10 Questions You Should Be Asking About Batman Vs Superman

7. Is It A Direct Sequel To Man Of Steel?

While it divided opinions amongst audiences, Man of Steel was a commercial hit and earned over $660m worldwide. At the movie's climax, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent had taken a job at the Daily Planet and the established Superman mythos was in place. However, Warner Bros. swerved everyone when they announced that Man of Steel 2 had suddenly morphed into Batman v Superman, with Henry Cavill's title character not even being given top billing in his own sequel. So how much impact will the events of Man of Steel have on Dawn of Justice? The destruction of Metropolis during Superman's battle with General Zod during the climax of Man of Steel seems likely to kick off the story, with leaked set photos promising plenty of anti-Superman sentiment in the city, although a giant statue of the character has also been spotted. There have been rumors that the plot sees Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor synthesizing Kryptonite from the wreckage of the World Engine, with Zod's body set to be a key part in his plan to bring Superman down. It would make sense for the movie to feature connective tissue that links the story to the events of Man of Steel, even if Dawn of Justice has now essentially become a Justice League setup instead of the Superman sequel originally announced. While it managed to deliver on the action front at least, Man of Steel was sorely lacking in character development. The pivotal relationship between Superman and Lois Lane was woefully underdeveloped, and given the number of additions to the cast it seems unlikely that Amy Adams will get much chance to put more of a stamp on her take of the character. Laurence Fishburne also returns as Perry White despite being completely superfluous during the events of Man of Steel, while Diane Lane reprises her cliche-spouting bit-part as Martha Kent. Given how under-served these characters were during Man of Steel, it seems that the connection to last year's reboot will be tenuous at best when you consider the sheer volume of new characters and world-building that Dawn of Justice will likely require.