Who are the antagonists in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? Well, we are sure about two - Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor and his creation Doomsday. We've heard about Darkseid and Bizarro appearing in the movie - but those are just rumors.

While we don't know if either of them will be in the March 25 release, we do know that two Batman archenemies were almost in it! How do we know? We know because Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder has told us!

While talking to Collider, the director disclosed that they had plans to introduce The Joker and The Riddler in the movie. Here's what he said:

The Joker and The Riddler both came close to being in this movie. We talked about the possibility of putting them in.

Why were The Joker and The Riddler cut from Batman v Superman?

Zack Snyder has also explained why they didn't eventually go for The Joker and The Riddler in the second DC Extended Universe installment. The two supervillains were excluded because Snyder and screenwriter Chris Terrio wanted to stay focused on what we know as "the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world"! According to the director:

Chris Terrio and I talked about it a lot and felt that their mythological presence is felt in the movie and that's cool, but I didn't want to get my eye too far off the ball, because I needed to spend the time, frankly, with Batman and Superman to understand the conflict.

For a while now, we've been hearing about the possibility of Jared Leto making a cameo appearance in Batman v Superman. Snyder's words are enough to debunk that particular rumor. But we've definitely felt the Clown Prince of Crime's "mythological presence"– the Robin suit showcased at the Batcave and Bruce Wayne saying he and Gotham have had "a bad history with freaks dressed like clowns".

And it was actually the very first official teaser trailer of Batman v Superman that dropped an Easter egg on The Riddler - the green question mark painted on the wall of a disused building. So, we've felt his presence, too. And the quote by Ben Affleck's character: "Twenty years in Gotham…how many good guys are left? How many stay that way?" That could be considered a reference to the Master of Puzzles - if they follow an origin for the character similar to that in the Fox series Gotham.

Well, their non-appearance in this movie doesn’t mean they won’t appear sometime in the future. Surely we’ll get The Joker this August in Suicide Squad. And there’s an untitled Batman movie expected to release sometime between 2017 to 2020 that could feature The Riddler.

Would you have preferred to see The Joker and The Riddler in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? Share via comments!