Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is nothing if not an incredibly dense film, and I mean that in the best possible way. The World's Finest smackdown is lousy with references, Easter eggs, and every other type of homage in the book. That being said, the best Easter eggs tend to be the ones that you don't instantly pick up on. Now it seems that one very astute fan theory has found a notable connection between the musical cues for Henry Cavill's Superman and Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. Check it out below to see for yourself!
Back in February the above tweet surfaced online drawing comparisons between Superman's theme from Man of Steel (which carried into Batman V Superman) and Lex Luthor's Dawn of Justice theme music. The theory notes that the musical cues for these two characters utilize similar instruments and note structures, but Lex Luthor's theme is "warped" to make the music sound more menacing and hopeless. Although this tweet has been online since February, Batman V Superman's composer, Junkie XL, recently retweeted it, which seems to potentially validate it.
Thematically speaking, this musical inversion makes perfect sense. Superman is supposed to be a walking embodiment of hope, and everything that humanity could potentially become. By contrast, Lex Luthor exemplifies humanity that has achieved intellectual perfection, but has lost its soul in the process. They represent the perfect duality between good and evil, and the juxtaposition of their respective themes in Batman V Superman highlights that.
Of course, it's worth noting that this is still just a theory, as the musical connection between Kal-El and Lex Luthor may not actually be canon. The fact that Junkie XL retweeted this doesn't necessarily prove that he intended to invert the themes of these two foes; it could simply mean that he's intrigued by this particular fan theory.
It's not outside the realm of possibility for a film's music to inform the nature of its characters. That has become a very commonplace creative decision in popular comic book movies. For example, in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, the theme music of Heath Ledger's Joker was little more than one long, reverberating note; the reason for this was to emphasize the single-minded, chaotic nature of the character.
You can listen for yourself below:
Eerie, right? Given the widespread practice of composers creating themes that match the mentality of characters, it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility that Junkie XL decided to highlight the rivalry between Superman and Lex.
What do you think of this particular fan theory? Do you think Junkie XL intended this sort of contrast between Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, or do you think he just likes the fact that fans are reading into his work? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
