No Superman in Man of Steel
Superman is, ironically, the retort to Nietzsche, the embodiment of a morality so deeply internalized that when all strictures are removed, he acts out of pure goodness and human decency anyway. He protects the weak, he fights for the powerless, he saves lives and rights wrongs and he never takes a life, because he has that power, but not that right.
That guy does not appear in Man of Steel.
I could list a lot of moments that demonstrate that the hero of Man of Steel is not Superman, but for me it all comes down to one shot. When the baddies throw an eighteen-wheel gasoline truck at the hero in the middle of Metropolis, he uses his flight power to cunningly dodge between the truck’s two sections, landing deftly on the street and walking unruffled toward his enemy, as behind him the truck plows into a presumably-populated building and explodes, demolishing the building. The hero doesn’t even glance back; cool guys don’t look at explosions.
There’s a dozen more moments as callous as that, all reflecting the same problem. Like The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel treats the everyday, ordinary people of the world with something between disregard and open contempt. Which is okay for a lot of movies, just not a Superman movie. Because treating ordinary people with contempt is one of two things Superman never does.
The other thing is, after an obligatory spoiler alert, perhaps the clearest example of how the people who made this movie don’t seem to know who Superman is or why anyone would like him.
Those defending Man of Steel as a Superman movie argue that the killing of General Zod is not out of character, because Superman in the comics executed Zod with Kryptonite. And that’s true. In that storyline, Superman agonized over an impossible decision, and realized that under the circumstances, he had no choice but to violate his absolute code against taking life, in the process wiping out the last members of his own species. That terrible decision nearly broke him, and it was a while before he was himself again.
http://goodmenproject.com/arts/brand-theres-no-superman-in-man-of-steel/
That guy does not appear in Man of Steel.
I could list a lot of moments that demonstrate that the hero of Man of Steel is not Superman, but for me it all comes down to one shot. When the baddies throw an eighteen-wheel gasoline truck at the hero in the middle of Metropolis, he uses his flight power to cunningly dodge between the truck’s two sections, landing deftly on the street and walking unruffled toward his enemy, as behind him the truck plows into a presumably-populated building and explodes, demolishing the building. The hero doesn’t even glance back; cool guys don’t look at explosions.
There’s a dozen more moments as callous as that, all reflecting the same problem. Like The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel treats the everyday, ordinary people of the world with something between disregard and open contempt. Which is okay for a lot of movies, just not a Superman movie. Because treating ordinary people with contempt is one of two things Superman never does.
The other thing is, after an obligatory spoiler alert, perhaps the clearest example of how the people who made this movie don’t seem to know who Superman is or why anyone would like him.
Those defending Man of Steel as a Superman movie argue that the killing of General Zod is not out of character, because Superman in the comics executed Zod with Kryptonite. And that’s true. In that storyline, Superman agonized over an impossible decision, and realized that under the circumstances, he had no choice but to violate his absolute code against taking life, in the process wiping out the last members of his own species. That terrible decision nearly broke him, and it was a while before he was himself again.
http://goodmenproject.com/arts/brand-theres-no-superman-in-man-of-steel/