Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice remain divisive as ever. In no small part due to director Zack Snyder’s portrayal of Superman in these movies. One sticking point that has bothered certain fans for some time is Superman’s decision to brutally kill Zod. Now, Snyder has weighed in on why he felt that decision had to be made. 

 

Zack Snyder recently did a livestream commentary of BvS over on Vero. During the course of the stream, as reported by Comicbook.com, the filmmaker touched on Zod’s death and the way it was handled. 

 

“Even if we understand from this outer perspective that Superman is saving the world being essentially terraformed into another planet, the greater good is being served,” Snyder said. “It’s like an Ozymandias-type scenario when, you know, a big sacrifice is made to save the world and I would say that not even intentionally in this case, Zod is a powerful dude. To suggest you could defeat him without him nearly winning is not realistic at all or the kind of consequence I wanted from my superhero movies.”

 

“I don’t like this idea where there’s no consequence, that these characters get to knock around in our world and that they create and solve these giant problems,” Snyder added. 

 

Zack Snyder’s version of the DC universe on screen presented something of a unique issue for Superman. Zod is simply too powerful to be kept alive. What prison could possibly hold him? What would happen if Superman did allow him to live? There are no easy answers. Snyder made a specific choice. That’s not to say that everyone has to agree with that choice, but he certainly had some reasoning behind it, that much is certain. 

 

Man of Steel, released in 2013, introduced us to Henry Cavill’s version of the iconic DC superhero. It also kicked off the DCEU as we know it. Batman v Superman followed in 2016 and, four years later, it remains a strong topic of debate between the lovers and the haters. Snyder went on to direct Justice League, or he was credited anyway. Joss Whedon was brought in to oversee massive reshoots and the final version of the film was not what Snyder originally intended. Many vocal fans, in the years since, have been calling for Warner Bros. to release the so-called Snyder cut of Justice League, to no avail. 

 

Here’s the official synopsis for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. 

 

“Fearing the actions of a god-like super hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.” 

 

So what do you think? Was it right for Superman to kill Zod? Do you think Zack Snyder could have found another way to handle the situation? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!