Superman: Man of Steel

Man of Steel is the first movie in a set to reboot the Superman series. Superman hits the big screen in a big way. It made $125 million in the US at the box office during it's opening weekend according to Slash Gear. I really enjoyed this movie but it was not at the top of list of superhero movies. The film attempts to tell the origin of Superman in a way that the pervious Superman films did not. We actually get to see quite a bit of his home planet Krypton and it's destruction. We are also allowed to see Superman's birth father Jor-El come to life on the big screen. I was floored in a good way and bad way by this film; because of when it was doing things correctly it was amazing! However there were moments where I was just wishing the movie would do it’s own thing other than trying to follow the footsteps of other successful superhero movies. There were times that it seemed the formula of flashbacks and jumping back to present day that was given to us in Nolen’s Batman Begins was a cookie cutter for this movie. It worked really well in Batman but seemed to not work as well for Superman. The other thing I had a problem with was that the battle between Superman and Zod destroyed the city of Metropolis on a grand scale. Millions of people died during this fight and that in a way makes Zod victorious because the Superman we all know would have taken the fight away from the city. I also wish we had more of a dorky version of Clark Kent but there is room for that in next movies as we only saw the glasses wearing Kent at the very end of the movie. This reboot of the hero is also a darker version of him that I hope gets a little brighter in the future movies. All that being said however I did enjoy this film and it will be one that gets added to my blu ray shelf at home for me to watch again in the future.  Here’s another review from Big Shiny Robot.

***From this point on there are major spoilers***

The Movie

The film opens with the planet of Krypton facing it’s destruction because of it’s unstable core. This has happened because the planets natural resources have been depleting for years and the consequences are deadly. The rulers of Krypton are killed by General Zod (Michael Shannon) and his followers. Scientist  Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) send there newborn son Kal-El (Henry Cavill) on a spaceship headed to Earth after infusing his cells with a genetic codex containing all of the Kryptonian race. Zod murders Jor-El and because of this and the death of the rulers of the planet Zod and his followers are banished to the Phantom Zone. This was a poor decision though because as soon as Krypton is destroyed they are freed from their prison.

Kal-El’s ship lands in Smallville Kansas and he is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) who found his ship and name him Clark Kent. Because of Clark’s alien physiology he has superpowers which he uses to help others while trying to keep them secret because his mom and dad explain people wont understand why he can do these things others cant. When Clark is a teenager Jonathan shows him his ship and explains that he is the answer to “are we alone in the universe?” A few years later Jonathan dies and Clark spends the early years of his adult life living from place to place under false identities. Moving to another place whenever he has to use his powers to help someone.  Eventually he infiltrates a U.S. military investigation of a Kryptonian scout spaceship that has landed in the Arctic. Clark enters the ship it allows him to communicate with the preserved consciousness of his birth father in the form of a hologram. Jor-El explains where Clark comes from and the fate of Krypton and his race of people. He also explains to Clark that he was sent to earth to bring hope to mankind.

Lois Lane (Amy Adams) a journalist form the Daily Planet is in the arctic to write a story on the ships recovery. She sneaks into the ship, following Clark inside and is rescued by him when she is almost killed by the ships security system. Her editor Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) rejects her story of a superhuman without proof so she tracks Clark back to Kansas from different accounts of people being saved by a man with abilities around the country. Once she meets Clark in Kansas and hears his story from him she chooses not to write the story and keep his secret.

During this time Zod and his followers are looking for the other worlds that the Kryptonian race has been colonizing but after the planets destruction the colonies did not survive long. They receive a distress signal from the ship that Clark discovered on Earth and after Zod arrives on Earth he demands that Kal-El surrenders himself and the codex or Earth will be destroyed. Clark agrees and the military hand him and Lois over to Zod. Then Zod reveals that he will use a terraforming machine to transform Earth into a new Krypton and then use the codex to repopulate the planet with Kryptonians. However doing this will cause the destruction of mankind. Clark and Lois excape Zod’s ship with the help of Jor-El. Clark defeats some of Zod’s soldiers on Earth and convinces the military that he is a friend to Earth. Zod then deploys the machine to Metropolis and the Indian Ocean.

Clark who the military now calls Superman, destroys the machine over the ocean while the military attack the one over Metropolis. Doing so sends Zod’s  forces back to the Phantom Zone. The ship that would use the codex to repopulate the planet with Kryptonians is destroyed and only Zod is left behind. Superman and Zod have a battle that destroys most of Metropolis. Zod corners some humans and attempts to kill them using his heat vision in revenge for being defeated. Superman is forced to kill him to save the humans. Later Superman is still trying to prove himself to the military that he can be trusted but they continue to discover his secret identity. In order to fly under the radar so speak Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet as a reporter.

