Zack Snyder believes his current directorial project, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” goes beyond the limits of any superhero film so far, unlike “flavor of the week Ant-Man.”
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Snyder spoke about Steven Spielberg‘s recent doomsday prediction that “there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western.” In response, Snyder ripped Marvel Comics and its characters.
“It goes to the mythological nature of the movies that we’re making,” he 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. They’re not just, like, the flavor of the week Ant-Man — not to be mean, but whatever it is. What is the next Blank-Man?”
Marvel’s “Ant-Man” has grossed $174 million dollars domestically since its debut in July. That makes it the 21st top grossing Marvel film at the box office, with both “Avengers” movies leading the pack with $623 million and $458 million, respectively.
DC Comics, on the other hand, also dominates at the box office, with “The Dark Knight” movie reigning with $533 million. DC Comics is best known for characters like Superman, Batman, Catwoman and Green Lantern, while Marvel is known for Iron Man, Captain America and and Spider-Man.
Snyder is considered one of the linchpins of the DC Comics universe, having been involved with projects such as “300,” and “Man of Steel.” He is currently working on “Justice League Part One” and “Justice League Part Two,” as well as serving as a producer of “Wonder Woman,” “Suicide Squad” and “Aquaman.”
In the interview, he also addressed certain rumors that Batman will get a lot more screen time than Superman in the film that will hit theaters in March.
“Only in that 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,” he said. “But I think only in that way, because you need to understand where Batman is with everything. And that’s more toward the beginning, but it evens back out as it goes on.”
He also dished a little bit about what audiences can expect in the upcoming “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” film.
“What we went after was the humanity of each character,” he said. “We tried to say, ‘What would Batman have to do to unravel Superman, and what would Superman have to do to unravel Batman?’ Their conflict is based on each others’ understanding of the other’s weakness. The fun of that is when you’re dealing with these mythological creatures — to make them human again, bring them back to earth. And to do that you have to know the rules before you can break them. They have to go all the way to the stratosphere before you can bring them back down.”
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” will hit theaters on March 25, 2016.