It’s no secret that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of the most controversial superhero films of recent memory. Between the “Martha scene” and the uniquely bleak directions Zack Snyder took its central heroes, there are several points of contention that comic book fans have with the film. Perhaps the greatest issue however was the violence that Batman committed, as he is a hero who is famous for never killing anyone.
Well it appears that Batman may have broken that rule in an even more extreme way. According to Second-Unit director and stunt coordinator Damon Carr, the so-called “Martha Rescue” scene included even more violence than originally shown. Here is Carr’s take on what was cut, while speaking to Screen Rant:
“In the chase scene he was dealing with dangerous dudes that were trying to kill him, but I feel he was driven more by hatred then. By the Martha rescue, he’s no longer fueled by resentment… So there’s definitely an evolution at this point.
You will see, something that would sort of contradict that, if you noticed in that the action-viz that we shot in prep, it’s a little bit longer than what we shot for the film. and he does use one of the guys as a shield in that, but it didn’t make the movie because it didn’t fit for the cut. So that would have violated… but he uses him as a shield and the guy had a bulletproof vest on.”
I get the whole “it didn’t work for the scene” point, but I feel like that’s more of cover-up for the edited down footage. That being said, I don’t take issue with the violence described here, nor the violence shown in the film itself. For this version of Batman, who is inherently broken and given up on his ideology, a descent into brutal violence actually makes a lot of sense.
What do you think? Should the scene have been left in the film? Be sure to tell us all of your thoughts in the comments down below!