Batman and Superman Square Off in the First Two ‘Dawn of Justice’ Posters

Man, things are just not going well lately for Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. First, someone leaked the filmmakers’ plans to release a snippet of the film’s teaser trailer on Twitter to advertise a big premiere event for the rest of the coming attraction at IMAX theaters around the country. Then someone uploaded a grainy bootleg of the trailer, essentially spoiling the big reveal almost a week early. (Warner Bros. later released a high-res version.) Now someone’s defaced the movie’s first posters! Damn internet hooligans! Get off my digital lawn!

All right, there’s no vandalism here, at least not unintended vandalism. The first two Batman v Superman posters — one for Batman and one for Superman — show the two title characters with their faces scratched out by their rival’s logo. So there’s Henry Cavill’s Superman with a crude bat over his eyes, and Ben Affleck’s Batman with a big Superman “S” over his kisser, and that thing’s not easy to carve; there’s lots of precise angles you have to get exactly right. Even obscured by virtual graffiti, it’s clear that Affleck’s Batman will be the first big-screen Dark Knight to rock the character’s traditional gray-and-blue costume since Adam West. That’s pretty cool.

Here’s the Batman poster:

And the Superman poster:

These posters are certainly of a piece with that first trailer: Everything’s dark, serious, grim, and dark. Superman and Batman may be on opposite sides of a conflict in Batman v Superman, but these posters make it clear they do agree one one thing: Neither guy feels like smiling. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens in theaters on March 25, 2016.