Though Man of Steel released this past Summer to mixed reviews, the one thing that had people split down the middle the most was the decision to have Supes kill General Zod. It was a shocking moment and one that had many people enraged, but at the BATFA and BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture last night, writer David S. Goyer explained why he chose to make that decision:
“This is one area, and I’ve written comic books as well and this is where I disagree with some of my fellow comic book writers—’Superman doesn’t kill’. It’s a rule that exists outside of the narrative and I just don’t believe in rules like that. I believe when you’re writing film or television, you can’t rely on a crutch or rule that exists outside of the narrative of the film,” he explained. “So the situation was, Zod says ‘I’m not going to stop until you kill me or I kill you.’ The reality is no prison on the planet could hold him and in our film Superman can’t fly to the moon, and we didn’t want to come up with that crutch.”
While I didn’t love Man of Steel, I wasn’t really too offended or upset about the fact that Superman had blood on his hands by the end of the film. I’m not a die hard fan of the character so to me, it didn’t make much of a difference. That being said, I can see why people were upset by it. It’s completely fair.
What Goyer says does make sense though and I can see why he chose to pen the story in that way. What will be interesting to see now is what direction he takes the character in for Batman vs. Superman. Will he kill again? What do you think?
