For those that don’t already know, this reddit user wrote an early review for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on December 30th of last year. They claimed to see an early cut of the film and the post was filled with spoilers that were covered unless you placed the cursor on that part of the text in case some didn’t want to know big spoilers from the film. Basically, the post revealed that the recent trailer that was released by Warner Bros (the Doomsday trailer) didn’t spoil the entire film. It detailed Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman and how their conflict (along with other DC Comics characters) led to their fight with Doomsday in the 3rd act of the film. Personally, I thought this guy was telling the truth, but things shook out a little differently.
I don’t know where this person is today, or what they do with their life, but I will forever wonder why someone would go to the length this person did to create so much buzz about a movie that hadn’t come out yet and go through all the work they did just for the sake of messing with fans. Were they a huge Marvel fan that felt threatened by BvS? Were they just a hardcore DC fanboy that wanted his two minutes of fame on the internet? Was it Zack Snyder or David S. Goyer just messing with us all? What was their intent?
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Back in late December, early January, I read this post and all the replies ViolatingNDA wrote to questions people asked in the comment section. I was so excited for this film that I felt like I didn’t have a choice but to read it, and boy at the time I was glad I did. Part of why I wanted to believe it was true was because of how amazing it sounded. It felt somewhat natural as a narrative and was kind of believable – especially since some of it actually did happen in the movie. Jena Malone portraying a paralyzed Barbara Gordon, Scoot McNairy playing Jimmy Olsen without legs, Superman saving a cat out of a tree, Lex Luthor monologues, Batman narrowly defeating Superman and trapping him in the Batcave only to have Alfred let him go, and a fully formed Justice League by the end of the film. Wow. That sounded like one epic film.
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In case some people don’t understand why this person has such a weird Reddit name, it stands for violating a non-disclosure agreement, which is what people that see early screenings of a movie have to sign beforehand. Most people believed this person due how fluid and believable the answers were. Unfortunately, I found out a week before the film came out that it was false information and not accurate of the film. In a sense, it was refreshing to know that I didn’t know what exactly would happen in the film, but at the same time, it was a slightly deflating feeling. Even after seeing the movie and enjoying it, I still think back to the Reddit post about BvS.
To ViolatingNDA, or whatever your real name is, I say this: I don’t hate you for what you did. Was it wrong to do? Absolutely, but in the end, it provided people a sense of optimism about the film. I could never stay mad at someone for that. I have no idea if you actually work on movies or if you flip burgers at McDonalds. In fact, I have no idea if you even enjoy DC Comics characters or not. All I can say is that the film you pitched would probably be one of the most expensive films of all-time, but also one of the best if done right. I wish you would reveal yourself someday, but I understand why you wouldn’t do so. Maybe what you could do now is make your version of BvS into a fan-fiction graphic novel or something? Either way, I will never forget your post about seeing an early screening of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
