How Zack Snyder Gave Me The Right To Change My Mind About Superman; A Retrospective Analysis About 'Man Of Steel'

This article was originally posted on DCFilmsHub.com with Part I and Part II being republished together in its entirety with the writer’s (my) permission here.

 

If you’re like me, then you know today marks a very special occasion. Action Comics issue #1000 has been released! With this day, I wanted to discuss a film that I believe was, and will continue to be, ahead of its time, as far as comic book movies go. I will say at the outset, that I was born in the late 80’s and have been a Batman fan over Superman since I can remember. That was, until Zack Snyder released Man of Steel in June of 2013 and forever changed my feelings and opinion on the ‘Big Blue Boy Scout’ we all are familiar with. With Action Comics hitting this momentous milestone, I thought it would be fitting to give a retrospective analysis and in depth look on the film that changed how I viewed Superman, along with commentary (some even personal) on how Snyder changed it. I will say these are my own expressions and thoughts and while I did not grow up with the 1978 The Superman film, I can fully recognize that some view that film as the only representation of Superman. I believe that you can be a huge fan of both films without the need to compare which one is better, especially when forming your feelings of what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ about the character we all love. After all, Superman is now 1,000 issues in and if he was the same Superman that debuted in June of 1938, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. I hope you’ll see why I feel ‘Man of Steel’ is still relevant 5 years later, how Kal-El became a favorite over the Nolan Trilogy (which is phenomenal) and how Zack Snyder truly made me believe a man could fly.

 

Man of Steel opens with the literal birth of Kal-El; this films version of Superman and with the realism that I wasn’t aware I wanted in a comic book movie. We see Jor-El and Lara, Kal’s Mother and Father, in their home, in what looks like a womb itself, preparing for his arrival. The operatic theme from Hans Zimmer slowly builds and, with its familiar notes reminiscent of the John Williams Superman theme, gives rise to the theme we will be given to encapsulate Superman. With Kal’s arrival, the camera cuts to show Lara’s exhausted but loving stare at her child, at which point the camera cuts to Kal letting out his first cry as he’s welcomed into this new world (i’ll explain why this is so relevant near the end). The why of having Kal with a natural birth doesn’t become clear just yet, but we know it’s something that doesn’t happen too often. We then see that we are on Krypton, the home planet of Superman and visually it’s so beautifully striking that it’s a shame we only get to spend about 20 minutes of the film here. It looks otherworldly and yet, has a lot of meaning and similarities to our own world here on earth.

 

We then see Jor-El pleading to the Council of Krypton that, unless something is changed immediately, the planet will implode, killing every Kryptonian there is. Their only resolution for this cataclysmic event is to sit around and debate among themselves to devise a strategy. Jor-El being their foremost scientist, plans to garner their trust by announcing to them that he and Lara have had a child of natural birth, citing hope for the future of their race if he’s given control of the genetic template of every Kryptonian born (they call it a codex). It’s at this point he’s interrupted by General Zod blasting his way into the Council, killing members and committing genocide among his people. He realizes that Krypton is doomed, the same as Jor-El, but wants to save his people from destruction and start anew, becoming a Totalitarian state by severing the degenerative blood lines he feels lead Krypton to their current state. This conflict gives amazing foreshadowing to what will come to head at the climax of the film.

 

Now, what I’ve just written is only the first 5 minutes of the film, giving way to what eventually ‘Man of Steel’ is about. The freedom of choice and chance. I haven’t even begun to describe what the score is creating or the wonderful imagery being created by the cinematography. So as you can tell, there is major groundwork being laid down on Krypton alone that it’s a brilliant way to introduce Superman’s alien nature and understand Krypton Culture as a failed society. It’s reminiscent and eerily similar to what we have done as a civilization to our own Earth, for better or worse. We can also see that we have two ideologies that are willing to go to extremes to preserve their race. For example, Jor-El and Lara having Kal naturally as oppose to artificial population and General Zod committing high treason and murder as oppose to discussing what options they have left to save their race. Now back to the film.

