Danny Elfman Teases Dark Superman For Justice League
Whose side is Supes on?
Since joining Justice League back in June, we haven't heard too much from composer Danny Elfman on how his score for the movie is shaping up. Now that's changed, with the man who created the theme for 1989's Batman giving a few teases as to what we can expect.
In an interview with Billboard, Elfman discusses the fun he had returning to the DC universe, and most interestingly touches on the subject of Superman's theme. There have long been rumours that Supes will initially return as a villain in Justice League, and Elfman's comments do nothing to dampen those. He said:
"There are a few little fan moments. I instated a moment of the Wonder Woman theme that Hans Zimmer did for Batman Vs. Superman, but I also had two minutes where I had the pleasure of saying, “Let’s do John Williams’ Superman.” and that for me was heaven, because now I have a melody to twist, and I’m using it in an actually very dark way, in a dark moment.
"It’s the kind of thing that some fans will notice. Some won’t. It’s a moment where we’re really not sure whose side he’s on."
That certainly fits with some of those rumours, and there's a good chance this moment comes when he first rises from the dead as a darker version of the character, complete with black suit, before progressing into the Big Blue Boy Scout by the movie's end.
Williams' main theme for Superman, meanwhile, has been intrinsically linked to the character since Richard Donner's 1978 movie, but hasn't yet been used for the DCEU's take on the character, so it'll be interesting to finally get it in Justice League, albeit with a twist.
Elfman also spoke about creating music for Aquaman and The Flash, admitting that he created "simple motifs" rather than full-blown themes for them, and discussed working with Joss Whedon again after Avengers: Age of Ultron:
"I’ve only worked with Joss twice, but they’ve both been insane situations. I was joking with him at the end, 'It would be great to do something normal where we actually have a regular schedule instead of these hyper-reduced schedules.' On the other hand, I like challenges and I love Joss, so it was all good.
"There was a moment where the Batmobile shoots out of a thing and he goes, 'Go batsh*t crazy here! Batman the sh*t out of it!' When I’m using the Batman theme, I’m using the melodic sense of it, I wasn’t doing full-on Batman, and there’s a moment when he says, 'No, right here, Full on!'"
How do you feel about a dark Superman? What do you think will happen in Justice League? Share your thoughts down in the comments.