Zack Snyder Fights Back Against Fans Who Criticize Decision To Have Batman Kill
Zack Snyder recently fired back at critics of a highly criticized moment from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, reports Comicbook.
The director was recently in attendance at The Director’s Cuts, a three-night event that featured director’s cut versions of Snyder’s films – Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen, and the above-mentioned Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Snyder stayed after the screenings to take questions from fans.
After a showing of Batman v Superman, he addressed the controversial decision to have Batman kill enemies in the movie.
“Someone says to me: [Ben Affleck’s] Batman killed a guy. I’m like, F**k, really? Wake the f**k up. I guess that’s what I’m saying. Once you lost your virginity to this f**king movie and then you come and say to me something about like ‘my superhero wouldn’t do that.’ I’m like ‘Are you serious?’ I’m like down the f**king road on that. It’s a cool point of view to be like ‘my heroes are innocent’…That’s cool. But you’re living in a f**king dream world.”
During Zack Snyder’s run with the DC Extended Universe, some of the decisions he made in Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League were not popular with longtime fans of the characters.
Among his most questioned were choices to ground his films in a dark, gritty reality, which included scenarios that showed two of DC’s top superheroes killing others.
Man of Steel has a scene where Superman snaps General Zod’s neck after the villain threatens an innocent civilian.
Batman is also shown killing multiple times during Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Comic fans have argued that one of Batman’s defining traits is his tenet to never kill and that Snyder was disregarding the character’s history by doing so.
It can be contested that other directors have been lax about upholding this character trait as well. In 1989’s Batman, director Tim Burton depicts a superhero that explodes a building filled with henchmen, throws a foe off a tall bell tower, and has a Batmobile equipped with two machine guns.
There is also the much-contested moment from the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman Begins where Batman essentially does not outright kill villain Ra’s al Ghul, but abandons him with little hope for the man’s survival.
Snyder was eventually dropped by Warner Bros. in favor of having Joss Whedon direct reshoots for Justice League.
The director does have his supporters, who have come together for a “Release the Snyder Cut” campaign. These fans have pressured Warner Bros. to release a full director’s cut of Snyder’s version of Justice League and have it released similarly to the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition.
Zack Snyder Comments on Having Batman Kill in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice https://t.co/RSwQWchpmp #Batman #DCComics #DCEU pic.twitter.com/9zCrZEkYYr
— ComicBook.com (@ComicBook) March 24, 2019
