Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Question: Multi-part question regarding the actual brawl between Batman and Superman. Batman's first barrier is a sonic attack (lifted right out of Marvel's "Incredible Hulk," which Superman defeats the same way the Hulk did: Ripping apart an iron plate and destroying the sonic emitters with the two halves of iron). Why was Superman bending over, holding his head, when we know he has super-selective hearing? Superman could instantly block out a sonic attack without even blinking. Batman's second barrier was comprised of a couple of machine-cannons; again, Superman ducks and covers until he realises the cannons do not affect him. Why would Superman attempt to shield himself from conventional firearms? Did he suspect they were Kryptonite rounds? If so, why even bother shielding himself? If Superman suspected that Batman was using Kryptonite-based weaponry, why would he even walk into that scenario? After Superman strolls through Batman's first two deterrents, Batman then uses a third barrier, a smoke bomb that can, apparently, block Superman's X-ray vision. What was in the smoke? Was it lead-based smoke? Because Batman escapes while Superman seemingly can't see through the smoke. As far as I can tell, Superman doesn't realise that Batman is using Kryptonite-based weapons until Batman uses the Kryptonite gas mortars on Superman. So, why did the first three weapons even slow Superman down? Superman could have defeated Batman in a fraction of a second without killing him.

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: The sonic emitters were constantly changing frequency making the sound impossible for Superman to "select" and block out. As for the cannons, Superman knows that Batman is resourceful and therefore assumed that he would not bother firing at him unless the rounds could do damage. Superman took cover as a precaution against this. There are also several elements which block x-rays and can be made into a gas.

Phixius

Answer: We see Bruce working with lead to contain the Kryptonite gas in the grenade capsules, so we know he understands the interaction of lead and radiation. X-ray's are a form of radiation and if Luthor has a complete file in Superman's abilities the fact that he can see in the X-ray spectrum would be included, so Bruce would have planned accordingly but adding lead particles to his gas grenade should he need to escape. This is not covered in specific in the film; it requires you to add up several incidental pieces of information and make and informed assumption.

Answer: The bullets from the machine gun may not be able to break his skin and injure him but that doesn't mean they don't have a physical effect on him or that he cannot feel them. In Man of Steel Clark takes a 50cal round while trying to fly out of the military's line of fire and it throws him into a building. The bullets might not injure him but he can still feel them and they still hit pretty hard, so I imagine he's just trying not to get shot in the eyes.

Regular bullets do not have any effect on Superman's body whatsoever as long as he has absorbed solar rays before. Anyone that suggests they do knows nothing about Superman. Superman can survive a megaton nuclear explosion without so much as a hair on his body harmed, as long as he has absorbed enough solar rays.

lionhead

In the comics, yes. In the movies is completely different.

Not at all. Someone fires a gun right on his face and it bounces off his eye without a blink.

lionhead

Answer: First you have to understand that Superman doesn't know what Kryptonite is. He's never seen it, never heard of it, never encountered it. So he isn't expecting anything like it. He cannot prepare for or even look for something he does not know exists. Superman says in Man of Steel that he can focus on what he wants to hear above other sounds but that doesn't mean that he doesn't hear anything else; it just means he's able to manage the influx of information. You can hold a conversation with a friend at a nightclub but that doesn't mean you stop hearing everything else - you just don't focus on it. The sonic devices are very loud, focused directly at Superman's head and emitting frequencies up and down the spectrum not to mention the actual physical effect as evidenced by the rainwater caught in the blast. It's a lot to deal with all at once.

Question: I have 2 questions. The first one: why did Lex end up in prison? yes he created doomsday, but with his team of lawyers he could have easily said "I was just conducting experiments like I was allowed to do and suddenly this giant thing was released." There is no way to prove he made Doomsday since the government can't just check the alien ship memory card. Also him kidnapping Martha, he never kidnapped her, his goons did and I'm pretty sure he could have or already did cover that up. The only person who knew were Batman and Superman. Superman was dead and Batman couldn't just show up to the police station as a witness. 2nd question I have is about what happened in Africa. We all know Lois and Jimmy showed up there to interview the African drug lord. Then the goons kill everyone and Superman comes in to save Lois. Next thing we see is a congressional hearing where they're interviewing some random African woman and she's making up all this BS that Superman killed them all. First, how did they explain everyone dead from gun shots? 2nd, where was Lois? She tells Clark to go tell his side of the story yet she was actually there. Wasn't her testimony a lot more important?

Answer: Lex also went in to the ship where he wasn't supposed to be. No he didn't take Martha himself but he hired people to do so which is still a crime. He also threw Lois off a building, even though Superman saved her that is still attempted murder. Plus Batman could have found enough evidence to connect Lex to the senate bombing.

Answer: Luthor went to prison because Lois was able to prove his connection to the Capitol bombing, as the newspaper article before the funeral scene states. As for the testimony Kahina Ziri gives, no-one explains anything about gunshots because no-one knows. The whole point of the situation is that the CIA is covering up the incident. The Committee on Superman Affairs doesn't know what happened and Lois can't testify because she doesn't know what happened; she didn't see it. The CIA wasn't supposed to be there and the US government has no authority to conduct an investigation on foreign soil for an incident they have no official part in.

Factual error: At the start Bruce Wayne runs into a massive dust cloud formed from the falling building. In the scenes that follow he and the other people have very little or no dust on them at all - they should be completely covered and choking on it.

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Trivia: In the building where Bruce uses the green spear, there is a column with a question mark on it - a reference to the Riddler.

ozwal13

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Question: I don't understand the beginning; why does everyone suddenly hate Superman, and what is that alien-looking thing in the sky that is knocking the buildings down and killing the people inside, and do they think Superman is doing that?

kh1616

Chosen answer: The beginning is Bruce Wayne's perspective of the events that occurred in the movie "Man of Steel" when Superman and General Zod are fighting (if you haven't seen it, it would explain a lot of BvS events). It's General Zod's ship and the phantom drive. It cuts to 18 months later. Supermen is called to testify in front of a congressional hearing because of his vigilantism over the past 18 months and people are concerned about his actions (like the events in Africa) since he's an all-powerful alien with no way for the people to stop him, so they're very nervous. Bruce seems to blame Superman more than anyone though for the destruction and death of people he knew (and tried to save) because if Superman wasn't on Earth, Zod wouldn't have come to Earth, etc.

Bishop73

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