About the Ending of MAN OF STEEL...

Warning: I'm going to be discussing the ending of the film... so, obviously, spoilers abound.

I've been doing a great deal of reading on Man of Steel since I wrote my review on Friday night. All of the reviews talk about one moment at the end of the film, the moment where Superman kills Zod. I feel like I have to write a little about that, because apparently it's a real big deal.

Panel from Alan Moore's 1986
"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" Story

The adage is that superheroes don't kill, and that's mostly true. In their epic battles with various villains, one of their primary concerns is to protect the innocent. And when it comes down to the ending of that final battle, the villain typically destroys himself (or herself, of course), or are merely apprehended (there's also the third option of simply disappearing.... for the convenience of a later film or story arc). There is a definite code of conduct for these characters. But in Man of Steel, in his first big battle as Superman.... the code of conduct is broken. The fist fight with Zod destroys, seemingly, about 90% of Metropolis, culminating in Superman killing Zod with his bare hands.

Now, I know, I know, the murder of Zod clearly effects Superman. After doing the deed, Kal-El lets out a visceral scream and the look on his face is clearly a "what have I done?!?" look. Naturally, Lois runs to the hero and comforts him. To be completely honest: I'm fine with the ending up until this point. I can see the worth in having Superman haunted by, essentially, the blood on his hands. As the love interest, I feel the audience would be robbed to not see Lois comforting Superman. Fine. What bothers me is what follows.

Mere moments later, we have a scene in the desert where Superman, charming as ever, tells the General that he's all-American and the people have nothing to fear about him. Where is the remorse? Apparently whatever time jump we just saw heals all wounds in our hero. Then in the next scene, the secret identity of Clark Kent, Reporter is born... and the effects are even more invisible and distant.

I understand wanting to have an uplifting ending, but I'm not so sure the ending actually given works for the character. In fact, I know it doesn't. I'm assuming the ending was done like this to give the illusion of this being a standalone film, not just a set-up for a second film. How foolish.

How would I have ended the film? I would have much rather seen the murder affect Kal to the point where he leaves Lois there in the train station (or whatever that final building was), heading straight for the Fortress of Solitude. Then they could have some other time jump to when Metropolis is on the road to recovery, perhaps dedicating a statue or something to Superman, with a voice over by Lois talking about how a hero was born... while also showing clips of Superman still struggling with his decision. Save the rest of the stuff after the murder for the beginning of Man of Steel 2.

Of course, there's nothing that says the murder won't affect him going forward; this reaction is simply based on what we saw in Man of Steel. In fact, I'd be surprised if he kills again, making the death of Zod the "birth" of Superman's code. But call me crazy, I'd like to see him in pain over what happened, not just a somewhat smug "That was unfortunate... musn't do that again!" kind of reaction. Hopefully Man of Steel 2 will address this.