- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
Considering Snyder was effectively turning Batman into his edgy Sonic OC who's too tragic and cool to have a Robin, drops F-Bombs, is wholly justified and unpunished as he kills criminals and/or brands criminal flesh, is the founder of the Justice League, whose pathos informs the emotional stakes of both BvS and JL, is the person you're meant to be rooting for as he beats Superman to a pulp, fucks Lois Lane, impregnates her, and then shoulders the burden of being the ONE TRUE HERO of the DC Universe...
...yeah, "fanfiction" is exactly how I'd classify Snyder's antics.
Because it's all apart of Snyder's feverish fanboy desire to prop up Batman at every other character's expense, Superman especially. Just listen to the way he frames the notion of him cuckolding Superman:
You'll notice, he doesn't say anything about Lois being in love with Batman, the same way that whenever he discusses this idea in other interviews, he barely mentions Superman's reaction or emotional state in all of this--it's all about it affects Batman's world. His arc. Because to Snyder--like every fanfic writer running amok--everything else is irrelevant. The agency of other characters, their autonomy, all of it evaporates in the wake of all creative priority being directed to how everything and anything affects Batman. Other characters and relationships are literally sacrificed to bolster Batman's supposed "arc".
It's one of the reasons he was so keen to make Superman a brainwashed puppet for Darkseid, with no emotions of his own or any dialogue---he was supposed to be some mute, scary threat for Batman to fight, with no autonomy as a character.
For clarification, I should also mention that Warner Bros reportedly reacted the way you would expect them to, and ordered him to change the cuckoldry story element back in 2014, well before BvS was released in either of its current versions. Important to note, however, that all Snyder's finalized plans changed was the father's identity as Bruce Wayne. His ultimate plan was still to make his universe a glorified Batgod Fanfic completely done at Superman's expense, with the messianic circlejerk around Batman fully intact as a martyr and leader of the League...but the notable difference that Superman would name his son Bruce and raise him as the future Batman in reverence of Batfleck. Snyder elaborated as such in a 2021 interview, right around the HBO Max release of the Snyder Cut:
Because yet again, it all comes back to Batman. He is the most important character after all--fuck whatever this kid wants to do with his life, his Uncle Bruce would proud if he just became the next Batman, y'know?
I think it speaks more to how, like many outsiders to comics, Snyder is someone who either resents the idea of or is incapable of making substantial story elements out of the classic Superman mythos. You'll notice in his films that aspects like Lois Lane, the Daily Planet, Perry White and Clark Kent's role as a reporter are often reduced to plot points--pit stops on the way to the main event, which is his CG slow-mo fests of action figures crashing together.
It's why his Superman and Metropolis feel so divorced and alien from all other depictions; he finds the Daily Planet boring; its characters secondary and not worthy of screentime. Characters like Superman's Pal Jimmy cheesy and outdated. It's why they take up a speck of the runtime--and why they feel facile and static compared to how they're depicted in Richard Donner's films.
And that's to say nothing of how he portrays the romantic elements with Lois Lane--which really speak to Snyder's general edgelord dudebro persona that he lacks the capacity to show real romantic intimacy and chemistry between his actors on-screen, or give Lois a role in his films outside being Superman's fuck-pillow that may or may not be the reason he turns evil, or the key to Batman's redemption as a character.
Again, Lois isn't a character in these films. She's a plot device...a vessel for the themes and arcs of other characters.
I think this mentality is what doomed the DCEU from the start.
People tend to forget that Batman is the exception to DC, not the norm. DC is even more colorful and whimsical than Marvel is, which is reflected in the outlandish worlds and storylines occupied by the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, etc. Applying the grimdark filter on those characters, instead of embracing their fantastical elements like the comics and cartoons have done, is literally trying to strong-arm them into roles outside of their intended purpose. Trying to force every DC Hero into the uber self-serious mold just because Christopher Nolan's Batman films were a success is not the way to counter the MCU...and WB is fucking retarded if they ever thought that was the template to follow.
More to the point, it's not like making the DC universe into some gritty alternate universe would've helped it counter the MCU anyway...because stuff like Daredevil and Jessica Jones already proved that MCU didn't have to be all Whedonisms and quippy nonsense.
If anything, the DCEU should've strove for tonal variety in its projects, rather than painting its entire slate of heroes with the same grimdark brush.
Not a literal Kryptonian with powers, but a human son that embodied the human qualities of his real father, and the Kryptonian heritage of the (cuck) father who ends up raising him. It was a callback to what Jor-El envisioned for Superman in Man of Steel, as the "bridge between worlds"...a new Batman as if raised by Kryptonians, you might say.
Only in this case, a Kryptonian and the human woman who cucked him.
