JUSTICE LEAGUE Director Zack Snyder Acknowledges That Many Fans Didn't Want BATMAN V SUPERMAN's Dark Knight

Justice League director Zack Snyder has acknowledged that not everyone was on board with his take on the Dark Knight in Batman v Superman, admitting that it's something he's fine with at this point.

By JoshWilding - Mar 16, 2021 07:03 AM EST

Filed Under: Batman vs. Superman

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice proved to be a more divisive movie than anyone could have expected, with Zack Snyder's vision for the Dark Knight particularly controversial among many fans.

This broken down, demoralised Caped Crusader perfectly paid homage to Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, but that was a far cry from the Batman fans had spent time with a few years earlier in Christopher Nolan's trilogy.

In an interview with The New York Times, Snyder was asked if he feels "the zeitgeist just didn’t embrace your interpretation of these characters."

"It could be. And that’s fine, too. I don’t have a dog in the hunt," the filmmaker responded. "When I made 'Watchmen,' it’s deconstructionist. It’s a movie that pokes holes in your heroes. And [Batman v Superman] is the same thing. It’s meant to say, 'Oh, Batman’s drunk and taking painkillers and he’s sleeping with some anonymous girl. He’s a broken person. He dresses up as a bat and he goes out at night and he beats people up. He has issues.'"

"I do think the movie came along at a point where everyone was like, oh, we don’t want that Batman. We want Batman to be the warrior-monk who’s cool. And I personally am fine with that."

While Batman v Superman's take on Bruce Wayne wasn't to everyone's liking, the character does undergo some big changes in Zack Snyder's Justice League. It's clear now that Snyder was playing the long game when it comes to how the hero was portrayed in his vision of the DCEU, and only time will tell whether that's actually something he is able to further explore down the line.

Of course, we'll get to see more of Ben Affleck's Batman in action when The Flash rolls around.

Click on the "Next" button below for a breakdown of
Batman v Superman secrets from Zack Snyder!

Why Jimmy Olsen Had To Die

Snyder has previously explained that he wanted to do something fun with Jimmy Olsen due to not having room for the character in his vision of the DC Universe and, as we're all now aware, that involved blowing his brains out in the opening few minutes of Batman v Superman!

Why did Jimmy go from loveable photographer to dead C.I.A. agent? "I just liked the idea that Jimmy was a spook for the CIA," Snyder explains. "I always felt like Jimmy, you know, never was capable, that capable, and to see him be like speak a foreign language."

Sadly, Snyder would confirm that there's no way Jimmy comes back in the Snyder Cut. "People always ask me if he's dead, do we see him again, does he come back to life. I don't think so. It implies a bigger universe. It implies that these dominos are falling as we go forward."

The Secret Origins Of LexCorp's Sign

Jesse Eisenberg's charismatic Lex Luthor wasn't to everyone's liking in Batman v Superman, but we're going to choose to blame that on the jar of pee he decided to unleash as his weapon.

That aside, and this version of Lex was surprisingly complex, something Snyder confirmed during last night's live commentary. He revealed that the retro LexCorp sign hanging up in the basketball court where we first meet the villain is the last piece of the company his father built.

Given how twisted this Lex is, it wouldn't surprise us if it was some sort of sick trophy...

Martian Manhunter's Batman v Superman Role

Among the many reveals shared by Snyder on Vero is that he planned to have Harry Lennix's General Swanwick outed as Justice League member Martian Manhunter.

However, the filmmaker has now confirmed that the hero in disguise knows Superman's biggest secret!

"Harry Lennix is pretending to be a human being but does a great job, but has this relationship with Lois that started in Man of Steel if you kind of track their relationship," Snyder said of his role in Batman v Superman. "Harry understands there's a relationship between Lois and Clark, who he knows, of course, is Superman."

Why Wonder Woman Led The Trinity

A lot of fanboys aren't on board with female superheroes receiving the spotlight on the silver screen, so Gal Gadot's badass Wonder Woman leading the charge against Doomsday back in 2016 didn't exactly sit right with some of them.

Snyder provided an explanation during this live commentary, explaining that Diana Prince took the lead because she has more fighting experience than both Batman and Superman combined. Though Bruce Wayne has spent decades fighting Gotham City's scum, and Clark Kent bested Zod in a fight to the death, Wonder Woman has the advantage of having fought monsters before.

Batman and Superman weren't to know that, of course, but this explains her placement when DC's Trinity came together in live-action for the first time!

The Snyder Cut Is The Real Batman v Superman Sequel

Snyder has not seen Joss Whedon's Justice League and understandably has no interest in doing so. The subject of the Snyder Cut wasn't one which really came up during his live commentary, but he did take a not so subtle shot at the theatrical version in the stream's closing minutes.

"You know what? I think they should make a sequel to his movie someday," he joked. "That would be amazing. That would really be something else. I want to know what happens to these guys. I mean, don't they eventually, I don't know, form some-" with the feed then cutting off before he finished.

Snyder clearly, and rightly, feels that the unseen Snyder Cut is the true sequel to Batman v Superman!

Was It All Just A Dream?

With Justice League torn up by Joss Whedon and the sequel clearly never seeing the light of day, fans remain as confused as ever about the meaning behind the Knightmare sequence and the Flash's visit from the future.

Snyder himself seems every bit as confused as he used vague terms to describe what was happening. "I guess it's boring for him waiting for it to decrypt so he fell asleep, maybe or I'm not sure."

