Zack Snyder and Chris Terrio
The creative marriage of director Zack Snyder and writer Chris Terrio for Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is historic because it is the first time a modern-day superhero movie has been written by an Academy Award winner, and the first time that writer has written for a filmmaker who already has superhero movies under his belt.
Yes, Adam McKay just won an Oscar for The Big Short, but he wasn’t yet an Oscar winner when he re-wrote Ant-Man for Marvel. There have been a number of superhero films written by Oscar nominees – Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, and Hulk, for example – but Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice benefits from the work of bona fide Academy Award winner Chris Terrio, who previously wrote Argo.
If the achievement of an Academy Award is taken as an indication of a certain level of writing ability, then this combined with the visual style and dramatic thrust of Zack Snyder – who previously directed Watchmen and Man Of Steel – is a remarkable prospect.
It is also an historic one, because this partnership is set to continue with Justice League: Part One, and possibly Justice League: Part Two – which would mean that the entire core of the DCEU will have been created by a consistent filmmaking team, albeit one that intentionally strikes a very different tone for each movie. This ensures a solid narrative base from which other filmmakers can deliver spinoff franchise instalments for individual Justice League characters.
