‘Justice League’: Danny Elfman Thinks DC Films Needs To Stick With Classic Themes

Composer Danny Elfman — perhaps best known for his iconic theme that accompanied Tim Burton’s […]

November 18, 2017, 7:25pm

Composer Danny Elfman — perhaps best known for his iconic theme that accompanied Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman — returned to the DC universe with Justice League, which re-purposes both Elfman’s own robust Batman theme and John Williams’ soaring theme from Superman: The Movie for the newest cinematic iterations of DC Comics‘ biggest icons.

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Batman and Superman‘s unmistakable motifs can be heard in the full Justice League soundtrack, now available for streaming from Warner Bros’ WaterTower Music. Elfman, who acknowledged he boarded Justice League “very last second” at the request of helmer Joss Whedon — taking over for original director Zack Snyder, who had to step away due to a family tragedy — told The Hollywood Reporter he reintroduced Batman and Superman’s musical identities because he hates the idea of reboots doing away with classic themes.

“The whole concept that every time a superhero franchise is rebooted with a new director, then you have to start the music from scratch is a bullshit idea,” Elfman said. “It’s only for the ego of the director or the composer. They need to learn the incredible lesson that Star Wars and James Bond have known for ages, which is that keeping these musical connections alive is incredibly satisfying for the people who see those films.”

“There’s like four different Spider-Man themes at this point, and as a result, he doesn’t have a recognizable sound,” continued Elfman, who scored 2002’s Spider-Man and 2004’s Spider-Man 2. “I told the guys at DC, you have a great musical heritage that you should be proud of and you should keep it alive. And they agreed with me, which is refreshing.”

The Justice League soundtrack is available for streaming on YouTube and Spotify and hits online retailers such as Amazon on December 8.

Justice League, starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher and Amy Adams, is now playing.