Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is an American Superhero movie, sequel to the 2013 Man of Steel. directed by Zack Snyder. Originally titled 'Batman vs. Superman', the movie was released on May 6, 2016. the setting takes place 2 years after the events of Man of Steel. The recurring cast includes Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. Joining the cast is Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Callan Mulvey motion-capturing and voicing John Corben/Metallo, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Tao Okamoto as Lex's unnamed Assistant (based on Mercy Graves), and Holly Hunter as Senator Susan Whitman. This article is merely speculation based on rumors, as well as some official announcements.

Plot:
The story begins when Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises, promises the people of Metropolis to "clean up the mess" caused by Superman and General Zod during the events of Man of Steel, two years earlier. As a response, Lex Luthor, CEO of rival company LexCorp, start building weapons for a counteroffensive against Superman. Bruce Wayne feels very suspicious about Lex. He goes to Metropolis, telling Luthor that Superman is an excellent specimen, but Luthor says that Superman is an Alien that must be killed, opposed to the peaceful idea that Bruce had. Batman, who had been studying all super-powered beings, first makes a deal with ARGUS, led by Senator Susan Whitman, to never let Superman destroy another city to prevent any violence between Superman and LexCorp. ARGUS and Whitman trust Batman with brass knuckles made from Kryptonian atmosphere, a rock called Kryptonite. Meanwhile, head of the EPA, Arthur Curry, is aggravated at the fact that the world engine has done something to ocean life. Clark Kent interviews Arthur, who tells him that Arthur is going to stop at nothing to help ocean life.

Later, a ceremony is held, celebrating the two-year anniversary of Superman saving the Earth. Senator Susan Whitman reveals a massive Superman statue erected in the center of Metropolis, doubling as a memorial for those who died in the World Engine. Here, survivors of the incident cry and salute as General Swanwick folds a flag in honor of those who died. Superman is nationally recognized as the hero who saved the entire planet. LexCorp officials and Wayne Enterprises officials alike meet at the Ceremony. Wonder Woman, sent from Themyscira, is disguised as a normal woman in Wayne Enterprises named Diana Prince. She is at a party at Wayne manor, celebrating the two year anniversary. She discovers a crown/tiara artifact in Wayne manor, which is supposed to belong to the Amazons. She steals it, but on her way out of the reception, she sees Luthor in the background, acting very suspicious.

Arriving at the dilapidated Daily Planet that has just finished being rebuilt, Clark meets Rudy Jones, the overweight janitor, as well as being greeted by the familiar staff that consists of Ron Troupe, Steve Lombard, Cat Grant, photography intern Jimmy Olsen, and finally Lois Lane and Perry White. Because billionaire and businessman Lex Luthor nearly killed the Planet financially because of a story they had about him, Perry forbids Lois to get involved with Luthor. Ignoring the warning, Lois takes Clark, her new partner, to LexCorp. Lois disguises herself and sneaks inside Lexcorp while Clark distracts the guards as Planet reporters are not welcomed. Lois watches as Lex unveils Metallo, his powered exoskeleton battlesuit, but is found by the security guards. She flees, but a mistake sends her falling from the roof. Clark sneaks into an alley, changes into his costume, and rescues her.

After Superman puts out a fire in the Daily Planet’s main warehouse, he tells Jimmy and Lois that the fire was arson, part of an attack on Planet. Lex calls upon General Swanwick, who agrees to help Lex in exchange for weapons technology. Lex reveals that Superman is an alien, and can likely be stopped by the Kryptonite rock Lex has, which also powers the Metallo battlesuit. Lois is greeted by Sgt. John Corben, who is also working with Lex.

