“Batman v Superman” Storyboard Artist Explains the “Martha” Scene

Speaking on the ComicBookDebate podcast, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” storyboard artist Jay Oliva reveals that, as he understood it, Batman has PTSD and the name “Martha” triggers memory flashbacks that break him out of his bloodlust… something Superman was well aware of.

“I mean, the whole reason why the movie starts with the death of Bruce’s parents is to set up the fact that that traumatic effect has bascially given little Bruce, and now adult Bruce, PTSD. He’s had it all his life. I mean, it’s something that I even did in Dark Knight Returns – Part 1. I played up the fact that he has PTSD. If you notice I do flashes… when the train goes by overhead it’s flashing on the ground and that gives him those flashes of when his mom gets killed. So, at that early stage I was already playing the fact that you had a Batman who had PTSD, you know? So, Zack was just setting that up and if you watch that film, really, without having any kind of preconceived notions or whatnot or just waiting for the ‘Martha scene’… he sets it up. So, that way at the end when Batman’s gonna kill Superman, the ‘Martha’ is a trigger to get Batman out of this kind of bloodlust vengeance.”

Oliva believes that, as an investigative reporter, Clark Kent had figured out that Bruce Wayne was Batman, and used this knowledge at the last moment…

“In my head, I put together the fact that the reason why he didn’t say ‘save my mom’ was that Clark already knew who Batman was, because remember Clark’s an investigative reporter. He already figured out who Bruce Wayne was and I think he knew Bruce Wayne’s past because everybody knows about the Wayne’s being murdered. Of course, he may not know but I think he put two and two together and knew that in order to get through to Bruce, would be to have to, you know, appeal to, you know, the word Martha, about the name of his mom who also happens to be the name his mom. But he’s trying to get through to this guy who, again, has this bloodlust.”

As for the criticism the film received for the whole “Martha” moment, Oliva retorts…

“Yeah, people say, like, ‘oh, both of their moms are named Martha,’ and I was like, ‘yeah, it’s been that way for the last 75-80 years, you just never noticed that? Did you want us to change it to something else?’ For me, I enjoyed it for what it was and I was proud to have worked on it and collaborated with Zack and everything. For me, it was kind of undeserved, the kind of critical response to it. Like I said, they fixated on things that they just read in a review and somebody who was watching it wasn’t paying attention or wasn’t critical… ’cause the thing is that there are journalists who do their homework and they know how to critique a movie and review it, and then there are people who are bloggers who just watch a movie and give you their opinion. Like, ‘oh, I hate it because Superman didn’t smile enough.’ Like, really? So, that’s your whole point? You want him to smile a lot?”

You can listen to the complete podcast at ComicBookDebate.com.