Zack Snyder Explains Why Henry Cavill’s Superman Had to Break His “Never Kill” Moto to Snap General Zod’s Neck
Zack Snyder’s debut film in the DCEU, or the beginning of what is now known as SnyderVerse, with Man of Steel was quite record-breaking. However, there was one pivotal moment in the Henry Cavill-led film, that left fans confused. When Superman broke his no-kill policy and took someone’s life.
He had killed DC supervillain Zod. Which, thanks to James Gunn’s The Flash we now know was imperative to keep Superman alive. But from Snyder’s point of view, Superman’s killing of Zod takes a different form. And it is certainly intriguing to see it from his eyes.
Zack Snyder Explains Superman’s Killing of Zod
Superman’s action of taking his fellow Kryptonian’s life was a highly debated and slightly controversial topic after Man of Steel‘s release. In every adaptation of the DC comic books, Superman has never killed anyone. It is an important trait of the character.
Snyder was the first to do so and that too in his first film on the Last Son of Krypton. It was a bold move and apart from causing some shock, didn’t affect the movie’s performance all that much. Snyder’s vision and going a little too off-track from the comics had fans abuzz. Their questions remained unanswered for long.
It was only during the live stream on the fourth anniversary of the film, did the director reveal what his perspective was, making Superman do this.
“Even if we understand from this outer perspective that Superman is saving the world from being essentially terraformed into another planet, the greater good is being served. It’s like an Ozymandias-type situation 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.”
Snyder’s deviation from the key Superman traits seems to be his attempt to make the movie have a bit more weight to it.
Zack Snyder’s Leave from Traditional Superhero Filmmaking
Zack Snyder‘s choice of altering this key trait of Superhuman was an attempt to make the story ironically, more rooted in reality. This also takes a leave from traditional adaptations of superhero comics, where the heroes are made to be sort of omnipotent and prevent everything bad.
The movie in itself portrays Clark Kent becoming Superhuman. Driving him to a stage of conflict and giving morally gray tones, has added more nuance to the character.
In his explanation, Snyder adds to the superhero’s actions having repercussions. He said that he does not like when there are “no consequences” for a superhero’s actions.
“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.”
There certainly were consequences of Snyder’s action, an upheaval in the DC fandom.
Man Of Steel is available to stream on Max.
Source: Comicbook
