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Credit: Warner Bros.In a recent interview, DCEU head honcho Zack Snyder elaborated on how DC Comics fans and the team at DC Studios are making Batman irrelevant. And he couldn’t be more wrong.
In a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the creator of the Snyderverse opened up about how he “tends to get in trouble” with comic book fans because he takes a “…deconstructivist point of view. Because I care, I want to take [superheroes] apart.” The 300 (2006) director elaborated:
“People are always like, ‘Batman can’t kill.’ So Batman can’t kill is canon. And I’m like, ‘Okay, well, the first thing I want to do when you say that is I want to see what happens.’ And they go, ‘Well, don’t put him in a situation where he has to kill someone.’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s just like you’re protecting your God in a weird way, right? You’re making your God irrelevant.’”
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The Watchmen (2009) director and many of his fans often cite the classic comic book series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) as an example of a time when the Caped Crusader had no good option and was forced to kill in order to save a child’s life. However, if you actually read the book, you’d know that to think that is to completely misinterpret the author and the character.
Zack Snyder Doesn’t Understand Batman
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Through multiple interpretations of Batman, one thing has remained consistent: he doesn’t kill. However, this changed in Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), where the World’s Greatest Detective killed someone to save Martha Kent, Superman’s mother.
Snyder says this was in reference to The Dark Knight Returns, specifically a scene where Batman allegedly kills an enemy to save a child he took hostage. The only problem is that it never happened.
Zack Snyder has only read 1 comic book and he didn’t get it at all 💀 pic.twitter.com/0qjlseLQC0
— ᵀᴴᴱ ultimate buggy (@bugtrio) March 7, 2024
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Whether you look at the original comic or the animated adaptation, Bruce Wayne never kills him, instead shooting his hand or near the enemy. However, many fans have interpreted this as Batman killing his enemies since he’s older and has become grizzled and cynical.
The fact is that killing has never been Batman’s M.O. From Adam West to Michael Keaton to Christian Bale, none of these portrayals have tried to kill a bad guy on purpose. However, this was Zack Snyder’s movie and his interpretation. If this was the angle to take, it’s his right.
Do you think Batman should kill? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!