Batman v Superman: Zack Snyder on what the film's ending means for the Justice League

***Major spoilers ahead***

Muscling in: Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill battle for the bragging rights in ‘Batman v Superman’ (Warner Bros)

While a lot of the plot to Batman v Superman may have been revealed in the trailers, there was still one major twist that Zack Snyder managed to just about hold back for the film.

** Warning: Major Spoilers for Batman v Superman ahead. Turn back now if you haven’t seen the film and still want to **

Still here? We’ll give you another few seconds to think about it. *Twiddles thumbs*

Ok, at the end, the Man of Steel sacrifices himself to save the world, killing Lex Luthor’s Doomsday just in time to stop it completely wiping out Gotham City and Metropolis.

According to some fans who actually understood the film, the reason Superman being stabbed killed him yet being blown to smithereens by a nuclear bomb didn’t is because of his proximity to the Kryptonite-tipped spear at the time.

Makes sense to me. What doesn’t is that everyone knows Henry Cavill will be back as the titular hero next year when Justice League: Part One hits cinemas, taking away the emotional blow that scene could have had otherwise.

However, Zack Snyder has a reason for killing off the superhero. “I wanted Bruce Wayne to build the Justice League,” Snyder told EW.

“I felt like with Superman around, it’s a different conversation when you create the Justice League, right? It’s like, ‘Me and Superman, we want to make a Justice League.’ [Other heroes would be] like, ‘Okay, yeah, I’ll join!’ I just feel like Bruce Wayne having to go out and find these seven samurai by himself, that’s a lot more interesting of a premise.

“I also I felt like, without Superman, there is definitely a vulnerability to the team that they’re gonna need to figure something out, you know? Superman does represent the powerful. He’s the Michael Jordan of heroes, he’s gonna score.”

The director also explains that the aforementioned Nuke scene shows the audience that the sun can revive Superman: “He comes very close to death in space and the reason why we did that is because I wanted to show — and keep the idea in the viewer’s mind – that he can come pretty close to death and the sun can revive him, or he can be. I think something more is gonna need to be done.”

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Snyder also left groundwork for Superman to come back in a different form: “There’s the birth, death, and resurrection thing. And when you bring him back, who knows what he is when he comes back.”

First, he just needs to get out of that coffin and get some sun on his skin. That Vitamin D should be the kickstart he needs to be reborn.