When Zack Snyder announced Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, DC fans were overjoyed. It was beginning to feel like the characters would never share the screen, and that subtitle - while not exactly subtle - also teased the Justice League's eventual formation.
Throw in the fact Snyder revealed the movie while quoting Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, and things initially looked good for the Man of Steel sequel.
Talking to Josh Horowitz, the filmmaker explained why he decided to bring Superman and Batman together on screen rather than moving forward with the expected Man of Steel follow-up.
"Once you talk about the fact that Bruce Wayne exists in the same world as Superman, right? Then you are into a Batman concept. You have to finish that thought," Snyder explained. "Now, Man of Steel 2, if you were to make it, you know with Brainiac or whatever you're gonna do, which it certainly could have been...and maybe that's it, you hold it off for a movie, and that's possible."
"I just felt like I needed to know what Bruce's take on this was, like, Bruce's take on the near-destruction of the world. And it really depends on how important you think Batman is in the Trinity."
As incredible as it was to see these two icons share the screen - and go to war with each other - many fans became bogged down with one scene, in particular: we are, of course, referring to the infamous "Martha!" sequence.
In that, the Dark Knight is about to deliver a killing blow to the Man of Tomorrow when the latter calls out for his mother, Martha...the same name as Bruce Wayne's dead mom. Batman then relents and befriends the Kryptonian.
Here's how Snyder rationalises what he believed would be an "amazing" moment in the 2016 blockbuster.
"When [screenwriter] Chris Terrio and I were talking about it, he said, 'You know that their mothers have the same name,' and I was like, 'Oh that's crazy, I never thought about that.' And he goes, 'Yeah, like imagine that Batman sees Superman as an alien, as a monster, but realizes that his dead mother has the same name as this thing that he considers nonhuman. Like, that's gonna get him.' And I'm like, 'That is gonna get him, that's amazing.'"
"What else could he say to Batman, holding the Kryptonite spear about to plunge it into his heart — like, what is he gonna say to convince him that his love of humanity is as high as Batman's? I mean, really, [Batman] could kill him in a second, like literally in a second, so that was why I was like, 'Ok well, he's gotta play every possible trick.'"
What do you think about Snyder's explanation? Let us know in the comments section and watch the full interview below.