Day of the Dead

CUT TO LUTHOR MANSION, BASEMENT STAIRS
Bruce Wayne is walking down, Clark Kent not far behind. When Bruce is getting near the server room again, Clark is distracted by a Telemundo report, which is also startling the cooks and waiters nearby.

MEXICAN REPORTER (VO, SUBTITLED)
"... A deadly factory fire has interrupted the Day of the Dead celebration in Juarez."

In the server room, the hacking device is absent. Bruce turns around, Diana is at the door. As she walks away, he runs towards her.

BRUCE WAYNE
Excuse me.

Bruce continues to walk in the direction of the woman in the red dress, bumping by waiters and guests.
Downstairs, the Mexican disaster fire is still on TV.

MEXICAN REPORTER (VO, SUBTITLE)
"I can't believe they're going to let that poor girl die."

Clark adjusts his tie and walks away.

CUT TO OUTSIDE MANSION
Bruce sees Diana enter a car and drive away. Frustration and annoyance fill his face.

CUT TO JUAREZ
As the factory crumbles, Superman glides down carrying the girl who was trapped in the fire. The people watching take out their hats in reverence. As he kneels before a happy woman to deliver her daughter back, the crowd, many of whom are dressed in Dia de los Muertos skull make-up, extend their hands in adoration. We start to hear a voice-over, which turns out to be a television segment of “In the Moment News” , “The Superman Question”, currently featuring the opinion of filmmaker Vikram Gandhi.

VIKRAM GANDHI (VO)
We, as a population on this planet, have been looking for a savior. 90% of people believe in a higher power. And every religion believes in some sort messianic figure. And when this savior character actually comes to Earth, we want to make him abide by our rules? We have to understand that this is a paradigm shift. We have to start thinking beyond politics.

As Superman drags a stranded boat in the Arctic by its anchor, author Andrew Sullivan is talking to GBS with the caption “Superman’s Actions are Political”.

ANDREW SULLIVAN (VO)
Are there any moral constraints on this person? We have international law.On this Earth, every act is a political act.

On PBS, Charlie Rose is interviewing Senator Finch.

CHARLIE ROSE
Is it really surprising, that the most powerful man in the world should be a figure of controversy?

SENATOR FINCH
To have an individual engaging in the state level interventions should give us all pause.

As Superman saves a spaceship after its rocket explodes on liftoff, blogger Glen Woodburn talks to Metropolis News, Channel 8.

GLEN WOODBURN
Human beings have a horrible track record of following people with great power, down paths that lead to huge human monstrosities. We have always created icons in our own image. What we've done is we project ourselves on to him. The fact is, maybe he's not some sort of devil or Jesus character. Maybe he's just a guy trying to do the right thing.

In the same segment where Vikram Gandhi has spoken, physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson speaks. In-between, amidst a flood, the people on the ceiling of a house have painted the Superman shield. They amusingly look into the sky as Supes floats nearby, showing he has come to their rescue.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON (VO)
Were talking about a being whose very existence challenges our own sense of priority in the universe. If you go back to Copernicus, where he restored the sun and the center of the known universe, displacing Earth. And you get to Darwinian evolution and you find out, we're not special on this Earth we're just one among other life forms. And now we learned, that we're not even special in the entire universe because there is Superman. There he is, an alien, among us. We're not alone.

CHARLIE ROSE (VO)
Are you, as a United State Senator, personally comfortable saying to a grieving parent, "Superman could've saved your child, but on principle we did not want him to act."

SENATOR FINCH
I'm not saying he shouldn't act. I'm saying he shouldn't act unilaterally.

CHARLIE ROSE
What are we talking about here then? Must there be a Superman?

SENATOR FINCH
There is.

We discover this PBS broadcast is being watched by Clark, who looks a bit frustrated.

CUT TO PRISON
A guard approaches the cell of Wallace Keefe, currently imprisoned for vandalizing Superman’s statue.

GUARD
Keefe, you made bail. Open Two.

As the cell door opens, Wallace asks…
WALLACE
Who paid?

CUT to OUTSIDE HOUSE
Mercy Graves sits on the hood of a car, as Wallace rides his wheelchair towards his home.

CUT to INSIDE WALLACE’S HOME
Wallace is going to his living room, notices someone already there.
WALLACE
Who the hell are you?

Lex Luthor turns around in an automatic wheelchair.
LEX LUTHOR
Just a man.

WALLACE
Yeah? Well, what do you want?

Lex leaves the wheelchair.

LEX LUTHOR
To help you stand for something.

Wallace then stares at the wheelchair, knowing it has been given to him.

CUT to SENATOR FINCH’S OFFICE
As the Senator enters her office, her receptionist delivers a paper sheaf.

RECEPTIONIST
Your 3 o'clock's here.

In the office, Wallace, wearing a suit, turns around in the automated wheelchair as he hears June approaching. They stare before he speaks.

WALLACE
He made me half a man. Let me face him.

Cut to DAILY PLANET
PERRY WHITE
So, I logged into your Dropbox to find a copy.

Perry, talking to Clark, opens up a mockup of a sports page – the headline story about football with blank text.

PERRY WHITE
There's a copy, alright. But, nothing about football. Nothing about... [Perry rips the paper] Friends of the Metropolis Library, just... The god damn Gotham bat thing, I told you not to pursue.

CLARK KENT
The police won't help, the press has to do the right thing.

PERRY WHITE
You don't get to decide what the right thing is.

CLARK KENT
When the Planet was founded, it stood for something, Perry.

PERRY WHITE
So could you, if it was 1938, but it's not 1938. WPA aren't hiring no more. Apples don't cost a nickel. Not in here. Not out there. You drop this thing. Nobody cares about Clark Kent taking on the Batman.