John leaves to meet Lex and Swanwick, and agrees to pilot Metallo. Clark takes Lois to lunch, where she continues to notice that he's not all he seems to be. Clark hears an explosion and leaves to become Superman but the explosion was a fake; Luthor faked it to lure Superman out, and Swanwick orders the Army to attack. The soldiers do little to Superman, but John, in the Metallo suit, manages to weaken him by exposing him to the kryptonite. Ricocheting bullets hit the kryptonite, which explodes and injures John and allows Superman to escape. Swanwick and his troops arrive at the Daily Planet, and orders it shut down until they can get definitive answers about Superman. Bruce Wayne, Alfred, and Dick Grayson watch news coverage of the Daily Planet fire. Bruce talks to Alfred for guidance, and after having a heartfelt talk with Alfred, he decides to see Superman in person, exploiting to the world that he might be a threat.

Luthor arranges a meeting with Superman in Gotham City under the pretense of forming a pact. This results in a battle between Metallo and Superman, and the latter is overcome when Metallo uses his Kryptonite heart to subdue Superman. Batman intervenes, and defeats Metallo. Batman interrogates Metallo in the hopes to find and take down Luthor, but Superman, disagreeing with Batman's tactics, tries to intervene. A brief fight breaks out, and most of Batman's weaponry is proved useless and armor destroyed. Batman pulls out his Kryptonite Brass knuckles and continues the fight, and is then joined by Wonder Woman, who sees Superman as a threat, and attacks him with the Lasso of Truth and her sword while defending Batman. Batman ends the fight when he calls the Man of Steel "Clark", and Superman retaliates and uses X-Ray vision to discover Batman as Bruce Wayne. Luthor disappears after the heroes (or just Superman) apologize for the attack.

The mysterious CEO Luthor is shown in the shadows a lot over the next few months, hiding as a manipulator. Another fight between Superman and Metallo breaks out, but the US military (revealed to actually be ARGUS) intervenes, and breaks up the fight. Metallo is arrested, and Superman is captured by Lex and an ARGUS unit. Superman is placed in an area, filled with kryptonian atmosphere, and Is strapped to a gurney, modeled from Kryptonite. Lex is also wearing a mech suit similar to Zod's, only painted in his own image. Lex sets powerful traps in his base where Superman is kept.

Lois Lane, looking into the mysterious CEO, later discovers that Luthor has secretly been taking a serum composed of liquid kryptonite and Mirakuru, making him lose whatever rationality he had left. Luthor intends to take over the city after using ARGUS, whom he had struck a deal with, to bomb it with drones. He will start by killing Superman, an alien that must be killed. He tells Lois that he has Superman captive, and plans to let him die in the Kryptonian atmosphere. Lex then reveals his powerful and various traps, all of which are more than a match for Superman (when he is depowered), and in the air is kryptonian atmosphere. He, Whitman, and ARGUS had also planned to get rid of the Batman, which is why he attempted to form a pact with Superman in the first place: to set the two against each other, and leading to Batman's "inevitable death". Lex then attempts to kill the reporter so she doesn't spread the secret plan that Lex has, but Batman intervenes, and subdues Luthor, who escapes with his supplies. Batman placed an untraceable tracking device on Luthor's suit, and tracks him to the base, and frees Superman, who is in a coma due to the atmosphere, after taking out dozens of guards.

During the coma, Superman has nightmarish flashbacks to when he killed General Zod and doomed his race. He comes to when Batman shuts down the atmosphere at the place where Superman is kept, and sees Lois and Batman at his side.

Lois Lane informs Superman of Lex's entire plan to bomb and take over Metropolis and Gotham. Superman goes to Gotham once again, and decides with Batman that they must put their differences aside and work together. They head to Metropolis to stop Luthor from unleashing his plan to bomb the city using several ARGUS units (which are sponsored by General Swanwick and Susan Whitman), joined later by Wonder Woman, whom Batman called for aid.

