A balance of terror

When the second trailer hit (the one which arguably revealed a bit too much), there was a small detail in the background of the party attended by Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Lex Luthor. The latter is, apparently, the one who threw that party in the first place "“ and this is an important detail, which we’ll discuss a bit later.

So this small detail, as New Rockstars says, is a painting by modern artist Cleon Peterson, an extension of an already existing piece entitled A Balance of Terror. And this is an important detail, since it shows the true nature of the world, while also defining the main heroes of Batman v Superman.

Thus, the Dark Knight is a dark figure, who preys on the weak "“ or at least this is what Clark Kent thinks about him. From this perspective, the Batman doesn't jump to help those in need, but seeks the source of the evil and tries to destroy it. And this is a futile gesture since, as the painting suggests, the roles are interchangeable, with every man having the capacity to be both good and evil.

From Bruce Wayne's perspective, Superman is a dark figure in the making "“ in other words, he hasn't realized his true potential. Bruce knows that there is good and evil in every man, he but also believes that the latter will always prevail. Thus, Superman is a way greater threat to not be taken into account and to not be eliminated as soon as discovered. He also killed Zod and can be held responsible for the numerous deaths during the Battle of Metropolis.

New Rockstars also mentions another perspective, which says that those who are oppressed (the white figures) will eventually become the oppressors (which is understandable, if we look at how the modern dictatorships work). Thus, Zod was an oppressor who ended up being killed. His story didn't end, though, in Man of Steel, since now he has returned much stronger, in order to oppress his former oppressor.

The picture is now complete, we believe. And we also believe that its purpose is to show that there is an implacable circularity from which nobody can escape. Which leads us to suspect something else, something that might happen further down the road, maybe in the announced Man of Steel 2.