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| Shut up, you tart. |
I'm not really one for reactional opinion pieces. I like to write about stuff I enjoy, but I have been seeing a LOT of anger and criticism online from fans regarding the ending of Man Of Steel. Specifically the fact that Supes kills General Zod in the final act of the film. Mark Waid, writer of Superman: Birthright has even made his distaste known publicly.
If you hated Man Of Steel, that's fair enough, but many people are citing this one plot point as their reason, and that, I just don't get. I can totally understand, and to an extent agree with the whole 'Superman would have found another way', or 'Superman just wouldn't do it, because he thinks killing is wrong' arguments, but here are my thoughts on this.
1. At this point in the film, Clark Kent has been anonymously saving lives here and there since childhood, but he's been watched by the world as 'Superman' for what, a couple of days? Sure, he knows killing is wrong, because he has been raised to be a good person, and he did try to talk Zod down. Add that to his reaction after the event, and it's clear he obviously didn't want to kill him. Perhaps this is the point where he makes his decision not to kill? You could argue that that sort of decision should not require an 'origin point', but this isn't just killing random people in the street. This is a pretty much unstoppable super-powered alien criminal who wants to wipe out the human race.
2. Superman could not have found another way. The invasion of aliens hell-bent on the destruction of earth is as new to Clark as it is to everyone else. The filmmakers wanted to tell a first-contact story. Sort of a 'What would it be like if this guy showed up on our radar tomorrow' scenario. That means at this point, there is no known earth-based technology that could contain Zod. There is the Phantom Zone, which was used to imprison the other Kryptonians, but it is pretty doubtful that they could just turn that on and off like a light, is it not?
3. We have to assume that a huge number of people died in the battle in Metropolis. I'M PRETTY SURE SUPERMAN REALISES THAT! Skyscrapers are falling like dominoes for goodness sake! You think just because he didn't say it out loud on-screen, that he wouldn't have acknowledged that? That moment when Zod says he will never stop? At that moment, Clark clearly felt that there was no other way out. Countless people are already dead, and if Zod lives, there is no known way of containing him, and the entire planet is at risk.
4. In a way we should be glad it happened. Michael Shannon did a good job as Zod, but the character is in no way interesting enough for anyone to want to see him back in another film. Personally, I hope they don't find a way to bring him back in future. Bring back Faora though. she was ace.
As much as I did love it, I have my own gripes about Man Of Steel. Not least the fact that, based on the information he gave away at various points in the film, anyone with Google could work out who Superman really is, or the very sudden kiss between Lois and Clark at the end.
More than anyone, it seems that comic book fans would rather immediately nit-pick about dumb details, rather than empathize with a new take on the character. I know this because I am a comic book fan.
But here's the thing:
If this film had spent more time on Lois and Clark's relationship, that bit would have been boring. If it had spent more time on Clark growing up in Smallville, it would have been boring, and likely nothing we hadn't seen before. If Superman hadn't killed Zod, it would have been predictable.
Instead we got a serious, if slightly disjointed, superhero flick. HOW DARE THEY?!
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