Clark: All those things I can do. All those powers. And I couldn't even save him.
- The destruction of Krypton, seen in its horrifying and tragic glory. Especially as Jor-El and Lara proceed to send baby Kal-El away and watch him leave as they soon die along side the rest of the planet's inhabitants.
- Jonathan Kent's death. It comes right after a heartwarming talk between him and a younger Clark, when they playfully chase after each other... only for Pa to suffer a fatal heart attack. The funeral scene afterwards, where Clark laments his inability to save his adoptive father despite having such incredible powers, only hammers down how tragic it is.
- What's worse is Pa's reaction to his eventual demise; when he has his heart attack, he checks his left arm and mutters, "Oh, no. Not now" and then just... collapses.
- Of the Manly Tears variety, Jor-El's speech can evoke this."They can be a great people, Kal-El, and they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son."
- The death of Lois Lane and Superman's reaction
is both tearjerking and chilling. - The end of Superman's scene with Jor-El at the Fortress of Solitude after his "first night out". The music was the same as the scene with baby Kal-El back in Krypton. He reaches out to hug Jor-El, but the hologram has vanished. For a second he looks around, confused. It looked like tears were about to well up in his eyes. At last Kal-El could tell his own father how it felt to do good, to use all those powers, yet Jor-El couldn't actually be there. All he had was his likeness and his voice. That was Superman's last vivid link to Krypton, that is, until Jor-El's warning about human history.
