Zack Snyder Talks Realistic Superman in MAN OF STEEL and Marvel/DC Competition
Director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) sat down with Forbes to talk about the reaction to Superman in Man of Steel, his realistic version of the character and competitiveness with Marvel, among other things. Hit the jump to read what he had to say.
In a new interview with Forbes, Batman vs. Superman director Zack Snyder spoke on length about a variety of topics, including his controversial film Sucker Punch and his 'feud' with Terry Gilliam (which he found "ludicrous"). One of the more interesting things Snyder talked about was the reaction to his vision of Superman in last year's Man of Steel. "The thing I was surprised about in response to Superman was how everyone clings to the Christopher Reeve version of Superman, you know? How tightly they cling to those ideas, not really the comic book version, but more the movie version… if you really analyze the comic book version of Superman, he’s killed, he’s done all the things - I guess the rules that people associate with Superman in the movie world are not the rules that really apply to him in the comic book world, because those rules are different. It’s just funny to see people really taking it personally… because I made him real, you know, I made him feel, or made consequences [in] the world. I really wanted to show the violence is real, people get killed or get hurt, and it’s not fun or funny. And I guess for me, it was like I wanted a hero in Superman that was a real hero and sort of reflected the world we live in now…"
Forbes brought up an interesting point on a possible perception of competitiveness between Marvel and DC, where Snyder admitted he's "as interested in going to the Marvel Universe as anybody". "Look, I’m a fan of the Marvel movies… and the thing that’s awesome is, we make a different movie. We have a different product than them, although they both exist in sort of the superhero world, which is great. I think that those are the opportunities. That’s what you get at the movies, you get a chance to go to all these different worlds. From my point of view, we definitely don’t have any animosity or anything of that nature. We’re all in this big business together, and we hope people are interested in the adventures that we put up on screen. And I do believe it’s infectious, and the next weekend you’re like, 'You know what? Let’s go do that again, that was awesome. We saw a cool movie, maybe we’ll get another cool movie.'"
The untitled Man of Steel sequel, directed by Snyder and starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot and Jesse Eisenberg is released on May 6, 2016.