If Superman from the comic book couldn't stop Zod from destroying most of Metropolis, why are people so upset that Zod did the same in the movie?

I agree with this.

@danhimself said:

I pulled the following from a response to Mark Waid's reaction to the movie:

Superman isn’t you. He’s not “us”. He’s not just some guy thrust into an impossible situation trying to flail his way through as best he can. Or at least he shouldn’t be. He’s supposed to be the embodiment of the best we can hope to be, so if “reluctant killer” is the best we can hope for now, we’re thoroughly screwed.

It seems as if the Superman some people want these days is just some every day joe who just happens to have super powers. I think it makes them feel better about themselves that someone like him is brought down to our "level" because if he's not, we must not be as great as we think we are. Ironically enough, it reminds me of a line from that documentary Waiting for Superman (at least I think it was from that). It made mention how American students have some of the lowest math and science scores in the world, but are ranked first in confidence. As to how it relates to Superman, it seems as if a lot of people would want all the grandeur and stature of being Superman, but none of the actual morality, which makes him Superman way more than the powers, IMHO. It seems as if the people who want a Superman they can "relate to" want it because if he's so great with all his powers and everything, that must mean they must be, too.

Honestly? His powers are what draw me to the character the least. What draws me to the character the most is the idea that there is at least one person out there willing to be unflinchingly good no matter he's faced with. This made me feel better about the world, quite frankly, because that means the world isn't anywhere near as dark and cynical and bitter of a place that I've always suspected it to be. But since being unflinchingly good no matter what you're faced with is neither easy or "cool" people would just rather hear a neck snap because it just gives them that "%*&^, YEAH!" moment without having to think about what this really says about the character and how they relate to him.

For clarification's sake, Superman isn't even my favorite superhero. In fact, he comes in at #4 behind Batman, Daredevil (at least Miller, Bendis, and Brubaker's version), and Spider-Man. It's what he's supposed to represent, though, that makes him more important than all of these characters put together.

@straightedgejoe: its not like he was trying to, zod forced him to kill him, what was sups going to do? zod could have broke our planet in half.

Zack Snyder and Christoper Nolan probably played some parts of INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US and said Superman should kill to show he is not a pushover... haha.... i haven't seen the movie yet, but when I do, I'll keep this in mind

I do agree with a lot of your points G-Man, but I don't feel so strongly about them. Although I have a problem with Louis finding out who superman was so early from the perspective of their romantic relationship (the cool thing about their relationship was that Louis fell in love with Clark and not Superman) it does make a ton of a sense for such renowned reporter to find the clues about his identity the way she did.

I think the movie could have done more to show Superman trying to save civilians during the fight scenes, but at points he did try and that was probably my second biggest complaint about the movie.

The ending while shocking to me, made sense. What is Superman suppose to do at that point? The whole time during the final fight scene I was thinking about the many corny ways that Superman was going to end the fight and how disappointing they would all be. At least the neck snap was something out of ordinary and it does make sense for how the scene was going.

What I hated most about the movie was how PA kent died...... CMON THAT WAS JUST LAME.

Overall the action and certain characters made me enjoy the movie, it could have used a better script and better attention to details (like the civilian casualty etc.) but I actually felt like I was watching a Superman movie just because of the action scene (at least for once he was fighting powerful bad guys and not catching planes and saving people from natural disasters).

@edge007: yup

Been a Superman fan since as long as I can remember. I understand the traditionalist don't like the Man of Steel changes but personally I felt it was in the best interests of the wider audience, comic book lovers and movie goers alike. I was quite comfortable with Superman breaking Zod's neck in the movie. Just like I was comfortable with Superman breaking Doomsday's neck in 'The Death of Superman', but hey-ho, what do I know?

Going for second time tonight :) :)

MoS > Avengers

I don't understand the point of this. People do remember that superman killed off Zod in Superman II, right? He's basically killed the same villain twice in two movies. In the first one, no reaction. In this one, major reaction. Its kinda hypocritical. I get the issues with killing, but these aren't new issues. Superman will always be a boy scout. But this was an origin story. A story about him finding himself. What's the fuss about?

Snyder made Sucker Punch.

@manwhohaseverything: I actually went back and read some of the comments before mine and saw what you had wrote. Didn't mean to completely rip off your post :) but I'm glad we had the same thought process. People aren't seeing the big picture. Man of Steel is Book Zero everyone.

