Man of Steel is hands down one of the most divisive comic book movies in history. With opinions on the film ranging from a masterpiece, to a work of action movie over indulgence. The hot topics of debate for the movie generally revolve around Pa Kent’s death, Superman being glum and distant, and the gigantic battle in Metropolis which resulted in cataclysmic levels of destruction and death.
Since the Man of Steel’s release other movies have tried to address superhero related destruction, such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, where Marvel made a point to show civilians being evacuated. In a recent interview with EW, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder addressed the issue.
“I was surprised because that’s the thesis of Superman for me, that you can’t just have superheroes knock around and have there be no consequences,”
He went on to elaborate further.
“That’s not us. What is that message? That’s it’s okay that there’s this massive destruction with zero consequence for anyone? That’s what Watchmen was about in a lot of ways too. There was a scene, that scene where Dan and Laurie get mugged. They beat up the criminals. I was like the first guy, I want to show his arm get broken. I want a compound fracture. I don’t want it to be clean. I want you to go, ‘Oh my God, I guess you’re right. If you just beat up a guy in an alley he’s not going to just be lying on the ground. It’s going to be messy.”
Warner Bros have made a public mission statement to deliver a more grounded and realistic take on the fantastic world of DC Comics. Especially in comparison to Marvel Studios, who embrace the comic book conventions of their movies, with a wink to the fans. Snyder may be dealing with aliens and meta-humans, but he is constructing a logical world that has enormous amounts of action, which has repercussions for the larger than life spectacle. This attention to detail and realism is also what got Ben Affleck on board as the new Batman. Here is what he had to say on Snyder’s approach.
“One of the things I liked was Zack’s idea of showing accountability and the consequences of violence and seeing that there are real people in those buildings. And in fact, one of those buildings was Bruce Wayne’s building so he knew people who died in that Black Zero event.”
There are a couple of interesting pieces of information in what Affleck had to say. First we now know that the Superman vs Zod fight is known as the Black Zero event. It is clear that this will be the wake-up call that opens the world’s eyes to all of the inhuman forces that have been hidden. Secondly, one of the buildings that was demolished in the fight did in fact belong to Wayne. This makes his personal attachment even more profound since the deaths were presumably so close to him. What if for example, Lucious Fox was killed in Metropolis? Suddenly, “the fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness,” that Alfred warns Bruce about in the trailer for Dawn of Justice, suddenly takes on a new significance with the new information. Up until this point we could understand why Batman would be skeptical of the alien, Superman. However, now we get our first bit of insight into one of the reasons why he is so damned pissed.
Building a world that has consequences for actions will be the key for WB to construct their own DC cinematic universe. There may not be a braintrust or mastermind guiding all of the narratives for every film, like Marvel has in Kevin Feige. But it is possible that the stories will arise naturally, based on the ramifications of each new DC film that is released. Marvel is also reeling from the decision to continually bring their characters back to life. Whether it is Odin, Agent Coulson, or Nick Fury, even death is pliable in the MCU. Having another comic book universe to watch that is a little more mature, will be a healthy alternative for fans.
The fun of the DC universe continues when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is released on March 25th, 2016.
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Source: CBM