If you haven’t seen Man of Steel yet, it’s a good idea to avert your eyes from this story. But if you have seen it, you know exactly what we’re talking about. In the last half-hour or so of Man of Steel, Superman (Henry Cavill) and General Zod (Michael Shannon) spend time destroying every conceivable structure left in Metropolis. Ultimately Superman can only do one thing to stop Zod - kill him. That decision by the filmmakers has stirred controversy online and they got a chance to explain themselves.
According to Entertainment Weekly, director Zack Snyder and writer David S. Goyer spoke about the ending with Empire magazine’s podcast and revealed that producer Christopher Nolan wasn’t a fan of the idea of Superman killing the villain.
“Killing Zod was a big thing, and that was something that Chris Nolan originally said, ‘There’s no way you can do this’…originally, Zod got sucked into the Phantom Zone along with the others,” Goyer said. But if that happened, the movie would have ended a lot sooner and Goyer and snyder agreed that it wasn’t a good ending.
Goyer said that the people at DC Comics also didn’t like it at first. “We said, ‘But what if he didn’t have a choice?’ Originally, Chris didn’t even want to let us try to write it, Goyer explained. “Zack and I said, ‘We think we can figure out a way that you’ll buy it.’ I came up with this idea of the heat vision and these people about to die. I wrote the scene and I gave it to Chris and he said, ‘OK, you convinced me. I buy it.’”
Goyer added that it was a device used to help modernize the character and establish the rules of their reboot.
“If it’s truly an origin story, his aversion to killing is unexplained,” Snyder agreed, saying that his decision to kill now will force him to question it in the future. “He’s basically obliterated his entire people and his culture, and he is responsible for it, and he’s just, like, ‘How could I ever kill again?’”
Screen Crush notes that Goyer also chatted with Bleeding Cool recently, explaining that, “When you’re dealing with a threat like this, there will be collateral damage. This is something that hadn’t been depicted in comic book films.”
Essentially, Snyder and Goyer are defending their decision to make drastic changes to Superman’s character. They’ve fully rebooted the universe, changing the rules of the game and making sure the audience doesn’t go in expecting Superman to hold his punches.
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