 

 

With uncertainty and chaos abound, Jor-El finds himself witnessing death and destruction by General Zod while absconding the Council of Krypton. Time is of the essence as he knows with current distractions, he can possibly secure the codex to save his people before his planet faces annihilation. After securing the codex, he arrives back home with his wife Lara, and their child Kal. This is the moment it became very personal for me, ironically almost exactly a year after the film came out mind you, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to tell Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer how much they helped me during the most difficult time in my life. As Jor-El arrives home, he asks Lara if they’ve found a world to send off baby Kal. Lara is worried that the Earth will treat him as an outcast and a freak. That Kal will be killed by humans. Jor-El confidently assures her that he’ll be a god to us. Once Lara realizes that this child, a child she just had the pleasure of meeting and barely spent time with, has to leave them and will be sent to an unknown world by himself, her true worries come out. Jor-El reasons with her that this is his only chance at survival and their peoples only hope, thus the sole purpose they dedicated their lives to preserve. During all of this, they realize General Zod is heading their way with 5 attack ships, ready to mobilize. Jor-El, with calmness, tells Lara he has to ready the launch to prepare Kal’s ship. Lara looks at Kal, tears running down, and faintly says “Wait, just let me look at him.”. As the score comes together with a beautiful female vocalization of pain, she wonders aloud “We’ll never see him walk…….never hear him say our names.” Those words aren’t spoken as filler words or followed up with a joke to lighten the mode, they’re real. They mean something and give weight to the entire situation of what Jor-El and Lara are doing. And as those words are spoken and without fully experiencing what was just said, you aren’t really aware of what she means. By that I mean, I have had the unfortunate circumstance of coming to that realization in real life. My second daughter was diagnosed with an incurable disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, at 4 months old back in January of 2014. With no cure in sight, and no survival rate of Stage 1, her time here on Earth was limited. She was the most courageous and toughest little girl I had ever met in my life; she was my Wonder Woman. She entered the hospital on April 20th, which ironically, is close to the same date Action Comics releases its monumental issue this year. The doctors gave her 3 days but she kept on fighting. Every day she faced battles and still had a smile. She lost her battle on June 7th, 2014 which was almost a year to the day Man of Steel was released. To this day, I always wonder what it would be like to see her walk next to her big sister, or to hear her say my name. So every time Lara looks down at Kal and shares her thoughts on what it means to entrust her child into the unknown, I feel her pain. But then, when Jor-El tells her “But out there, amongst the stars, he will live.” it gives me assurance that she is living among the stars and she’s free. I will forever be thankful for that scene because it helped me through my loss, and its because of that reason, I realized this wasn’t an ordinary comic book film. That this has real, raw emotions being written and shown on screen that exist in the real world that has yet to be seen again (excluding Batman v Superman). To see all of this, in the first 10 minutes of a film mind you, was my indication that we were about to experience something never before scene for a comic book movie.

 

As Kal’s ship is prepared to be sent out to Earth, Jor-El prepares to face General Zod and his fellow officers. We then realize how important the codex truly is to the people of Krypton, as Zod battles his way to try and prevent Lara from sending Kal and the codex to a different world. The fighting sequence of Jor-El and Zod is amazing in and of itself, but when you realize that both of their armored suits were CGI, you wonder how it was made to look so real and that’s when you truly are first introduced to the meticulous ways of Snyder. As Kal’s ship disappears to his destination, Zod is surrounded by the Council of Krypton’s military force. As they proceed to send him and his officers to the Phantom Zone, he tells everyone that they won’t kill them because they won’t make decisions for the greater good. That reason is exactly how Krypton is in the state it’s in now because of their decisions. Then he makes his attention known to Lara that he will find Kal. The level of acting from Michael Shannon during that scene, was the reason his villain is the standout toughest of DC Films thus far for me. Having humorous moments in between all of these serious situations, would have made me feel like I shouldn’t have to take this film serious for what it was wanting to be; a true origin story about Superman. Instead, I was given the impression that this was a serious take on everything about Superman and its adult themes would flourish throughout the course of the film. We then are left with one of the most gorgeous comic depicting moments I have ever witnessed on film; the destruction of Krypton and Kal’s arrival on Earth. “Make a better world than ours Kal.” Lara says, as Krypton implodes, knowing she’ll never see or speak to him again. That’s her hope.

