Despite being tonal opposites, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice picked up a bizarre idea that Batman Forever dropped. Joel Schumacher's extravagant sequel to Tim Burton's first two Batman movies took a vastly different direction with a vibrant and overly humorous take on Gotham, which unfortunately received a great deal of harsh criticism as a result. Although Batman Forever didn't go as far as giving its Batman (Val Kilmer) a custom credit card or a villain who could never stop spewing ice-related puns, it did overindulge on the campy side of Batman.
On the opposite side of the spectrum stands Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Zack Snyder's sequel to his 2013 Man of Steel origin story doubled down on the director's idiosyncratic gritty vision, which also sparked a flood of criticism. Contrary to Val Kilmer's playboy Bruce Wayne, Ben Affleck's interpretation of the brooding billionaire wore the cape and cowl with his mind fueled by rage and vengeance. When comparing Dawn of Justice's brutal warehouse fight sequence with Batman Forever's mind-controlling takeover finale, it would seem that the two movies have little in common. However, they both shared a very peculiar idea - it's only that Dawn of Justice actually used it.
When Bruce Wayne visits his parents' graves in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, he notices a stream of blood dripping from his mother's grave. As soon as he touches it, a huge man-bat jumps out and attacks him. Obviously, this is just a nightmare that derives from years of internalized guilt regarding the death of his parents, Robin, and thousands of citizens of Metropolis when Superman (Henry Cavill) fought Zod (Michael Shannon). Besides the clever nod at Batman's iconic villain Man-Bat, this moment also parallels a deleted scene from Batman Forever where Bruce Wayne faces a giant animatronic bat in the midst of darkness, also during an introspective nightmare.
Batman Forever focused on Bruce Wayne's repressed memories and their manifestation as recurring dreams. His conversations with Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) not only developed a romantic subplot and a sense of intrigue about his secret identity but also pioneered a slightly deeper development of his trauma and his psychological motivations behind his double life as Batman. Curiously, Bruce's encounter with the giant bat in Batman Forever would have been the first profound examination of his inner conflict on the big screen, but it would take another decade until Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins truly revolutionized the Caped Crusader both as a hero and as a troubled human being.
It's unclear why Batman Forever's nightmare scene was cut if Jim Carrey's Riddler and Tommy Lee-Jones's Two-Face already had set the campy bar too high. Luckily, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made it work with a Bruce Wayne who's clearly tormented by his past.
