Director Zack Snyder believes that Batman and Superman transcend the superhero genre in a way that certain Marvel heroes can’t, according to an interview with The Daily Beast. When asked for his take on Steven Spielberg’s comments that the superhero genre eventually will go the way of the Western and die off, Snyder said, “I feel like he’s right. But I feel like Batman and Superman are transcendent of superhero movies in a way, because they’re Batman and Superman.” Indeed, there were myriad Superman and Batman films before the recent superhero craze, so it makes sense that those movies would exist after the bubble has burst.
Then, Snyder threw some shade at Marvel, saying that Bats and Supes aren’t “just, like, the flavor of the week Ant-Man—not to be mean, but whatever it is. What is the next Blank-Man?” (Presumably, he meant for us to fill in the blank before “Man” as a comment on the interchangeability of second-tier superheroes, and not to start discussing the 1994 Damon Wayans superhero spoof Blankman.) Few would argue that Ant-Man is anywhere near as iconic as Batman or Superman. But some would argue that Ant-Man is a better movie than Man Of Steel, and it doesn’t seem to occur to Snyder that perhaps the quality of the final product has some say in which superhero films stay around for years to come.
Snyder-Man also gave a few details about the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, noting that in the early scenes, the film will boast a lot more Batman than Superman. He explained that this “is because it’s a different Batman than the Batman that was in the Chris Nolan movies, so we have a little bit more explaining to do and you just had a whole Superman movie.” However, the screen time for each hero “evens out as it goes along,” he said. He didn’t mention the role Wonder Woman plays in the film, presumably because he couldn’t recall the secondary character’s name.
[via Variety]