Yes. I know that sounds impossible, but I’ll explain. It’s from the end of the movie, so spoilers ahead.
During the third act of Batman v Superman, Lex Luthor has his minions abduct Ma Kent and then tells Superman to go kill Batman or he’ll have her killed. IGN asked Zack Snyder why Superman didn’t hear his mother’s cries for help using his superhearing. First of all, Snyder told them that he thinks the distance between Metropolis to Smallville is about Superman’s superhearing range. (Which, you know what? We’ll put that one down to a different interpretation of Superman’s powers. That can happen. Of course it means that I now have no clue how Superman showed up to save Lois in the opening scene unless he always hovers within his range of her. Which is another kind of creepy all together… and, no. I’m letting this particular plothole go.)
Second, of all, Snyder said that the many cries for help in the city would make finding Ma Kent difficult. Which was, he then went on to say, the basis of a cut scene:
We had a scene that we cut from the movie where he tries to look for her when he finds out that Lex has got her. It was a slightly dark scene that we cut out because it sort of represented this dark side. Because when he was looking for his mum he heard all the cries of all the potential crimes going on in the city, you know when you look.
I know. I know the idea that something was cut from Batman v Superman for being “dark” is laughably insane. And while we applaud the instinct that had the scene where Superman ignores innocents crying for help removed from the final cut of the film, we do have to question the mind that filmed it in the first place. Thankfully, Snyder went on to explain why he liked the scene originally:
I kind of like the idea that he’s taught himself not to look because if he looks it’s just neverending, right? You have to know when, as Superman, when to intervene and when not to. Or not when not to, you can’t be everywhere at once, literally you can’t be everywhere at once, so he has to be really selective in a weird way about where he chooses to interfere.
This is one of those things we know instinctively — that Superman can’t be everywhere — and yet maybe don’t need actually spelled out, as watching Superman literally ignore people’s cries for help seems… oh… not particularly heroic. Oh well. We’ll have to see if this “dark side” scene is included in the Blu-ray.
[IGN]