Zack Synder Talks How Dark Knight Returns Influenced Batman V Superman

During a new interview, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder said that the rather overt homaging to The Dark Knight Returns in his upcoming film is to “say thank you Frank [Miller]” for causing him to “reconnect” with comic books.

“The thing about The Dark Knight Returns that really inspired me about this movie is that when I read that comic book series in ’86, I was floored by it because I felt like it promised me something,” Snyder said in the interview, which is embedded below. “It challenged my fundamental notions of Batman in an amazing way. I was like ‘holy s–t, this is something else.’ It really sort of inspired me to reconnect with Batman as a character and comic books in general.”

You can check out the full interview below.

Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.