Rebel Moon director Zack Snyder has justified the decision to kill Jonathan Kent in 2013’s Man of Steel, sharing his interpretation of Superman’s perspective during the fateful moment. Read on for details!

After helming comic book adaptations like 300 and Watchmen (both of which had previously been described as “impossible” to put on screen), Zack Snyder seemed a perfect fit to helm 2013’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel.

The DC movie has a lot of fans, but also some highly divisive elements. The destruction of Metropolis, Superman’s inability to save innocents, and the hero’s decision to kill General Zod are chief among them. However, the death of Jonathan Kent is also a major sticking point.

In the movie, Clark Kent allows his adoptive father to d!e – at his behest – to stop the world from finding out he’s Superman. The scene didn’t work particularly well, with many arguing that the Kryptonian could have quite easily rescued Jonathan.

Snyder, however, believes it made all the sense in the world.

“The conversation is exactly what he says to Lois…I let my father d!e to protect the idea that my father was trying to protect,” the Rebel Moon helmer tells GQ. “The idea that I wasn’t ready to be outed to the world because I wasn’t Superman. I’m just a teenager that could’ve made a mess of it. I have the power to do it, but have I ever used my powers in this way?”

“I trusted that his vision for what I could be was bigger than him,” Snyder adds, talking from Clark’s point of view. “This little incident in Kansas was not the thing that was going to expose me to the world.”

It’s a compelling justification and one fans of Man of Steel may well agree with. Regardless, we’re going to see a completely new dynamic between Superman and his father in James Gunn’s SUPERMAN (it was just a few days ago we learned Pruitt Taylor Vince will play the new Pa Kent).

In a separate conversation with Happy, Sad, Confused, Snyder reiterated that there are only a couple of Frank Miller stories which are likely to bring him back to the superhero genre.

“Elektra is like, well, Elektra Lives Again really is the is the movie for me,” Snyder says. “Because it’s Lynn Varley and Frank Miller and the whole – it’s like yeah, that would be, and that book is beautiful. The Dark Knight Returns is the only real comic book movie I would do tomorrow if I could get a chance to do it, yeah. Oh, it has [to be] comic accurate, 100%.”

Check out the full interview with Snyder below.