Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was a pretty lethal film for both supporting and major characters. On top of the many nameless mooks that the Dark Knight slaughtered and Luthor exploded, there was the climactic end of Superman, the defeat of the rampaging Doomsday and the death-by-explosion of Lex Luthor’s assistant/bodyguard Mercy Graves.
Since then, Superman has risen from the dead, the DCEU Doomsday is apparently still out there and now, Zack Snyder’s hinting that the apparently blown-to-bits Graves may have survived. At least the DCEU is continuing the age-old comic book tradition of death being, at worst, a temporary setback.
The news came from Vero, of course, which is now firmly established as the premium Zack Snyder-based social network. A fan mentioned that the cinematic Mercy reminded him of her high profile appearance in 90s cartoon Superman: The Animated Series, before asking if there was any chance that she’s still alive. Zack Snyder, possibly smiling enigmatically and winking repeatedly, replied “you never know.”
Well, fair enough Zack. I suppose we don’t actually get to see Mercy dying on screen. However, she’s sat right next to an incendiary bomb that violently explodes, sends giant plumes of fire out of the front of the building and, when we see inside, has reduced the interior to flaming ash. The only real way she could feasibly survive this is if she’s a secret Kryptonian and if Lex Luthor had managed to genetically engineer a sexy super-powered personal assistant you’d think Batman V Superman would’ve made a bigger deal of it.
Another slight wrinkle is that it doesn’t matter whether Snyder’s being all cryptic or not. It’s not like Warner Bros. are going to welcome him back with open arms, let bygones be bygones and finally let him helm the Mercy Graves solo film that everyone’s crying out for, right?
