A fake script for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has been making all kinds of waves online over the last week. Many attributed the script to Kevin Smith, saying that he had been hired by Warner Bros. to intentionally throw people off of Zack Snyder’s trail and keep the real secrets about the film… well, secret. As it turns out, those rumors are completely false, and the man actually responsible for the script has come forward.
Twitter user SonOfArrogance has come forward and taken credit for the script, following Smith’s denial of having any involvement. SonOfArrogance talked extensively with the website The Bible Of Zack Snyder, about his reasons behind writing it, and his reaction to how his work has taken the internet and movie news “scoop sites” by storm.
He claims that he first put his grand scheme into motion a year ago, right after the original announcement of Batman V Superman at San Diego Comic-Con:
“I am a regular commentator on IGN and when the movie was announced there was this uproar of negativity.
People were pissed about the casting, the director, the writer etc etc. And it was completely irrational. There was no sense to it. Just a bunch of people angry over what was ultimately nothing. There is no basis for anger in my opinion unless there is something tangible. Which there wasn’t just rumors. Coming from sites that couldn’t possibly know anything that early in the game.
It was a sort of internet tribalism that intrigued me.
So I decided to exploit that.”
And exploit it he did. He claims to have single-handedly planted several rumors about the film on the internet on a variety of comic book news sites, like IGN, Movie Web and Latino Review. The rumors he takes credit for are those about a street-tough, tattooed Lex Luthor, Doomsday’s involvement, and the recent reports of four additional villain appearances.
The actual script that leaked was supposedly written over the course of five days at the end of June. SonOfArrogance stated that he needed to get it finished and out into the world by the time Comic-Con came back around, because by then his various rumors and speculative bombshells would be debunked.
But why go through so much trouble? Just to cause some Joker-like internet chaos? SonOfArrogance says that he didn’t just write the script to throw a wrench into the scoop system, but to turn people’s attention toward internet bullying and fanboy rage:
“To the fans I’d like to show them that the majority of what they are arguing about online isn’t real. So when they call each other ‘fags’ or ‘bitches’ they should realize that they are championing nothing but attractive lies and judging things without any real evidence.
To the bloggers I say this: don’t exploit the ignorance of fanboys for clicks and have flame war baiting headlines that just seem to encourage that behavior. If [you’re] in the business of potentially damaging a filmmakers process before they even have the chance to present the finished product realize that there are people who will exploit you for that.
… It’s worse than I had imagined. I hadn’t planned on blowing the whistle until I saw just how much my fake script turned fanboys into rabid idiots. Everybody had their opinion.
It is a subculture and it has a very serious darkside. Cyber bullying is rampant in the world on online fanboys and girls and the world of scoops is cut throat.”
How could we have all been so fooled by just “a regular guy with a laptop?” Likely it’s because of the infectious excitement surrounding films like Batman V Superman, that catch fan attention years before release and give “scoop sites” something to report on. I’m certainly guilty of getting caught up in rampant rumors and unfounded speculation… not because I’m an “angry fanboy,” but because I really love these characters and am genuinely excited about the films. I also happen to work for a few movie-related websites and like talking about superhero and genre-related movie news.
SonOfArrogance goes into greater detail about his efforts in the full interview, which I highly recommend reading. At the end of the day, he makes some interesting points about the internet and “fanboy” culture, and reminds us that we should all take movie news and rumors with a grain of salt before taking them as fact. After all, you never know when someone out there will write and leak a fake script for one of the biggest and most anticipated blockbusters of all time.
What do you think of SonOfArrogance’s comments? Are you upset about him writing and leaking not only a fake script, but several big rumors, for Batman V Superman? Sound off in the comments below.
