The above picture is a legitimate screen capture from the 2007 post-apocalyptic blockbuster, I Am Legend. Notice anything interesting about it?

The image shows a desolate Times Square in New York City with a large billboard harbouring a movie poster with Superman’s crest superimposed over Batman’s logo. Considering the recent announcement of a Superman and Batman Movie from Warner Brothers and DC Comics, one is left to wonder if the movie had been planned all along?

According to a variety of online sources, The Dark Knight was meant to battle The Last Son of Krypton in ‘Superman VS Batman’, a movie that was scheduled by Warner Brothers for a US summer release in 2004 – over a decade ago. However, the movie was canned before filming began because the studio decided to focus on individual story lines for each superhero, a la Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy and Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, rather than a collaborative superhero film, such as Marvel’s The Avengers.

Interestingly, the original writer for ‘Superman VS Batman’ was Akiva Goldsman, the same man who penned the script for I Am Legend and also for Batman & Robin. In a 2009 interview with MTV, Goldman confessed that the Superman and Batman Movie billboard in I Am Legend was meant as an ‘inside joke’ for the cancelled superhero project and nothing more.

Either way, it appears as if Warner Brothers have had a Superman and Batman movie in the works for some time. I, for one, am very glad that it is finally coming to fruition.

Thanks to Gary Meyer for bringing to our attention the image that inspired this post.

[Sources: MTV, Wikipedia]

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Owner, founder and editor-in-chief at Vamers, Hans has a vested interest in geek culture and the interactive entertainment industry. With a Masters degree in Communications and Ludology, he is well read and versed in matters relating to video games and communication media, among many other topics of interest.