MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Zack Snyder considered revealing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that Martha Wayne and Martha Kent were the same person.

There is a modern adage, specifically about internet communication, called "Poe's Law." The theory, coined by Nathan Poe, is that there is no view so extremist that it could not be taken for an actual belief if you do not specifically point out that you are joking. In other words, in a world where people say a whole lot of extreme things, when you say something extreme sarcastically, it might still read as if you are being serious, because tone does not always convey in print.

It was due to this that an amusing story popped up recently.

As you may or may not know, one of the key scenes in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (directed by Zack Snyder) features Batman and Superman having a bit, drag out fight. Batman has been manipulated to view Superman as a threat and Lex Luthor has kidnapped Superman's mother, Martha Kent, to force Superman to kill Batman in exchange for his mother's life. Superman tries to explain the situation to Batman, but Batman attacks him instead. After their long fight is over, Batman has weakened Superman enough with kryptonite that Batman is set to kill the Man of Steel.

Batman with part of his face exposed

Thinking he is about to die, Superman pleads with Batman to make sure to "save Martha." Batman's mother, of course, was named Martha Wayne and hearing Superman say that rattles Batman long enough for Lois Lane to show up and explain the situation to Batman. In other words, their shared humanity saved Superman's life (as Batman, to that point, saw Superman as basically just an alien).

Recently, there was a story about a panel that Zack Snyder was recently on where he explained, as written in a few articles talking about the panel (this image was shared by my pal Loren, which is where I first saw it, but it was all over the 'net last week)...

However, if you actually watch the panel (starting here, or you can just watch the whole thing below)...

You can see that Snyder was just making a joke.

Now, jokes have obviously still made things happen in the past (a joke led to the creation of the Golden Girls and a DJ joke led to the 1980s revival of Alvin and the Chipmunks), but it is clear that in this instance, this joke was just a joke.

The legend is...

STATUS: False

Thanks to German Lussier for having this one first at io9.

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