Zack Snyder Cut A Scene From 'Batman v Superman' Because it Was Too Dark
But was it really that dark compared to the rest of the movie?
We know that it was the intention of director Zack Snyder to make Batman v Superman dark in all respects, but some say Snyder took this approach too far. The feature ended up an overwhelmingly grim representation of the DC Universe with scant moments of lightness, an imbalance that accounted for a lot of the poor reviews the movie generated.
Not only were the themes of the film dark, but the movie’s visual aesthetic was also dour with few moments of color or brightness. While Snyder definitely achieved his goal of casting a long and shadow with this movie—for better or for worse—there was one scene that Snyder admits was too dark for him, which led him to cut it from the final version.
The scene that got cut would have followed Lex Luther kidnapping Superman’s mom and holding her captive. While the kidnapping was still included, Superman’s reaction was eventually cut. Speaking to IGN, Snyder said, “We had a scene that we cut from the movie where he tries to look for her when he finds out that Lex has got her. It was a slightly dark scene that we cut out because it sort of represented this dark side. Because when he was looking for his mom he heard all the cries of all the potential crimes going on in the city…” Apparently, Superman ignoring all the crime going on in the city to save his mother compromised his uprightness too much.
Henry Cavill as Superman in 'Batman v Superman'
Although Snyder didn’t want to include this scene in the final version, he still supported Superman’s choice to draw the line somewhere when it comes to who he can and can’t help. In the same interview, Snyder mentioned, “You have to know when, as Superman, when to intervene and when not to…he has to be really selective in a weird way about where he chooses to interfere.”
Snyder may be right that this prioritization of Superman’s duties risked exposing Superman as too fallible. But considering the other unbridled displays of darkness that definitely outweighed the potential of this one, Snyder’s choice doesn’t make much sense. He had no qualms making everything else dark, but this scene—which could have actually benefited the plausibility of Superman’s character—was too much? Not so sure about that.
