Superhero flicks aren’t popular for realism, they’re hailed for their formidable heroes valiantly knocking down menacing villains and persisting despite gashes and injuries. The reality, however, doesn’t grant this luxury of exaggeration because if Batman were to fight criminals in real life, the Caped Crusader would have a body count surpassing the Clown Prince of Crime.
You’d be surprised at the ramifications superhero fight scenes would bore if they ever took place off-screen, something that a licensed emergency medicine doctor described in vividly disturbing detail using Zack Snyder’s 2016 film starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill.
Batman Fight Scenes From the Eyes of An ER Doctor
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may have left fans polarized, but the warehouse fight scene – wherein Ben Affleck‘s Dark Knight infiltrates the assassin-infested headquarters of KGBeast – is arguably one of the most iconic action scenes in DC history. Be that as it may, however, Zack Snyder’s vision – stunningly noirish as it was – when seen through the lens of an ER doctor, is nothing but bloodshed.
Emergency medicine specialist Dr. Ed Hope meticulously broke down the real-life diagnoses of all the adversaries that Affleck’s Batman knocked down oh so heroically, and it looks like Snyder may have overdone the violence, if all the blood and broken bones are anything to go by (via Men’s Health).
We have what the doc labels as “tertiary blast injuries” right off the bat as the warehouse fight scene opens with an explosion, followed by multiple face injuries caused by other mini-explosions that are also likely to result in a “globe rupture to the eye.” One of the most brutal aspects of the scene is when Batman outright stabs one of the henchmen.
We’d have to rule out a pneumothorax, haemothorax, these injuries have a mortality rate of 50 percent […] In summary, best guess would be, 2 stable, 4 in serious condition, 6 in critical condition, and 4 dead at the scene.
As the action sequence unfolds, Hope points out the slew of ruptures, dislocated joints, and “penetrating injuries” that the opponents suffer from. And let’s not forget all the head injuries, multiple fractures, and blunt force trauma, all of which pose “life-threatening” risks. Yikes.
Ben Affleck Sympathized With Fans Who Abhorred His Film
On one side, Zack Snyder‘s troop of loyal fans was awestruck by the gritty rendition of Batman in Dawn of Justice as two of the most indefatigable superheroes went head to head. And then there’s the remaining portion of the fandom that simply couldn’t digest the violence and cruelty showcased in the movie, and that too, at the hands of the crime-fighting vigilante himself. But Affleck gets it.
In an interview with Empire magazine, the Gone Girl star stated that he could understand why many viewers found Batman v Superman “too dark,” claiming it to be “fair criticism” on their part (via Esquire).
I can understand people saying [Batman v Superman] was too dark, or this was outside the tone of what I’m used to seeing with a Batman story, and I think that’s a fair criticism.
You know it’s the real deal when the lead actor himself sees eye-to-eye with the castigators.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice can be streamed on Max or rented on Apple TV+.
