Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice 2016 Release Date, Cast and Rumors: Trailers Hitting Imax Theaters

Apr 17, 2015 12:32 PM EDT

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is poised to be quite a blockbuster film for 2016.  There will be a trailer of the film scheduled to be released next week, and it will hopefully give more insight in a film that has a lot of hype. 

According to CNET, Zack Synder, the director of the Batman v. Superman film tweeted yesterday that there will be "special teaser screening events" for the film scheduled for Monday, April 20th, 2015.  Part of the tweet includes a sneak peek of the costumes worn by Henry Cavill (Superman) and Batman (Ben Affleck). 

The trailer represents the biggest sneak preview of the popular DC/Warner Brothers film since the film was first unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013.  The actors at that event had very little to show, but they did read from Frank Miller's classic graphic novel series The Dark Knight Returns

For those who are not familiar with that work, it was a huge graphic novel series published in 1986 where Batman had long since retired, but came out of retirement to fight against a crime-ridden Gotham City.  The story ends with a showdown in between Batman and Superman, who has essentially become a government lackey.  The Batman v. Superman movie will not have that particular plotline, and even the imdb page doesn't have much description on the actual plot. 

As far as what will be on the actual trailer, hopefully it will be more than the suits without the actors that have appeared with the tweet from Zack Synder. 

Much of the Batman v. Superman's film hype comes from its cast, which includes not only Cavill reprising his role as Superman from Man of Steel, but Ben Affleck's first time as Batman.  It will also have other members of the Justice League like Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, and Jason Momoa as Aquaman.  It isn't known what role the other superheroes will have in the film, but Jesse Eisenberg will play the popular bald-headed nemesis of Superman as Lex Luthor.  Other returning characters from Man of Steel will be Laurence Fishburne as Perry White and Amy Adams as Lois Lane. 

The hype for this film is big, big, and more big.  It is very clear that DC wants to create a cinematic universe for its characters that is similar to that of Marvel with The Avengers and all of its superhero intellectual properties.  Considering that Man of Steel opened to mixed reviews, it is unknown if bringing Cavill back, even with Batman, will really make for a decent film.  There has also been a lot of criticism with the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, and whether or not he can pull off the role as good as other actors like Michael Keaton and Christian Bale. 

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is planning to debut next year on March 25, 2016.  It is unusual to have a blockbuster this big debut even before summer begins, but it will more than likely dominate the box office.  No doubt this new trailer is brought out to deal with the hype from a newly released Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer.