We writers at Renegade Cinema do a lot of talking behind the scenes about movies and our staff is so strong that we have some pretty powerful opinions and can be very persuasive and intelligent in our arguments. D-Rock and I will never agree on Iron Man 3 and the Man of Steel controversy splits some of us down the middle, although more writers dislike the movie than like it.
I am one of those who like it and we were chatting earlier about the death toll of innocents in Man of Steel compared to the equal death toll of innocents in The Avengers. Tony brought up a nice point that The Avengers doesn’t beg the audience to take it seriously, so the deaths are not quite as disturbing as a movie like Man of Steel, where the film is more cynical.
It was nice to talk about the Man of Steel controversy without blaming Superman for causing so many people to die. Honestly, this movie did not star Superman. It starred Kal-El doing everything he could to stop a more powerful opponent in Zod. He did not become Superman until the end, and the choices he had to make will live with him for the rest of his life – they will make Superman into a hero who will not kill – unless there is no other choice.
And all those deaths in Metropolis should make him the great hero he was destined to become. Superman was not born a noble hero, he became one and Man of Steel showed one of those steps. That is my opinion on the Man of Steel controversy, and it appears Zack Snyder shares it.
“Probably 5,000 people died in Metropolis,” Snyder said in a Q&A alongside Kevin Smith. “But it has purpose. There’s sadness to the end of the movie. There is a human price, and that’s a thing that weighs on Superman, it’s important.
“Let’s not forget, he’s fighting basically his equal. He has no advantage in this scenario. In fact, Zod is a warrior, has been trained, and can fight a hundred times better than Superman.”
Snyder also pointed out that just as many people – if not more – died in The Avengers when the team fought aliens in New York City. However, as Tony said, with the cynicism of Man of Steel, those deaths hold more weight than the more comic book world of The Avengers.
As for the final fight scene with General Zod, I feel that Kal-El did the only thing he could do. Zod was more powerful. Zod was never going to give up and was actually getting stronger as the fight went on. Zod was going to kill more innocents and Kal-El did what he had to do to finally stop the carnage.
Here is what Snyder had to say:
“That rule [that Superman doesn’t kill] really only came from the movies,” he said. “He has killed a few times in the comic books, in fact, he’s killed Zod a couple of different times.
“He had to make a choice, and that choice weighed on him, as we saw right after, and it will weigh on him in the future.”
If this was a movie in a bubble, it might not work as well. But for anyone who looks at this as the start of Superman’s career, it is very important. He never wanted it to end this way but did the only thing he knew to do to stop it. Now, he will try to never let that happen again.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about Snyder’s recent comments about the Man of Steel controversy and also would like to know if you would be interested in a Renegade Cinema forum to build a community where we can talk about subjects like this with you, the readers. Let us know your thoughts below.
