10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About The DCEU

6. Christopher Nolan Didn't Want Superman To Kill Zod

Batman V Sueprman Bale
Warner Bros.

Superman's decision to kill Zod was a big point of contention within fan circles after Man of Steel released, but ordinary moviegoers weren't the only ones who were unsure about that bold creative choice - some of the folks behind the movie were as well.

In the original draft of the script, Superman didn't brutally snap Zod's neck. Instead, the villain was sent into the Phantom Zone, the otherworldly prison he is locked in at the end of the film's opening Krypton scene. However, director Zack Snyder felt that Superman should kill Zod instead, as this would give a reason behind his reluctance to murder his enemies, in the same way that Batman's dislike of guns stems from the fact that his parents were killed by one.

But not everyone was onboard with Snyder's vision, and the director actually faced some pushback from one of his producers: director of the Dark Knight trilogy and one of the few true Hollywood heavyweights working today, Christopher Nolan.

Reportedly, Nolan strongly disagreed with the whole neck-snap-murder idea, apparently telling Snyder "there’s no way you can do this." However, when DC Comics gave Snyder the thumbs-up - and Nolan was actually able to read a draft of the scene - everything clicked, and the death scene went ahead.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.