Stephen Colbert Goes off on Zack Snyder for Saying Batman and Superman Kill

The Late Show host and noted comic book fan Stephen Colbert feigned outrage in response to recent [...]

The Late Show host and noted comic book fan Stephen Colbert feigned outrage in response to recent comments made by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder, who said viewers preferring their superheroes be kept "innocent" are "living in a f—ing dream world" when he appeared at a three-night event that featured a showing of Snyder's director's cut.

"Zack, these are beloved children's characters," Colbert said in the "Meanwhile" segment of Wednesday's Late Show. "'Aquaman sells opiates, and the Flash is a human trafficker! Walk it off! The whole Justice League is addicted to snuff porn, grow up!'"

Snyder's stirring comments came in response to a fan-asked question concerning the brutal tactics of Snyder's burned-out Batman (Ben Affleck), who was seen unrepentantly killing criminals as part of his gloves-off method of crime fighting.

"Someone says to me: Batman killed a guy. I'm like, 'F—k, really? Wake the f— up,'" Snyder said. "I guess that's what I'm saying. Once you lost your virginity to this f—ing movie and then you come and say to me something about like, 'my superhero wouldn't do that.' I'm like 'Are you serious?' I'm like down the f—ing road on that. It's a cool point of view to be like 'my heroes are innocent' ... That's cool. But you're living in a f—ing dream world."

Snyder was also criticized for his darker touch when handling Superman (Henry Cavill) in Man of Steel, which ended with the Krypton-born superhero snapping the neck of Zod (Michael Shannon) to halt his destructive assault on Metropolis. That was reportedly one of the story points then-DC chief creative officer Geoff Johns had with the DC Extended Universe-launching film, which Johns believed was too dark for the big blue boyscout.

"Geoff Johns and [former DC Entertainment president] Diane [Nelson] were reading scripts, and Geoff Johns, to his credit, was concerned that there was not enough lightness or humor, given who the character is," a source told Vulture in 2017. "Geoff definitely raised that point, but that current administration didn't care that much about what Geoff Johns thought."

The filmmaker, whose Justice League was completed by The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon, has since exited Warner Bros.' DCEU in a directorial capacity. He was most recently credited as executive producer on Aquaman, a credit he'll receive again on Wonder Woman 1984 and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.

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