Zack Snyder's Man of Steel is going to be "edgy" like The Dark Knight

Oh Zack Snyder, what are you doing to me? I really want to look forward to your Superman reboot, I really do. I’ve already made peace with the fact that your version of Superman is apparently going to be dressed in the Kryptonian equivalent of an infant onesie, and that he now has hair like an 80’s Wall Street banker.

But now you’re telling me that you’re going to take big blue boyscout and make him all dark and “edgy”?

Oy vey…

Although the new darker tone has been hinted at before, this is the first time that one of the cast/crew has actually openly come out and said it. In this case, the reveal comes from Dylan Sprayberry who spoke to ClevverTV about playing the younger version of Clark Kent in Snyder’s film:

“I just finished shooting ‘Man of Steel.’ That was in Canada and Chicago. I filmed that all last year…

…when Zack [Snyder] and I were talking about it the first time, he was saying how Superman, they want to give it a more edgy feel like ‘The Dark Knight’ but also make it more realistic and emotional so it’s not just the all-american superhero that saves everyone. He has dilemmas and love and struggles throughout the whole movie, especially when he’s a kid.”

You know why The Dark Knight was an edgy film? Because he’s the goddamn Batman – a vigilante that skulks in the shadows, growling at crooks until they void their bowels in terror. That’s not Superman. The lack of “darkness” is an essential part of his character; a defining trait, if you will.

All of this smacks of studio executives looking at Superman Returns and then at The Dark Knight, and then coming to the conclusion that the reason why the prior was a failure and the latter such a huge success was clearly the prior’s severe shortage of “edge”. Clearly.

You know, never mind the fact that Brandon Routh – arguably the best Superman since Christopher Reeve – got hobbled by a lacklustre script and unimaginative directing that essentially had him use all his godly powers to just lift stuff in an attempt to disrupt Lex Luthor’s small minded real estate scheme. And lets not even get started on the fact that Supes is now a deadbeat dad.

And yes, some of you might be thinking that maybe it’s a good thing that Snyder ditches the archaic Big Blue Boy Scout mannerisms, and reflects the more darkly realistic tone of modern society. And I get that, I really do,but the thing is that Superman was created to be a personification of the lofty and idealistic ubermensch that us mere mortals should be striving for. He is the shining bright pinnacle. He doesn’t compromise his morals, and he doesn’t get all emotional and dark.

Ok well, he did that one time in Superman III, but as anybody who’s ever seen that train wreck of a movie can attest, that just proves my point! What makes it worse is that the last film that Zack Snyder helmed that was also all dark and edgy was Sucker Punch, which was kind of, you know, bad.

We’re still have more than a year until the release of Man of Steel, so it’s probably still some time before we see any footage in the form of a trailer, and can clearly see just how “edgy” this is going to get. But until such time, my excitement levels will unfortunately remain at a simmer.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: April 11, 2012