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Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

5 things we learned at the 'Batman v Superman' premiere

Kelly Lawler
USA TODAY

Holy fighting superheroes, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is almost here.

The highly anticipated film, which will bring DC comics favorites Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman together on the big screen for the first time, is hitting theaters this Friday, March 25, and premiered at New York City's Radio City Music Hall on Sunday to a crowd of very excited (and loud) fans.

USA TODAY was on the red carpet for the premiere along with the stars and filmmakers of the superhero bonanza. Here are the five most important things we learned (spoiler alert: get excited for Wonder Woman).

1. Getting Batman and Superman together wasn't that hard

Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.'

Batman v Superman is a follow up to 2013's Man of Steel, which was strictly a Superman movie, without all these other heroes messing around. But bringing Batman and Wonder Woman into this world was an easy transition, according to the filmmakers.

"I made a movie called Watchmen a few years ago," Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder said. "It’s an ensemble movie about a group of superheroes and I kind of felt like I had a little bit of an idea how to do that. And not to say that it’s a repeat, but just as far as preparing I kind of had an idea how to do that."

"The more protagonists that you have, the more you have to devote time to them, and that’s complicated because you want to make sure that the characters are fully realized," added producer Charles Roven. But he also noted, without naming names, (cough, Avengers, cough cough): "It’s not the first time that it’s been done"

2. Everybody loves Wonder Woman (and you will too!) 

GET IT.

If there's one thing all the stars and filmmakers (and a lot of fans) could agree upon, it's that Wonder Woman (played by Israeli actress Gal Gadot) is a great part of the film, and going to be an even greater part of the DC Cinematic Universe.

"My first reaction (to Gadot) was how statuesque and tall she is," said Henry Cavill (who is pretty statuesque and tall himself as Superman). "She cuts a really imposing figure. And that really comes across when she plays the character."

Snyder explained that Wonder Woman "just fit right in" to the film. His wife and producing partner Deborah Snyder added, "You get a great introduction to her, yet it doesn’t give too much away." (And if you want to know more don't worry, the solo Wonder Woman movie is filming right now.)

"For most of the movie you just meet this mysterious woman; you don’t even know her name," Roven explained. "And then she’s revealed to be who she is and it’s one of the great moments of the movie, I’m excited about it."

But we think Diane Lane, who plays Superman's adoptive mother Martha Kent, said it best. "I have a Wonder Woman cup ... It’s the only cup I have in my house."

3. There was so much secrecy on set even spouses were kept in the dark

All of these people are excellent liars.

Scoot McNairy (who you may know from Argo or Gone Girl) has a top-secret role in the movie, so top secret, in fact, that not even his wife knew who he was playing. And until she saw the movie at the premiere, she still didn't know.

"It wasn’t that hard at all," McNairy told us of keeping everything under wraps. "I don’t live in Los Angeles or New York, so where I live a lot of people don’t even know I’m an actor, so nobody really asked me too much about it. Some family members have asked me a lot, my wife doesn’t even know what role I’m playing. But no, it wasn’t hard to keep it quiet. I just avoided everyone for a year and a half."

4. They're setting up Wonder WomanJustice League, Aquaman and all the movies that follow

These two will meet again, don't you even worry.

Batman and Superman fighting each other? That's just the beginning, folks. DC and Warner Bros. have a whole slate of comic book movies planned over the next few years, and Dawn of Justice is doing a lot of work to set them up (get it, because it's the "dawn").

"To think that we could make a movie that is bigger than the movie we just made!" Snyder joked, referring to Justice League, due in theaters in 2017. "But (screenwriter Chris Terrio) and I have been working on this amazing story for Justice League, and I really feel like -- I know what happens and it’s crazy."

Henry Cavill is pretty psyched about it too. "I’m looking forward to expanding on the DC Cinematic Universe and finally getting a chance to open up that world," he said. "There’s a thousand and one rich stories in there and I’m looking forward to interacting with Aquaman especially."

5. The real reason Batman and Superman are fighting

Sometimes we like to call this "Man Glare: The Movie."

Fans know that Batman and Superman aren't crazy about each other from the trailers, but it's not completely clear what the real cause of the "versus" part of the movie is. Superman himself explained it pretty simply to us: "Batman’s got an attitude problem. He’s going to have an attitude problem together," he joked. But in all seriousness, Cavill did talk a little bit about the central conflict of the film. "It’s just about us coming to terms with the necessity of the other," he said. And it's a good thing they will, because there are a bunch more movies coming.

You can watch the trailer for Batman v Superman below:

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