Dawn Of Justice Rumor: More Antagonists Added
By Steve Lam
Lex Luthor may need to make some ego room in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Latino Review has rumors that four more antagonists have been added to the roster. They are …
Victor Zsasz
This guy is truly twisted. You can say that he’s more of a direct villain to Batman than The Joker is due to Zsasz’s and the Dark Knight’s similar background. You see, Victor Zsasz’s upbringing and life events almost mirror Bruce Wayne’s — wealthy, dead parents, and head of a prominent company.
Zsasz’s origin story is that of a wealthy entrepreneur whose parents died in a boating accident when he was twenty-five. He took this event hard and delved into a deep depression, leading him to become a compulsive gambler. After losing everything to The Penguin, Zsasz wanted to end his own life. While attempting to commit suicide by jumping off of Gotham Bridge, a homeless man tries to mug Zsasz. Overpowering and taking the knife from the man, Zsasz looked into his mugger’s eyes and only saw hopelessness. As a “gift” for saving his life, Zsasz stabs the homeless man to death. From this point on, Zsasz becomes a serial killer and sees himself as someone who’s freeing his victims from a meaningless existence. The people he kills are usually young women, but he has never really been exclusive. Here’s the truly demented part — he kills his victims by slitting their throats and then posing them as if they were alive. He’ll then make a cut on his body to keep tally of the number of kills. Hence, in the comics, he’s always portrayed as an individual with hundreds of tally mark scars all over his body.
Zsasz was a villain Batman fought early in his career as a superhero. It’s unknown how Zsasz will play into Dawn of Justice since the Batman portrayed in the upcoming movie will be seasoned.
Morgan Edge
Morgan Edge has had a variety of characterizations. In the Pre-Crisis version, he was more of a supporting character who was the president of the Galaxy Broadcasting System. Later, Edge would own The Daily Planet and befriend Clark Kent. In the Post-Crisis version, Edge is still the president of the Galaxy Broadcasting System. But he is secretly the head of a criminal organization known as Intergang and would later be exposed by Clark Kent and Cat Grant. In The New 52, Edge is once again a capitalistic media mogul who owns The Daily Planet.
In Dawn of Justice, Edge is supposed to be a ruthless LexCorp PR person. He’ll have an early rivalry with Lois Lane during a talk show. The backstory is where it gets interesting. Both Edge and Luthor are rumored to have been members of a deadly gang coming out of Hob’s Bay. Could this be Intergang? If so, in this version, Luthor seems to have a history with the gang and not be a guy who grew up rich and pampered, like in recent incarnations.
Latino Review thinks the recently cast Scoot McNairy will be playing Morgan Edge and not the heavily rumored Dick Grayson / Nightwing role.
David Cain
David Cain is a formidable assassin who was once a mentor to a wet-behind-the-ears Bruce Wayne. Cain would later associate himself with The League of Assassins (later renamed The League of Shadows) and Ra’s al Ghul, another past mentor of Bruce Wayne’s when he was on his path to becoming Batman.
In Dawn of Justice, Cain is said to be setting up an assassination with Luthor’s bodyguard — Mercy Graves. I guess we can add a minor antagonist to this mix also.
Amanda Waller
Like Morgan Edge, Amanda Waller also has a varied history. But unlike the previous antagonists listed, Waller is not a true villain. Her motivations are complex and they usually align with government goals. You also can’t mention the name Waller without mentioning the Suicide Squad — a team of rehabilitated supervillains who carry out missions for the government. Waller is the director of the Suicide Squad and oversees all their operations. She’s basically the “Nick Fury” of the DC universe.
In Dawn of Justice, Waller will be portrayed as a very driven senator. She is completely suspicious of Superman and sees him as a threat. Waller is also supposed to create a counter measure against our Man of Steel. Maybe this is how Luthor climbs to power. He aligns his goals with Waller without her knowing what his true nefarious intentions are.
Final Thoughts
Wow and wow! Before anyone says, “There are too many characters here! Dawn of Justice will tank and it will be known as Dawn of Failure!”, you have to remember that these are secondary characters who may get little screen time and may only be used to flesh out the universe. As long as the story has a strong thread going through it, these characters will not distract from it. Another reason why this shouldn’t be seen as a negative, but actually a positive, is from the character types. Victor Zsasz, Morgan Edge, David Cain, and Amanda Waller are human beings with no fantastic powers. They also represent a much more psychologically darker and realistic side to the DC universe. These characters will challenge our heroes with some moral dilemmas reflecting our own current events. With Waller being portrayed as a gung-ho, pro-government type ready to take out Superman, we get a strong allegory to our own surveillance-intense society, much like what Captain America: The Winter Soldier did.
If these rumors prove to be true, Superman and Batman will have their hands full and the reasons for a team-up will be totally relevant.