In a recent interview with EW, ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ director Zack Snyder laid out a lot of new information about the upcoming blockbuster that will jump start the DC Cinematic Universe, as well as once again defending the ending to his last DC outing, ‘Man of Steel,’ because of how it lays the groundwork for the sequel. While many still complain about the wanton destruction and lack of accountability, Synder promises ‘Dawn of Justice’ will be all about those consequences, and examining how the world reacts to such destruction, claiming that in his more realistic films you get more about the consequences of heroic destruction than in other franchises:
“I was surprised because that’s the thesis of Superman for me, that you can’t just have superheroes knock around and have there be no consequences…There are other superhero movies where they joke about how basically no one’s getting hurt,. That’s not us. What is that message? That’s it’s okay that there’s this massive destruction with zero consequence for anyone? That’s what Watchmen was about in a lot of ways too. There was a scene, that scene where Dan and Laurie get mugged. They beat up the criminals. I was like the first guy, I want to show his arm get broken. I want a compound fracture. I don’t want it to be clean. I want you to go, ‘Oh my God, I guess you’re right. If you just beat up a guy in an alley he’s not going to just be lying on the ground. It’s going to be messy.”
Which is fine to say now, but ‘Man of Steel’ came out years ago, and after the destruction of a good chunk of Metropolis and the potential deaths of thousands of people, the wrap up of the movie had no scenes depicting Superman or the world dealing with the fall-out. Superman kissed Lois Lane, trashed a satellite to scare the military, and then set up shop as Clark Kent in a suddenly rebuilt Daily Planet building, and it seemed all was right in the world. And then a few years later, after all the complaints from fans about the carnage, Snyder says it was all part of a plan leading into ‘Dawn of Justice.” Suspicious? Yes, but also somewhat brilliant, especially if he pulls it off.
According to the new Batman Ben Affleck, who confirms that Snyder also had this accountability in mind, that responsibility toward realism and depicting consequences played a huge factor in why he wanted to don the Batman persona:
“One of the things I liked was Zack’s idea of showing accountability and the consequences of violence and seeing that there are real people in those buildings. And in fact, one of those buildings was Bruce Wayne’s building so he knew people who died in that Black Zero event.”
What are your thoughts here? Is Snyder just savvy enough to take the fan complaints and mold it into the thematic backbone for his next DC film? Or do you believe he had this plan all along? Let us know your thoughts below!
