Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice serves many purposes, some more effectively than others. First and foremost, it’s a natural continuation to -- and a significant improvement on -- Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, a contemporary origin story for the classic Superman character that introduced Henry Cavill as Kal-El, an alien from the planet Krypton whose presence on Earth causes… let’s just say “problems.” Secondly,Dawn of Justice is a stellar Batman movie, differentiating itself from Christopher Nolan’s recent trilogy by casting Ben Affleck as a grizzled, seasoned but burned out Caped Crusader whose primary mission is to strategize against his new adversary, Superman.