# Man of Steel - anyone seen it?(open spoilers after the first post) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764 "2013-06-12T00:06:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/81 "2013-06-18T14:30:53Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > I also have to say that when Henry Cavill smiles, I feel like I got punched in the ovaries. That man is too damn handsome. 🙂 I am usually completely clueless about if a man is attractive or not. But even I thought he was disgustingly good looking. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/82 "2013-06-18T14:49:08Z")
There was one thing I noticed on the big screen that I probably wouldn’t have seen on TV. Anyone else catch the inappropriate footwear with the huge heels that Amy Adams was wearing in the desert? I guess your leads aren’t allowed to be a foot apart in height. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/83 "2013-06-18T14:51:35Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > There was one thing I noticed on the big screen that I probably wouldn’t have seen on TV. Anyone else catch the inappropriate footwear with the huge heels that Amy Adams was wearing in the desert? I guess your leads aren’t allowed to be a foot apart in height. I was particularly impressed because I assume those are the shoes she ran out of her apartment in when the government came for her. I would have broken my damn legs–_and_ she took the stairs. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/84 "2013-06-18T19:42:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > You may have missed a movie called _The Dark Knight_. I hear the actors who played the villains did a pretty good job. Oh god, I hated _The Dark Knight_. Kidding, I loved it. Don’t get me wrong, Two-Face was great, but he was in the movie for all of what, five minutes? I wish it had been more, but \*TDK \*was a movie about Batman and The Joker that Harvey Dent/Two-Face just happened to be in. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/85 "2013-06-18T20:00:13Z")
> [@fumster](#): > > I was waiting for a line that didn’t happen. When the evil woman told Clark Superman that “evolution always wins” I was thought for sure he’d say “This is Kansas, we don’t believe in evolution” and then smite her/ [![](https://i.imgur.com/sUv0k40.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/sUv0k40.png) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/86 "2013-06-18T20:45:02Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > [http://i.imgur.com/sUv0k40.png](http://i.imgur.com/sUv0k40.png) > > 😃 Too wordy. For a joke like this, short and punchy is better. Like the movie, if it was short. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/87 "2013-06-18T23:24:20Z")
But not, I hasten to add, because I thought it was a _bad_ movie or because I know anything to speak of about the Superman canon, much less care if the filmmakers want to violate it. I just got destruction overload. I do get the point about showing that physical force for these offworlders is on a completely different scale from our puny Earthling ideas (and this was well if stressfully brought out by having freightloads of elite military firepower ground to powder by one pissed-off Kryptonian leaping at the ship). But it just wore me out, so when the World Organizer or whatever the thing was touched down, I gathered my bags and called it a night. I’m sure I’ll pick up the missed bits sometime, but for me it wasn’t a movie to watch all at once. Never mind the clunky religious allegory stuff, did anybody else think that it just didn’t make _sense_ for Clark Kent to be as old as 33? Forget that the actor who played him was still under 30 at the time of filming, I just don’t buy that Clark Kent’s been drifting around the world for _fifteen years_ (assuming he graduated high school at 18 and embarked on his roving-rescue-worker career shortly thereafter). Five or maybe ten years, okay. I’d believe that a twentysomething Clark Kent was still sort of fumbling around his life, uncertain of his real powers, and (presumably) had never yet kissed a girl. But by 33 it becomes a bit creepy. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/88 "2013-06-18T23:53:55Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Which makes you really, really question the wisdom of the “multi-millennium old” Kryptonian civilization. > > Twenty thousand years of colonizing space, and they _never figured out_ that they’d gain super powers if they stopped breathing their homeworld’s air? They should have terraformed Krypton to have an Earthlike atmosphere millennia ago. I got the impression that with the possible exception of Jor-El, the population of Kyrpton were basically incapable of thinking originally. It’s not too surprising, considering that they were all genetically predestined and trained from birth to do exactly one job, that they wouldn’t be able to deal with unplanned notions like “Our atmosphere keeps us from developing superpowers” or “Our planet is going to explode.”. Even Zod wasn’t really capable of thinking outside his assigned role. I figured that at the end of the movie, everyone knows that Clark Kent is Superman, but they have all collectively decided to play along. Do you want to be the one to possibly anger the alien demigod who just leveled half a city in a fight? If he wants to pretend to have a secret identity, it’s far safer to pretend to be fooled. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/89 "2013-06-19T00:14:17Z")
