Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition) is an extended version of the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice adding an extra 30 minutes of new scenes.
Plot
In a flashback, Bruce Wayne falls into a cave while running from his parents' funeral, where he has a memorable encounter with a legion of bats. Back in the present, eighteen months after the battle between Superman and General Zod in Metropolis,[N 1] Superman has become a controversial figure. Bruce is now a billionaire who has operated in Gotham City as the vigilante Batman for twenty years. Having witnessed the chaos of that battle in person, he sees Superman as an existential threat to humanity.
After learning of Batman's form of justice, Clark Kent (Superman's civilian identity) seeks to expose him via Daily Planet articles. Wayne learns that Russian weapon trafficker Anatoli Knyazev has been contacting LexCorp mogul Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, Luthor attempts to persuade Senator June Finch to allow him to import kryptonite discovered after Zod's terraforming attempt, so that it can be used as a deterrent against future Kryptonian and metahuman threats. She declines, but Luthor makes alternative plans with Finch's subordinate, which grants him access to Zod's body and the Kryptonian scout ship.
Bruce attends a gala at LexCorp to steal encrypted data from the company's mainframe, but antiquities dealer Diana Prince takes it from him; she returns it after failing to access the information. While decrypting the drive, Bruce dreams of a post-apocalyptic world where he leads rebels against an evil Superman. He is awakened by an unidentified person, appearing through a portal, who tells him that Lois Lane "is the key" and urges him to find "the others" before vanishing.[N 2] The decrypted drive reveals Luthor's files on several metahumans across the globe. One is Diana Prince, who appears in a photo from World War I. Wayne tells Alfred Pennyworth that he plans to steal the kryptonite and weaponize it, if necessary, to fight Superman.
A widely-publicized Congressional hearing, led by Finch, is held to question Superman's actions against Zod. A bomb smuggled in by Luthor detonates, killing everyone present except Superman. Superman blames himself for not detecting it in time and self-imposes exile. Elsewhere, Batman breaks into LexCorp and steals the kryptonite. He builds a powered exoskeleton, a kryptonite grenade launcher, and a kryptonite-tipped spear in preparation for battling Superman. Meanwhile, Luthor enters the Kryptonian ship and accesses a database of technology accumulated from over 100,000 worlds.
Luthor lures Superman out of exile by kidnapping Lois and Martha Kent, Clark's adoptive mother. He pushes Lois off the LexCorp building. Superman saves her and confronts Luthor, who reveals he manipulated him and Batman by fueling their distrust. Luthor demands he kill Batman in exchange for Martha's life. Superman tries to explain this to Batman, who instead attacks him and eventually subdues him using a kryptonite gas. As Batman prepares to move in for the kill using the spear, Superman pleads with him to "save Martha" - the same name as Batman's mother. Batman hesitates in confusion long enough for Lois to arrive and explain what Superman meant. Coming to his senses about how far he has fallen from grace, he promises to rescue Martha. Superman regains his strength and confronts Luthor on the scout ship.
Luthor executes his backup plan, unleashing a monster genetically engineered from DNA from both Zod's body and his own.[N 3] Diana arrives with her metahuman powers on display, and joins forces with Batman and Superman against the creature. Though outmatched, Superman realizes its vulnerability to kryptonite and retrieves the spear. He impales the creature with it, but in its dying moments, the creature kills Superman, who was weakened by kryptonite exposure.
Following Luthor's arrest, Batman confronts him in prison, warning him that he will always be watching. Luthor gloats that Superman's death has made the world vulnerable to powerful alien threats. A memorial is held for Superman in Metropolis. Clark is also declared dead, and Wayne and Prince both attend his funeral in Smallville. Martha gives Lois an envelope containing an engagement ring from Clark. Bruce tells Diana that he regrets having failed Superman in life. He asks her help to form a team of metahumans, starting with those named in Luthor's files, to protect the world in Superman's absence. After everyone leaves, the dirt atop Clark's coffin levitates.
