Superman and Batman are cultural symbols; however, despite their importance they had never been seen together in a major Hollywood production.
This changed in 2016, where Warner released Batman V Superman as part of the DCEU (DC extended universe). The hype for this movie was high, but once it came out many felt heavily disappointed. It was a dark and boring movie, well-filmed but insufficiently written, with some hilariously bad moments here and there.
Last article we discussed whether Man of Steel, its predecessor, could be a movie about Antichrist vs the God of the Bible. However, today we will only focus on analysing some of the themes of this movie, specially those that are a continuation for the themes of Man of Steel:
Batman v Superman continues expanding on two of the messages of the last movie: Superman being a humanist "Jesus", and hope in humanity. Zack Snyder also wrote an allegory for God, man and the devil in this movie, which we will certainly analize here. However, before we get there, let me describe the movie:
Batman vs Superman
After the events on Man of Steel public opinion on Superman is heavily divided. For example, we see some Mexicans treating Superman like if he were John Paul II while he looks uncomfortable.
On the other hand, people still remember how Superman destroyed Metropolis and see him as a treat. This will retcon Supie's arc in Man of Steel where he learns to have "faith in humanity".
Snyder's Batman considers Supie to be a treat, especially since the dark knight was present in Metropolis during its destruction by Kal-El.
The villain for this movie is a mentally-unwell version of Lex Luthor. He is an idiot atheist who is somehow convinced that Superman is some sort of symbol for god, whom he despises. This premise will allow Zack Snyder to tell us something.
He wants Superman to fight Batman, whom he sees as a representation of the best of mankind - presumably, not because he is virtuous but because he is powerful - . In short, Luthor read too much Nietzsche and wants "god" (superman) to fight "man" (batman), because he is mentally ill and this is what mentally ill people do in DC movies.
To achieve his dream of treating "god" and "man" like action figures, Luthor kidnaps Superman's mother Martha Kent and tells Superman that if he doesn't bring him Batman's head, he will kill Martha. Therefore, the o-so-powerful Kal-El succumbs to the requests of a millionaire with psychosis and the battle begins.
Superman keeps his stand, but Batman had planned this confrontation before. He brings a kryptonite lance and prepares to impale the alien man.
However, Clark begs Wayne to "save Martha", and this is enough for Bruce to feel that Supie is worth sparing and even becomes his friend.
You see, both character's mothers share the same name, and this is enough for Batsy to spare the man he desperately wanted to kill some seconds before.
Later on, Batman saves Martha and Supie goes to confront Lex Luthor. However, all this time, Luthor was mixing his DNA with the corpse of Captain Zod to create an ugly orc thing called Doomsday, whom he claims to be "the devil". So in case you missed this, "man" could not defeat "god" because "save Martha", and therefore "the devil" has to kill "god".
Supie and Batman are joined by Lois Lane and Wonder Woman to defeat this creature. Superman takes him to space and the americans nuke them. The monster survives the impact and Clark is left in space, seemingly dead. However, the sun shines on him, so he is reanimated and returns to fight.
With the help of his friends and girlfriend Superman grabs the kryptonite lance that Batsy had manufactured and stabs Doomsday with it; but as the creature dies Superman himself gets stabbed in the chest. Since he was being weakened by the kryptonite lance, he perishes.
Then we have a sad scene where the first krypto bro dies in front of his friends. This is actually a very moving scene: the idea of an alien thing dying for people who don't like him is not bad on itself.
Let us not forget, however, that Zack Snyder managed to snuck in some stick crosses because he loves subtlety.
Lex Luthor would think that "god" died "to the devil" for "man", in what is yet another similarity to Jesus.
The movie ends with a reference to the upcoming sequel, with Bruce Wayne resenting himself for not giving a chance to Superman; Lex Luthor becoming the evil bald man he was meant to be; and a very long funeral sequence with Amazing Grace playing on the background.
No, Zack Snyder, Superman is not God
First, let us correct Zack Snyder (and some DC fans out there) and his idea that Superman was some sort of "God".