"Maybe it's a by-product of Flash cracking on the cosmic treadmill or whether it creates some sort of rift where it allows Batman to see into the future," he teased. "It could be a combo of those things." Something tells us it probably wasn't just a dream, and that the director had some sort of plan for explaining what we were seeing!

Aquaman's Original Post-Batman v Superman Role

Aquaman's entire Justice League subplot ended up being cut by Joss Whedon, but Snyder used this video to drop at least a few hints about what he envisioned coming next for the hunky hero.

"The concept here was that he had his, to me it was that he had probably trained with his mother's trident a couple of times with Vulko, but he wasn't keeping it himself," Snyder explained. "So Vulko kept the trident with him and, as needed, if they were training or [whatever], he would get it from him, but he'd always give it back. But he never took it up as like a real mantle."

That would explain why he didn't have it in Batman v Superman (and Justice League), but it was eventually James Wan's Aquaman movie which was tasked with addressing this plot hole.

A Man Of Steel/Batman v Superman Super Cut

We keep hearing all this talk of a Snyder Cut, but could there be another "cut" Snyder has in mind?

Though it sounds doubtful that it's something the filmmaker himself will be responsible for, he did tease the possibility of some sort of Man of Steel/Batman v Superman mega cut. "I wonder if anyone's ever done a five-hour cut, which would basically just be editing these two parts of the movie together, carefully," he wondered aloud.

"I've never seen that. I'm sure it exists online somewhere, where they match up all of these moments so that they're happening simultaneously. I don't know if anyone's done that. I'd have to look, but it feels like a cool thing to do, because it would all -- it all should match up pretty well. Because they're right below -- they're fighting right below. It could be kind of cool."

The Importance Of Martha

We're all sick of hearing about that big Martha scene, but Snyder did try to clear a few things up last night. After explaining that Batman has lost his moral compass after spending decades in Gotham City, the director explained, "The whole idea of this movie is to create this arc where [Batman] confronts Superman’s humanity, that he finds himself again."

"That’s what the thesis of this thing is, that we’re all humans and that we all connect on a level. Our mothers have the same name. That is really sort of this fundamental, ‘we both have a mother, so we are both human.’ Even though Superman is from another planet, his connection to humanity is so clean that Batman is able to re-energize himself."

Batman v Superman didn't do a terrible job with the scene, but it became a moment many so-called "fans" took great delight in ridiculing in the months following the film's theatrical release.

Zack Snyder Isn't Fazed By Killer Batman Complaints

A real sticking point for a lot of Batman v Superman's detractors has been the decision to have the Dark Knight indiscriminently kill the criminals he crosses paths with. Snyder, however, remains unfazed by such criticisms based on comments made during last night's live commentary.

"I'm sure these guys are fine," he mocked during the violent Batmobile chase sequence. "They're going to be 100% okay. There's no way they're dead. We should have done like an A-team style shot of them getting up on the side of the road. For the PG-13 version."

The filmmaker further mocked these criticisms by poking fun at one of Batman's victims! "He shouldn’t of pulled that grenade, that’s his fault." Clearly, Snyder's not sweating the small stuff.

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247 Comments

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

noahthegrand - 3/16/2021, 7:52 AM

if we had seen him in his prime first and his downfall I think it might have worked better

bkmeijer2 - 3/16/2021, 7:54 AM

@noahthegrand - or if he stopped killing after Superman made him realize he is a cold-blooded murderer (atleast thats how I took the Martha scene)

bkmeijer2 - 3/16/2021, 7:53 AM

''he goes out at night and he beats people up. He has issues''

That is something I 100% agree with.

That said, I like how Snyder just doubled down on punisher-Batman in the Ultimate Cut.

OmegaDaGrodd - 3/16/2021, 7:53 AM

This is probably the closest I've read Snyder come to acknowledging people just didn't like his Batman but then RIGHT at the end he pulls the 'they wanted sorbet, not gelato' nonsense. 8 years later and he's still blaming the audience for his own shortcomings

Nightwing1015 - 3/16/2021, 8:24 AM

@OmegaDaGrodd - He's not blaming the audience at all he literally said he was fine with their opinion. He's just being honest about what he wants Batman to be and I think that's fine. At the end of the day, DC shouldn't have backed Snyder if they knew his vision of Batman was so far away from what the fans wanted.

HannibalLecter - 3/16/2021, 8:26 AM

@OmegaDaGrodd - Also let's not forget this interview where he sounds even more childish:

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/03/zack-snyder-defends-batman-killed-person-1202053359/

I have many issues with the way Snyder portrayed Batman but I think is a waste of time to argue about it now, after all he may never helm a DC movie ever again.

HannibalLecter - 3/16/2021, 8:28 AM

@Nightwing1015 - DC didn't have any say in the matter, it was just WB execs and they were probably biased with the idea of trying something radically different from Marvel.

Nightwing1015 - 3/16/2021, 8:35 AM

@HannibalLecter - Yeah that's what I meant, the WB executives that make decisions about DC films. The really should've checked that their vision lined up with what they both wanted

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JUSTICE LEAGUE Director Zack Snyder Acknowledges That Many Fans Didn't Want BATMAN V SUPERMAN's Dark Knight

Justice League director Zack Snyder has acknowledged that not everyone was on board with his take on the Dark Knight in Batman v Superman, admitting that it's something he's fine with at this point.

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