It’s less than a week now until fans can finally Batman and Superman battle it out in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film is the first real step for Warner Bros. into an extended cinematic universe, and now, the studio’s Watertower Records label has taken the bold move of releasing the entire soundtrack on YouTube.
The soundtrack is composed of the musical tracks by the collaboration of Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL and spliced-in interview footage. This is a fantastic return to Batman for Hans Zimmer, who was responsible for the epic scores for all three of the films in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. Zimmer has been composing for decades for over 150 feature films. His notable works include The Lion King, Gladiator and The Pirates of the Caribbean series. He was awarded a Grammy, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his original score for Disney’s The Lion King.
Junkie XL has worked with Zimmer on past DC Comics film soundtracks, like The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel. Junkie XL (real name Tom Holkenborg) is a Dutch composer and electronica artist who found his start back in the 1990s with two popular albums on the big beat and rave scenes, and made a name for himself touring with the Prodigy. Hos big mark on the music industry began when he remixed an Elvis classic, “A Little Less Conversation” in 2002 and released Elvis vs. Junkie XL. The song became an instant billboard chart topper and was used for the 2002 Nike FIFA World Cup.
Zimmer has been rather vocal leading up to the film; in fact he even managed to confirm that Aquaman (Jason Momoa) would in fact be making his debut appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He originally had some reservations about returning to score the Caped Crusader, after having produced such epic works for The Dark Knight Trilogy, but he eventually came around to the idea. Zimmer was concerned about re-treading old ground and disrespecting Christian Bale’s Batman performance, but once learned that Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Ben Affleck’s Batman was going to be such a departure from what was done last go around, he got on board.
A listen to the full soundtrack instantly sheds light on the dark and epic scale of the film. The songs will, of course, have a lot more meaning once fans get to see the scenes that they belong to, but if the trailers are any indication, we’re all in for quite a ride.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice opens on March 25, 2016, which is followed by Suicide Squad on August 5, 2016; Wonder Woman on June 23, 2017; Justice League Part One on November 17, 2017; The Flash on March 16, 2018; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League Part Two on June 14, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps. on June 19, 2020.