Okay, we can close this forum now. This statement of fact pretty much trumps all. :)

Uhm, Superman Killed zod in Superman II (movie) and Josh Byrne's "Man of Steel" by using kryptonite. Superman has killed before and after which felt incredibly guilty for doing so, something I am absolutely certain they will explore in further movies and as I suggested the night after watching it will be a major point of conflict between Supes and Batman. In fact I want a World's Finest movie first now even more just to explore this. In fact I think they should explore parts of the DC animated film "Doom" where Batman has a contingency for all of the members should they go Rogue.

I feel bad for the people who didn't like the movie. I don't think it was perfect and there were bits that I would have changed, but that's true for pretty much any movie. I think people are incredibly hypocritical for bitching when Avengers had just as much destruction. I guess the charm of Downey really does blind people. They were trying to destroy earth and would have if Supes hadn't involved himself. Why would any of them let Kal-El simply lure them away, Zod says that he will kill them all, so Superman leaving would have been perfect. Spider-man has killed on film, Iron Man, Captain America and no backlash, which I still say rightfully so, in those conditions they were justified, as was it here. Yes, Metropolis was effed up a lot, but it was that or... earth? Superman turns around to save one person, Zod kills two more when his back is turned. I think there is a lot of super nit-picky complaining mixed with a general dislike for Superman.

@teerack: of course there not get with it those where trash that where carried by Heath ledger.

I honestly don't understand. People complained about Superman returns because it was a complete rip off of Donner's Suerman. Then people complain because Man of Steel isn't the Superman they grew up on. I personally thought the movie was effin amazing. Yeah I know it's just my opinion and all, but I felt the movie gave the fans and viewers the benefit of the doubt.

They skimmed through the Smallville moments because we have all seen, read or heard it a hundred times already. No need to beat a dead horse! For the battle in Smallville, Superman told people to go inside, so as the viewer you could use your imagination that they not only went inside but probably went in a basement. For god sakes people they live in tornado ally!!! I'm sure they have extensive knowledge of how to take cover in safe areas.

As for metropolis, the National Guard showed up meaning that the area is being evacuated or has been evacuated. So again as the viewer you can use your imagination that "Hey, most of Metropilos is empty." Also, why didnt anybody bitch about this in the Avengers?!? New York got wrecked by those aliens too, so why is this taking a beating?

As for Supes offing Zod in the end, I felt that was his "killing is wrong" moment for and the fact that he is now once again is alone. With no one to really connect with on a kryptonian level. But back to the whole killing thing. In the comics Superman doesn't kill, yet he has never done it. How can you dislike something if you never tried it. It's a "permanent" solution in the world of superheroes so why not go for it.

I have been in the United States Airforce for 6 years now and my job is military police. If we are to ever encounter an individual who is a threat to others, we give them every chance to surrender, but if given no other choice we have to put him down. Zod forced Superman's hand and Supes begged him to stop. He didn't train to become a Superhero in this movie. He was basically tossed into it and despite all this vast arsenal of powers HE IS NOT PERFECT. Now of this whole killing thing becomes a habit then the movie has truly abandoned the character but I hope the writers turn this into a life lesson for Superman and he grows from this and allows him to think of other alternatives to stop an opponent. I think critics are being very narrow minded in this version of Superman and are being very quick to judge against this movie instead of using common sense. This movie was everything that Superman Returns wasn't....,a good movie.

In short, this is a coming of age movie people. Clark is still raw when it comes to saving a vast amount of lives. This movie gave US, the fans, the benefit of the doubt but instead most people took this movie at face value and decided to run with it. I'm a die hard Superman fan but if this movie was horrible (like Superman Returns) than I would say it was but in my opinion, it was an excellent movie for a brand new area where superhero movies that are dominating the movie market.

I have to agree with the question, "why does every superhero movie end with a dead villain?" These are freakin' heroes! The very reason Kingdom Come and Injustice are epic reads are basically rooted in the no-kill rule. Sure it resolves the story but it seems like such an easy way out.

