Originally Posted by
JAK
He wanted Superman to be both. That's how confused his idea was, even though it's the kind of thing that a studio exec would think is "genius". But the whole distance thing with Superman in the clouds at the start of BvS, how Superman's arms were as he flew out of Zod's ship in MoS, the spear, all these things, they're all Jesus imagery. Superman, in parts and ways, was absolutely meant to be a Jesus allegory. It's not just obvious in it's execution, it's borderline obnoxious. It was almost as obnoxious in Superman Returns, to be fair, and there's even a hefty dash of it in the Donnerverse.
As for how much he's read... that's not a blanket excuse to wash away what he did. DC has read a lot of Superman, too, and they also make horrible decisions with the character. I don't think he has an agenda to take down Superman - he's just a deconstructionist guy with an eye for "cool" visuals (he is a talented visual action director) and that needs a balance to work well with Superman. What he takes from the character is (obviously) not what the average person does, and that might have been ok if he could have sold them on what he sees. And that didn't happen, at least not with enough people (fans and general audience alike) to make the movies worth continuing in WB's eyes (because while none of them, imo, understand Superman, they do understand when something's making as much money as it should).
I will say, to his credit, that he did have a hand in the 75th animated short. And THAT was very good. But it was also very short, had no dialogue or message beyond Superman through the years, and was meant as a tribute to the character's history. So it was all about visuals, which plays to Snyder's strengths very well. You can also see a lot of the Timm influence too. I'd love a breakdown of who all did what, because that was very well done.