10 Wildly Underdeveloped Subplots From Batman V Superman

8. Wallace Keefe: From Victim To Suicide Bomber

What must happen to a man to turn him from a loyal office worker to a suicide bomber, a pawn in Lex Luthor's plan to be the world's most powerful man? If Dawn of Justice is any indication, one must only lose his legs and be bailed out of prison by an eccentric billionaire madman.

The Wallace Keefe character is a huge part of the first act of the film, a man permanently disabled by the destruction caused in Metropolis at the end of Man of Steel. His legs gone, his life seemingly ruined, he sets out to prove that Superman is more of a problem than a solution. How does he strike out at the alien that he holds responsible for his handicap?

He spray paints "false god" on an enormous statue of The Man of Steel. He is not violent. He is more frustrated and heartbroken over the circumstances dealt to him.

Which is why the moment in which he is essentially a suicide bomber, blowing up the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. is so startling. There is no build, no suggesting that he will take such drastic measures to make Superman pay for his handicap. He goes from zero to sixty in short order, apparently feeling as though he owes Lex Luthor his life for bailing him out of prison.

It is a major leap the writers ask the audience to take without ever giving us a reason to.

Is it possible that Luthor rigged the new and improved wheelchair that he gave Keefe without telling him? Of course, but at least pay it off by showing us.

Even then, one cannot help but feel as though the Keefe was incredibly hollow, devoid of any development, a plot device rather than a character befitting the underrated talents of Scoot McNairy.