'Batman V Superman' Art Director Corrects 'Hitman' Producer's "Revisionist History"

Jay Oliva, who directed the two-part animated feature film Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and who [...]

Jay Oliva, who directed the two-part animated feature film Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and who provided storyboard art on Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Wonder Woman (among many others), spent some time on Twitter recently correcting a widely-held misconception about one of those films.

According to Oliva, Man of Steel was meant to be the first of a five-part story, and a direct sequel was never part of the immediate plans. When Daniel Alter, a producer on the Hitman video game films and the upcoming Jonny Quest movie, chimed in on Twitter to call the claim "revisionist history," the conversation soured pretty quickly.

"Daniel, with all due respect, who would know more about this?" Oliva began. "You or I? It's not revisionist history. Seriously I take offense to you insinuating that I don't know what I'm talking about."

Alter then countered that it was "widely known around town" that Batman was added to the film after Man of Steel "was a big disappointment at the box office."

Man of Steel made $291 million at the domestic box office and $668 million globally, meaning that it underperformed the Iron Man films in North America but earned more than both of the two that were out at the time worldwide. There was disagreement at the time about whether this performance was underperforming (since, after all, Superman is a widely-known global brand and Iron Man was not, particularly, at the time) or not (it was the highest-grossing Superman film at that point and among solo superhero films was still a pretty big hit).

Oliva fired back that he, unlike Alter, had been involved in discussions at the time and that he was in a position to know better than the gossip.

"Back in April 2013 (before Man of Steel was released in June) I was tasked with doing the Superman 75 short," Oliva said. "I met with Zack, who was the exec producer on it, and he showed me storyboards of Batman v Superman, with Batman already in it. AND it was a Batman from The Dark Knight Returns. I know this as fact because I was there and I remember it very clearly because I was sad that I may not get the opportunity to work on a film that used Miller's DKR as an influence. Because well you know, I kinda did a little film that did just that. So how could it be revisionist history if the plan for the following films were already planned BEFORE the release the Man of Steel? Now was there a plan to do a sequel when Goyer and Nolan wrote it? I don't know for sure but you can bet your ass that prior to June there was a plan."

Fan reception to Man of Steel was much warmer than the critical reception -- something that would become a recurring motif for the DC films -- at the time of its release, but that has dropped somewhat in the intervening years. One element of "revisionist history" that is verifiable is the notion that it was widely hated upon its release -- at the time it had an 82% positive rating from audiences and an A- CinemaScore. The film's reputation sank after controversy bogged it down, particularly with fans who objected to Superman killing General Zod in the film's final act and the Michael Bay-inspired battle that shattered big chunks of Metropolis. Fan reaction to the "destruction porn" was so strong that Joss Whedon seemingly responded to it in Avengers: Age of Ultron in dialogue.

That same destruction would become a major plot point in Batman v Superman, where Batman blamed Superman for it and it led to him wanting to kill the Man of Steel.

At the time, and in interviews as late as those done on the set of Justice League, Snyder said that killing Zod was part of the learning curve that would transform a scared and confused kid into the Superman fans know and love by the end of the Justice League films.

That element remains divisive -- and fans bristled when Supergirl referenced the bright-and-sunny Tyler Hoechlin Superman having done the same -- but fans have by and large warmed to Hoechlin's Superman, with even most of the DCEU's critics saying that he deserves a shot at a more traditional Superman movie.

Justice League is now on home video. The DCEU continues with Aquaman on December 21, Shazam! on April 5, 2019, Wonder Woman 2 on November 1, 2019, Cyborg in 2020, and Green Lantern Corps in 2020.

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