Zack Snyder recently stopped by The Joe Rogan Experience where he defended his ultra-aggressive version of Batman that had no qualms killing people. (Snyder also argued that more people saw Rebel Moon than Barbie, so it was a busy day for Zack.) However, comic book legend Grant Morrison caught wind of Snyder’s remarks and has now fired back with a response on why killing goes against the Dark Knight’s character.
“If Batman killed his enemies, he’d be the Joker, and Commissioner Gordon would have to lock him up!” Morrison argued in the latest issue of their newsletter before going even deeper into the psychology of the classic hero.
Via ScreenRant:
“That Batman puts himself in danger every night but steadfastly refuses to murder is an essential element of the character’s magnificent, horrendous, childlike psychosis,” Morrison writes, speaking to the hero’s code of honor that was locked in from the time he was a small child. In a way, Bruce Wayne never really grew out of that “childlike” state, stuck forever as the little boy who lost his parents in Crime Alley. Morrison describes this as “fundamental to (Batman’s) grandeur as a fictional adventure hero! Is this not obvious?”
Morrison has been a prolific writer for DC Comics for decades, so he’s intimately versed in all things Batman. Not only that, but his takes on both the Dark Knight and Superman are currently guiding James Gunn‘s new DC Universe that is paving over the “SnyderVerse” that failed to connect with audiences. Snyder’s live-action universe was a failure, but that hasn’t stopped him from saying he was right to make Batman a killer.
“You’re protecting your god in a weird way, right?” Snyder told Rogan. “You’re making your god irrelevant if he can’t be in that situation. He has to now deal with that. If he does do that what does that mean? What does it tell you, does he stand up to it? Does he survive that as a god? As your god, can Batman survive that?”
Snyder ended his remarks by saying it’s “ridiculous” that Batman wouldn’t kill somebody “given the circumstances in which he operates.”
(Via ScreenRant)