Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder has surfaced on a new episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, and with it comes another explanation from the 58-year-old filmmaker as to why he made Batman—contrary to his usual depictions, including those in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman Trilogy—kill in his films. Snyder, who is readying Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver for release on Netflix next month, suggested that this is a test that the character should be put through to make him more meaningful/interesting; otherwise, he’s “irrelevant,” while Rogan agreed with Snyder, calling the no-kill rule “ridiculous.”
Snyder explained:
- “…Batman can’t kill is canon. …okay, the first thing I wanna do when you say that is I wanna see what happens. …they go, ‘well don’t put him in a situation where he has to kill someone’.”
- “I’m like…well, you’re protecting your god in a weird way. You’re making your god irrelevant if he can’t be in that situation.”
- “He has to now deal with that. If he does do that, what does it mean? What does it tell you? Does he stand up to it? Can he stand up to that…as a god, as your god?”
Snyder defending his choices back in 2019:
- “Someone says to me: Batman killed a guy. I’m like, ‘—-, really? Wake the —- up.”
- “Once you’ve lost your virginity to this —-ing 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 —-ing road on that. It’s a cool point of view to be like ‘my heroes are still innocent. My heroes didn’t —-ing lie to America. My heroes didn’t embezzle money from their corporations. My heroes didn’t commit any atrocities’. That’s cool. But you’re living in a —-ing dream world.”
Snyder’s Batman, played by Ben Affleck, killing people:
The full show:
Zack Snyder is a filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter known for films like “Justice League,” “300,” and “Army of the Dead.” His latest film, “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire,” is now available on Netflix. Catch the sequel, “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver,” on Netflix April 19, 2024.
Discussion (17 replies)
Join Discussion →This is an example of someone who doesn't understand the source material and does not respect it. This is why he is the wrong choice to make a Batman film.
I have to agree with @Dan_D here. The fact that he doesn't kill MATTERS.
He's the wrong choice for anything since he can't write or direct. The guy is the king of talentless hacks in an industry filled to the brim with talentless hacks. He's a passable cinematographer as long as there's someone above him to reign in the stupid when he gets out of control.
How did you guys feel about Tim Burton's Batman killing fools left and right? Like that bomb the Batmobile drops at the factory, pretty sure at least a few guys were taken out by that.
True but at least there was some doubt about it or at least not heavily focused on.
This is the same thing that happened with Captain America back in the 80s/90s when someone decided they'd finally have him use a gun. It was pretty controversial for fans at the time because the character had previously written to show they wouldn't. In the end, it didn't mean much because it wasn't executed very well, IMHO, but for both of these that is the key. ZS seems to obsess about shock moments which really numbs the experience after a point. I still haven't made it through his Netflix movie, got halfway, and was truly bored beyond belief. His JL cut is a kind of torture as well since I do like some of the content but otherwise am bored again with it.
I'm against Batman killing, but not against him incorporating some creative torture interrogating, or Cap using guns (and for the record not remotely against gun ownership) but some folks just give up on finding ways to write good stories for them. I think it's important to have contrasts of characters and when they all ultimately behave the same way it becomes pointless.
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Yep, and we love that show. I just tend to think of it as a elseworlds kind of thing but you're not wrong.
Wonder if there will be a season 2?
I heard it's going to happen. Gunn greenlit it (of course since it is his project) and the cast are all on board as well.
That's good to hear.
Rebel Moon has proven that:
Rebel moon was so bad.. it would have been good if it just needed a sepia color filter to be considered good.
Was it worse than Suckerpunch? Because I think Suckerpunch was one of the worst movies to ever get a traditional release in theaters.
Suckerpunch had cheesecake, I'll be honest that's why I watched it and ultimately thought it was ok. Rebel Moon.... hot garbage. And the color of hot garbage too!
If Sucker Punch is a 10, then Rebel moon is minus infinite. The most important difference is that Sucker Punch had ambiguity on its side, you don't have to take it at face value. Rebel Moon however is completely serious. Snyder might intended Sucker Punch to be serious as well, so it might be a fluke that it can be interpreted differently, but still it makes a world of difference. Plus it had eyecandy and visuals on its side. Rebel Moon is brown washed out diarrhea, with the main protagonist being mid at best.