Well at least Scarecrow survived the whole Batman Trilogy

A couple notes on people's comments on The Avengers:

1.) For me, it's all about the character. Captain America's a soldier. Thor's a warrior god. Black Widow's a black ops spy. Hawkeye's a soldier. Iron Man's a weapons manufacturer (or at least was). And Hulk's a rampaging goliath barely in control of himself half of the time. In the simplest possible of terms, none of these characters are Superman. None of these characters are supposed to represent what we should aspire to be like. While Captain America comes close, like I said, he's a soldier first and foremost.

2.) Throughout the epic final battle in Avengers, it was shown that the heroes on the lower end of the power scale were helping people left and right while the bigger guns were doing their best to contain the battle until they figured out a way to close the portal. Cap advised those cops he saved of the best way to keep civilians safe and saved those people in the bank while Black Widow provided cover for Hawkeye as he helped those people out of the bus and get to safety.

3.) I'm assuming a lot of people read Mark Waid's critique of MOS, right? How he described it as "joyless?" I don't think that's a criticism that can be applied to The Avengers in the least. It filled me with the same kind of awe and wonder as the first Superman movie did (although admittedly, it did come up a bit short). Most importantly, though, it was filled with hope, something that for all of the talk of hope in MOS, IMO, it simply wasn't.

There was a disclaimer at the end. No real plants, animals or people were harmed in making this movie lol. The fiery apocalyptic mess at the end was entertaining and jaw dropping. woohoo, Summer fun blockbuster at it's best....

I loved Man of Steel. Have to agree Lois Lane knowing superman Identity was kind of a downer for me.

IMO I likes how Lois can be this great reporter yet Clark has the ability to hide the fact that he is superman from her with baggy cloths and glasses.

And it really Felt like a comic movie because of all the violence and lack of care for random buildings. Superman is still learning how to fight so he can be the one in control, so he an be safe about it.

I didn't mind him killing Zod at the end. I don't believe that it was a superman movie but a great transition into a superman film for MOS 2. He knows his limits and what he needs to stand for in order to make himself a God for the Human Race.

I think Done right Man of Steel 2 will be the Superman Movie everyone will be happy with.

Don't worry everyone I'm sure they will depower superman in the sequel because of what he did to Zod and what happened in Metropolis and we will get the blue boy scout everyone wanted to see. "Gee Lois", and the ever popular "Statistically Speaking flying is still the safest way to travel" Then it will feel like a Superman movie right?

People cry because of the lameness that was Superman Returns but then when Kal cuts loose, oh what ..."Are you not entertained?"

smh

without a doubt the best one !

This is a crappy review. 1. How do you expect to have a good movie if its directly from the comic books? He shouldn't of been saving people while he was fighting because face it that's unrealistic, 2. Him killing zod made the movie, it showed superman is willing to do anything to save the people of his adopted planet, great touch. Considering the year we live in now, that's realistic that's what cops do this isn't the 50s where superman should just lock him up considering in the comics it's stupid to lock up any villian because they get out everytime. In real life anybody would kill if necassary if your superman. This was the most realistic take on superman I think anybody could manage. 3.lois finding out who superman is wasn't in anyway bad considering all they did was skip 50 years of cat and mouse between the two. 4. The only thing I didn't like is how his dad died. But that's ok because the reason why was Completly understandable and I could see a father in real life doing that to protect his son. Honestly it just sounds like g man is nitpicking like any other fan boy, if you enjoy stories just let it ride. This was the greatest superhero movie right after the dark knight. Maybe even better they are close. Like I said they captured the realism if superman was real that movie is exactly how superman would act.

@pokeysteve: Dude I agree with. When it comes to cinematic superhero flicks the villain can't always live especially someone as strong as Zod. If they survive then there will just be way to many villains and for the franchise. It's a movie and not a comic series that's been around for 70+ years. Things have to move along at a faster pace.

@millennium: he's acting like a fanboy, I lost respect for him. It's ignorant

I think we are getting way too into the senseless deaths because of one reason. If they had written a story that explained that this was rookie Superman who had no idea what he was doing and was waiting for the right moment to smooch with this chick...what's her name...Lois! Maybe then we'd forgive all the destruction. Their were good reason for Superman letting people around him die and killing Zod but you don't get it because it was poorly written.

@arinya: no avengers was poorly written. Man of steel just blew the marvel cinematic universe away with one movie.

Yeah, MOS was extremely poorly written. I fear for the future of the DC cinematic universe if this is where it begins.

