I'm sick of this "Superman doesn't kill" argument being used to bitch about the end of MOS, you don't like the movie that's fine but find a different thing to focus on because Superman has killed several times, in fact Superman has actually killed Zod several times.

Superman prefers not to kill and will usually do whatever he can to prevent doing so but he will do and has done what he has to do. Also the movie made it very clear that killing Zod was the only way to stop him, Zod actually said the only way Superman could keep him from killing every human on Earth( Which any Kryptonian could do in about 9 seconds) was to kill him.

Death of Superman: He and Doomsday beat each other to death so that technically counts as Superman killing someone/something.

Kills Mxy

"Whatever happened to the man of tommorow"

phantom zone projector

GA Superman killed on a daily basis. Deal with it.

Spider-Man has killed in comics, doesn't mean I wan't him to fill Rhinos mouth with web in the next film

@sandman_: Any actual Superman fan knows that Superman has killed before, true its never option A but it has happened. Also its not like he was like "Yay I killed a guy." He looked like he was in anguish. I also don't get the complaint about how he just instantly got over it, I was under the impression that the time jump was a well known cinematic tool, I had no idea so few people knew about that concept.

@joshmightbe: Some people seem to think that after Superman killed Zod, he pissed on his buddy and gave him the finger...He immediately felt bad about it.

@sandman_: Seems they wanted them to tack on an extra 20 minutes dedicated to Superman crying in a corner or something.

@joshmightbe: His scream was more than enough. Hey, you liked the movie right?

@sandman_: Yea I liked it, wasn't perfect but it was pretty good.

@joshmightbe: The argument from smart anti-Zod-murder advocates isn't that Superman has never killed before, it's that he shouldn't have to in the first place.

Not that I'm on that side. I liked MoS. Just saying.

@joshmightbe: No movie is perfect. But as long as its enjoyable, its all good.

What bugs me is that this is the same fanbase that let superman say , Darkseid i will kill you and not feel shit, -_- The Same FANBASE THAT DIDN'T SAY SHIT ABOUT SUPERMAN IN EARTH ONE Causing damage to metropolis or when in Vol 2 he fried a Warlord with his heat vision and his men yet where was the up roar over that shit. Why is it that when its the film it gets bashed but the comics are disqualified WTF. This is like Brynes Superman all over again the same fanabse that got all pissed when Bryne did his version of Superman.

@drudox19: Superman didnt kill anyone in earth one vol 2, that was just something he would have liked to do but never actually did

I had a problem with it at first. But when i thought about it a bit, i understood that superman did the same thing to doomsday. I dont like the idea that they are using it to give a reason for why he doesnt kill. Now instead of refusing to kill because of an ideal, superman refuses to kill out of guilt. thats not the superman i read every month.

@eternal19: There is a strong argument to be made that the entire ideal behind Superman that Clark created was a symptom of survivor's guilt, not my argument but I've heard it once in a pretty convincing way.

@innervenom123: yea and that's so silly,saying it bad cuz the writers did what no one else has ever done in that way.apparently superman has to always always overcome those situations even the one he was put in,in the movie n then that apparently makes him like us and hes supposed to be above us.....but he is above us,if this supes was anything like us he wldve seized every opportunity, gone all out and finished off zod from the start. what he did was the absolute last resort and even then the remorse shown was seriously powerful.

he still has ideals,why arn't ppl getting this,if he didn't he wld've finished zod off in from the start. its not guilt that gonna keep him from killing. he already had that ideal,and was completely forced to go against it and now he knows what it feels like to kill, so its not guilt,its that he'll try to never let himself be put in that kind of position again.

Most of these people aren't saying whether he should or shouldn't kill Zod they seem to believe like gospel that Superman has never or isn't even capable of killing.

@joshmightbe: I always believed that it was because of what his parents taught him and the belief that it will lead to a better world

The only reason that Snyder and Goyer put that in the movie. Is to give a reason for why Clark doesnt kill, so they are pretty much saying that the pain of killing Zod was so much that he will never kill again. Which means that he refuses to kill out of guilt in my opinion. The Superman that i grew up with doesnt kill because he feels that it will lead to a better world. The superman in MOS refuses to kill because he doesnt want to go through the mental pain that comes with taking a life. Thats not my Superman.

@eternal19: That's the thought I prefer, just saying there could be a tinge of survivor's guilt in there. Basically Superman's idea that he has to do something great because he was the last survivor, like he needs to make his life mean something grand to make the death of Krypton not be in vane.

@sandman_: To be hinest tho I liked Superman TAS better but that's no insult because A. I loved that show and B. I also like Batman TAS better than all the Batman live action movies combined.

@joshmightbe: I see what your saying.

I have too agree. You gotta admit, they kinda missed to introduced Brainiac like in the TAS.

@sandman_: They can always add a flashback for the sequel

@eternal19: if the writers really meant it like that then ya that would really suck.....im hopin that they intended that he was already averse to killing and being forced to kill zod and the remorse from that would just cement the aversion.Hence, solidifying the ideal....well thats all i can hope for.

@joshmightbe: I see...But they should have mentioned him in the movie at least.

