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One of the most memorable moments in 2016’s Batman v Superman was the Knightmare scene. The dream sequence had Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne imagining Henry Cavill’s Superman as an authoritarian leader he is held captive by. Within Batman’s imagination he also broke a couple rules for his character – using guns and slaughtering his aggressors with them.
Sure it’s a detail in Batman v Superman fans have shown disapproval for on an ethical level, but it's tough to deny how badass it is to see the Dark Knight wield some fire power. The Knightmare scene, as well as the other sequences which featured Batman with a gun, was accomplished between Ben Affleck and his stunt double Richard Cetrone-- who expressed his excitement about breaking that taboo. In his words,
I knew that we were going to incorporate the guns and not so much for the shooting aspect of the guns, but I knew that we were going to incorporate the guns in strikes. That seemed like that could be a lot of fun for me because I had guns in each hand, and I could incorporate them into the fights and go back to shooting and go back to fighting because the guys are coming at you in all directions.
Richard Cetrone took turns being under the cape and cowl with Affleck for Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad and Justice League. While he was a guest on ScreenRant’s BvS: By The Minute podcast, he fondly looked back at the sequence which only ended up making up about 30 seconds of the theatrical cut. An extended version was later released for the extended cut of the movie available to stream on HBOMax. Check out the clip below:
Yea… it’s still awesome. Zack Snyder is currently working on his highly-anticipated cut of Justice League ready for HBOMax and it reportedly will have more Knightmare sequences. The filmmaker teased more of Bruce Wayne’s troubling dreams of the future before the cut was announced to be officially coming after years of campaigns from fans.
Just last week Gal Gadot posted a photo of herself in a “wear a mask” PSA that had fans believing she was doing reshoots for Justice League in another Knightmare sequence due to a figure in the background resembling Superman’s soldiers – the same one Batman fights off in the first third of Batman v Superman.
Aside from being Ben Affleck’s Batman stuntman, Richard Cetrone has also doubled as Paul Bettany for Vision for Captain America: Civil War and his Solo character Dryden Vos. He also doubled as Iron Man in the first movie. Being part of a loaded gun sequence as Batman in the 2016 movie sounds like it was a highlight for Cetrone.
Fans can look forward to more awesome Batman sequences in Zack Snyder’s Justice League coming to HBOMax in 2021. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial to the streaming service here.
