While many were worried thatBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicewould be a colossal flop and put Warner Bros.' entire DC Extended Universe in jeopardy, the epic adventure actually scored the biggest global debut of any superhero movie, with $424.1 million worldwide, $170 million of which came from North America. This movie certainly marks the start of the DCEU, but we also found out today that it marks the end of another era. ComposerHans Zimmer, who worked on the score withTom Holkenberg(a.k.a.Junkie XL), revealed in an interview withBBCthat he has officially retired fromsuperhero movies.
“I didBatman BeginswithChris (Nolan)12 years ago, soThe Dark KnightTrilogy might be three movies to you, to me it was 11 years of my life. Then I did Superman (Man of Steel) then I did this one (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice). I’m sort of… I might as well say it. I have officially retired from the superhero business, because… it’s just me. This one was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language. I did it in collaboration with a friend of mine, Tom Holkenberg (Junkie XL), who just did theMad Maxmovies and we’ve been friends forever. That was very important, to have another voice in here.”
The news may not come as too much of a surprise, since, afterBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicewas announced, Hans Zimmer expressed his reluctance to sign on, since he didn’t want to create newBatmanmusic after working onThe Dark KnightTrilogy. A solution presented itself withJunkie XLcrafting the Batman theme, and Hans Zimmer working on theSupermantheme. While the iconic composer has stepped away from superhero movies, he’ll still be quite busy in the years ahead.
Hans Zimmer will provide the score for three upcoming movies,A Cure for Wellness(July 16, 2025),Inferno(June 20, 2025) and Christopher Nolan’s next movie, theWWIIaction-thrillerDunkirk(August 25, 2025). With Hans Zimmer leaving the superhero space, we’ll have to wait and see who the studio will bring on to compose the score for the rest of their slate, includingJustice League Part 1, which starts production next month in the U.K., andJustice League Part 2. There are more than enough viable candidates, some of whom have already worked on DC movies.
It’s possible thatJunkie XLcould take over for Hans Zimmer, since his work onBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicealso included themes forJustice LeaguecharactersAquaman(Jason Momoa),The Flash(Ezra Miller) andCyborg(Ray Fisher). Of course, we don’t know ifJunkie XLis even eyeing the job or not, or if Warner Bros. wants to bring him aboard for this two-part adventure. Another possibility could beSteven Price, who composed the score forSuicide Squad. Are you disappointed that Hans Zimmer is leaving the superhero world behind?
