As you’re reading this, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is in movie theaters and is expected to make a lot of money this weekend, despite the rough reviews. Just how much money? We don’t know yet! We will have to wait and see. But, in the meantime, the real question is: Will Dawn of Justice see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?
Okay, it’s not really a real question. No one is really asking this. But, I thought it might be fun to find out if someone named Dawn, living in a town named Justice, would be seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This person wasn’t as easy to find as I had imagined.
First of all, surprisingly, there are only two cities in the United States named “Justice”: There’s a Justice, Illinois and a Justice, West Virginia. As of 2010, Justice, Illinois has a population of 13,031 and Justice, West Virginia has a population of only 412.
Not surprisingly, I did not have much luck finding a person named Dawn in Justice, West Virginia. But, I did find a few in Illinois. I found one Dawn on Facebook and sent her a message asking about being “Dawn of Justice,” and like any normal person would, she ignored it. A Google search came up with a few more options, often attached to landline phone numbers that had long been disconnected. I thought I maybe was onto something when I got an answering machine (these still exist), but the family name on the recording did not match the name I was trying to reach.
On my last call, a woman answered, but she gave the name of a company. I asked for Dawn Pasaye and she confirmed that she was Dawn Pasaye. “And you live in Justice, Illinois?” I asked. “Yes,” she confirmed.
I’m going to be honest, right before this point, I had just assumed this whole thing was a futile search and I had wasted half a day of my life. So, I was very excited when she confirmed all of this. The problem is, to poor Dawn Pasaye from Justice, Illinois, I’m just a babbling stranger on the phone. And to be honest, she seemed a little annoyed by the whole thing, as any rational human being at work would be. It was at this point it really hit me how stupid this whole thing was.
Regardless, I still asked, “Are you going to see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice?”
Dawn answered, “I’m probably going to see it, yes.”
I followed up, “Because your name and the city that you live in are in the title?”
She replied, “That’s not why.”
“So, you’re going to see it?”
“Yes.”
“But not because it’s Dawn of Justice?
“Correct.”
I then halfheartedly tried to explain why I thought this would be fun, like if the name of the movie had been Batman v Superman: Mike of New York City, I’d probably think, “Oh, this movie is for me.” Dawn Pasaye politely laughed and said, “Okay.”
So, anyway, that’s it. I feel embarrassed about this whole thing, but we have our answer: Dawn (Pasaye) of Justice (Illinois) will be seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but not because of the title.
Mike Ryan lives in New York City and has written for The Huffington Post, Wired, Vanity Fair and New York magazine. He is senior entertainment writer at Uproxx. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