@superbat420: Yeah cuz Superman making out with a different species after snapping a guys neck while the city is burning is great writing LOL...I wasn't even talking about Avengers or Marvel cinema...great argument by the way! =P

1. Using your super powers to save people or fight in a less dangerous area is not realistic. Thinking is not realistic. Got it. Bad writing.

2. I don't mind Superman killed Zod but the way it happened was dumb. He could of broken his arm. Pushed him over. Covered his eyes giving the idiots in the museum a chance to run off. He felt remorseful for doing it so like I said I liked it but it was just preceded by too much other dumb that you have to think really hard to appreciate it if it's too much of a departure for what you expect Superman to do. Bad writing.

3. Yeah not a biggey but it was the fun part of the relationship. If the relationship between the characters was better or more interesting you'd care. Bad writing.

4. Again, I see where this scene was going but there is so much dumb. Why put yourself in danger when you have Superman with you? How do you forget your dog? It's literally sitting next to Martha?!? Why did Clark not go back once Martha made it to the underpass? He's Superman! I'm sure he could of went into the tornado and save Jonathan and made it look like they dove into a ditch or something and survived. Loved the emotion. Hated the execution of the scene. It was really unnecessary when you start to think about. Bad writing.

@edge007: This is a non sarcastic, legitimate question: How was this movie not perceived as being a "rookie" Superman. We saw him born; grow up as a young boy; discover who he really is and where he came from; and put on the suit for the first time?

@edge007: I'm worried too. Especially since it's killing at the box office! That means the producer won't care if the script/story is trash. It's all about the fight scenes and CG. Ugh! I love how Snyder made this movie look and Zimmer's music was so wonderful. Although I'm still kinda sad they did not pay homage to original theme melody. The movie was all style no substance.

"Rookie" doesn't have to mean pessimistic. Killing an opponent (even one as powerful as Zod) is what a pessimistic person would do with Superman's powers.

Superman isn't a pessimist. In how he was raised (well, at least in every other version of how he was raised) combined with everything that he can do, Superman is the last person who should be a pessimist. All this talk of hope in the trailers and in the film really doesn't make sense with this version of the character.

Realistic?Dont make me laught.Some criminals in real life can get out of jail and do we kill them for that reason?Hell no.If we had super jails the villains would not leave anytime of the day like it is in the comics.Its would be as hard as it is for someone(Non super) to get out of a jail.

I think the problem is that people are too familiar with one aspect of Superman. This film explored other aspects of the character, like his kryptonian heritage, in great depth. Obviously looking at Superman from the angle the film did it seems as if this isn't the character some fans are accustomed to. However I feel that even though this Superman did things we didn't expect him to do (destroy Metropolis during the fight between him and Zod) he is still a very accurate interpretation of the character. If an individual like this existed in real life I think most of what happened in the film would've happened in real life. People need to remember that despite being godlike Superman is no god; he has extraordinary abilities and can do super things but he is also flawed. He is SUPERman not PERFECTman.

Well Said! +

@foxdye said:

Honestly this would have been a great prequel to superman returns you know after he kills zod, he exiles himself searches to find more of his own. The only I hated were costumes, not superman's but, the armor the faora and zod were wearing. Also my favorite character was the faces soldier that they brought (you know the guy who wasn't named but was supposed to be non) he seemed most acclimated with his abilities.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie very much and will purchase the disc when it's released and watch it multiple times. It was very entertaining, action packed and had a great story.

I loved this movie, the fact that some people had agreed that he should not have killed zod is pretty stupid... Zod had sworn to destroy the whole planet and the human race, superman couldn't risk this. Even if zod could be contained (which would be really hard) he would always find a way out...

@citizenbane:

what Edith answered I didn't know that a stay at home mom can get paid $4721 in 1 month on the computer. have you read this website ... w­w­w.B­B­C­1­3.c­o­m

I think the Killing Zod made sense in a few ways.. first it showed that he truly chose the protection of humans over everything else (even his own people) and also i think it wouldn't have been at all realistic for superman to allow Zod to live especially after it was proven that Earth had no way to contain a powered Kryptonian (not to mention, see next point). also unlike in comics this battle killed what had to be millions as well as destroying multiple towns and cities (oh and the whole trying to kill all humans). It is not realistic to think that someone responsible for this shouldn't be put to rest (and I believe he is only against killing humans). Superman had to do what was needed to protect ones he chose to stand up for.