I strongly question the logic of wanting to turn a planet in which you have basically the powers of a god into a planet in which you are just a regular dude. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/90 "2013-06-19T00:27:13Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I strongly question the logic of wanting to turn a planet in which you have basically the powers of a god into a planet in which you are just a regular dude. Would you feel like a god on a planet where everyone else was…special? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/91 "2013-06-19T00:34:34Z")
Well yes i very certainly would rather live on a planet in which i could fly and move at super speed, not to mention be nearly indestructible, as opposed to one in which i wasn’t. Even if everyone was the same. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/92 "2013-06-19T01:11:59Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I strongly question the logic of wanting to turn a planet in which you have basically the powers of a god into a planet in which you are just a regular dude. Only Superman and Zod had enough focus to go with out the breathing mask. Sensory overload and such. The atmosphere wasn’t gonna be habitable to most others. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/93 "2013-06-19T01:24:41Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Only Superman and Zod had enough focus to go with out the breathing mask. Sensory overload and such. The atmosphere wasn’t gonna be habitable to most others. All the others would’ve been there all their lives like Superman. And the others didn’t exactly try very hard, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been much of a problem if Zod did it almost instantly. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/94 "2013-06-19T01:36:15Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’d believe that a twentysomething Clark Kent was still sort of fumbling around his life, uncertain of his real powers, and (presumably) had never yet kissed a girl. I didn’t get that vibe from the girl in the bar. I got kinda the exact opposite vibe from the girl in the bar. And, as the bit with the trucker shows, he’s pretty sure of himself when it comes to being insanely strong and tough; I figure the oil-rig stuff was just the Nth time drifter Clark confidently used his powers to save innocent lives before moving on. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/95 "2013-06-19T01:56:28Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > [http://i.imgur.com/sUv0k40.png](http://i.imgur.com/sUv0k40.png) > > 😃 Was that a result of my post or someone with a similar, twisted sense of humor? ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/96 "2013-06-19T02:29:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > All the others would’ve been there all their lives like Superman. And the others didn’t exactly try very hard, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been much of a problem if Zod did it almost instantly. Zod specifically mentioned that he had a special kind of focus because he was mentally strong. It wasn’t just a matter of time spent. They strongly suggested that it takes extraordinary fortitude for them to shut everything out. Which the warrior class might have, but not so much the others. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/97 "2013-06-19T02:34:56Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Zod specifically mentioned that he had a special kind of focus because he was mentally strong. It wasn’t just a matter of time spent. They strongly suggested that it takes extraordinary fortitude for them to shut everything out. Which the warrior class might have, but not so much the others. Who else was in on the coup and got Phantom Zoned? Faora’s _definitely_ warrior class; the big dude à la Jack O’Halloran, likewise; what’s the problem? ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/98 "2013-06-19T03:39:20Z")
Why did their colony on earth even die out in the first place? “Hey this planet gives us superpowers…shouldn’t we, like, propogate our species here and have a planet of super Kriptonians?” “…Yeah, no, I was thinking we just, you know, languish and die out instead…I’m sure some guy 20,000 years from now will pick up where we left off.” 