Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has been in theaters for five days, which seems a bit early in the process to release deleted scenes online. Yet Warner Brothers did just that on Monday, posting a scene that was trimmed from the end of the movie featuring Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) and the resolution of his story arc.
The scene is less than a minute long and like most deleted scenes, it’s apparent why this was trimmed to the film. While maybe it adds a bit of context, it’s easy enough to make the narrative jump to where Luthor is by the end of the movie without this scene filling in the space. Though it does add to the creepy quality of Eisenberg’s performance and maybe implies that he’s gotten a bit too close with his new toys. Take a look.
The scene is a little bit curious, and like plenty of Batman v Superman, doesn’t make much sense upon closer scrutiny. If Luthor can control the technology on the Kryptonian scout ship and form shapes with his mind, why doesn’t he use that to wipe out the policemen or soldiers tasked with apprehending him? Is he on too much of a high from all that alien tech and power? Or is he frightened by what he saw?
SPOILER ALERT: Luthor’s brain seems to have absorbed some alien information at the end of the movie when he warns Batman of a coming threat. Is this scene where he downloaded those messages and images? The alien warrior formed in front of him doesn’t look like what we saw on Krypton in Man of Steel. And the boxes it’s holding look similar to what was used to form the Cyborg character when Wonder Woman is looking at his video file. What are the chances that warrior is someone the Justice League has to face in its upcoming movie? Start up the anticipation machine now!
Posting a deleted scene seems like too much of a potential spoiler, though nothing significant is given away from the story here. What’s more interesting is that this scene might not be clear unless you’ve seen the movie. Is Warner Bros. assuming most fans have already seen BvS? That’s not unreasonable, as the blockbuster drew $166.1 million at the domestic box office and $254 million internationally?
But if everybody that wanted to see Batman v Superman has already seen it, that might not bode well for the film’s long-term box office. That is, if those moviegoers and fans don’t want to see the movie again. As important as international box office has become — and it’s been big for BvS thus far — repeat, multiple viewings are what take a blockbuster film into that billion-dollar stratosphere.
Some may see the movie again to try and make sense of a convoluted, packed storyline. But how many will see it because they’re actually excited about going through the experience again? How many were scared off by bad reviews? Those questions will be answered in the coming weeks.
