While the only casualty at the moment from “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” might be the internet, which is wheezing under the weight of thinkpieces about Zack Snyder‘s divisive blockbuster (in fairness, we’ve had a couple of our own), it appears the movie has now claimed its first real victim of sorts: Hans Zimmer. The composer raised eyebrows when, after delivering a trio of great scores for Christopher Nolan‘s “The Dark Knight” trilogy, he signed up for ‘Batman v Superman.’ The word initially was that he’d only work on the Superman-based material, as he did fully on “Man On Steel,” but eventually the job became a full-blown collaboration with Junkie XL. But it seems Zimmer has had one superhero movie too many.
Chatting with BBC HARDtalk, the composer made it clear he’s done with heroes in spandex: “I have officially retired from the superhero business.”
READ MORE: Listen: Full ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice’ Soundtrack By Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL
Zimmer explains that he’s just spent too much time tinkering with music for superhero showdowns, and he’s run out of musical approaches to the material. “I did ‘Batman Begins‘ with Chris [Nolan] 12 years ago, so ‘The Dark Knight’ Trilogy might be three movies to you, to me it was 11 years of my life,” he said.
” [‘Batman v Superman’] was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language,” he added.
Zimmer’s work with Junkie XL on ‘Batman v Superman’ certainly leans more in the vein of the latter’s noisier, busier approach, which is more fitting with Snyder’s method anyhow. So count out Zimmer as part of the DCU going forward. Thoughts? Let us know below.
This is a huge loss. Hans music was a voice that gave these movies and more importantly the characters a deeper and profound view point.
Hans Zimmer is one of the greatest composers in film industry and if this article is true, he will be missed. I wonder who will compose music for Justice League. BvS soundtrack is by the way excellent.
Really – Welcome to the glorious future.
Junkie XL indeed … Geez
(Cinematic Frooty Loops master)
The Dark Knight scores were great but in general his recent scores have all sounded the same
Sorry, but Hans Zimmer, Inc is a hack (someone had to say it on this thread, right?) and by and large his scores have no memorable themes or motifs (as opposed to John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith or even James Horner, who could toss out memorable scores with memorable hooks several times a year in their prime).
Zimmer\’s tuneless, reactionary score for "B vs S" was the low point for me of a film that boasted some pretty low lows.
If he\’s left superhero movies behind, the cinematic world will be the better for it.
Really – Welcome to the glorious future.
Junkie XL indeed … Geez
(Cinematic Frooty Loops master)
It\’s shame, the score for Man of Steel was gorgeous. I we\’d get another, lighter, superman film with Zimmer\’s theme…
Might as well go out on a low note.
Unpopular opinion time, but his work on Nolan\’s Bat films was anything but a "trio of great scores". By the time James Newton Howard had moved on to other projects, the work Zimmer turned in for the Dark Knight Rises was just wrong – wrong for the film, wrong the characters in it and wrong the audience who had to put up with it – and it gave a really unfortunate preview of the crap we\’d be enduring in Man of Steel and "Critics v Fans: Dawn of Get in Line with My Opinion or Else". So, this announcement is a welcomed one. Not to say Zimmer is a hack (because there\’s enough people who do that on a regular basis – just not nearly equal to those who want to remind us that critics sure do hate BvS) but he never knew how to handle these types of films the way they should\’ve been scored (not that it would\’ve spared them if he did).
Too bad this website hasn\’t retired from posting BvsS articles around the clock.