A decade after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theaters, the “Martha” moment still lives rent-free in the minds of DC fans.
Some defend it. Some roast it. And now Zack Snyder is weighing in again, making it clear he’s perfectly okay with the jokes. What he isn’t okay with is the idea that movies should be sanded down to please everyone.
During a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Snyder addressed the infamous scene head-on and did so with a grin.
“It is true in canon!” he yelled with a smile. “It is true in canon that Batman and Superman’s mothers are both named ‘Martha’. That is a fact of the comic book world.”
He’s not wrong. The coincidence between Martha Kent and Martha Wayne wasn’t invented for the film. Snyder simply chose to build a pivotal emotional turning point around it.
In the 2016 film, Lex Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg, kidnaps Superman’s adoptive mother and forces the Man of Steel into a brutal showdown with Batman. Superman attempts to explain the situation, but Bruce Wayne, fueled by rage and kryptonite-laced weaponry, isn’t interested in listening.
The fight escalates until Superman, on the brink of death, pleads with Batman to “save Martha.” That name stops Bruce cold. Lois Lane steps in to clarify, and suddenly Batman sees Superman not as an alien threat, but as someone with a mother just like him.
For some viewers, the moment landed with mythic weight. For others, the dialogue felt awkward. The debate hasn’t cooled off since 2016.
Snyder, however, stands by the choice.
He’s aware people poke fun at it. He seems amused by it. But what really gets under his skin isn’t the memes. It’s the suggestion that the movie should have been softened or reshaped to avoid that kind of backlash.
“My 100% honest reaction to BvS and how it’s received in the world is… and I’ve said this quite a bit… ‘Do you really want a movie that’s had all the edges shaved off it by the focus groups?”
Snyder went on. “Do you really want a movie where the decisions have been made in a boardroom, or tested ideas have been rendered for your enjoyment? Do you really want the Kmart version of your story?'”
That’s the core of it. Snyder would rather swing big and divide audiences than deliver something engineered to be universally acceptable.
He also reflected on how he originally envisioned his DC trilogy, which began with Man of Steel and continued through Batman v Superman and Justice League. In his mind, it was always meant to have a defined arc.
During the chat, the filmmaker added that he initially saw the Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Justice League trilogy as “a flower that was going to bloom and be glorious, and then die”, and that it inevitably moved away from being the “mythological universe that we saw had an ending”. Even if he wound up loving the “intense” journey they went on anyway…
That mythological framing explains a lot about Snyder’s approach to DC storytelling. His Superman wasn’t meant to be the fully formed beacon of hope from page one. His Batman wasn’t the clean-cut hero. These characters were meant to clash, fall, and evolve across a larger tragic arc.
Whether you loved Batman v Superman or still roll your eyes at the Martha reveal, Snyder’s stance hasn’t changed. He made the movie he wanted to make. He leaned into canon. He embraced the operatic tone. And he’s fine if fans have fun at its expense.
The bigger question he’s throwing back at audiences is simple. Do you want something messy and personal, or something polished by committee?
For better or worse, Batman v Superman chose the first option, and nearly ten years later, we’re still arguing about it.