Superman is not eternal: he has a beginning and an end. Even if he is immortal, his existence does not transcend all limits.
Superman is not omnipotent: the very fact that he had to talk about "Martha" to save his life from kryptonite proves this
Superman is not the creator of the planet earth and let alone the universe, as well as both things visible and invisible.
Superman is not the ruler of the Universe: he is just a very strong humanoid who flies and destroys things.
In short, Zack Snyder is ignorant, and we invite anyone who would say Superman is a god to stop imitating him.
However, this action-figure behavior on the part of Luthor offers some interesting questions. Is Zack Snyder suggesting that the he (Lex) hates God for sparing humanity? ¿Or that he hates humanity for sparing religion?
Luthor is an atheist because his father was abusive. Since Batman spared Supes, Luthor decided to punish humanity by releasing Doomsday. Or, since Superman spared Batman, he punished him anyways by releasing Doomsday.
It also suggests that Luthor's original plan consisted in "god" (superman) killing "man" (batman), and his concoction "the devil" (doomsday) would avenge "man", in a luciferian way.
The "save Martha" moment is also relevant here because by having a mom, "god" has made a communion with man. Humanity realizes this and decides to spare religion, causing the devil to attack them both.
To think that random individuals represent the relationship between God, humanity and satan is cringe but this is likely what Zack Snyder wanted to display.
The Sacrifice
Perhaps the only good scene is when Superman decides to die for people. However, we never really get to see Superman loving people in most of this trilogy.
It is true that he destroyed the nazi kryptonians, but not without causing the equivalent of a dozen of 9-11 attacks in Metropolis. It is true he dies fighting Doomsday, but only after some people decided to show him respect and two people (one of whom had tried to kill him) showed him kindness and love, even if his reputation was in a bad place.
It is much more likely that he decided to risk his life for the only 2 women who ever loved him: Martha and Lois. Understanding but not as moving as dying for people who distrust you because it is the right thing to do.
Nevertheless, this would be a moving moment if it were not because of the possibility that this movies are about antichrist.
The Theme of "Hope on Humanity" in this Movie
Unlike the normal adaptations of the Batman, this movie shows us a Batman who brutally kills people. This is a direct contrast with the character as we see on the majority of his media.
The reasons Batman does not kill are plenty. The death of his parents is enough to traumatize him in such a way that he can't kill but wants to be a crime fighter anyway. Furthermore, he believes that everyone can be redeemed; which is true of most of his villains except Joker.
Unlike his counterparts, "Batfleck" kills because he no longer believes this redemption is possible. He has lost "hope in humanity".
He is desperate to kill Superman because he considers him as a treat. He thinks that since the alien has power, this power will corrupt him and only Batsy can stop him.
When Superman says "Save Martha" this somehow makes Batman think that some people are worth sparing. I believe the "Save Martha" scene is more than just an hilariously bad plot point. It is there because by learning that Superman has a mom, Batman remembers that he became a crimefighter not because he hates killers, but because he wanted humanity to become the best version of itself, with Martha Wayne symbolizing the best of humanity. It is poorly written but, I think this is what Snyder was looking for.
As Superman decides to die for people, Batman remembers the power of love and this incites him to have more hope, and probably hope in humanity.
Do you see the humanism? Do you see?
Conclusion
Batman V Superman is the movie in which Zack Snyder's cringe analogy for Christ continues as Superman dies to Doomsday for humanity.
It is also the movie in which Lex Luthor is mentally ill and thinks that Superman is "god", Batman is "man" and Doomsday is "the devil".
It is also the movie in which Batman remembers humanity is redeemable and spares the alien who destroyed Metropolis because Superman's mother is named like his late mother.
However, just because this movie is hilariously bad doesn't mean it didn't have a thought process behind it, and we are happy to analyze it for you.
Unlike Man of Steel, I don't actually believe this movie could be interpreted in a different manner to what has been written, but maybe I am wrong. Feed my your insights in the comments below.
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