For those of you who watched Batman v Superman, you know that the movie ends on one shocker of an ending. Director Zack Snyder breaks down the process of the ending for the fans.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL:
The final battle of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman versus Doomsday ends with Superman being killed off. The ending of the movie was quite a surprise for moviegoers, but Synder claims the creative reasoning for killing off Superman was not necessarily just for shock value, but to open up the possibility to have Batman search for and eventually lead the Justice League.
“We had a version that we talked about where [Superman] just—this isn’t it, but where he got frozen and shot into space or something, so he’s kinda gone. Because one of the big things I wanted to make sure of was that as we went into Justice League, Bruce Wayne was the one who was gathering the Justice League. I thought it was really important to have Bruce Wayne be the samurai who goes and finds the other samurai, that to me was important. And with Superman around, it’s kinda hard, because Superman’s Superman so it’s kinda hard for Bruce to be like, ‘Yeah I wanna put a Justice League together’. It’s like, ‘Okay, but maybe Superman should be doing that. You’re just a guy. You’re a cool guy, don’t get me wrong, but you’re just a guy.’”
Essentially, Snyder thought it was important for Batman to be the one to found the Justice League and that Superman’s presence makes it difficult to give him a reason to want to actively reach out to the other heroes. In addition to Snyder’s reasoning, Superman actor Henry Cavill believes Superman’s death is a good end-cap on his character arc.
“I thought for the evolution of Superman’s character, there’s a crucible that he has to go through to really embrace his humanity or find what is the ultimate thing about being human? The ultimate thing you face is your mortality, and that’s a thing that I think is really cool about this.”
According to Cavill, Superman goes through the most human of all experiences: dying. In the film, Superman struggles with whether his super-powered, alien nature allows him to fit in with the rest of human world or not. In the end, his death proves that he can be a vulnerable as the rest of us and that the world does openly accept him, as proven by his national funeral scene and candlelight vigil.
Of course, it is crazy to think the DC Extended Universe can continue without its biggest hero. Don’t worry, Snyder understands your concern.
“There’s a way to signal towards a more definitive resurrection concept, but I didn’t wanna do that because I want that to be real for them when they see it, I want the experience to be real and then the sort of need to be real later on. Suffice it to say there is a plan, but that’s gonna be—you need to wait and see.”
Eagle-eye viewers already spied the levitating dirt on Superman’s casket at the very end, but really that is just the beginning of something bigger in Justice League.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is now playing in theaters.
Justice League-Part One hits theaters November 17, 2017.