What do you get when you put Zack Snyder on a Joe Rogan podcast? If your answer was a 'Snyder Cut of controversy,' then you can give yourself a pat on the back. Hollywood's favorite (?) cinematic provocateur recently appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience, rekindling the debate around his darker, grittier vision for the DC Universe, specifically on the choice to arm Batman with a license to kill.
Ever since Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice made its debut in 2016, the internet has been filled with heated discussions about the essence of superhero morality, or the lack thereof, in Snyder's universe.
From Snyder's perspective, his fascination with deconstructing superhero archetypes has always been less about rebellion for the sake of rebellion and more about an exploration of complex themes. To him making Batman, the proverbial 'god' of Gotham, capable of killing isn't about tarnishing a legacy but rather challenging it.
"Batman can't kill is canon. And I'm like, 'Okay, the first thing I wanna do when you say that is I wanna see what happens'. And they go, 'Well don't put him in a situation where he has to kill someone'. You're protecting your god in a weird way, right? You're making your god irrelevant if he can't be in that situation. He has to now deal with that. If he does do that what does that mean? What does it tell you, does he stand up to it? Does he survive that as a god? As your god, can Batman survive that?"