Well I personally enjoyed the movie. When I saw Superman kill Zod my first reaction was actually 'hell yes' and then 'wait...did he just'. It was surprising that they would have Superman kill in his first movie of hopefully many. I was able to get over that though because maybe it's better that his first and hopefully last kill comes early in his career and maybe that will be the base of his belief in not killing. It's not like we didn't know Zod would die. Zod said himself that one of them had to die and come on....who thought for a second that Superman was going to be the one to die out of those two. All in all I enjoyed the movie a lot and I never thought anything about it was bad while I was watching it and I still don't think there was anything wrong with it. Everyone has their own opinion so I'm sure not everyone enjoyed it but it's definitely a good start to Superman's career in my opinion. Which is also something important to remember. Superman is still learning about the limits on his powers and all of that junk so all the grief the movie is getting about Superman not caring about the citizens around him and him not stopping them from dying is mainly because he's new to this superhero thing and I'm sure the future movies will do a better job of displaying his heroics.

The movie definitely had it's problems and to be honest I preferred Superman Returns but I still did enjoy it, I really liked the first half.

RABBLE!! RABBLE, RABBLE, RABBLE, RABBLE!

This is what would have happened if Superman played nice!

Glad to finally hear someone else that liked Superman Returns. It was abit of a carbon copy but it was fun. Routh looked the part. Spacey was great as always. There was abit of a creep factor but I didn't hate it. I guess that's why MoS made me mad it just felt they have made several good Superman films. It can be done. There's no need to drag what should be an example of perfection to make him more "human". I think it was Ditko that said something like there is no grey area. There is only right and wrong. Once we start putting our heros in the grey area they stop being heros. What are we looking up to? Supes is supposed to be better than us. Teaching us that there is a better way to deal with our issues, problems and crisis than conflict. Ditko was a smart man.

LOOK AT THAT! My god, there is no comparison! In avengers, not only did it not look this bad, but half of the movie was about getting people to safety. Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Cap were all working the duty of saving the people. You heard Cap collaborating with a police officers about getting people either in the sewers or underground somewhere. I understand Superman doesn't have a team in this, but he definitely could've handled this better.

Thor, Hulk and Ironman were taking care of the invaders, Superman was a one-man army. Your avengers comparison fall apart by the sole fact that Superman is earth's only protection from Zod's army.

When Zod, and faora/ her henchmen, are CLEARLY after you and you alone, at some point you have to be smarter and lure them away.Instead he takes them on in extremely populated areas. I know zod's machine did the bulk of this, but at some point, after fighting faora and her henchman, in downtown smallville. As well as fighting zod in the CENTER of Metropolis, after seeing the damage that has already been done, at some point he HAS to be thinking of the danger he's putting metropolis in. Yet he continues on. He may be new at this, but we were thinking about this, why not him?

Yes lure away two people who are just as strong as superman, I'm sure that as easy as it sounds.

I honestly believe they could've at least showed him trying to lure zod away, or trying to keep buildings from toppling over by pushing them back upright, as Zod continued to attack him and prevent him from doing so. That would've been the way to handle it. And people wouldn't be complaining about this if he had went in that route. But clearly they wanted destruction, and buildings toppling over (7, yes, I counted) to be a major part of this film

Zod was adapting to earth environment faster than superman himself, trying to lure him away would have Zod stronger.

Also, people bringing up cartoons to support destruction is one of the weakest arguments i've ever seen.

How about the comics that feature tons of destruction?

I too hated that Superman killed Zod, and that probably would have spoiled the entire film for me... BUT, we were given that incredibly powerful yet brief moment showing Superman's remorse over what he had done. Couple that with the fact that he is/was supposed to be an inexperienced Superman in this movie who was faced with an impossible choice, and I can live with the decision that was made. This isn't the comics where everything somehow manages to end without the villain dying or getting crippled for life.

How many different ways could he have stopped Zod? Zod was NEVER going to stop until he killed everyone. He says so, and I for one believed it. As much as I abhor the taking of any life, Superman isn't perfect. He made an impossible choice in the face of an impossible situation.

I had more of an issue with the lack of character development in the film. That said, it has become one of my favorite super hero movies of all time. Truly epic.