 

 

Traveling to present day, we are now shown what Clark has been doing with his life here on Earth. And once he learns there’s an oil rig that has caught fire near his boat he’s on, he does the one thing he was born to do; save the people trapped on the rig. This moment is vital because it establishes that Kal-El is willing to help save lives even without the Suit he’s famous for wearing. I would surmise that it was intentional by Zack Snyder to have Clark (he’s on Earth after all so we call him Clark) standing on Steel, saving the remaining men on the rig and have the ‘Man of Steel’ be present during it all. After the rig explodes, we notice Clark dazed while in the water, and that gives us the first indication that Petroleum type explosions weaken him to an extent. That may be a new feeling for him since right after that, we get a glimpse of a flashback of his first experience of some of his abilities developing when he was a child. The emotion of not knowing why you can hear everything around you and being able to see inside people would cause any adult to worry, much less a child. With Clark feeling like an outcast to the other kids and hiding in a broom closet, its only fitting that we are first introduced to Martha Kent, his Earth Mother. She comforts him and at the same time, teaches him how to control some of his new abilities. When Clark asks her “What’s wrong with me mom?”, just remembering her say his name is enough to wake him up which I feel was intentional by Snyder. It shows just how much her nurturing helps guide him to be the person he is in the present.

 

Upon waking up, Clark travels North and sees a school bus pass him by. Another flashback comes to mind, this time, when Clark is unsure of what to do when faced with helping his fellow classmates after the bus falls off a bridge and into water. Not hesitating for a moment, Clark hurries to the back and lifts the entire bus out of the water along with helping a kid to shore who was just bulling him about sports moments ago. With this flashback though, we are now introduced to Jonathan Kent, Clark’s Earth Father, and another important person in Clark’s life. As Clark hears a parents concerns and fear about what happened on the bus, we see Jonathan head out to talk with Clark. This next scene has been controversial to some but if you only look at it with a closed mind, then you won’t see the real meaning behind it. After Clark says he just wanted to help (which is classic Superman), his father tells him that Clark has to keep that side of his life a secret. Clark then asks the ultimate question: “What was I supposed to do? Just let them die?” to which Jonathan Kent replies “Maybe?”. Some felt that it was the wrong thing to say but I feel that you would only feel that way not being a parent. When I heard that line for the first time, I completely understood what he meant. Clark has abilities that, if found out, could jeopardize his own life or he could potentially lose his son to higher authorities. But at the same, he’s not really sure what should happen since, had Clark not had those abilities, those children would most likely have not been saved, thus Clark changing fate sort of speak. When he tells Clark “When the world finds out what you can do, it’s going to change everything. Our beliefs, our notions of what it means to be Human, everything.” He is basically explaining in our real world, what would happen if someone like Superman existed in today’s society. He then tells Clark “You saw how Pete’s mom reacted, she was scared Clark.” When Clark asks why, Pa Kent simply states “People are afraid of what they don’t understand.” which couldn’t be more true. In this day and age, now more than ever, people are quick to judge anything and if it’s not their way, its wrong. But it’s at this point in the film that Clark is told that he’s not from this world and that he’s the answer to ‘Are we alone in the Universe?’. If you will, for a moment, imagine your younger years, and finding out the reason for everything you’re going through, was because you’re actually from a different planet, and that your parents aren’t really your parents. Just imagine how crazy your world would be to learn that and also to realize that you have to keep what you are a secret. That, in actuality, is what a lot of people struggle with daily in the real world. Just another example of how this film represents another area of real life emotions. To top if all off, Clark is told that one day, he’ll have to make a choice of whether to stand proud in front of the Human race or not, but that it’s his choice alone. He doesn’t know it yet, but that’s exactly what his real Father wanted as well.

 

Now back to the present and Clark finds out the U.S. Military is actively searching for something in Canada. After confronting a slightly drunk truck driver who inappropriately touches Clark’s current girlfriend, we are given the first humor of the film. Clark, not willing to punch this person for fear of what it might do, does what I feel a lot of us would do if given his particular skill set. Damage an inanimate object. I prefer humor to be given in areas of a film that warrant it, without having to feel forced or fed in to upend the tension. Knowing he’ll have to leave the area, he lands a new job at the active site of the finding. It’s at this new job where his first interaction with Lois Lane comes about, the last important part of his inner circle of who Clark Kent/Superman truly is. Another humor moment when Lois tells “Joe” to be careful with her bags because they’re heavy. One thing I absolutely love about what Zack did with almost all of these characters, was give them weight and meaning. Lois doesn’t feel like she’s just in the film to be Superman’s girlfriend. She has a purpose and whether Superman is in her life, she is a Pulitzer Price winning journalist. She also doesn’t care much for people who don’t show respect where it’s due as she tells Col. Hardy “Look, let’s get one thing straight guys, ok. The only reason I’m here is because we’re on Canadian soil and an appellate court overruled your injunction to keep me away, so, if we’re done measuring d***s, can you have your people show me what you’ve found?” I fell in love with Amy Adams’ portrayal at that very moment. This is where the film really picks up because Clark finally learns who he is and where he comes from. It’s meaningful that the same time he meets Lois, he is finally introduced to his real father and who he is as a Kryptonian.