Batman and Wonder Woman fend off many ARGUS agents, while Lex Luthor fights Superman in his mech suit, where Superman is severely weakened by him, but is still able to defeat him. He strips Luthor of his armor, and disappears and returns in the disguise of Clark Kent, so he can record this for the daily planet, exposing Luthor and ARGUS to the public. Batman, meanwhile, fights Metallo, and proves to Clark and Wonder Woman that he does not kill when Wonder Woman insists Batman to kill Metallo, but refuses. However, Metallo breaks free, and attacks Lois, Jimmy, and several bystanders. Clark gets in the way, and Metallo "kills" Clark Kent, who faked his death. After watching the disgust, Wonder Woman kills Metallo by ripping out his Kryptonite heart, then cutting off his head with the sword. Lex later buys the daily planet for his own personal benefit, but is faced with criminal prosecution and sentenced to life. Clark Kent is presumed dead and Superman disappears. The general populace is angered at Wonder Woman and Batman due to collateral damage, and ARGUS is exploited and shut down by the US government.

The final scenes in the movie show Superman in exile after the fight. He goes to Martha Kent for advice.

A mid-credits scene shoes Senator Susan Whitman, revealed to have survived the destruction of the ARGUS base, talking to star athlete Vic Stone, who had lost one of his legs in the Metropolis incident two years ago. She shows him some robotic equipment. She says that it's his "insurance policy".

A post-credits scene shows a portal opening up, and several demon-like robots burst out and shout “For Darkseid!"

Cast:
Superman- Henry Cavill

Batman - Ben Affleck

Wonder Woman- Gal Gadot

Lex Luthor- Jesse Eisenberg

Metallo- Callan Mulvey

Lois Lane- Amy Adams

Alfred Pennyworth- Jeremy Irons

Senator Susan Whitman- Holly Hunter

General Swanwick- Harry Lennix

Lex's unnamed assistant (based on Mercy Graves)- Tao Okamoto

Vic Stone (After credits cameo)- Ray Fisher

Arthur Curry (Cameo)- Jason Momoa

Trivia:

 * The Movie was originally going to be released on July 17, 2015
 * The movie was delayed to help with the strory, as well as set up the DC Cinematic Universe Timeline better
 * There are going to be 2 villains, one is Lex Luthor, the other is unknown at this point, as well as a made-up villain (Senator Whitman)
 * the four most likely choices for the secondary villain are Metallo, Bizarro, Doomsday, or Braniac (one would be used. and whichever ones that were not used would be in other movies, like justice league and more solo superman movies).
 * The movie WILL tie in to the Arrow and Flash TV Series (neither characters appear in this movie, however)
 * Arthur Curry's cameo is uncredited, as it is very brief (it is revealed in Justice League that the REAL reason he is aggravated is the fact that the world engine has affected not only all nearby ocean life, but also all Atlanteans except him and Mera. Why he and Mera were not affected is still a mystery)
 * A Green Lantern TV Series by CW will air one season before this movie
 * Batman at this point has already learned the identity of Superman (in Justice League, it is revealed that he also had learned the true identities of Arrow, Green Lantern, and the Flash as well)
 * Around this point, at the beginning of the movie, Green Lantern and The Flash have become publicly known in their respective cities (neither character appears in this film, this is not revealed until Justice League).
 * The movie takes place 2 Years after Man of Steel (and 1 year before Justice League)
 * At this point prior to the movie, Bruce Wayne (44) has been Batman for 19 years, Oliver Queen (31) has been Arrow for 4 years, Clark Kent (35) has been Superman for 2 years, Barry Allen (27) has been the Flash for 2 years, Hal Jordan (29) has been a Green Lantern for 1 year. Several more heroes (Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Booster Gold, Katana, Huntress, and Black Canary) exist aroud the world in secret.
 * Wonder Woman makes her public debut in this film, as well as her cinematic debut
 * Wonder Woman is in the film for a total of 15 minutes, excluding her screen time as alter ego Diana Prince.
 * A Shazam movie, taking place a few months after this will be released in July (With Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson playing both Shazam and Black Adam)
 * A Sandman Movie directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt will air as a spinoff on Christmas 2016.
 * Sandman and Shazam, while in the same cinematic universe as the rest of the JLA, will not be joining the league in the first movie.