enterprises is owned by Batman’s civilian self, Bruce Wayne, who resides in Gotham City. It seems doubtful that director Zack Snyder would merge the two iconic comic-book cities – so maybe Wayne Financial simply has a local branch in Metropolis?

Of course, the main question this scene raises is: Who caused all this damage? The title of the film, Batman v Superman, suggests a rivalry between the two superheroes, if not an epic battle. (The rumored source material, Frank Miller’s 1986 comic The Dark Knight Returns, contains such a confrontation and the brief footage shown at Comic-Con suggested a glow-y eyed showdown.)  Surely an all-out fight between the Caped Crusader and the man from Krypton could level a city. Alternately, this could be the work of Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor (played by Jesse Eisenberg) or another of the film’s many rumored villains.

While DC Comics fans are obsessing over the Detroit footage, director Zack Snyder seems to be dwelling on a geeky obsession of his own: Star Wars as seen through a superhero lens. After tweeting a shot of Henry Cavill in a Sith robe with a red lightsaber during Comic-Con, the director just tweeted another photo of Batman wandering a Tatooine-ish desert with R2-D2.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens on May 6, 2016.