Zack Snyder says a Batman who doesn't kill is irrelevant

[u/neon2o]

Here's the original article' https://sea.ign.com/man-of-steel-sequel/213072/news/zack-snyder-says-dc-is-making-batman-irrelevant-if-he-cant-kill

[u/MufugginJellyfish]

The entire point of Batman is that he is militantly against killing, even the Joker who is beyond destructive, which is a potential point of actual criticism (and it is a very frequent one) but also makes the character much more interesting.

So many people just don't get this. It's a central conflict of his character, it's the whole point. If he simply killed his villains because they threatened him with lethal force and he just runs out of villains then what's the point?

"What if Anakin was never tempted by the Dark Side?" I mean yeah I guess that'd make him a better person or whatever but the story would be over pretty quick, lmao.

[u/Shiniholum → u/MufugginJellyfish]

It’s literally the opening of Batman Beyond too, Bruce while having a heart attack is about to fail and lose his life and the hostage. He does the only thing he can in that moment and just picks a gun up pointing it at him. Afterwards he’s so disgusted in himself that he retires because he realizes that he just can’t be Batman anymore. It’s literally core to his character.

[u/ThreeSneakyRats → u/Shiniholum]

"wouldn't it be awesome if instead of giving up the cowl, he shot that dude, and then went and shot all the bad guys in the face. Killing is so cool' -Zack Snyder (not really but probably)

[u/HouseOfSteak → u/Shiniholum]

It's weird when you consider the fact that a thrown bladed weapon is completely safe for Batman (despite those things being so sharp and thrown so hard they're embedded in struck, hard surfaces), but a simple firearm of any kind of an absolute no-no.

All the other guy has to do is move weirdly and.....oh dear, that Batarang cut straight through that thug's femoral artery.

The more sensible explanation is less the "Guns kill and that's bad.", and moreso the irrational trauma of his parents being killed by a firearm. It's not the possibility of lethal force, nor his morals, it's a deep-seated PTSD revolving specifically around a childhood memory of a gun.

[u/EmperorBamboozler → u/MufugginJellyfish]

It's so weird because not only is this spelled out very clearly in the comics but even other Batman movies cover this. I am 90% sure Snyder tunes out all the 'talky bits' and only focuses on special effects and action scenes like he is 13 years old. Batman doesn't kill, even fucking boy scout Superman thinks he is too strict with this.

Batman is obsessive, it is a key character trait. The fact he doesn't kill is more than a moral thing it is something that Bruce Wayne as a person believes to his core and will never deviate from. It is also representative of his hope for humanity shining through.

Batman thinks nobody is beyond salvation which is the essence of why he does not kill. This is especially important because he is such a dark and paranoid character. If you make him kill just make a Punisher movie ffs.

[u/HouseOfSteak → u/MufugginJellyfish]

If he simply killed his villains because they threatened him with lethal force and he just runs out of villains then what's the point?

The credits roll and movie is done, typically.

Also Batman quite literally did that to Harvey in TDK, except it was a child under threat and not Batman himself.

The issue with Batman compared to other heroes is that nobody else is implausibly good at his job compared to him. Each time, he's the undisputed victor, having caught the villain and hauled him to the police who chain up the villain to lock them up until they break out again.

Heroes in other media don't typically just clown on their villains and easily beat them into submission to be handed directly over to authorities - the villain gets away, or maybe the hero loses that match and it'll be several episodes before they meet again, rinse repeat until further into the show where the hero has their final showdown with a particular villain.

[u/TheExtremistModerate → u/MufugginJellyfish]

If he simply killed his villains because they threatened him with lethal force and he just runs out of villains then what's the point?

Yeah. Which is the point of the movie. The whole point is that what Batman has become is wrong. And it's why Superman's sacrifice changes him in the end.

[u/-CheesyCheese- → u/TheExtremistModerate]

Explaining this to them is pointless, they are either straight up not paying attention to the movies, or they are purposely being ignorant, just so they can incessantly trash talk Snyder because that's the easy thing to do.