While we personally believe that the Knightmare sequence of Batman v Superman was one of the better scenes in the movie, many believe otherwise. Furthermore, the general audiences seem to be even more confused about everything, especially since the scene is followed by the arrival of an unknown character. So what was that Knightmare scene? Was it yet another dream? Was it a vision of the future? An alternate reality?
Jai Olivia, storyboard artist for Batman v Superman and director of numerous animated movies (including The Flashpoint Paradox) explained what happened in that particular scene. According to him, it wasn't a dream at all, but rather a memory of things that could have happened. As the artist/director explains, the entire Knightmare scene of Batman v Superman happens when the Flash travels back in time, the so called dream being an effect of the time boom.
Flashpoint (What Culture)
"You want to know the answer? Okay"¦ you've watched The Flashpoint Paradox, my movie, right? In the DC Universe in the comics, there's this thing where- it's a little different than the Back to The Future thing where you can go back in time and change your threads and stuff, but in DC, when you go back in time you create this kind of "˜Time Boom' kind of thing where lots of things change. Okay, so let me just tell you this. Again"¦ I don't know if this is Zack's thinking, but this is mine: what if that isn't a dream sequence? What if what you saw was a Time Boom, a latent memory from the future when Flash comes back? If you look at the cut, he doesn't go to sleep! He's waiting for the [Lexcorp file decryption] and suddenly this [Knightmare sequence] comes in, and he's jogged out of it seeing his own death. And what does he see? He sees Flash. And if you're a DC fan, you know what's happening. You know that Flash going back in time that memory is now coming back to him"¦ mind you, it's jumbled."
Even if this is not an official explanation of the Knightmare from Batman v Superman, it falls right into place with what we believed from the first place. However, one of the biggest faults of Batman v Superman is that it didn't attend to its casual moviegoers.
Knightmare (Screen Rant)
In other words, it was all too cryptic and someone who didn't know anything about the DC lore had no chances to understand it. And this is crucial when it comes to movies breaking box office records. As seen, Batman v Superman had the steepest drop from the first weekend to the second.
Of course, the way in which the DCEU was outlined gave no time for explanations about the characters and what they can do, via solo movies. Nonetheless, a way around this could have and should have been found for everybody to understand what was happening on the screen.
For what is worth, from a box office point of view, Batman v Superman is great. However, the fact that countless people (from the director to the actors and even to storyboard artists) try to explain what is happening in it means that it failed to deliver.
Of course, some might say that the movie was easy to understand. However, these people forget that the hardcore fans are just a small percentage of those going to the cinema. And, unfortunately, that small percentage doesn't really count too much when it comes to the box office revenues.
As the casual moviegoer would say – who are these guys?!? (Deadline)
