Funny / Man of Steel

So much for having a hot streak at work...

Hamilton: Uh, my name is Dr...
Superman: Emil Hamilton, I know. I can see your ID tag in your breast pocket, along with a half eaten roll of Wint-O-Green Life Savers.

— Too much information is given from Superman's X-Ray Vision.

Some people might be quick to say that there's no humor at all in Man of Steel. This page will prove them wrong.

All spoilers on this page are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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The Movie

• During an otherwise moving discussion over sending their newborn son to Earth, Lara mentions her fears that the humans will kill Kal-El upon discovering what he is. Jor-El, in honest befuddlement, asks "How?"
• Zod's reaction to learning Kal-El was conceived naturally and without any specific design: "HERESY!" It's Michael Shannon's delivery that makes it entertaining.
• Clark rips a burning oil rig's door open to save the workers trapped inside. The workers are quite puzzled at first when seeing their savior, who's fireproof and shirtless.
• The outcome of Clark's stand-off with the jerk customer at the diner in act one. Clark leaves, silent and upset, and later the jerk finds his truck staked through four roughly-sharpened pieces of timber. That's what he gets for pissing off Clark.
  • Also, when he tries to shove Clark to the ground, only to end up shoving himself a foot or so away. Clark is as steady as a boulder.
  • Not to mention his expression when he sees his vehicle: "Does Not Compute."
• When Lois arrives at the US military's post in Canada investigating the Kryptonian scout ship. Clark, going by "Joe," is tasked with collecting Lois's belongings, and Lois tells him to be careful because they're really heavy. Clark has every single one of her bags slung on his arms, clearly unhindered by their weight. Lois stares for a moment, then gets right back to work.
• When Colonel Hardy shows Lois her "room" at the base, she turns to him and asks, "What if I have to tinkle?" It's not just her choice of word; it's also the sweet, girlish tone (and smile) with which she delivers the line.
  • And then Hardy tells her there's a pot. In a similarly innocent tone.
• After informing Lois that he's going to cauterize a wound given to her by a robot in the Kryptonian scout ship, Clark gently orders her: "Hold my hand. This is going to hurt."
• Superman's first attempt at flight. He starts off as leaping, a subtle Shout-Out to "Leap tall buildings in a single bound." When he flies for the first time, he crashes. Which is pretty much a Visual Pun of "Up, up, and awa—Oh, Crap!!!!!" Before actually flying properly.
  • During his first flight, Superman breaks a mountain.
• Shortly after mastering the ability to fly, Clark travels home by hitching a ride on a truck. Who does the truck belong to? LexCorp.
• When the FBI approach her apartment, Lois gets the heck outta Dodge. When she gets into an alleyway, she looks behind her with a confident smirk. It's a cool moment of Lois reveling in being one slick, clever lass. And then the Feds pull up right in front of her. Humble Pie, Lois.
• The reverend gulping when Clark tells him that he is the one Zod is looking for.
• During the interrogation scene, Superman and Lois's discussion about the 'S' on his chest.
  Lois: What's the 'S' stand for?
  Clark: It's not an 'S.' On my world, the symbol means "hope."
  Lois: Well, here, it's...an 'S.' (Beat) How about Sup- (static)
  • Up until Superman gets serious, the entire interrogation sequence, especially when Supes talks to the people on the other side of the one-way mirror. Before casually mentioning that the people furiously loading tranquilizer guns in the room behind them, don't need to bother.
    • Speaking of casually, the manner in which Clark/Superman separates his handcuffs before addressing General Swanwick is funny in itself.
• Clark's general approach to things, separating his take on The Paragon from the other iconic comic paragon (see Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger); seeing as he's still trying to find his footing, his very straightforward and rather blunt approach makes him just as awkward in moments as Steve is, but in his own way.
• After Lois inserts Clark's command key aboard the Black Zero, she turns around and is startled to find Jor-El's Digital Avatar standing behind her.
  • Jor-El's slight arching of his eyebrows after Lois asks him a question.
• Jor-El opening doors aboard Zod's ship for Lois, with a gesture not unlike a Force wave.
  • As Lois makes her way to safety, Jor-El's avatar appears, pointing her in the right direction, within a span of seconds.
