Why Did Superman Kill Zod in Man of Steel?

BeforeMan of Steelcame out, some fans assumed that the iconic villainGeneral Zod, played byMichael Shannon, would go on to be a franchise mainstay, terrorizing Superman (Henry Cavill) for years to come in subsequent sequels. As it turns out, he was killed by Superman himself, breaking his legendary “no-kill” maxim by snapping the villain’s neck. What fans didn’t know at the time is this infamous battle, which completely destroyed Metropolis, set the stage for next year’sBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

DirectorZack Snyderrevealed at Comic Con this year that both Metropolis and Gotham are “twin cities,” separated by a bay, and the destructive battle between Superman and Zod actually leveled Bruce Wayne’s (Ben Affleck) Wayne Tower, leading to the highly-anticipated battle next year. While we wait forBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceto it theaters,Man of SteelscreenwriterDavid S. Goyerappeared on the Nerdist Podcast, where he revealed why the decision was made to kill General Zod. Here’s what he had to say below.

“The way I work, the wayChris [Nolan]works, is you do what’s right for the story. That exists entirely separately from what fans should or shouldn’t think of that character. You have to do what’s right for the story. In that instance, this was a Superman who had only been Superman for like, a week. He wasn’tSupermanas we think of him in theDC Comics…or even in a world that conceived of Superman existing. He’d only flown for the first time a few days before that. He’d never fought anyone that had super powers before. And so he’s going up against a guy who’s not only super-powered, but has been training since birth to use those super powers, who exists as a superhuman killing machine, who has stated, ‘I will never stop until I destroy all of humanity.’ If you take Superman out of it, what’s the right way to tell that story? I think the right way to tell that story is if you take this powered alien who says, ‘You can have your race back, but you have to kill your adopted race,’ the moral, horrible situation to be in is to actually be forced to kill, not wanting to, the only other person from your race. Take Superman aside, I think that’s the right way to tell that story.”

Just one month afterMan of Steelhit theaters, it was announced at Comic Con 2013 that Batman was coming into this world. Over the next two years, we have slowly gotten new details about the expansive superhero world Warner Bros. and DC are creating, including how Zod’s corpse fits into theBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicestory. We saw the villain’s lifeless body in the secondBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicetrailer, but how exactly it is used has yet to be confirmed. There have been rumors thatLex Luthoruses his corpse to create the villainous Doomsday, but that may prove to be untrue.

David S. Goyeralso wrote the initial script forBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was later rewritten byChris Terrio. Do you think it was the right call to kill General Zod in 2013’sMan of Steel? Or are you intrigued about how his corpse will be used inBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? You can visit Nerdist to listen to the entire podcast withDavid S. Goyer, and stay tuned for more onBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, arriving in theaters next March.