It’s a turn of events that didn’t sit so well with purists who prefer the rosier, hopeful Boy Scout portrayal of the hero. Still, Man of Steel director Zack Snyder defends his decision to have Superman kill the unremitting Zod in the film’s climactic battle.
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In a new GQ spotlight on his career to commemorate the release of Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scargiver, Snyder explained his reasoning for putting a character celebrated for compassion into an untenable no-win situation.
He started by lending subjective credence to the genocidal Zod (via Comic Basics) to a fault. “Zod’s not wrong from his point of view, but also, there’s no [real] room for humans in this scenario that Zod’s presenting and he’s not gonna stop,” Snyder said.
“He wasn’t gonna negotiate an outcome, so it was either Zod or us. And that was pretty much the game. There was no like middle ground. Zod said, ‘He would fight until either you kill me or I kill you,’” he continued. “That’s the game. There’s no like, and they’re like, ‘But why would you put Superman in that position?’”
Snyder strangely answered, “I’m like, ‘Well, if Superman can’t handle that position, then he’s fake, then he’s not. You gotta like, he’s got to address the scenarios that come to him. He can’t pick and choose as you can’t pick and choose.’”
He compares the choice to that infamous test in Star Trek Kirk rigged. “When something is outside of your morality, your normal morality that you can deal with, it’s like the Kobayashi Maru, right, from ‘Star Trek,’” he said.
“You know, it’s like the idea that like, you’re presented a scenario, a no-win scenario. And in the no-win scenario, how do you respond?” he added. “And I think that if you can respond, if the character can respond in a way that solidifies his humanity, then he’s stronger.”
A lot of people who see no reason for Superman to kill even when backed into a corner disagree with Snyder’s logic.
He had a similar kooky rationale when it came to Batman whom he said would get raped in prison in the dark, dank world of the Snyderverse. At protests against The Bat killing, Snyder countered, “That’s like protecting your god in a weird way.”
NEXT: Writer Grant Morrison Defends Batman’s No-Kill Rule In Wake of Zack Snyder’s Comments