Filming originally scheduled to take place in Morocco for Batman vs Superman will now take place in New Mexico.
A casting call released last month revealed that producers are looking to recreate an “African village scene,” and that entire families would be welcome as extras.
Now a video report has given the first look at the set being built in southwestern New Mexico near Deming.
Filming is still taking place in Michigan, with a shift to Illinois expected soon. Filming will start in new Mexico in mid-November. The move from Africa to New Mexico is believed to be due to the Ebola outbreak.
Some fans are speculating that the African village scene is actually Themyscira, home of Wonder Woman and the Amazons, though there is not official confirmation as of yet.
“I remember reading somewhere(don’t know where), that BvS primarily got postponed because they decided to include scenes from Themyscira instead of just referencing it,” said one fan on the blog Batman News.
Others says that it could be Kahndaq, possibly a scene in Egypt where Superman swoops in to stop some civil war in the Middle East, showcasing just how he’s positively effecting the world by stopping wars, world hunger, etc.
Meanwhile, Jena Malone has been confirmed as part of the movie and there’s some speculation that she'll be Batman’s sidekick in the film.
A reporter with a local broadcaster revealed that the script for the movie features a female Robin character and that Malone could be playing her.
“The report then cut to a person claiming to be an extra — and the source of the information — who said that a multimillion-dollar lawsuit could be filed against anyone violating the movie’s nondisclosure agreements. In a bid to protect the source, only the person’s hands were shown and his/her voice was altered, giving the affair a Dr. Evil-meets-a-Munchkin vibe.”
If the information is correct then she would likely be playing Carrie Kelly, who is a flame-haired alternative version of Robin who first appeared in the 1986 Batman book.
“Jena Malone as Robin could be an interesting take on the direction that Warner Bros could take with Batman in the future cinematic universe,” Dustin Fritschel, Senior Editor at fansite The Batman Universe, told The Independent.
“Many fans have stated that while the character Carrie Kelley as Robin for this run in the bat films can work, some think that one of the other Robins should have their shot at being in the films before hers. The controversy doesn’t seem to be about a female playing the character as much as it is about a character that is less as iconic in the role of Robin.
“Of all the Robins; Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne and even Stephanie Brown; Carrie Kelley is a character that has the least amount of appearances as Robin in comics.”
Batman vs Superman is slated to hit theaters on May 6, 2016.
