Blast From The Past: Examining How Justice League Plays On Our Nostalgia

The Batman Soundtrack

Let’s start with the Dark Knight himself, and with a single creative decision that explains the way Justice League uses nostalgia. Crucially, the movie chose to ditch Hans Zimmer’s Batman theme from Batman V Superman. Instead, it returned to the classic ’89 theme tune, and Joss Whedon even brought composer Danny Elfman on board.

Speaking at the 10th annual Hollywood in Vienna festival, Elfman explained the logic behind that decision, saying:

“Contemporary thinking is, every time you reboot something, you start completely from scratch. Which is bull****.”

As he says, the iconic Batman is part of our cultural history. You don’t just ditch that history when you reboot the franchise; instead, you honor it, and make that history a part of your relaunch. He gave a telling example, too, pointing to the fact that Star Wars didn’t ditch the soundtrack when Lucas returned to launch the Prequel Trilogy, or when Disney recently relaunched the franchise.

From a soundtrack point of view, then, Justice League isn’t your typical relaunch. It accepts the cultural history of characters like Batman and Superman and attempts to build on that As we’ll see though, Elfman is completely in line with the approach Warner Bros. has taken with the film as a whole.