Im tired of these lines of thats not my superman shut up we get it superman has many many versions there is not definitive version unless we say the Golden Age Version where he is killing left and right not giving a shit the way Siegal wanted him to be like then ok. I am getting tired of this BS my Superman this My Superman that i don't give a shit many people have there own Superman i am getting tired of this retarded hard on for the Silver Age where you guys born in the Silver Age LOL i don't think so, but a lot of these writers at DC seem to dickride the Silver Age like it actually helped DC comics. NO IT DIDN'T THE SILVER AGE ALMOST ENDED DC it was Marvel that saved them with there characters. This Idea of Superman being Mr Perfect is the reason why people bash DC characters besides batman.

I love Superman i don't mind any version of the character cause know its a alternate universe version of the characters anyway but the fanbase is really pissing me off and this is the final straw for me cause im thinking this fanbase has turned into WW fans.

But rhino can and has been arrested before.

What would they do in this movie? put Zod in jail? take him down with nonexistent kryptonite?

"The why of it was for me - I go - if it's truly an origin story, his aversion to killing is unexplained, it's just in his DNA. I felt like we needed him to do something just like him putting on the glasses or going to the Daily Planet, or any of the other things that your sort of seeing for the first time that you realize becomes his sort of his thing. I felt like if we could find a way of making it impossible for him, you know "kobayashi maru" - totally no way out - I felt like that could also make you go 'okay, this is the why of him not killing ever again.'

He's basically obliterated his entire people and his culture, and he is responsible for it, and he's just like 'I can't. How could I kill ever again?'

That is a legit reason for him not to want to kill again, instead of "my mommy told me not to" "im afraid ill go to jail" "im afraid ill go to hell"

hey that's fair, but in the movie he didn't just walk up to Zod and snap his neck, he avoided beating people up, he avoided killing, and in the last scene he said don't do this, he tried to talk him out of it first, so I doubt he had an objection simply because of guilt. He could have beat up the guy in the bar without killing him, and those bullies, he simply did not because standing down was just easier, he knew it was the better way. And people say "because it would raise questions" no it wouldn't...he is 6ft tall and huge, he could beat up people no questions asked.

The whole no kill rule is fine when you're dealing with street level threats that can be contained but its a little naive to believe that rule would make sense with villains that can literally only be stopped by dying

@joshmightbe: IN that jlu episode where superman sent doomsday to the phantom zone and batman scolds him for it always left a bad feeling. Wtf was he supposed to do? It was bad enough cooled lava contained doomsday....but lock him up so he could just break out again?

Im saying that the entire scene was intended to give a reason for why clark doesnt kill. according to Snyder and Goyer, clark doesnt kill because he is scared of having to go through the mental pain of killing a person. That is guilt and shows that Goyer and Snyder dont know what Superman stands for. They were so focused on makeing him supposedly "relatable" that they forgot what made the character cool in the first place.

P.S. i personally enjoyed this movie. I understand that its a different version of Superman. But i definitly dont want this version to translate to the comics.

http://screenrant.com/man-steel-ending-superman-kills-zod-death-discussion/

Read that and mull over it.The cry babies bashing MoS are hypocrites.

seems to me this version has already translated into the comics, the comics one is punch first ask questions later....and I don't know how many parademons he killed in that Justice League story. Seems to me the superman you don't want to carry over is already there but even worse. Unless you preferred that mouthy obnoxious one that mocked and taunted authority?

I'm soooo sick of this arguement. Get over it already christ

Seriously!! people blindly forget the first 8 issues of action comics and then fast forward five years to the idealistic superman and everyones fine and dandy......this movie was an origin as well, he's not even superman yet,he's a guy discovering his heritage protecting his new home from the threat of his old one,And he's not an a$$ in the slightest,he handed himself over to the army for gods sake, this nitpicking is getting out of hand. everyones just forgotten he's been in a sense Superman for like a week or less.

We're not even sure he actually killed a parademon. You must not have read the last several issues of action comics. Because he is more like the pre-new 52 superman.

Ya he's more like the pre-52 version After the 5 year timeline, when he was just begining he was still reckless and obnoxious. thats why it makes very little sense people hating on Mos,its still superman in like the first week he's donned the costume,not full fledged experienced Supes.

@joshmightbe: Question, superman used to kill but who is the dumbo in DC that decides that superman ought to take the no-kill code?

I just hope that in the next film. Superman doesnt kill anyone in an incredibly forced and somewhat cheesy scene

@royal_rumble_man: He doesn't really have the same no kill code as Batman he just wont kill unless its his absolute only option

@joshmightbe: Writers then need to give him stronger enemies to kill

@royal_rumble_man: I don't want him to just start killing all the time, him preferring not to kill is one of his best character traits I just wanted to point out that he will if he has too.

@eternal19: @joshmightbe: Zack Snyder said he put that scene in to give Superman an origin to his moral code. So no he won't kill anymore. It was risky but I think it worked.

I actually liked the fact he killed Zod

Thank gosh for this article. I always hated it when people were all "Superman killed Zod? That wrecks the film!" No it doesn't. And just wait for MoS 3, when Superman kills Doomsday!

I don't like that people think killing a criminal makes you one as well. He can still be aspirational and take a villians life when necessary

This. Criminals kill for the heck of it. Superman (and other heroes) only kill when they absolutely have to (and sometimes not even then!)

Finally somebody pointed how most who cry over Man of Steel, know jacks***.