In most Superman stories I unabashedly root for the bad guy. I own exactly one Superman comic and it’s the one where Doomsday ‘kills’ him. Alas, nobody can fucking stay dead.
That said, I’m one of the few who enjoyed Superman Returns. I thought the way it tied into the Christopher Reeves series was elegant, and I liked it’s more adult take on various repressed religious themes in the story. And I liked the actual thought paid to the consequences of bonery. As if the story had real people or something. But people wanted more Hulk Smash. And I get that.
Man of Steel starts all the way over. No time travel retcon, just an honest reboot. Krypton is dying, all births are scientific, Jor-El and Zod are two voices for change and salvation but they are opposed on how to achieve the latter. In the final days of the planet, Zod attempts a coup and is imprisoned. (this strangely allows him and his confederates to survive the planet’s fall)
Jor-El has managed to conceive a son the fun way, and is able to get him off the planet. His son Kal crashes in Kansas and is raised as Clark Kent.
His alien cells are hyper powered by our sun and he can do some cool shit. I like that this movie breaks down the cons to being super powered. Like how being able to see everyone’s organs might be a little gross. Or hearing people bitch in China might get a little annoying.
But Clark deals with it because Pa Kent didn’t raise no pussies; and he’s poking around looking for clues to who he is; because his ship isn’t the only one that landed on earth.
However Zod is still alive. He knows about Clark, and Clark has something Zod needs. Zod has collected Kryptonian survivors and tech and is coming. His invasion is certainly eye popping.
Michael Shannon is awesome as Zod; Henry whathisbut is a great superman; Russel Crowe is a great Jor-El; Dianne Lane and Kevin Costner are perfect Kents.
I saw this twice and I hate Superman. So work that one out.