Whether you loved or hated Man of Steel, I think we can all agree that the ending didn’t shy away from controversy and certainly brought something new to the conversation about Superman and his moral high ground as a hero. Those wondering how the ending of that film would affect its sequel, Batman vs. Superman, need not wonder any longer, as Zack Snyder has opened up about the topic.
According to the director, Superman’s actions at the end of Man of Steel will “deeply affect” him in the sequel. During a Live Q&A on Yahoo!, Snyder said the following:
“It’s a real world problem… I think the effect on Superman, it is a deeply difficult decision for him to make. It’s not a thing that he takes lightly, and you can see it affects him pretty profoundly. And maybe we’ll see the repercussions of that in the next film. How that’s affected him, making that decision… Maybe.”
Snyder then went on to talk about the “rule” that states Superman can’t kill his enemies and how it doesn’t exist in the comics.
“Well, what’s funny about that rule is that it exists in the movies,” he said. “But it doesn’t really exist in the comic books. He’s killed Zod a couple times in the comic books… I think that it’s a notion that has grown out of the way he’s been popularized on TV and in the movies more than the comic book mythology of Superman,” he added. “Killing General Zod is a practical solution to the problem. He wouldn’t let his personal aversion to killing cost the lives of an entire planet or those little kids, that little family. So if he had said, ‘I’m just morally opposed to killing so I guess I have to let him kill those people.’ Those are the dilemmas. We set that up directly so there would be no solution other than that solution.”
Personally, I wasn’t opposed to the Supe’s actions at the end of the film, but I did find it an odd choice that he decided to draw the line at Zod killing four people in a train station when their preceding fight had cost the lives of thousands of innocents.
Either way, Batman vs. Superman has a ton of buzz surrounding it already and this is just more fuel for the fire. It will be interesting to see exactly what kind of repercussions Snyder is talking about and how Superman’s decision will affect what he does in the upcoming sequel.
Let the speculation begin.