Cast
- Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman
- Brandon Spink as young Bruce Wayne
- Henry Cavill as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman
- Amy Adams as Lois Lane
- Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor
- Diane Lane as Martha Kent
- Laurence Fishburne as Perry White
- Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth
- Holly Hunter as Senator June Finch
- Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
- Scoot McNairy as Wallace Keefe
- Callan Mulvey as Anatoli Knyazev
- Tao Okamoto as Mercy Graves
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Thomas Wayne
- Lauren Cohan as Martha Wayne
- Hugh Maguire as Jack O'Dwyer
- Michael Shannon as General Zod
- Sammi Rotibi as General Amajagh
- Michael Cassidy as Jimmy Olsen
- Wunmi Mosaku as Kahina Ziri
- Dennis North as Senator Barrows
- Kiff VandenHeuvel as Officer Mazzuccheli
- Mason Heidger as Officer Mike Rucka
- Sebastian Sozzi as Cesar Santos
- Ralph Lister as Emmet Vale
- Rebecca Buller as Jenny Jurwich
- Harry Lennix as Secretary of Defense Calvin Swanwick
- Christina Wren as Carrie Farris
- Chad Krowchuk as Glen Woodburn
- Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/Flash
- Chris Newman as Greg
- Patrick Leahy as Senator Purrington
- Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman
- Joe Morton as Silas Stone
- Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg
- Coburn Goss as Father Daniel Leone
- Joseph Cranford as Pete Ross
- Emily Peterson as Lana Lang
- Robin Atkin Downes as Doomsday
- Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent
- Ripley Sobo as Sage
- John Seibert as McGraw
- Greg Violand as General Coller
- Damon Caro as Joe Chill
- Anderson Cooper as himself
- Andrew Sullivan as himself
- Charlie Rose as himself
- Vikram Gandhi as himself
- Neil deGrasse Tyson as himself
- Brooke Baldwin as herself
- Jon Stewart as himself
- Dana Bash as herself
- Nancy Grace as herself
- Soledad O'Brien as herself
- Patrick Wilson as President of the United States
- Chris Newman as Greg
- Graham Beal as James Harmon
- Uncredited as Grace
- Jena Malone as Jenet Klyburn
- Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel as Adriana
Additions
- There is a brief shot of the gun being leveled at Martha's face.
- During the Black Zero Event, Bruce Wayne witnessed a teacher leading a group of children through the streets.
- In Nairomi, the man who was shot in the original version is confirmed to be Jimmy Olsen.
- To clarify the accusation against Superman in Nairomi, it is revealed that before fleeing, Knyazev and his men murder the warlord's men and the villagers, before immolating their corpses with a flamethrower (making it look like they had been killed by Superman's heat vision) and escaped before arriving moments later, and the Man of Steel was framed for the murders.
- The CIA launched a drone to bomb the compound, but the drone was promptly destroyed by Superman when he arrived.
- Lois Lane comes to the MCPD where an analyst (played by Jena Malone) studies the bullet for her.
- It is revealed that Clark Kent first learnt of Batman through going to Gotham to interview Kahina Ziri, where he encountered her neighbor and warned Clark about leaving before dark "unless [Clark] wants to run into him.", and drew the Bat symbol on a scratch card.
- In the original version, the newsman depicts that "a Bat brand in prison, essentially means death". Later, the man who was branded by Batman (Cesar Santos) was murdered in the prison by other inmates (as per the orchestration of Lex Luthor, through Anatoli Knyazev), confirming that Batman was actually sending death sentences, to clarify the motive for Superman's confrontation against Batman.
- When Lex Luthor visits Wallace Keefe at his home, the latter curses at Lex saying "What the fuck do you want?" Whereas in the original version, he just says "What do you want?" instead.
- Superman helps the Paramedics in aiding the survivors of the explosion in the Washington D.C. 's Capitol building.
- Wallace Keefe's wheelchair is revealed to be lead-lined so that Superman couldn't see it during the Capitol Bombing.
- When Doomsday was released, the GCPD arrived at the Gotham Port warehouse to aid Martha Kent, shortly before the Batwing appears and flies away.
- Originally, Doomsday leapt at a helicopter and missed, hitting LexCorp Tower, but in this version he rams through the helicopter, destroying it.
- There was a scene where a Swat team infiltrate the Kryptonian Scout ship to find Lex Luthor being taught about the three Motherboxes by Steppenwolf.
- When Batman visits Lex Luthor in prison, he tells him that Luthor was to be sent to Arkham Asylum in Gotham.
Gallery
Trivia
- It was the DCEU's first R-rated film.