David S. Goyer knows you’re still mad about all that death and destruction that capped off Anthony Mackie’s least-favorite film, Man of Steel, but he has a good excuse for writing it! Speaking with “The Nerdist Podcast,” the screenwriter further explained his previous defense of making Superman a killer who snapped General Zod’s neck in that never-ending fight scene director Zack Snyder also doesn’t regret. The way Goyer sees it, Superman was just a newbie superhero faced with a tough moral decision, but ultimately, it was the right call:
“You have to do what’s right for the story. In that instance, this was a Superman who had only been Superman for like a week. He wasn’t Superman as we think of him in the DC Comics … or even in a world that conceived of Superman existing. He’d only flown for the first time a few days before that. He’d never fought anyone that had superpowers before. And so he’s going up against a guy who’s not only superpowered, but has been training since birth to use those superpowers, who exists as a superhuman killing machine, who has stated, ‘I will never stop until I destroy all of humanity.’
“If you take Superman out of it, what’s the right way to tell that story? I think the right way to tell that story is if you take this powered alien who says, ‘You can have your race back, but you have to kill your adopted race,’ the moral, horrible situation to be in is to actually be forced to kill — not wanting to — the only other person from your race. Take Superman aside, I think that’s the right way to tell that story.”
Also, if Superman didn’t kill Zod (and half of Metropolis in the process), Snyder wouldn’t have half as good a reason to tie in Batman for the sequel. It was all part of the plan, folks!
