Jimmy Kimmel Live! has apparently become the hot new place for big studios to show off their tentpole movies, with Ben Affleck stopping by Kimmel’s studio tonight to drop the latest big trailer for Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice. What’s Kimmel’s secret? What hold does he have over the trailer-slinging elite? Where does he get these wonderful toys?
But then again, who actually cares? After all, we’ve got a new trailer to watch (possibly over, and over, and over again). And, joy of joys, this one makes it seem like there might be a little more to this latest superhero throwdown than gritted teeth, messianic pretensions, and the war of the glowers. Sure, there’s some of that—mostly in the form of a tense confrontation between Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, which kicks the video off—but suddenly, Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is there, swooping in in to inject some life into the thing. From there, the pace picks up, hitting all the major beats: Jeremy Irons’ Alfred, Affleck’s Batman voice, and even our first glimpse at the thing that will probably bring our heroes together: a laser-eyed lump of rock who looks a heck of a lot like classic Superman killer Doomsday.
There’s even, against all possibile hope (and corporate policy) a sign of some actual humor at the edges of the film, both in Eisenberg’s tech dweeb take on Superman’s corporate nemesis, and in Clark and Bruce’s reaction to Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman crashing their fight. We’re still months out from Batman V. Superman’s March 25 release date, but it’s finally starting to look like all the hope Warner Bros. has riding on it might not be entirely in vain.