Leak Forces 'Batman V Superman' Teaser Into Early Release

If there was ever a want for proof that the best-laid plans of mice, men and film crews can, and probably will, go wrong, it was met this past weekend when the first teaser trailer for the eagerly awaited Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice was released early by director Zack Snyder after it leaked online.

Originally due to premiere at a series of preview events at IMAX theatres in the United States today (April 20, US time), the 300 and Watchmen director was left with little choice but to publish the official teaser online on Saturday (AEST) after a Spanish-dubbed, cinema-filmed version leaked across the web late last week.

The leak was, according to The Hollywood Reporter, eventually plugged (that is, the existing copies were successfully pulled down), but not before enough people had sat through a blurry, shaky first look at DC Comics' much-heralded throwdown between two of its three biggest characters to warrant an early teaser release.

If you haven't yet, get your first glimpse (or take a repeat viewing, there's no shame in it) of Batman V Superman below — if the teaser is any indication, DC's cinematic universe is going to get even more grim before the light of the full Justice League necessarily pulls it out of the darkness.

As has been speculated pretty much since the movie was announced, Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice draws pretty heavily (especially aesthetically) from Frank Miller's seminal 1986 miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, in which Bruce Wayne uses a tech-suit very much like the one seen in the trailer to engage in some brutal fisticuffs with Superman (with a little help from an embittered, one-armed Green Arrow).

Unlike the book, though, we can expect Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice to ultimately find our titular heroes on the same side of the robot suit, so to speak, leading into DC's future plans for a full Justice League movie down the line. The first chapter also stars Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. It will be released in 2016.

Still not convinced about Ben Affleck's casting as Batman? Take a walk down memory lane to 2013, when we gave you five reasons to give the man a chance under the cape and cowl.