The Musical Connection Between Batman V Superman And Wonder Woman 1984

Contains spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 has been such a resounding success that Warner Bros. Pictures already fast-tracked Wonder Woman 3. While we can't wait to see where Diana Prince's (Gal Gadot) story takes her in the future, WW84 remains a veritable treasure trove of cool, small details you may have missed on your first viewing, and characters that have way more meaning than you realize.  

With all the 1980s-themed action and unanswered questions on the visual side of things, it can be easy to miss the fact that aural Wonder Woman 1984  experience also has some surprises in store. For instance, did you know that the movie soundtrack features a sneaky connection to Batman v Superman? Sure, apart from the fact that they both take place in the DC Extended Universe — and, of course, the fact that Wonder Woman appears in both — the gloomy Batman v Superman and the bombastic Wonder Woman 1984 seem miles apart. Yet, their soundtracks have a surprising piece in common. Let's take a look at the musical connection between Batman v Superman and Wonder Woman 1984.

Fans of Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman may remember "Beautiful Lie," the song that accompanies the very first scene in the movie. The powerful sequence sums up Batman's (Ben Affleck) origin story and the death of his parents, with a voiceover from the man himself describing an old dream, in which he's in a dark hole and floats toward the light. He has since come to view this dream as the a beautiful lie of sorts. 

In Wonder Woman 1984, you can hear the very same song in an equally powerful and emotional scene, in which Diana convinces Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) to renounce his wish to seize the Dreamstone's powers. She achieves this by showing him visions of his traumatic childhood, as well as of his son, Alistair (Lucian Perez), who is in dire need of his father. This helps the villainous businessman reunite with his son and choose a path of redemption rather than power and greed.  

In an interview with ReelBlend, director Patty Jenkins revealed that the tactical reuse was prompted by none other than Hans Zimmer, the virtuoso film score composer who made the music for both movies. According to her, "Hans was like, I wrote that song for this universe, so why aren't we using it?"

Apart from being a nice callback to earlier DCEU endeavors, using the song in the climactic face-off of WW84 is a pretty inspired move. After all, Batman v Superman's surreal "Beautiful Lie" scene features very similar, deep themes of childhood trauma, family, and loss, all encapsulated in Maxwell Lord's final, tearful moments as a supervillain.