When it came time to pick a composer forBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,Hans Zimmerwas put in a tough spot. Having scoredZack Snyder’s rebootMan of Steel, he no doubt wanted to continue building on the themes and sounds of that film in Snyder’s follow-up. However, instead of a simple Superman sequel, Snyder and Warner Bros. opted to reboot Batman with the titan-clashingBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, meaning Zimmer was faced with crafting yet another Batman theme just a few years after wrapping his iconic Dark Knight Trilogy withChristopher Nolan(which, people forget, began with a collaboration between Zimmer andJames Newton Howardbefore evolving into solo Zimmer forDark Knight Rises).
Regardless, Zimmer found a way around potentially slighting Nolan—he enlisted his friend and collaboratorJunkie XLto co-compose theBatman v Supermanscore, lettingTom Holkenborg(aka Junkie XL) take point on the Batman theme while Zimmer handled the Superman music.
All of this to say that, hey, the new Batman theme is here! A few weeks ago,the first piece of music from Zimmer and Junkie XL’s scorewas released online, and now a new track called “Men Are Still Good (The Batman Suite)” has been made available for your listening pleasure. It’s…interesting, I guess. Junkie XL has a very specific skillset, and is a tight fit with films likeMad Max: Fury Road, but the steely/percussion-driven sound isn’t right for everything. This track feels more like video game music than an iconic film theme, but I’ll reserve full judgement until hearing the full score within the context of the film.
Take a listen to the track below (viaScreenCrush), after which you can revisit Zimmer andDanny Elfman’s takes on the Dark Knight, andclick here to pre-order the full soundtrack.Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceopens in theaters on March 23rd.
