Zack Snyder Defends Killing Countless People in 'Man of Steel'
Director Zack Snyder has heard the criticism about the immense amount of destruction Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod (Michael Shannon) caused in Metropolis during the climactic battle of Man of Steel — and he doesn’t regret a single explosion.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the director of the 2013 Superman reboot and the upcoming D.C. sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, said that he very purposely staged a battle that took an estimated 380,000 (fictional) lives, injured 1 million more and caused $2 trillion in economic damage.
“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,” Snyder told EW.
The consequences of the apocalyptic destruction in Man of Steel will be felt in its sequel, which finds Superman revered as a god by some survivors, while others hold him accountable for the chaos. Among the not-so-pleased: Bruce Wayne/Batman, as played by Ben Affleck.
“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,” the actor told EW. “And in fact, one of those buildings was Bruce Wayne’s building so he knew people who died in that Black Zero event.”
As the title indicates, the two heroes will square off at some point in the film, though presumably they will eventually come together, given that 2017 will see Snyder’s first Justice League movie. And in order to help set up that full-on smorgasbord of muscles and nobility, one of their teammates in that superhero syndicate, Wonder Woman, is also going to appear in BvS.
Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck in ‘Batman v. Superman’ (Entertainment Weekly/Clay Enos)
In fact, Wonder Woman — played by the Fast and Furious franchise player Gal Gadot, is going to factor pretty heavily in BvS, in part to act as “a gateway drug” to the Justice League as Snyder describes it. And here’s a minor spoiler: Gadot is more skilled with the swordplay than she is with Wonder Woman’s traditional lasso. “I’m still working on that,” she told EW.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters on March 26, 2016. For more, download the new Comic-Con preview issue of EW here.
Watch the trailer for ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ below:
