Composer Danny Elfman says he’ll bring classic Batman and Superman themes to Justice League score

While Man of Steel and Batman V Superman have their detractors and their fans, one thing almost universally praised was Han Zimmer’s scores for both movies.

However, when it was announced that he wouldn’t be scoring Justice League there was a time where we were all wondering who would step up. And when it was announced Danny Elfman was the man taking the reigns it just felt… right.

Now, 28 years after his iconic Batman score (and his beautifully dark and festive Batman Returns score three years later) Elfman is coming back to the DC fold. Much as Zimmer scored The Dark Knight trilogy and then returned to Batman, Elfman is in the same boat.

However, while Zimmer struggled to give Batman a new feel, Elfman is embracing the new take on the character he scored all those years ago and is actually returning to where he left off: “It was like I never left because I’m using the same thematic material that I used back then,” he says, “It never actually went away [Laughs.] It just was great fun.”

Does this mean we’ll hear some of the music we’re so familiar with from Keat0n’s era in the Batsuit?

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Possibly… although we imagine it will be a subtle nod rather than a full return.

However, even more exciting, it seems fans of John Williams’ Superman score could be in for a treat too: “There are a few little fan moments. I instated a moment of the Wonder Woman theme that Hans Zimmer did for Batman Vs. Superman, but I also had two minutes where I had the pleasure of saying, “Let’s do John Williams’ Superman.” and that for me was heaven, because now I have a melody to twist, and I’m using it in an actually very dark way, in a dark moment. It’s the kind of thing that some fans will notice. Some won’t. It’s a moment where we’re really not sure whose side he’s on.”

Whose side he’s on? We’re assuming when Superman returns (and he WILL return) there’s going to be the moment of confusion… is he back as a force for good or evil? And to hear the Williams theme swell up? Well… wouldn’t that be a thing?

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Elfman is keen to point out that, just as the Spider-man them popped up in the score for this summer’s Spider-man: Homecoming, the whole point of creating new legacies is being able to embrace the ones that already exist: “The people at DC are starting to understand we’ve got these iconic bits from our past and that’s part of us, that’s part of our heritage — we shouldn’t run away from that. Contemporary thinking is, every time they reboot something, you have to start completely from scratch — which, of course, audiences will tell us again and again, is bulls#@t. Because the single-most surviving and loved theme in the world is Star Wars, which they had the good sense to not dump for the reboots. And every time it comes back, the audience goes crazy.”

However, while we will have Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman together again, we will also have introductions to Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg but Elfman admits that time was a factor here and the best he could do was lay a foundation for what will come in later movies: “I created very simple motifs. There are so many themes, you can’t just do a big theme for everything. So I created a motif for Flash, for Aquaman and Cyborg – but they’re very simple things, and [DC] understood. I said, “These things may never be used again, but I’m giving you all the components, should you wish to have things to build on.” So they either will or they won’t, but that’s how I approach a project like this. You have to take the attitude that this is the beginning of a mythology and it all matters, it all comes to fruition, and with any luck they will.”

However, the heroes aren’t the only things that Elfman is returning to, having already worked with director Joss Whedon on the two Avengers movies: “It was crazy. It’s funny, I’ve only worked with Joss twice, but they’re both been insane situations. I was joking with him at the end, “It would be great to do something normal where we actually have a regular schedule instead of these hyper-reduced schedules.” On the other hand, i like challenges and I love Joss, so it was all good.

“It was the same as when I worked with him on Ultron. He appreciates melodies and pieces. He’s like, “Oh, you’ve given it identity here!” There was a moment where the Batmobile shoots out of a thing and he goes, “Go bats@#t crazy here! Batman the s@#t out of it!” When I’m using the Batman theme, I’m using the melodic sense of it, I’m wasn’t doing full-on Batman, and there’s a moment when he says, “No, right here, Full on!

“I think they’re great and he loves doing little things like that that are pure fan excitement: “Do John Williams here, Batman the shit out of this moment.” He knows how fans think. Give them these little things and let them enjoy it.””

Well, if we weren’t excited for Justice League already, the very notion of having Elfman back involved in a Batman movie is like Christmas come early for me… but what about you guys?

Do you think Elfman, Whedon and Warners/DC are right to throwback to the classic themes and form a link to the past great versions of these characters?

Let us know what you all think…

Source: Billboard