Every Zack Snyder fan knows that the director is extremely invested in the superhero genre. And that he’s championed these stories from the start. In a new article that he’s written for Insider, Snyder breaks down how some classic comic books have shaped the way he sees the superhero world and its possibilities. In the article, the filmmaker singles out one of the most famous graphic novels of all time: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller. Snyder wrote about how the story transformed the original impression that he had of the Caped Crusader.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns featured a different approach to Bruce Wayne. In the story, Batman has been retired for a decade, but Bruce realizes that Gotham has become worse than ever without The Dark Knight to help protect the city. However, the superhero is exhausted and tends to ignore some of his own codes in order to match the violence and cruelty of the new generation of criminals that he decides to take on. Snyder wrote that a particular moment in the story spoke to him and made him realize that it elevated the character like never before:

“One of the most transformative moments for me was in ‘The Dark Knight Returns,’ with the line, ‘The rain on my chest is a baptism… I’m born again.’ This moment transformed Batman into something larger than life, a mythic figure whose struggles were not just physical but deeply emotional. Yet, at the same time, Miller made him profoundly human. He wasn’t just a superhero defying pain, he was a man confronting the very real toll of time and struggle, determined to rise above it and find his own relevance in the world.”

Snyder Talks About The Inspiration For “Batfleck”
Image via Warner Bros.

Snyder added that in The Dark Knight Returns, Miller was able to make Batman become “a mirror for our own struggles.” The title character’s frustration with a problem he can’t seem to solve and the realization that he can’t fight the passage of time “reflected the very human challenges we all face.” The filmmaker also revealed in the article that it was “this depth” that ended up making him more interested in adult comic books and the “universal themes” that these stories tend to touch on.

Back when he directed Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, fans were able to detect that elements of The Dark Knight Returns were present in his version of the superhero played by Ben Affleck (The Tender Bar). The Snyderverse Batman is older and more violent, and uses guns to take out his enemies — something that goes against Bruce Wayne’s original code of conduct. However, we won’t be able to see what arc Snyder had in mind for his Batman, since the whole DC cinematic universe got scrapped and is set to be rebooted with Creature Commandos and Superman in 2025.

You can check out the full article written by Zack Snyder at the Insider website.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Batman is manipulated by Lex Luthor to fear Superman. Superman´s existence is meanwhile dividing the world and he is framed for murder during an international crisis. The heroes clash and force the neutral Wonder Woman to reemerge.Release Date March 25, 2016 Director Zack Snyder Runtime 152 minutes Writers Chris Terrio , David S. Goyer Expand

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