Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice Ending Explained | Den Of Geek

The easiest way to turn Superman evil is to kill Lois Lane. So, yeah, remember what Flash said about Lois being the “key?” If Lois dies, there goes Superman’s last, best tie to humanity (or so certain illogical logic goes), and then it’s off to the world-domination races. Most of this comes from the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game and comic book series, an exceedingly dark and grim alternate reality version of DC mythology that somehow seems to have an inordinate amount of influence on the sensibilities of the DC Extended Universe.

Now, Superman’s heel turn in Injustice doesn’t have anything to do with Darkseid. But Darkseid has a long history of manipulating Superman for his own purposes, and it’s easy to see an out-of-it, freshly de-corpsified Supes falling under the thrall of an interstellar dictator. There is a brilliant Superman: The Animated Series (watch on Amazon here!) story called “Legacy” (the two-part series finale) which sees Superman brainwashed into believing he’s one of Darkseid’s children, and he behaves accordingly. There have been other instances in the comics where Supes ends up an unwitting pawn of Darkseid, including in the New 52 Earth-2 comic where a clone of Kal-El is a servant of Darkseid known as (I kid you not) Brutaal, a name that seems just subtle enough for this movie’s tastes.

The Lois Lane/Injustice connection may be circumstantial evidence, but the arrival of Darkseid-related characters in the DC Extended Universe is a matter of undeniable fact at this point. But I’m not sure why there would be two massive clues indicating the impending presence of an “evil” Superman in future movies if there weren’t plans to go down this road for at least half a movie. If Darkseid indeed ends up manipulating the resurrected Supes, it’s possible that Batman’s nightmare vision wasn’t just a nightmare after all… it could be a prophesy of what’s to come. And yes, that could include the weird Superman stormtroopers, too.

But if nothing else, Superman’s death seems to have made Batman change his fascist ways… at least a little. For that moment there during Clark’s funeral, and while talking with Wonder Woman, he almost seems optimistic about the difference that heroes can make. From what we learned on the Justice League set, it sounds like Superman’s sacrifice will be the thing that opens up the DC Extended Universe movies to something actually resembling a heroic ideal. And then when he does finally return, he’ll be the inspirational figure he’s supposed to be. If nothing else, Batman and Wonder Woman now know they have to gather more heroes together in order to defend the world from larger threats.