Comic vs Movie

Most die-hard Superman fans will say that Man of Steel was a bad movie from the get go. As I have said before I try to think of all the superhero movies in a different universe than the comics and that is why things are different. But with this movie there were some big changes made so below I tried to list them. If any of you notice I am wrong about some or left some out please let me know.

Clark Kent

Superman New 52

Things that were very hard to sallow in the film were first that fact that the Clark Kent that we know
from the comics is not in the movie at all until maybe the last 5 seconds when he put on his glasses at the Daily Planet. However just wearing glasses is not enough in my opinion. The Clark Kent from the comics is a goofy, awkward farm boy from a small town who is trying to make it in the big city. He says things like shucks and darn and is a bumbling buffoon around the ladies. This is all a calculated move on Superman’s part. Lets face it, wearing glasses and parting your hair like you’re a 10 year old is not much of disguise. However stumbling over chairs, dropping things and in short being a dork all around would help anyone from looking to closely at Clark and Superman in the same light.

Lois and Clark

Superman and Lois after they're married

Lois Lane figures out his secret identity way to fast and even calls him Clark while he is in his Superman suit in front of military. This rubbed me the wrong way, Lois says she doesn’t want to write the story and expose Clark’s secret so maybe you should try calling him Superman instead of Clark when he’s all suited up and your out in public. There is also a part of movie where the military gives Superman and Lois up to Zod. This made no sense, there was no reason for Lois to go on the ship other than to further the plot along. I will say though that there are many times in the comics where Lois gets herself into situations that make no sense for her to be in other than to have Superman save her so maybe that’s where the idea came from. As for her figuring out his identity before the movie is even halfway over lets back way up on that.  Part of what made the romance between Clark, Lois and Superman was the fact that is was a love triangle. Clark was in love with Lois who was in turn in love with Superman. Clark worked very hard to make sure he was a different person than Superman as stated above thus creating the irony that he was in competition with himself and as Clark Kent would always fall short in Lois’s eyes. This love triangle went on for a very long time in the comics. The first Superman comic was Action Comics #1 which was published in 1938, depending on what version of Superman you are reading the time when Lois finds out about Clark and Superman being the same person varies but it isn’t until at least the late 80’s and they are finally married in 1996 in the comic Superman The Wedding Album. Meaning for this romance to come to a full circle it was an even that took 60 years in the comics. I would have liked to at least see some of what may be the most famous love relationship in the comics happen in the movie but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. Lois knows Clarks secret from the beginning and in my opinion that ruins part of the magic.

Ma and Pa Kent

Ma and Pa Kent

The Kents are a couple that has been rewritten many times through out the history of comics. They Superboy costume while Pa or Jonathan Kent helps show Clark how to make Clark Kent and Superboy two different people so no one will know his secret. Pa Kent dies of a heart attack after the events of a story arc called The Death of Superman. However DC comics the publisher of Superman launched a new continuity of the DC universe in which both Janathan and Martha Kent have passed away and Clark grew into his role as Superman without them. I like the storyline of both Clark’s adoptive parents helping him become the hero he needs to be. The Kents during those issues of Superboy were some of the most important characters and helped show that even without powers they are the reason Superman has the ideals he does. In my opinion they got the short straw in the movie and weren’t allowed to really shine as the role models that Clark used to become Superman.
have both died before Clark becomes Superman and there are other versions where they helped him come into that role. The latter is the most well known and Ma Kent even helps make Clark’s

General Zod

General Zod

General Zod is depicted well in the movie however he is released from the Phantom Zone not because
of Krypton’s destruction but because he served his time. He does not die in the comics and is actually the head of New Krypton’s army. He is an enemy of Superman and Earth because he does try and take it over from time to time.

Other Characters

In the comics Perry White is white not black and the photographer is a boy named Jimmy Olsen not a girl like in the films named Jennie Olsen. These changes did not matter and in no way made the film better or worse but I mention them because they are different.

Easter Eggs

The biggest easter eggs for us comic geeks in the movie are the Lexcorp logos everywhere. They hint Lex Luthor, Superman’s greatest villain. I hope that Lex will be in the sequels and have Metropolis destroyed like it is gives the writers a perfect opportunity to have Lex who has more money than almost anyone in the comics come in to rebuild the city and use it’s destruction as a reason for saying Superman is dangerous.

Lexcorp in Man of Steel movie

When Zod attacks Earth a satellite with the Wayne Enterprises logo is destroyed. This hints to Bruce Wayne which means Batman. Since the movie has been released it has been announced that the next movie will be a Batman/Superman team up.

Supergirl

When Clark enters the ship in the movie he finds bodies of Kyrptonians mummified in their pods, which are broken.  However there is one pod that is not and it is opened with no bodies inside. I hope this leads to who came to Earth like Clark did but her ship was frozen inside a kryptonite-encrusted meteor.

Though my opinion that this movie is still worth watching and owning even from the comic geek perspective might be a unpopular one it is one I shall keep having.