Superstitious and cowardly, a criminal just watchedBatmantake down two of her armed and powerful comrades.
Ill kill the kid.
When Batman does not respond, she yells louder, fearing that the Dark Knight doesnt take her seriously.
Believe me man, I will!
Believe me
Bearing the weapon he took from another criminal, Batman shoots the criminal, killing her instantly.
He grabs the toddler before he can hit the ground and nestles the boy safely against his chest.
I believe you, Batman intones.
It should come as no surprise that the above scene fromThe Dark Knight Returnsmeans a lot to directorZack Snyder.
No, Zack Snyder, Batman does notneedto kill.
People are always like Batman cant kill, so Batman cant kill is canon.
Without the opportunity to express that power, they feel totally impotent.
If youve read those two comics, its hard to go back, he explains.
He expresses no doubt in the grand narrative that these creators and their works are influential and important comics.
Superhero movies are modern myth, he enthuses.
We have Superman and Batman.
Are they not the mythic answer to a lot of modern questions about how we should live?
Snyder clearly has no problem accepting on faith certain grand narratives.
So why does he insist that Batman must kill?
That seems ridiculous given the circumstances in which he operates.
Itisridiculous that Batman sees a clear moral distinction between killing someone and leaving them paralyzed for life.
Heck, its ridiculous that a billionaire would put on a bat suit and fight crime.
But if youre coming to Batman for realism, youre making a huge mistake.
As literary critic and leading thinker of deconstructionismJ.
At no point in his filmography does Snyder practice deconstruction.
Instead, he treats the power fantasy as an unavoidable given that cannot be questioned.
The smart words make the speaker seem cooler, but they have no depth or meaning.
In light of his surface-level approach, Snyders justification seems odd.
Youre protecting your god in a weird way.
Youre making your God irrelevant, Snyder says about those who insist that Batman must not kill.
But Snyders statement misunderstands fans feelings about the character.
When fans insist that Batman doesnt kill, theyre not protecting their god.
He actually saves kids lives.
Whenever anyone tells a story about Batman, theyre presenting an unreal world of their own creation.
That world abides by no other rules than those the storyteller considers worthy of attention.
Snyder echoes the scene because he thinks it looks cool and he thinks that Miller is cool.
If Snyder were intellectually honest, then he could admit that simple reasoning.