 

This is the first half of my retrospective analysis and it just shows you how in depth Man of Steel truly is for me. And if you can start to tell, seeing Clark go through things in his life throughout the film, is what starting to make me see him in a different light than just always being the boy scout we know. 

 

So continuing, we begin at Clark entering the Kryptonian ship for the first time. He wonders around until he stumbles upon a familiar looking shape, similar to his ‘S’ key he’s had since his Earth father gave it too him. At this same time, Lois is curiously following him, discovering the same alien like structures within the ship. Kal-El discovers pods that have deceased remains in them, however, one is open, left for the viewer to make up their own mind about who it belonged too. This is when Lois comes into contact with the Kryptonian security system and is severely wounded and Kal-El is shown using his power to stop her bleeding. This is the first time he is shown, helping a single person directly and not hiding what he is capable of doing. This sequence of scenes ends with a beautiful shot of the Kryptonian ship leaving the ice structure it had been trapped in for close to 20,000 years.

As Lois explains what she witnessed, we learn that this is an article she wants published so she can let the world know there is someone like Clark out there. And this is where it becomes a First Contact film. Lois, hellbent on getting word out, allows her story to be published on a blog known for publishing anything and everything. Unbeknownst to her editor, she is willing to risk everything because she believes in what she witnessed and experienced with Clark. That brings me to my point of loving the portrayal of Lois in Man of Steel. She is unapologetic and relentless that I’m very happy my 10 year old daughter is lucky enough to see this. By the way, Henry Cavill is her Superman so I may have to warn her that we will see another Superman in the future.

We are brought back to Clark, as he is discovering what seems like a foreign land and is introduced to what appears to be a man. Clark learns that this figure is actually his real father, Jor-El. Imagine not knowing what you are or why you were sent somewhere you had no control over. So when Clark hears his father call him by his Kryptonian name, Kal, he simply smiles knowing that he has just discovered what his real name is and who his father was. Kal is finally introduced to who he is as a person, as well as his heritage in a personal way. It’s at this point we are shown just what Jor-El believes is his purposes. “Your mother and I believed Krypton lost something precious. The element of choice; of chance. What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society intended for him or her? What if a child aspired to something greater? You were the embodiment of that belief Kal, Krypton’s first natural birth in centuries.” Kal finally learns that he may be alone on Earth, to which Jor-El explains “No. You’re as much a child of Earth now, as you are of Krypton. You can embody the best of both worlds. The dream your mother and I dedicated our lives to preserve.” As the door reveals the Superman Suit, you start to see that Kal-El can finally embrace who he is as a Human as well as a Kryptonian. We hear the rising of the Zimmer score and begins what I feel is one of the best Superhero reveals in all of film voiced with some of the best dialogue. “That’s what this symbol means. The symbol of the House of El means hope. Embodied within that Hope is the fundamental belief in the potential of every person to be a force for good. That’s what you can bring them.”

The doors open from the Kryptonian ship and out walks Superman, listening to his fathers words and pushing his abilities to the limit. I feel this is the greatest capture of what Superman represents. Taking one giant leap in the air and landing, then smiling and laughing as he discovers for the first time that he can actually fly at which point realizing he’s falling down back to earth faster than anticipated. Crashing into the mountain top that last words his father tells him echo in his ear allowing him to embrace his true reasons for being who he is: “You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun Kal. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.”

The score plays “Flight” from Zimmer and we finally see Kal-El fly into the sky, smiles and learning how to control his aerodynamics. I absolutely love seeing him figure out that by moving one arm in front of the other, he can create his own turns and change his direction so quickly. If you had a huge smile on your face while watching Superman fly, then you can understand what happend to me. It was at this moment I started to notice my feelings for Superman starting to shift in favor over Batman. For the first time, I felt that if I had Superman’s power set, this was exactly how I would feel and experience things. It made me see Superman as one of us; as a Human having the ability to fly.

Now if you’re like me, when you were a kid, you always imagined you could fly, but this was the first time I actually felt connected to someone experiencing flight for the first time. Add the score and visuals of everything, and I was hooked.