  • "Safe travels, Miss Lane. It is highly unlikely we will meet again. (Beat) Move your head to the left." Cue one of Zod's soldiers attempting to attack Lois.
• During the battle in Smallville, Hardy tells the fighter jet pilots to use deadly force. Deadly force...against superpowered aliens.
• One of the pilots lets out an "Oh, shit!" as Faora leaps at his aircraft.
• When Superman sees an adult Pete Ross after he and Faora crash-land into the IHOP where Pete works, he gives a look that screams "You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!".
• Faora's look of complete boredom while Hardy is unloading an entire clip from an SMG directly into her face without it having any noticeable effect.
• When a soldier refers to Clark as "Superman," Swanwick stares at the soldier, clearly thinking that was the stupidest thing he has ever heard.
• Superman about to lift off, which generates shockwaves:
  Superman: (to Lois) You might wanna step back a little bit. (Beat) Maybe a little bit more.
• This exchange between Zod and Jor-El's digital copy. The deadpan tone of Zod's voice is what sells it.
  Jor-El: You're talking about genocide.
  Zod: Yes. And I'm arguing its merits with a ghost.
• That one unfortunate crewmen who fell off from plane let out his Stock Scream.
• When Superman and Lois finally kiss...Perry White seems to smirk.
  • Also, the look Lois gives Clark after their Big Damn Kiss, going, "You know, they say it's all downhill after the first kiss." She is turned on like crazy.
    • To which Clark responds that he's fairly sure that rule only works with humans. Beat; Lois kisses him again (a la "Oh, Clark, shut up and kiss me...").
• The fight with Zod gets into a partially-constructed building at one point. In a "blink and you'll miss it" moment, Zod whacks Superman into a "days without an accident" counter, knocking the numbers off and reverting it to zero.
  • There's also the way Supes gets knocked into it; Zod comes after him with a huge metal girder, Superman heat-visions it until it's so short, it misses him. He closes his eyes to shut off his heat vision...and Zod promptly whacks him with the shortened girder, making the whole maneuver rather pointless.
    • Ironically, the Man of Steel was knocked off by a steel.
• "Where did you train? ON A FARM?!" Again, it's all about Michael Shannon's delivery; here, Zod's tone just screams "You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!".
• After Superman throws a large piece of military tech right in the path of General Swanwick's speeding car:
  Swanwick: ARE YOU EFFIN' STUPID?!
  Superman: One of your surveillance drones.
  Swanwick: That's a twelve-million dollar piece of hardware!
  Superman: It was.
  • Then the general asks:
    Swanwick: How do we know you won't one day act against America's interests?
    Superman: I grew up in Kansas, General. I'm about as American as it gets.
    • It's also funny in an ironic way, considering Henry Cavill is the first non-American actor to be playing Superman.
  • And then after he leaves...
    Swanwick: What are you smiling about, Captain?
    Captain Ferris: Nothing, sir. (Beat) I just think he's kinda hot.
    Swanwick: Get in the car, Captain.
    Captain Ferris: Mmmhmm, yes, sir.
    • The way Swanwick just wearily nods and even kind of grins at that after really sells it. It implies that he's used to the captain's behavior.

Meta

• The Carl's Jr/Hardee's commercial featuring Metropolis City Service dealing with Superman's potholes. Just as the city worker amends that they'll be done "before lunch" to "right after lunch" after seeing a pair of transformers fall (despite the large mess all over the place), Superman lands further down the street, creating yet another pothole.
  City worker: (gives a look of "Dude, again?")
  Superman: (gives a rather sheepish and apologetic look)
  City worker: (salutes with his burger) All good, man! (turns to camera) Maybe a little overtime.
• For Dragon Ball fans, one of Zod's minions being named "Nam-Ek" can be considered funny.
• One of the TV Spots edited footage in way that makes it seem as though Jor-El is declaring that his newborn son is manlier than Zod. Zod's reaction is just the icing on the cake.
• During a guest appearance on The Graham Norton Show alongside Henry Cavill and Amy Adams promoting the movie, Russell Crowe related how one of the infant actors playing baby Kal-El had a "full evacuation" and the... results got on his costume, making it slippery, and he ended up holding the baby close to him. Crowe also mentions that there was "a lot of air involved" with another baby actor.
• From the filming: "Mary Poppins!"

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