Batman v Superman fans are arguing if Zack Snyder actually understands Superman. A Twitter user named Meg said that the creator "understood Superman 100%" and from there the replies rained down. It makes sense to question some elements of this declaration. Many DC fans didn't like what the director did with Superman in Man of Steel. Batman v. Superman drew a lot of ire in certain circles as well for the moments between the two characters. However, today was also the day of a livestreamed director's commentary for BvS and Snyder explained the human connection that powers his film.
Snyder explained, "It's really this whole concept of branding criminals. The idea was that [Batman] had lost his own moral compass and he had become what he beheld. The whole idea of this movie is to create this arc where [Batman] confronts Superman's humanity, that he finds himself again. That's what the thesis of this thing is, that we're all humans and that we all connect on a level. Our mothers have the same name. That is really sort of this fundamental, 'we both have a mother, so we are both human.' Even though Superman is from another planet, his connection to humanity is so clean that Batman is able to re-energize himself."
When writer Chris Terrio suggested the "Martha" line as a bridge, the director really pondered how human Superman really seemed in contrast to Batman.
"That's a tough one. And we sort of were just throwing down on their humanity and Batman realizes Superman has humanity, he's not just a creature, he's a man — he's an alien, but he is as human as, in a lot of ways, he's more human than him, right?" the filmmaker previously argued. "He's sort of embraced all the good parts of the human race, and so Batman's able to sort of see, in a lot of ways, a thing that he is not. And I think that that was how we started to talk about it."
For the people still mad about Man of Steel, Sndyer just believes that there should be consequences for evildoers in these stories.
"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," he says. "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."
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