Zack Snyder's "Batman Kills" Controversy

Overview

Zack Snyder's "Batman Kills" Controversy refers to a series of comments made by film director Zack Snyder about the fictional comic book character Batman. Snyder, who directed two film adaptations of Batman, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, said during a question and answer event that Batman commits murder, which many fans believe is in direct conflict with previous interpretations of the character, who traditionally does not kill.

Background

On March 23rd, 2019, at a question and answer segment following a screening of his film Watchman, Snyder defended his interpretation of Batman.^[1] He said:

Someone says to me, ‘Batman killed a guy.’ I’m like, ‘Fuck, really? Wake the fuck up,’ I guess that’s what I’m saying once you’ve lost your virginity to this fucking movie Watchmen 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 fucking road on that. It’s a cool point of view to be like ‘My heroes are still innocent. My heroes didn’t fucking lie to America. My heroes didn’t embezzle money from their corporations. My heroes didn’t commit any atrocities.’ That’s cool. But you’re living in a fucking dream world.

The following day, Redditor ^[2] gator_123 posted a video of Snyder making the comments on the /r/DCCinematic subreddit (shown below).

Other: Snyder on having Batman kill in BVS from r/DC_Cinematic

Developments

Online Reaction

Shortly after, the video was posted to Twitter by @boomborks. The post received more than 1,000 retweets and 3,200 likes in three days (shown below).

LOOOOL ZACK SHUTTING THAT SHIT DOWN pic.twitter.com/Th4th0wGen

— 214 (@boomborks) March 24, 2019

Many online reacted negatively. Twitter^[3] user @NandovMovies tweeted, "I CANNOT BELIEVE that Zack Snyder says if fans think Batman and Superman have moral lines they don't cross, those fans are 'living in a dreamworld'. That's EXACTLY what the bad guy tells Superman at the end of a comic about why Superman doesn't kill and Superman responds 'Good.' Within three days, the post received more than 250 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, left).

The following day, comics writer Gail Simone tweeted,^[4] It changes Batman if he is actually going out at night with the potential to kill people. One thing is crime prevention, saving innocents, the next is executions without trial. I don’t care if it seems naive to some, that is a fundamental difference in what we root for." The tweet received more than 940 retweets and 5,200 likes in two days (shown below, center).

Comics artist @pixelatedboat mocked the comments. They tweeted,^[5] "Zack Snyder: Wake the fuck up. Batman is staking out criminals for hours, dressed in a high-tech suit of armor. Don’t fucking lie to yourselves. He pissed in that suit. He pissed in it all the time. Every single time he fought the Joker he was ankle-deep in his own piss." Within two days, the post received more than 1,000 retweets and 8,000 likes (shown below, right).

Throughout the week, people continued to mock the debate. Twitter^[6] user @ira compared the comments to the J.K. Rowling Parody Tweet, which retcon details about Harry Potter. They wrote, "If you think Batman didn’t fuck Dumbledore then wake the fuck up." The post received more than 1,700 retweets and 15,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the debate, including The Verge,^[7] Vox,^[8] ScreenRant,^[9] The Mary Sue,^[10] Collider,^[11] iO9,^[12] SyFy^[13] and more.

Search Interest

External References