Zack Snyder & The MPAA Clashed Over Batman V Superman's Rating For An Absurd Reason

From 2013 to 2023, director Zack Snyder dictated the tone and look of the now-defunct DC Extended Universe. At the beginning of the decade-long mishegoss, Snyder rebooted the Superman story with "Man of Steel," a loud, bleak, faux-poetic noise-fest that divided audiences sharply. Some felt that Snyder's operatic visuals and overblown storytelling habits were a good way to make Superman "grow up," while many others felt that Snyder's film was more style than substance. The division wrought by Snyder continued into a massively inconsistent interconnected superhero universe that contained some of the best superhero movies ever made ("Shazam!") and some of the biggest flops of all time ("The Flash").

One of the more controversial follow-ups was Snyder's own 2016 film "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." In that film, the newly introduced Batman (Ben Affleck) was already suspicious of the newly arrived Superman (Henry Cavill), given that Superman laid waste to Metropolis at the end of "Man of Steel." The young Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) also hated Superman, and manipulated Batman — in a very, very roundabout way — into physically fighting the man in blue. The film climaxed with a vicious scuffle between the title heroes, and at least one of them had their head smashed into a bathroom sink. Batman came prepared with Kryptonite weapons, so at least he stood a chance.

Like most superhero movies, "Dawn of Justice" was rated PG-13 for cartoon violence (people die, but bloodlessly) and for bleak thematic elements. It seems, however, that the film nearly received an R rating from the MPA (which was still known as the MPAA at the time) for a pretty absurd reason. During an appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience," Snyder said that the MPA ratings board wasn't comfortable with Superman fighting Batman.

Superman, after all, is typically presented as an aspirational figure. He can typically overpower his foes without too much strain. One might say that Superman doesn't so much defeat his opponents as he does humble them, showing them that their twisted schemes cannot come to pass and that giving up villainy may be a better path moving forward. Batman, meanwhile, is a symbol of fear, scaring criminals straight with his spooky bat costume and his high-tech investigative gadgets. The two heroes may have very different policing approaches in dealing with the criminal underworld, but they are both heroes at the end of the day.

The MPA, it seems, didn't like the idea that these two superheroes would find something to fight over. It was chilling to them to see both noble characters devolving into enraged fight machines. Snyder was frustrated when his film was submitted to the MPA for a rating multiple times and it kept coming back with an R rating. For international readers, an R rating requires anyone under the age of 17 to attend the film with an adult guardian. Snyder hated that, saying:

"I remember the ratings board said, 'We just don't like the idea of Batman fighting Superman,' [...] I was like, 'That has nothing to do with the ratings.' They kept making it an R rating. They kept coming back with an R for us, and like what do you want us to cut out? And they were like, 'Well, we just don't like the idea of Batman fighting Superman.' I can't take that out! That's the movie."

One may be reminded of the scene in "Ed Wood" wherein the titular filmmaker had to alter the title of his film "Grave-Robbers from Outer Space" because the ultra-Christian financiers found the idea of grave-robbing to be distasteful. Wood pointed out that it was the premise of the movie, for goodness' sake.

The final theatrical cut of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" was a whopping 152 minutes, but that was after Snyder was forced to edit down the titular bout by a few seconds. There are a few less moments of fists slamming into jaws, and it doesn't go on for quite as long.

Snyder, however, is now notorious for releasing multiple versions of his films. I needn't recount the messy production of his film "Justice League," which he had to leave production on because of a personal tragedy. Joss Whedon was hired and he rewrote and reshot multiple scenes in Snyder's place. When "Justice League" wasn't the runaway hit the studio expected, a small segment of Snyder's fans declared it was because Snyder wasn't able to finish the film he wanted. Multiple years and $70 million more later, Zack Snyder's four-hour cut of "Justice League" was released on streaming. This film meant that Snyder's fans liked having two cuts to compare.

And, indeed, many of Snyder's fans were already declaring their "two-versions" philosophy when Snyder released a 183-minute cut of "Batman v Superman" on home media. Snyder, of course, felt that the three-hour version was superior, saying simply:

"So, it was crazy. So we really had to trim it. I mean, if you see the director's cut of 'Batman v Superman,' it's much better. It's a much better movie, in my opinion."

Which cut of which Snyder film do you prefer? As of this writing, there are two separate cuts of both films in Snyder's "Rebel Moon" epic. It's either 256 minutes or 377 minutes, depending.