Chris Terrio Talks Writing Batman v Superman and Justice League

We’re only 11 days away from the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and writer Chris Terrio has been out doing interviews and was speaking with The Wall Street Journal and he revealed Justice League – Part One, which he’s also written, will be a bit lighter in tone.

"Batman V Superman is a bit of an Empire Strikes Back or Two Towers or any similar middle film in a trilogy," Terrio explained. 

"The middle film tends to be the darkest one. I do think from Man Of Steel through Justice League, it is one saga really. I expect Justice League will be tonally not quite as dark as Batman V Superman. From that point of view, I felt compelled to go back and try to lift us and myself into a different tonal place because I think when you write a darker film, sometimes you want to redeem it all a bit."

IMAGE VIA CLAY ENOS/WARNER BROS

Terrio was bought on to write the film by Ben Affleck after he won an Oscar for Argo, Terrio talks about his surprise finding himself writing a superhero film, but he approached the project intellectually. He not only read Bat-classic comic books, he name checked Frank Miller and Grant Morrison, but also dug deeper away from comics. 

"For Batman V Superman I wanted to really dig into everything from ideas about American power to the structure of revenge tragedies to the huge canon of DC Comics to Amazon mythology." He continues "For Justice League I could be reading in the same day about red-and blueshifts in physics, Diodorus of Sicily and his account of the war between Amazons and Atlanteans, or deep-sea biology and what kind of life plausibly might be in the Mariana Trench." 

At this point Terrio could be superheroed out, as he said he won’t necessarily continue to Justice League – Part Two. 

The mention of Amazons and Atlantans, Terrio is of course referring to Wonder Woman and Aquaman and explained why he didn’t give the former an origin story.

IMAGE VIA ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY/CLAY ENOS/WARNER BROS

"I thought it would be better if we met her as a civilian first and involved her in the plot in a way that felt like a thriller, she’s a mysterious woman interested in the same things Bruce Wayne is.

“The fun of it is if you don’t immediately reveal her in superhero guise, you get to revel in the moment when she finally does reveal herself. If you bring in a character in a kinetic way, then you accept the reality more easily."

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

It’s a shame he might not be coming back to write Justice League – Part Two, as he’s quotes about his process is interesting and he way the film is introducing Wonder Woman and I hope Gal Gadot pulls it off well in Batman v Superman.

To read more of Terrio’s interview, including his thoughts on Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, head over to The Wall Street Journal.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is released Friday 25th March and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons and Lawrence Fishburne and directed by Zack Snyder.