Zack Snyder cut a scene from Batman V Superman for being too dark

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

It's hard to take a look at BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE and imagine it could have turned out much darker than what Zack Snyder delivered. I mean, it's pretty dark… and that's not a criticism or a compliment. It is what it is. 

However, Zack Snyder had a scene in mind that was ultimately cut from the film that somehow would have made Superman even darker than he already turned out to be.

Care to know what it was? 

When asked by IGN why Superman isn't able to hear his mother in trouble when she's taken captive by Lex Luthor, this is how he explained everything. 

I think all the way – to me, from Metropolis to Smallville is probably just on the edge of his range of hearing. Also the clutter of the city makes it difficult as well.

We had a scene that we cut from the movie where he tries to look for her when he finds out that Lex has got her. It was a slightly dark scene that we cut out because it sort of represented this dark side. Because when he was looking for his mom he heard all the cries of all the potential crimes going on in the city, you know when you look.

I kind of like the idea that he’s taught himself not to look because if he looks it’s just neverending, right? You have to know when, as Superman, when to intervene and when not to. Or not when not to, you can’t be everywhere at once, literally you can’t be everywhere at once, so he has to be really selective in a weird way about where he chooses to interfere.

Soooooo……

Not only is there a range to Superman's super-hearing, but Superman turns off what he hears and when, so that he's not saving people all the time, because that would just be neverending…??

I'll leave that one to you to debate, but I thought a lot of that was really the essence of who Superman is… or rather, was… Sounds like darkness was the least of the problems such a scenario would create.