You can’t have Superman without Lois Lane. So I feel it was perfect that we finally see Superman and then return to Lois actively searching for him. She manages to track him down by, ironically, the bus accident his father told him could happen. Lucky for Clark, she wasn’t the government. Now knowing who he is, Lois does what she does best: Getting to the bottom of her story. We hear Clark explain what his father instilled in him. That if the world found out who he really was, we would reject him out of fear. It’s brilliant that we get to see Clark, who just figured out who he really was, explain what happened to his earth father.

In the next flashback, we see a tornado approaching and they make their way to the overpass. Clark witnesses his father leading everyone to safety and is then told to get a child to her mother. With their dog stuck in the car, Clark tell his father he’ll get him. Jonathan making sure his son is safe, like any father would, tells him he will do it. Clark can only watch as he sees his father live the lesson he told him about when the bus accident happened.

Now you have to remember, this is Clark before learning that he can fly or that he has super speed, which is pretty evident since he didn’t know he could fly until Jor-El told him to keep testing his limits. Jonathan once told Clark that there was more at stake than just their lives and he truly believed it. Trapped and immobile to get to safety, he looks at his son one last time. Knowing that his son, if fast enough, could save him and risk being exposed to the dozens of witnesses, or give his life to preserve Clark’s life stay hidden, he makes the only decision any parent would make. He tells Clark no. This is the moment for Clark where he fully understands and trust what his father was trying to teach him all those years.

We’re brought back to the present where most probably looked the same as Lois. Teary eyed knowing now just why Clark is willing to save anyone he can, but also why he leaves so he’s not found out, makes you feel for him. Again, this is that raw emotion I mentioned earlier where you really understand what Clark has gone through. He knows the world isn’t ready to find out about him. General Zod has different plans.

This is where the film begins to feel like a First Encounter film and in the best way possible. After visiting his earth mom and sharing with her the good news of discovering who his real parents are, is when the film opens up to give an open world feel. The military is introduced to us when we see the first sign of General Zod’s ship orbiting the moon. Just like in the real world, the moment people realize what it is, it’s shown every where. General Zod creates the perfect opportunity to share with the entire world what he’s after. When you see that his message is broadcast all over the world, it becomes very evident other people live in this film along with everyone finding out about Kal-El at the same time. It feels like a horror film as we hear General Zod request for Kal-El to be returned to him.

So within the first hour of the film, Zack Snyder has given us a Sci-Fi film at the beginning, a film of self discovery in the middle, a Superhero film after that, and now a Close Encounters mixed with a Horror film to show his ability to create a real world setting. One of my favorite lines from Perry, Lois’ editor, asks Lois if she knows where Kal-El is since everyone now knows about him. When she says she doesn’t know, he simply replies “The entire world is being threatened here Lois. This isn’t the time to fall back on journalistic integrity here.”That line puts the situation at the forefront especially as Lois is arrested by the FBI. I have seen people ask why Clark didn’t just fly back to the ship but I always ask, why would he? Simple logic would say that it was because of the ship he was in that General Zod has shown up. Which would mean that General Zod might have control of that ship now and since his father explained to him about what General Zod did on Krypton, he’s not willing to just agree to show up to him.

This brings us to another flashback, and this time it’s one where Clark is being bullied into a fight. I imagine he thinks about this because it’s exactly what is happening at the current moment, only the bully this time is General Zod. He remembers the words Jonathan Kent told him when he wanted to punch that kid picking on him: “I know you did. I mean, even a part of me wanted you to but then what? Make you feel any better? You just have to decide what kind of man you want to be when you grow up Clark because, whoever that man is, good character or bad, he’s going to change the world.” If that’s not life lessons then I don’t know what is.

Superman agrees to meet with the Government but only if they allow Lois to be set free. We then get our first interaction of Sub Commander Faora-Ul and Superman. I’m not one to usually enjoy the villain but Faora handles her own without the need to feel forced. Superman is then introduced to General Zod and the conflict is realized. Aboard the Kryptonian ship, Superman becomes weak in the atmospherics, giving us the first sign that his weakness involves anything organic from Krypton. In a coma like state, he tells Clark that he has the codex that can restore his race and people’s survival, but at the cost of the Human population.

This part of the film is where it becomes a full fledged Superhero film. After General Zod discovers where Kal grew up, he joins Faora and Nam-Ek to retrieve it. When Zod realizes the codex isn’t at the Kent farm, he threatens Martha. Superman flies to save her and it’s at this time we are seen Superman actually throwing his first punch of his life; defending his mother. We also see Clark blast through a gas station, causing an explosion and again we are seen that a Petroleum explosion causes Superman to be dazed. Zod also gets affected, by being thrown when his helmet is damaged, and begins to experience what Kal did when he was a child. A ship arrives to pick him up and that’s when Superman sees Faora and Nam-Ek walking towards him. I won’t even bother describing the fight that ensues because to do so, would only be a disservice of the incredible music and choreography displayed. It still remains one of my favorite scenes Snyder has ever filmed.

