Why is the movie 'Batman v Superman' not called 'Superman vs. Batman'?
Possible Explanation 1:
Now in one of the interviews in Comic Con, San Diego, Henry Cavill stated,
"I wouldn't call this a Superman sequel. This is Batman versus Superman, so it's a separate entity altogether. It's introducing the Batman character, and expanding upon this universe, which was kicked off by Man of Steel. It's an introduction to the [Batman] character, and ultimately an introduction to Justice League."
Superman has been DC's marquee superhero for decades, but it seems that Batman has taken the lead in the recent years. Some would say that ruling is official with Batman taking the top billing in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Batman has generated a strong interest post Nolan's trilogy that grossed a staggering total of $2.460 b in its Box Office run which means an average of $820 m. While Man of Steel even with one of the strongest buzz of the year it released, it made $668 m which is relatively less in terms of what DC characters are used to. The film barely made more thanThor: The Dark World, which was considered a glorified “time out” entry in the Marvel Phase 2 narrative. A lot of that could be attributed to the disappointing story structure and under developed characters.
Now if this is to be carried ahead in a sequel, marketing with the same name adding just the suffix of "part whatever", would mean carrying the ill-will forward to which audience wouldn't be so excited. So a smart marketing move would be to use the already popular Batman tag to it, and capitalize on the interests of the public to draw more eye balls. Now if the Batman tag is added after Superman, it would clearly mean its a Man of Steel sequel considering it happens after the events of Man of Steel, but having it in the front would mean a whole new different stand alone film serving up as an introduction for a number of characters for the long line-up of films that awaits, especially, The Justice League. In fact they have even used the "Dawn of Justice" subtitle to make it crystal clear about the leading up to Justice League thing, instead of seeing it as the sequel, hence removing every bit of the disappointment formed in the previous one from Snyder.
Possible Explanation 2:
When the sequel to Man of Steel was announced to feature Batman with the probability of making use of the story arch where they battle against each other, the social media went crazy and the trends were going with the title, "Batman v/s Superman". This was just a fan made title but the trends kept getting stronger (before the title was even announced), so much so, many of the fans even felt this is the title. The reason behind fans putting Batman first could be from Snyder's statement of taking inspiration from the limited series "The Dark Knight Returns" which is Batman centered comics. And in May, 2014 when the title was announced it was exactly what the fans had named it, except it featured just "v" instead of the "vs" with which the trends circulated. It could be that, the producers wanted the fans to keep going with the trend instead of building from the bottom, except give it a slight uniqueness.
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