Hans Zimmer Talks Scoring Themes for Aquaman and Wonder Woman
Hans Zimmer talks about writing individual themes for Aquaman and Wonder Woman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice...
More than any other composer in the superhero genre, Hans Zimmer has been able to leave his musical stamp. Sure, John Williams composed iconic soundscapes for Superman, and Danny Elfman also has a beloved legacy with both Batman and Spider-Man. However, Hans Zimmer has written themes for all three of those superheroes, and he’s not done yet!
While chatting with MTV at the Oscars, Zimmer talked about scoring for multiple heroes in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Because in addition to following up his memorable work of creating an all-American Superman sound for the 21st century on Man of Steel, we now have new heroes that he has never worked with before, including Aquaman and Wonder Woman. Hell, for all we know, Cyborg or Green Lantern might be dropping by for a wink!
So, when asked whether he would write individual themes for the separate heroes, Zimmer said, “I’m trying. I’ll put it this way: we’re in early days. But yes, of course, ideally that’s what you want to do.”
Zimmer, however, has already revealed that he would not be writing a theme for Batman in the Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice score, due to his obvious ties to composing for The Dark Knight Trilogy. Junkie XL will be scoring the Batman sequences of the film while Zimmer will handle the Superman scenes. One wonders who is in charge of their shared screentime? After all, it’s presumably a lot.
Zimmer talked about that prospect somewhat when looking beyond Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and into the plethora of upcoming DC superhero movies.
“Look, the studio is going to hedge its bet if I ruin this one,” Zimmer said. “And at the same time, you have to remember I come from 10 years of doing Batman, so it’s really important to me not to betray the work we did with Chris [Nolan].” He went on to describe Junkie XL’s variation of the Batman theme as “a bit of a different tone.”
Personally, whether he does the Justice League films or not should probably depend entirely on if he has the same passion that he did for Man of Steel. Say what you will about the film, but the noble and 20th century Americana evoked by the lonely piano that eventually crescendos into Zimmer drums was a terrific display of musicality. Meanwhile, Zimmer’s Marvel work on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sounded as bland as the rest of that forgettable film. If his work for Aquaman and Wonder Woman is closer to the Web-Head than the Man of Tomorrow, then perhaps it will be for the best.