'Batman v Superman' Blu-ray Cut Has Jena Malone, Maybe a Better Movie

Even at over two and a half hours, Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice released last March was a bloated mess that still felt like much was left in the editing room. In what appeared to be damage control following the film’s critical beatdown, details of the Blu-ray/DVD hitting retail on July 19 (Digital HD on June 28) emerged with an extended, R-rated “Ultimate Cut.” Besides one deleted scene with Steppenwolf, nothing else was known what would be in the new, longer version.

A new commercial for the home versions answers that, and the one detail that matters most: Jena Malone! Wholly removed from the theatrical version (except for maybe one scene), the Sucker Punch actress rumored to have played Batgirl is finally shown speaking to Amy Adams’s Lois Lane, but her identity is still not made explicit. For my money, Malone vaguely resembles Carrie Kelly, the female teenager who becomes Robin in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the same celebrated graphic novel that heavily inspired Snyder’s interpretation.

There are other new but non-essential scenes and dialogue mixed in with scenes from the final movie. You don’t see more of the Ezra Miller’s The Flash or Jason Mamoa’s Aquaman, just more people talking about gods and shit. Still, this kind of dialogue sounds like it could have helped the movie be the best nihilistic nightmare it wanted to be.

Meanwhile, Collider has the full list of bonus features for the DVD and Blu-ray, and there’s quite a lot of extra content for a movie no one wound up caring about.

• Uniting the World’s Finest

• Gods and Men: A Meeting of Giants

• The Warrior, The Myth, The Wonder

• Accelerating Design: The New Batmobile

• Superman: Complexity & Truth

• Batman: Austerity & Rage

• Wonder Woman: Grace & Power

• Batcave: Legacy of the Lair

• The Might and the Power of a Punch

• The Empire of Luthor

• Save the Bats

The Blu-ray will also feature a Dolby Atmos soundtrack remixed for home theater set-ups, in case you wanted to hear Ben Affleck grunting “TELL ME, DO YOU BLEED? YOU WILL!” in surround sound.

Still, Jena Malone! Here she is speaking to Lois Lane:

And for comparison’s sake, here’s Carrie Kelly in The Dark Knight Returns:

Malone isn’t a teenager, but neither does Carrie Kelly have to be in Snyder’s liberal interpretation of the comic books. I mean, it’s not like Snyder got Batman or Superman right anyway.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be available on Blu-ray and DVD July 19 and Digital HD a lot sooner, on June 28.