‘Superman’ Director James Gunn “Not A Purist” When It Comes To Man Of Steel’s ‘No Kill’ Rule: “If He Had To Kill To Protect Somebody’s Life, He Would Probably Do That”
Despite the hero being regularly heralded as the shining example of the particularly Western comic book trope, Superman director James Gunn believes that rather than adhering to a strict ‘No kill’ philosophy, the Man of Steel would instead view the taking of an enemy’s life as an absolute resort only to be used in service of saving the day.
The DC Studios co-head offered his take on the Last Son of Krypton’s morality during a recent Superman-centric appearance, as made alongside the film’s lead trio of David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, on Wired’s ‘The Top 50 Most Googled Questions’ video series.
Making their way through the list, the crew were eventually met with the age-old question of “Why doesn’t Superman kill?”, to which both Corenswet and Gunn offered slightly differing viewpoints.
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“I think the main reason is that he sees the good in just about everybody, maybe to a fault,” said Corenswet in true Big Blue fashion, “and so he even sees the good in those trying to do him harm.”
Meanwhile, though Gunn agreed, “Yeah, I believe [Superman] believes in a basic right to life. I mean, I think that [killing] is just not in him,” he did not think the hero would consider such an act to be completely out of the question when it came to saving the day.
“I’m not a purist in that respect,” said the director. “I think that if, for instance, he had to kill to protect somebody’s life, he would probably do that, even though that would be hard for him.”
Though Superman’s reputation as a paragon of justice – if not the paragon of justice – would lead many to bristle at the thought of him being willing to take a life even as a last resort, such a characterization is actually supported by DC’s own comic book canon.
While many could write off the hero’s Golden and Silver Age fatalities as akshually belonging to the alternate Earth-1 Superman, the current post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of the hero (who despite the New 52 reboot is still the same character introduced in John Byrne’s Man of Steel Vol. 1 – it’s a long story) has a reluctant body count all his own.
Those permanently felled by Superman’s hand include his Cyborg counterpart Hank Henshaw, who the hero shattered into pieces (albeit unsuccessfully, as he would be revived multiple times in subsequent years) in order to prevent the villain from abusing his undeserved Kryptonian powerset:
The vampire lord Crucifer, whose undead abilities allowed him to take control of Superman’s mind, thus threatening the whole of existence with a short-lived future as food stock:
And perhaps most famously the killer Kryptonians Quez-Ul, Zalora, and their leader General Zod, who the hero took out with a blast of Green-and-Gold Kryptonite after realizing that no prison could ever stop their murderous intentions:
All in all, while Superman is not as ready to resort to killing as say, Marvel Comics’ Sentry or Image Comics’ Invincible, he’s not quite the ‘never kill’ acolyte that his boy scout image would suggest.
As for Corenswet’s take on the hero, at least as of Superman‘s ending, he has yet to have any confirmed kills, warranted or otherwise, under his belt.
