Zack Snydersure does love to do some talkin'. Yesterday,new commentsfrom theBatman v Supermandirector emerged regarding his response toSteven Spielberg’scomparison of the modern superhero genre to thewaning days of the Western. Though Snyder also took the time to address his responsibilities for the upcoming slate of DC/WB superhero films, respond to rumors, and comment on his plans to stay central on the mythologies of Batman and Superman, he apparently had much more to say about, well, pretty much everything.
Now while Snyder did take a potshot at Marvel’sAnt-Man- the character, not the movie, most likely - calling it a “flavor of the week”, I’ll give him a pass on it. A part of him likely couldn’t pass up the opportunity to compare the mythos of Batman and Superman - which he’s cramming together in the same movie for the first time, lest we forget - to Marvel’s most recent and most diminutive cinematic superhero, but what he seemed to be saying is that Batman and Superman hold a place in the collective conscious that other [Blank]-Man heroes simply don’t. Here’s the relevant quote in response to Spielberg’s comparison of the superhero film genre to the Western:
“…I feel like Batman and Superman are transcendent of superhero movies in a way,becausethey’re Batman and Superman. They’re not just, like, the flavor of the weekAnt-Man—not to be mean, but whatever it is. What is the next Blank-Man?”
In less buzzy news, Snyder did actually talk about his film’s take on Batman, and responded to talk that the DC Cinematic Universe is skewing more towards the Caped Crusader than Superman:
“Only in that because it’s a different Batman than the Batman that was in the Chris Nolan movies, so we have a little bit more explaining to do—and youjusthad a whole Superman movie,” he smiled. “But I think only in that way, because you need to understand where Batman is with everything. And that’s more toward the beginning, but it evens back out as it goes on.”
So, yes, Superman will actually get to have some screentime in the sequel to his own movie. But are Batman and Superman really so different? According to Snyder:
“They’re actually opposite sides of the same coin,” said Snyder. “It’s interesting because Batman’s a man and Superman’s a god, if you think about it in those terms. So their relationship is very contentious. What Superman sees as Batman’s limits, Batman sees as Superman trying to control him, acting like an absolute dictator.”
“What we went after was the humanity of each character,” he continued. “We tried to say, ‘What would Batman have to do to unravel Superman, and what would Superman have to do to unravel Batman?’ Their conflict is based on each others’ understanding of the other’s weakness. The fun of that is when you’re dealing with these mythological creatures—to make them human again, bring them back to earth. And to do that you have to know the rules before you can break them. They have to go all the way to the stratosphere before you can bring them back down.”
Reading between the lines, it sounds as if Snyder and screenwritersChris TerrioandGeoff Johnshave likely had the exact same conversations about Batman fighting Superman that many of us have had with our own friends. Snyder actually touches on an interesting character trait in Superman: his humanity. Sure, the Kryptonian could rip the Dark Knight apart if he were savage and ruthless, but his restraint prevents that, even if Batman is like the buzzing of flies to him. And while it’s clear that the battle between these superheroes will push each other to their limits, their respective humanity will win out at the end of the day. Otherwise, Snyder is left without a film franchise and would have to subsist only on that bold-flavored, powdery Dorito money.
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