There sure have been a lot of emotional movie deaths over the years, like Bambi's mom being shot by a hunter, Titanic's frozen Jack-sicle, and Lando Calrissian getting killed in The Force Awakens after cushioning the blow of a falling Han Solo, because Han's going to live forever, goddammit.
No one likes crying over their popcorn, but we accept these deaths as the author's vision. Sometimes, though, death scenes have less to do with artistic intention and more to do with some bullshit behind the scenes, such as ...
6
Batman V Superman Brutally Murders Superman's Best Friend, Forgets To Tell The Audience
Warner Bros.
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is crammed with DC Comics characters, some conveniently color-coded in a handy flash drive. But, in addition to the titular heroes, Wonder Woman, Doomsday, and the anthropomorphic pile of cocaine in a wig that was Lex Luthor, another iconic comic book character makes an appearance ... only to be killed off in the same scene.
Warner Bros.
No, we're not talking about Daredevil's cameo (he's Marvel).
In the early moments of the film, Lois Lane interviews an African warlord in "Nairomi" -- which is either a fictional location or they actually meant Nairobi but by that point had already blown their spell-checking budget on CGI monsters and a buttload of dream sequences. It's quickly revealed that Lois' photographer is secretly a CIA agent who must really suck at his job, because he gets shot in the face after only a few lines of dialogue.
Because most blockbusters these days seem to be followed by press appearances in which the filmmakers try to explain all the nonsensical bullshit in their movies, Zack Snyder gave an interview where he revealed that the fake photographer is, in fact, Jimmy Olsen. Yup, Superman's pal Jimmy is in the movie -- but never meets Superman, almost gets Lois killed, and is promptly murdered. This is a character who had his own goddamn comic series for 20 years, as improbable as it may sound.
DC Comics
DC uses the word "pal" in the sarcastic sense.
Apparently, the scene was meant to shock audiences, which it probably would have done if anyone had bothered to introduce the guy as Jimmy. According to Snyder, he even considered casting Jesse Eisenberg as Olsen, because "if he got shot, you'd just be like, 'What!?'" Don't worry, Mr. Snyder. We go, "What!?" at your movies all the time anyway.
320 Comments