‘Batman V Superman: Ultimate Edition’ Contains ‘Watchmen’ Easter Egg

Most people were watching the ultimate edition of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice to see if it cleared up any of the confusion that many people left the original theatrical version with. It did answer a lot of questions, including why the governments of the world didn’t trust Superman after he rescued Lois Lane, and what Lex Luthor was really up to. However, also included is a very cool Batman V Superman Easter egg.

Clark Kent actually does some investigative journalism in the extended edition to show how he was looking into Bruce Wayne and Batman when it comes to Gotham City’s vigilante problem. While searching, there is a news story that Kent reads. Movie Pilot points out this story and there is an interesting line at the end of the story that is straight from the DC Comics series, Watchmen.

“Batman is acting as judge, jury, and executioner and the GCPD seems to be complicit. If GCPD endorses vigilantes as our city’s watchmen, who watches the watchmen?”

@larryfong @ClayEnos 'Who watches the watchmen', said Harvey Dent. pic.twitter.com/3doZgsD5MS

— Ramit ? (@Kr8s_control) June 29, 2016

This isn’t the only Batman V Superman Easter egg from the movie either. There is a billboard in Gotham City that has been spray painted with graffiti – the slogan “The End is Nigh.” That is also from Watchmen and is something pushed by that story’s vigilante, Rorschach.

This Batman V Superman Easter egg is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, Watchmen is widely considered the greatest graphic novel of all time, the story of a future where people stop trusting superheroes and the governments of the world deem it illegal to work as a superhero. That really resonates well with the story in Batman V Superman. It should also be noted that the new DC in the comics seem to indicate that Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen is responsible for the entire current DC Universe.

The second interesting thing is that Batman V Superman director Zack Snyder also directed the film adaptation of Watchmen. This was a time before many film fans turned on Snyder, as he had directed hugely popular movies such as the Dawn of the Dead remake and comic adaptations of Watchmen and 300. With Snyder directing both movies, it might explain the Batman V Superman Easter egg, without reading too much more into it.

While trying to bring the Watchmen into the world of the new DC movie universe is far-fetched, looking at this Batman V Superman Easter egg is a lot more interesting to think about than the other Batman V Superman news circulating. Screen Rant reported that YouTube personality Mr. Sunday just released a video counting the murders that Batman committed in Batman V Superman.

What doesn’t work about this video is that Mr. Sunday counts anyone who might or might not have died in auto accidents involving Batman. He also pointed out a scene where Batman clearly pinned someone to a wall with a knife through the shoulder as one where he wasn’t sure where Batman stabbed him. He decided that Batman killed 21 people in Batman V Superman and only killed 45 people in the previous Batman movies.

However, what has to be questioned is that the people that died in the chase with the Batmobile can’t be counted unless all the ninjas that Batman blew up in Batman Begins count as well. Regardless, Batman V Superman contained a lot of deaths, and that can’t be questioned.

At the same time, Batman V Superman Easter eggs are just as interesting to talk about. From the moments that are pulled from Red Son and Death of Superman to the recent homage to Watchmen, the Batman V Superman Easter eggs provide a lot of reasons to re-watch the latest DC Comics movie.

[Image via Warner Bros.]