The “Martha” moment in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of the most controversial scenes in superhero movie history, and ironically, it shouldn’t be because of how perfectly Man of Steel set it up. Batman v Superman was Snyder’s third DC Comics movie following 2009’s Watchmen and 2013’s Man of Steel, as well as the second chapter of the DCEU that really expanded the franchise into a cinematic universe. Batman v Superman essentially combines The Dark Knight Returns and The Death of Superman into a new story, using the foundation of Ben Affleck’s Batman determining that Henry Cavill’s Superman could become a threat to humanity.
The Batman v Superman Martha Scene
When Batman and Superman go head-to-head in the film, the “Martha” moment is what brings their fight to a halt right as Batman is about to impale Superman with a Kryptonite spear. Superman has been coerced by Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) to kill Batman when his adoptive mother Martha Kent (Diane Lane) is kidnapped, with Superman spending most of the fight trying to either reason with Batman or subdue him long enough to get him to listen. Once Superman believes he is about to be killed, he begs Batman to “Find him…Save Martha!”, with Lois Lane (Amy Adams) then intervening and telling an angry Batman “It’s his mother’s name!”
The response to Batman v Superman’s Martha scene instantly became the most polarizing topic in any comic book movie in years, and arguably remains so, with detractors disparagingly feeling that Batman and Superman throw their conflict aside and become friends simply because both of their mothers are named Martha. However, this description sells the Martha scene short because Martha Kent and Martha Wayne sharing a first name is the least significant thing about it. Rather, it’s Batman seeing Superman as human for the first time, just as Colonel Hardy (Christopher Meloni) once did in Man of Steel.
The Setup From Man of Steel
The Smallville battle of Man of Steel sets the first domino of the Martha scene and Zack Snyder’s planned five-movie arc in motion, with Superman fighting against the invading Kryptonians and a once doubtful Colonel Hardy remarking, “This man is not our enemy”, even as the U.S. military was under orders to open fire on Kal-El too during the battle along with General Zod (Michael Shannon) demanding Superman be turned over to him.
Moving ahead to Batman v Superman, Bruce Wayne spends much of the film viewing Superman as not simply a likely threat to humanity but a being completely removed from the concept of humanity. Indeed, his view of Kal-El betrays a perspective of not just someone too powerful to be trusted but an unwelcome visitor whose presence actively harms the new home he has arrived in. One might say that Batman regards Superman as an…illegal alien, and the perceived harm he brings to Earth – either real or theoretical, as Bruce’s “One percent chance” monologue determines – makes Superman a being who can and must be eliminated.
That changes in an instant for Batman when he hears Superman’s strained plea to “Save Martha!” and learns that his mother has been kidnapped, and Superman goes from an abstract alien menace to a man on the verge of losing his mother. Batman’s subsequent promise to Superman that “Martha won’t die tonight” seals the deal on the meaning of the Martha moment with Batman dropping everything to save someone in peril at the behest of Superman, an act of heroism Batman never would have imagined himself embarking upon just minutes earlier.
Justice League 3
Batman’s arc of realizing Superman is not a menace is ultimately a microcosm of how Kal-El gradually inspires the best in humanity from Man of Steel to Snyder’s intended Justice League 3, and humanity sees the heroism in Superman for the same reason as Colonel Hardy and Batman do by gradually regarding him as less alien and more human. Batman v Superman’s Martha scene takes it further by making it more personal for Batman and opening his eyes more directly, while the world sees Superman’s humanity on the macro scale after his sacrifice to defeat Doomsday.
The derision of the Martha scene misses the point of it in much the same way that Batman himself once did in his outlook on Superman, that for all his god-like might, even Superman sometimes needs the help of the very humans he protects, and within that, Superman is the most human of us all.
In the end, Snyder’s take on Superman is fully steeped in the hope Superman embodies, and the Martha moment of Batman v Superman shows the angle Snyder was taking to show that – going from “This man is not our enemy” in Man of Steel to “Martha won’t die tonight” in Batman v Superman, and ultimately to – as the whiteboard outline for Snyder’s Justice League sequel plans shows – “The entire world becomes a Justice League”.
Now, watch the Batman v Superman Martha scene again, and see why it makes so much sense. Here is our explanation of the Jonathan Kent death scene in Man of Steel, too.
