The thing about legendary filmmaker Zack Snyder is that you either love him or you do not. There seems to be no in-between. Fans of the superhero genre are divided into two factions and while one-half absolutely loves Zack Snyder’s dark and different approach to comic book characters, the other half would prefer him staying true to the comic books they grew up reading.
During Zack Snyder’s recent podcast appearance, the filmmaker had something to say to the latter group. He opened up about why he chose to take a rather deconstructive approach when dealing with characters that have a cult following and comic book writer Frank Miller just might have something to do with it all.
Zack Snyder Opens Up About His Approach to Superheroes
Zack Snyder recently joined Joe Rogan for The Joe Rogan Experience where the two got involved in various discussions. During one point in the podcast episode, Rogan brings up the topic of hardcore superhero fans having strong reactions to how things unfold on the big screen sometimes. To this, Snyder replies,
“Trust me, I know…and by the way, that’s a lifestyle choice for a lot of people. It’s not a movie, it’s like…if I made a romantic comedy you’d be like, ‘Okay, that was fun.’ The people who love, and by the way I love that they feel this passionately….so for those guys it’s not just a movie and so, you have to, on some level, you have to acknowledge that this is their religion and they feel strongly about it.”
The two then moved on to talking about Snyder’s approach to his superheroes, an approach that he calls deconstructive. The filmmaker gave an example stating that if the comic books had made it canon that Batman could never kill a soul, what would happen if he could direct the superhero in the opposite way? Snyder also revealed that his approach was inspired by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight comics as well as Alan Moore’s Watchmen series.
“I tend to get in trouble because I do take a deconstructivist point of view because of ‘The Dark Knight Returns,’ because of ‘Watchmen.’ If you’ve read those 2 comics it’s hard to go back…and It’s because I care that I want to take him apart, like, I want Batman, like, people are always like, ‘Well, Batman can’t kill.’ Batman can’t kill is canon and I’m like, ‘Okay, the first thing I want to do when you say that is I want to see what happens and they go like, ‘Well, don’t put him in a situation where he has to kill someone.’ I’m like, ‘That’s just you protecting your God in a weird way.”
Snyder had his own way of dealing with bringing superhero stories to life with his projects but it didn’t always sit right with hardcore fans of the genre. However, there are many who absolutely adore his filmmaking and consider his DC films to be some of the best works in the genre.
Why Zack Snyder Probably Won’t Work in James Gunn’s DCU
The answer is simple: the two filmmakers will have clashing opinions about what to do with their characters. Take the upcoming film Superman: Legacy, now renamed as Superman, for example. James Gunn has previously confirmed that David Corenswet’s Superman is going to be the opposite of Henry Cavill’s.
During a press conference (via CBR), Gunn stated,
“I really love the idea of Superman. He’s a big ol’ galoot. He’s a farmboy from Kansas who’s very idealistic. His greatest weakness is that he’ll never kill anybody. He doesn’t want to hurt a living soul. I like that sort of innate goodness about Superman; it’s his defining characteristic.”
Clearly, Gunn wants to take a more comic-accurate approach to his DCU characters, something which Snyder’s deconstructive approach wouldn’t agree with. Will we ever see Snyder return to the DCU?
Superman will fly into theatres on July 11, 2025.
