Screenwriter David S. Goyer has been talking about the ending of Man Of Steel (SPOILERS AHEAD) , and specifically, defending his presentation of the character in the wake of criticism that Superman should never kill.
“We were pretty sure that was going to be controversial,” says Goyer of Superman’s final showdown with Zod. “It’s not like we were deluding ourselves, and we weren’t just doing it to be cool.
“We felt, in the case of Zod, we wanted to put the character in an impossible situation and make an impossible choice.
“This is one area, and I’ve written comic books as well and this is where I disagree with some of my fellow comic-book writers – ‘Superman doesn’t kill’. It’s a rule that exists outside of the narrative and I just don’t believe in rules like that.
“I believe when you’re writing film or television, you can’t rely on a crutch or rule that exists outside of the narrative of the film.”
So basically, Goyer didn’t want to give the character an easy way out of a decision that would ultimately compromise his beliefs whichever way he went…
“The reality is no prison on the planet could hold [ Zod ] and in our film Superman can’t fly to the moon, and we didn’t want to come up with that crutch.”
As for whether Superman will continue in that kill-friendly vein, we’ll have to wait until 2015’s Batman vs. Superman to find out…
