Superman doesn’t need to appear in the trailers for Justice League for fans to know the Man of Steel will make his triumphant return. As DC faithful eagerly await for their favorite superheroes to unite on screen, fans may want to ready themselves to once again hear the classic theme to 1978’s Superman from John Williams, as interpreted by movie composer maestro Danny Elfman.
In an interview with Billboard this week, Elfman revealed his plans for Justice League, where he had “the pleasure” of saying out loud that he’ll do John Williams’s “Superman.”
“[T]hat 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,” Elfman said. “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.”
While the film’s plot may be convenient to let Elfman have creative liberties, a possibly more realistic reason is that the song’s rights belong to the Donner family. (Remember, even Deadpool used the song earlier this year in a skit that rolled before audiences saw Logan.) For that reason, fans should expect to hear something like the classic theme, and not the actual theme itself.
Later in the interview, Elfman said that Warner Bros. and DC are “starting to understand” that there are cultural touchstones that shouldn’t be cast aside. “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 bullshit,” he said. Elfman then brings up the theme to Star Wars, “which they had the good sense not to dump for the reboots. And every time it comes back, the audience goes crazy.”
And perhaps audiences will go crazy when they hear that immortal theme from John Williams once again, reminding them that they will believe a man can fly.
Justice League will be released on November 17.
