One of the most nit-picky complaints about the new Superman film, Man of Steel, is the massive amounts of collateral damage and unavoidable Man of Steel deaths as a result of Superman and General Zod’s climactic throw down.
Well, in an interview with Bleeding Cool, screenwriter David S. Goyer addressed audience’s concerns regarding the Man of Steel deaths of innocents in the film:
“One of the things we were hoping to depict is that Superman is not a god. We say he’s a god-like figure but he’s not omnipotent. Even in the comic books he cannot save everyone. I think people die [in Metropolis]. Clearly hundreds if not thousands of people have died while the gravity machines are going off. There were probably even people who died in Smallville.
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 is what it would be like if these powerful figures did clash, if The Hulk and Thor fought, people would probably die. Particularly in this case where Zod and the Kryptonians really don’t care if people die. I think people died and I’m sure that upsets some people.”
Some are complaining that Superman should have done more to save people as he was duking it out with Zod, which is an argument I find more valid. Superman should have been excruciatingly hindered in the fight by his sympathy and value for human life. Zod, conversely, should have exploited this perceived weakness during the fight.
I felt a lot of the problems in Man of Steel stemmed form Goyer’s clumsy script. He has great thematic ideas, but falters when it comes to executing them. Let hope he can get a good co-writer for the sequel.
SOURCE: comicbookmovie.com
I understand where you are coming from with this. I felt the same way but I get why they made have excluded those types of scenes (Although he did save the falling soldier, the general, Lois, and the family).
The filmmakers wanted the 3rd act to feel real. It feels like a war scene and there’s a lot that goes on. Details like superman flying around the buildings when he wasn’t getting hit into them (besides when was defending his mom) can get lost pretty easy.
The goal of the kryptonians was to terraform the planet and eliminate humans. They weren’t just fighting superman but the military as well.
Superman had to expel the immediate threat before anything else.
If Zod exploited Superman’s weakness I think that might have been bad. Imagine a scene of zod killing people (the movie would have been rated R).
But when you think about it zod did exploit his weakness and superman broke his neck to save a family.
Also, I’m not sure if people were harmed during the last fight (duke with Zod). The film doesn’t really indicate there were (notice Goyer addresses the damage in metropolis as being done by the gravity machine).