Zack Snyder Explains Why There's More Batman Than Superman In 'Batman V Superman'

Though the DC Extended Universe began with Man of Steel, we've been hearing Superman might take a backseat to Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In a recent interview, director Zack Snyder confirmed that is indeed the case, but he offers a pretty good reason for that apparent imbalance. Read the more Batman Zack Snyder comments after the jump. 

Talking to The Daily Beast, Snyder explained why there's more Batman than Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

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. 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.

Snyder's comments are unlikely to quell fears that the DCEU is sidelining Superman. There's still no Man of Steel 2 on the calendar, whereas Warner Bros. already has big plans for Batman including a Suicide Squad appearance and a standalone movie. (Though it's not like there's any danger of Supes disappearing completely, as he'll appear in both Justice League movies.)

But for the purposes of Batman v Superman, at least, Snyder's reasoning makes sense. The battle wouldn't feel very evenly matched if one side had a whole film's worth of backstory and characterization to draw from, while the other was just presented as some guy who appears out of the blue.

In any case, it sounds like there'll be some interesting push-pull between the two titans in the movie. While he doesn't offer much in the way of concrete detail, Snyder sheds some light on the overall dynamic between the future Justice League teammates.

They're actually opposite sides of the same coin. It's interesting because Batman's a man and Superman's a god, if you think about it in those terms. So their relationship is very contentious. What Superman sees as Batman's limits, Batman sees as Superman trying to control him, acting like an absolute dictator.

What we went after was the humanity of each character. 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.

The bit about bringing out each character's "humanity" is noteworthy. Neither Bats nor Supes is known for being particularly relatable, and Man of Steel highlighted Superman's superhuman side over his human one. Maybe we can look forward to seeing new sides of both characters when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens March 25, 2016.