After being anointed as co-chairman and co-CEO of DC, alongside Peter Safran, according to Variety, James Gunn has made waves among comic book movie fans with his overhaul plans for the extended DC Universe. Recently, he’s made some major announcements regarding his vision for the future of the DCU on the big screen, including debunking the rumor that he planned to bring in Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s Batman as a part of his new cinematic world. Perhaps the most hard-hitting news, though, was the report that Henry Cavill will not be reprising his role as Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman in Gunn’s DCU, and that the Guardians of the Galaxy director intends to write his own new Superman film following the story of a young Kent in his reporter days (per CNN).
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Lately, with the growing sense of Marvel fatigue and the hits and misses coming out of the DCU, fans have been retroactively viewing Man of Steel with nostalgia goggles, convinced that it was a groundbreaking comic book film despite its many apparent flaws. While Zack Snyder did craft an entertaining and promising initial installment for what would become the then-DCEU, the movie wasn’t nearly as great as recent reviews would lead one to believe. While Cavill was unquestionably a perfect Clark Kent and Superman, Man of Steel was absolutely flawed. Here are some of the most grievous blunders in the film.
Lack of Action
Warner Bros.
Gunn’s plans for a journalistically-centered Superman film is a neat and original idea, but his plans had better include plenty of action for his own sake. Fans can buy into a unique take on the most iconic superhero of all time, but it’s a pretty safe bet that they’ll want to see Kal-El speeding around like a bullet, manhandling villains, and rescuing innocent civilians in the most entertaining way possible.
There’s plenty to like about Man of Steel’s action sequences. The way Snyder portrays super-speed on film is arguably the best available interpretation of a difficult subject to show on-screen. Watching Supes and the evil Kryptonians zoom around and smash into each other at maximum velocity is a cathartic experience. The only valid criticism of the action in this movie is that there isn’t nearly enough of it.
After the opening act — which shows Clark’s real, Kryptonian parents sending him off to Earth, so he can escape the doom brought on by both General Zod’s witch hunt and the failing state of Krypton — nearly two hours pass before Superman actually fights somebody. While there are some exciting action sequences in between — mainly some very well-done rescue scenes — it’s a little disappointing that there’s really only around 20 minutes worth of screen time with Clark actually being a superhero. There’s plenty to love about the small-town farm boy and his journey of self-discovery, but fans are obviously there to see Kal-El, not Kent.
Snyder and screenwriter David S. Goyer could have either inserted a build-up fight in the middle of the movie between Kent and either the Kryptonians or a lesser threat, or they could have at least shown more of General Zod in action as a radical on a warpath in another flashback. Instead, Snyder went plot-heavy in the second act and showed off super speed in a much different way, and not for the better either.
Unconvincing Romance
Another central theme of Man of Steel was the inevitable meeting between Clark and Lois Lane. Their first encounter came after Lois was sent as a journalist to investigate a hushed excavation by the U.S. Government to uncover a mysterious craft engulfed in ice. The object in question was, of course, a Kryptonian ship, and Lois is led to a tunnel of snow dug by Superman himself after her pries of information are denied by the men leading the operation.
After Lois is attacked by one of the sentries guarding the ship, Clark comes to her rescue and drops her off safely before disappearing. Lois then becomes enamored with her savior, writes about him and the events that she experienced in an article that is denied publishing due to its unbelievable nature, and shifts focus to try to track down her mystery hero.
Besides not much more development between the two characters, they become romantically entangled in a relationship that was rushed into fruition faster than even Superman himself. Clark and Lois’ romance truly felt like an afterthought in Man of Steel, and Snyder seemingly relied on the history of the pairing in the comic books to establish chemistry without actually showing the growth of the relationship in his movie. Clark is an obvious dream boat, and his repeated rescues of Lois are reason enough for her infatuation with him, but by the time the two share a kiss, Clark knows nothing of Lois except that she’s an impassioned journalist, and she needs to be saved often — not exactly the traits most people have at the top of their checklist for a potential partner.
While Cavill and Amy Adams were able to sell the chemistry with their body language and line deliveries, the actual storytelling doesn’t sell a very convincing romance between the two. With how integral a character Lois was in Man of Steel, the way the film handles their development as a couple definitely fell flat.
Man of Steel’s Most Egregious Misstep
While the lack of action and sloppy development of Clark and Lois’ relationship were negative marks on the film overall, they’re both forgivable sins. Man of Steel had at least one choice that it can’t really live down or justify, though: the death of Kal-El’s Earth father, Jonathan Kent. Jonathan dies when he runs back into a mass of abandoned cars on the highway in the track of a tornado to save a dog. Not only did he sacrifice his life over another person’s pet — a move that was intended to be received as noble if not overly selfless, but came off as rather nonsensical — but he also stopped Clark from rescuing the dog, to not reveal himself as a Kryptonian. While wanting to keep his alien origins a secret to protect him is an understandable course of action, there was no reason Jonathan had to die in the process.
Firstly, they could have just left the dog. While it’s absolutely devastating to see a beloved pet taken — especially by a tornado — the popular vote would say that a person shouldn’t sacrifice their life for an animal. Secondly, Clark could have saved the dog, probably without revealing himself to be anything other than a really athletic human.
Jonathan, played by a then near-60-year-old Kevin Costner, was able to almost save the dog and himself, with time enough to communicate with Clark with his eyes that he shouldn’t reveal his identity by saving him. That means that Clark, as just an incredibly fit man in his 20s, could have saved the dog and himself, and not a single spectator would have batted an eye. It was clear that Snyder needed Jonathan to die in a noble way as part of the story arc, but chose an extremely laughable way to accomplish that plot point.
