Man of Steel. Nolan Superman Reboot.

What said.

For the fans who are upset that Superman killed Zod, I would think it would be more offensive if it was the result of a conscious decision he arrived at through rational contemplation, and not something he was pushed to in the heat of the moment. Is it really better if Superman decides that his policy should be killing people who are bad?

In the movie, Superman broke Zod's neck because the situation had crossed the Godzille Theshold and he saw no other way out of it, and didn't have time to find another way out of it. In the heat of the moment, he did what had to be done to protect the people he had assumed responsibility for. It's not his New Personal Policy, it's just what had to happen right then. I don't see how, "Superman calculates his options and decides that next time he sees Zod, he will break his neck," would have been a better portrayal of Superman.

edited 24th Jan '14 2:32:28 PM by TobiasDrake

Actually that would be hilarious.

Also, keep in mind that comic Supes did make exceptions to the no-kill rule once in a blue moon. Namely against Doomsday and Darkseid.

Don't forget the Anti Monitor

I HAVE HAD ENOUGH

...and so on

And many times he has tried to kill certain enemies but they are powerful enough so that he can't stomp them in a second. One word, 'Burn!'

That's his main problem, he doesn't have a killer instinct to be as ruthless as he needs to be in those moments. Plus typically something gets in the way of him following through.

edited 24th Jan '14 10:29:32 PM by KJMackley

I didn't really care about Superman killing Zod at the end, mostly because it's not like Superman got enough character development for him killing someone to be established as a problem for him anyway. The scene itself did kind of take me out of viewership for moment, though. It was one of those rare scenes that made me notice as I was watching it that someone wrote it so that it would happen to the way it did, rather than seeing it as something playing out in front of me.

One need not be a "killer" in order to kill.

That happens to me all the time with Breaking Bad. Still enjoy it all the same.

I'm just glad that Superman is given a dose of personality. He doesn't often make judgements, in the comics or live-action.

It goes like this. Someone (Lois, Ollie in the CW show) comes to him with a problem. Someone is kidnapped (Lois, Lois, sometimes Emil, Lois), and Superman appears, robot-like, and takes care of the threat.

You mean like Pop Eye?

That doesn't sound much like any Superman comics I've read.

This superman certainly felt more human. It showed being Superman and or Clark Kent is hard in a realistic way.

I am one of the people who really likes the neck snap; it was a tragic moment of Kal-El having to accept he can't have Krypton and Earth, he had to choose. Really, I want a scene in the sequel where Clark Kent has to interview people praising Superman for killing the invader and Kal having to keep his composure in those moments.

I really do like this interpretation of Kal-El, he comes across s very human, and to me isn't brooding, more quiet and contemplative, but legitimately humorous and upbeat when he wants to be. (His scenes with Lois are a favourite of mine because he's clearly at ease with her)

I thought the metropolis fight went on too long and save for bits where Zod and Kal were talking didn't have much tension. But those bits made it worth while because it did a good job of showing Kal didn't want to rid the world of what little he has left of Krypton.

You know, if Zod had just decided to terraform Venus instead, no one would have died.

Yeah, that's why he was terraforming Earth.

That's why he was Stupid Evil.

He could have saved his entire race if he had just left humans alone.

I've noticed in most sci-fi movies or shows, if an alien overlord wants to commit suicide, they can just attack earth.

edited 25th Jan '14 11:31:05 AM by BaconManiac5000

Venus or Mars; either can reasonably sustain surface liquid water, and both enjoy that young sun Zod so craved.

But hay, he didn't care about humans; util showing Kal the field of skulls he didn't think he would care either.

That's another thing, showing someone who has lived their life as a human that you plan on exterminating humans is not that great of an idea.

We're talking about a guy who, upon learning that Krypton was dying because of its leaders' bad decisions, enacted a plan that boiled down to 1. Kill the current leaders, 2. declare myself the leader, 3. ???

Zod's a pretty good general, but he's terrible at anything that can't be solved by killing.

You wouldn't believe how much this is Truth in Television for the militaries of the world. They really, really suck at suggesting solutions to problems that don't involve force in one way or another.

You act like suggesting other solutions is their job or something.

Problem is, they don't just suggest when asked, they push for those. If you have a look at the public fora for the Spanish military, for instance, you'll find that they very openly opine that Catalonia's bid for independence should be solved by rolling the tanks out and crushing the population's spirit.

Okay but if we consider a military which isn't directly descended from that of a fascist regime you will find them a lot less eager to run over protesters with tanks.

Or just better reigned in.

Being good at war is a valuable skillset. Being good at peace is a wholly separate skillset. Being good at knowing which of those two experts to listen to at a given time is a third skillset.

That's the point of having advisors. You have specialists who are highly skilled at one thing or another, and then a leader whose job is to weigh the input and go, "I think we're going to go with Bob's suggestion on this one."

edited 25th Jan '14 12:55:40 PM by TobiasDrake

Zod suggested to Jor-El that he had some plans to preserve the species in some way, he just didn't reveal a clear picture of how he was going to do so. In his initial coup he said he would preserve the noble bloodlines and Jor-El asked who was going to choose which one survives. His coup may have succeeded if Jor-El didn't distract his efforts by taking the codex.

As for the choice of which planet to terraform there have been theories put around that the process may be finicky and many of the colonies reverted. In the montage of Zod searching out the colonies they were all lifeless to the point of needing environmental suits. Choosing a world already capable of supporting life may make the process take better.

edited 25th Jan '14 1:01:05 PM by KJMackley

anyone else hope Supes' costume is altered somehow in future movies in this series? none of the colors popped for me, and the pathetic spaghetti noodle belt wasn't enough to break up the blue.