After everything settles, we see another iconic shot of Superman. While walking out of the destruction, the military, with guns pointed at him, begin to lower as they start to realize he isn’t like the other Kryptonians. And one of the last men to see him is Col. Hardy who, during the Smallville battle, was insistent on Superman being targeted as well, now sees him as an ally. “This man is not our enemy”. A line that becomes even more important in Batman v Superman by Alfred, but that’s another time. Lois explains to Clark that she knows how to stop the Kryptonians but we learn that may be too late. General Zod is brought to his scientist on the ship and is told the codex is actually in Supermans blood and that they don’t need him to be alive to extract it. He then releases a terraforming device to begin to build a new Krypton on Earth. The visuals of seeing normal people witness an alien ship descend upon their city gives the feeling you’re not just watching a Superhero film but a real life expose on what it would look like seeing this in real time.

The fact Snyder used this entire situation as the bases for the next film is pure genius, but that will be a different discussion. From here it becomes a very comic book film again when we realize Superman has to stop a device in the southern Indian Ocean while the military tries to prevent things in Metropolis. It truly feels like the world is involved with doing what they can to help just like Superman is, which is a shame we weren’t given that same type of feeling in Justice League. I actually felt the threat of General Zod was more intimidating then Steppenwolf but that wasn’t necessarily Snyder’s fault.

If you’re reading this far, I won’t continue about the film in its entirety because there is plenty of battling and fighting to be had. I will talk about one of the most controversial decisions of the film though. That is when Superman makes the ultimate decision and snaps General Zod’s neck. Some people felt this was unnecessary but to those people I always ask, what else could he have done? If Humans found out someone like Superman existed in the real world, we wouldn’t be able to build anything to hold him because we don’t have the material of making a red sun or quantifying synthetic kryptonite. This is a real world he lives in and MacGuffins, though easy to write in, are not real world solutions. General Zod tells Superman that either he will die, or that Superman will die. That is pretty clear that he has no intention of letting up and that he will take out as many Humans as he can.

Before the moment happens, Superman pleads with Zod to stop his laser vision before harming more innocent people. Zod says “Never”. Now if you’re thinking that Superman could have just covered his eyes, remember that when Superman had just ONE eye covered by Faora, once he used his laser vision she couldn’t hold her hand over his eye anymore. But even if that was the case and he covers the eyes, then what? Does he ask politely for Zod to stop committing murder? I’m sure that wouldn’t work. So, with his last plea to stop it, he does what he has to in order to prevent more Human life from ending. He takes Zod out. Now you have to remember that Clark was just Clark up until 24 hours prior before he put on the Superman Suit. He is fresh and green and doesn’t have any predetermined rules of being Superman. Also, this establishes the why of Superman never taking a life again. You can see his pain and agony of doing something that final, as well as realizing he just took out the last remaining member of his race. But Zack knew what he was doing. Remember when I talked about the literally birth of Kal-El at the beginning of the film? In almost the exact same way, the film cuts to see Lois, and then it cuts to Superman falling to his knees and then lets out a cry. It is done with the exact same mannerisms as his birth on Krypton, symbolizing the birth of Superman here on Earth. It was this moment that I truly became a fan of Superman over Batman in terms of film. Snyder changed what I thought would never happen after The Dark Knight. That was, of course, until Batman v Superman came out and I saw how Batman took out Superman and was in awe of what I was just witnessing. Back to the final moments in the film and we see Clark talking with his mother about what he’s going to do when he’s not saving the world. I wrote that out because it’s also the name of one of the best composed tracks from Zimmer from the Man of Steel soundtrack. The film ends with Clark starting his new job as a journalist, being formally introduced to Lois at the Daily Planet with her final words to him being “Welcome to the Planet“. With the famous Superman smile, Clark replies “Glad to be here Lois.“. Cue title card and the film ends.

I hope this makes you want to enjoy and celebrate Superman as much as I do when I watch Man of Steel. Watching it with an open mind allowed me to see just how much thought and care Zack Snyder put into the making of this film, along with the rest of the cast and crew. I am so thankful I was able to witness this in theaters and that my daughter is growing up with this version of Superman.