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/99 "2013-06-19T13:46:59Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Other than the whole (and oft-repeated) “you’re here to provide hope to humanity” or “you can make a difference” themes, what were the “overt” Jesus Christ references people are talking about? Maybe I missed them but I didn’t interpret the messages Ka-El got from Jor-El or Clark got from his Dad as being anything Christian related. > > Other than maybe that “leap of faith” scene with the priest? From a hazy memory (so take it with a grain of salt), Superman was a Messiah figure coupled with the Nietchzian UberMenchen (sp?). The two creators were Jewish (again, if memory serves). So the Superman = Jesus is more of a modern spin as opposed to the initial conception (which would be Superman = Messiah). I haven’t actually seen this movie so I’m not sure which way the director went. [Here’s some stuff](http://mincingword.blogspot.com/2010/12/jewish-origins-of-superman.html): > [@](#): > > Superman actualized the adolescent power fantasies of its creators–two Jewish, Depression-era kids craving a muscle-bound redeemer to liberate them from the social and economic impoverishment of their lives. [Others have seen a parallel between Superman and the Golem–the legendary creature magically conceived by the rabbi of medieval Prague to defend the community from an invasion by its anti-Semitic enemies] > > The Superman narrative is also rich in Jewish symbolism. He is a child survivor named Kal-El (in Hebrew, “All that is God”) from the planet of Krypton, whose population, a race of brilliant scientists, is decimated. His parents send him to Earth in a tiny rocket ship, reminiscent of how baby Moses survived Pharaoh’s decree to kill all Jewish newborn sons. In the context of the 1930s, the story also reflects the saga of the Kindertransports–the evacuation to safety of hundreds of Jewish children, without their parents, from Austria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. - [This](http://holyheroes.blogspot.com/2007/04/superman-wish-fulfilment-and.html): > [@](#): > > Siegal and Shuster’s first Superman was in a short story written by Siegal and illustrated by Shuster. This story, titled The Reign of the Superman features a scientifically enhanced Nietzschian superman who reaks havok before being finally overcome. In 1933, as Hitler ascended to power in Germany, calling himself the Nietzschian superman, Siegal and Shuster re-imagined Superman as a hero. - > [@](#): > > Superman is rooted firmly in the talmadic injuction to do good for its own sake. He is, in short, a very Jewish superman, and his strength comes with a moral compass. > > Kal-El’s arrival in a basket is strongly reminiscent of Moses’ appearance in a basket in Exodus. The Exodus is the central story of the Torah, and its most significant instance of salvation. As such, Moses is the most important saviour in the story of Israel. Superman is a Moses figure in more than his appearance as a baby in a basket, but also in that he is a saviour, whether that means in his very person symbolically saving Krypton from complete extinction, or saving an man from being wrongfully executed for a crime he didn’t commit, as he did in his very first appearance. For much of his history, and especially in his original incarnation, Superman spent more of his time protecting the innocent than fighting supervillains. - > [@](#): > > But Superman is a Messiah figure even before he is a Christ figure. He represents the Jewish eschatological hope of salvation, the hope of God’s intervention, the hope that things will not always be as they are now. Superman symbolises the Jewish conviction that the world can be better than this. [And Moar](http://www.americamagazine.org/issue/5143/ideas/messiah-krypton): > [@](#): > > If Superman can be seen as a messianic figure, his claim to that title, from a Jewish perspective, is stronger than that of Jesus. Jesus was executed, but Superman triumphs as the mighty one who fights constantly for a reign of peace and justice, and “the American way.” He is, after all, an American Messiah. And his origins are replete with Mosaic pedigree. Like Moses, Superman was sent off alone by his mother to save him from destruction. Moses sailed away through the bulrushes in a basket, Superman in a rocket from the doomed planet Krypton. ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764/100 "2013-06-19T14:19:11Z")
Count me in the group that was distracted by how the relentless super fistfights were destroying huge amounts of property and killing lots of people. In Smallville I could accept that those downtown buildings were evacuated and so it was just property damage. But in Metropolis, every time they showed a building toppling over or being crushed I flashed back to 9/11 and couldn’t stop myself from calculating how many people were dying in that scene. “Probably a couple thousand in that skyscraper, add that to the total…” It was distracting and took away from the enjoyment of the movie, but of course I probably wouldn’t have been thinking about that if the fight scenes were entertaining enough to keep my attention. Which brings me to a related problem – the overly long fights, and the bane of modern action movies, the multiple dramatic endings. This movie had about five spots where the movie could have – and should have – ended after a big dramatic scene, but then we went right back into another huge fight. It just went on and on. The movie should have been at least half an hour shorter. And the scene where Superman kills Zod. Like another poster, I thought the drama was ruined because it appeared the family was just standing there waiting to die instead of simply moving out of the way. And I also thought it incongruous that Superman could kill him by simply snapping his neck, after all that back and forth fighting. But again, I probably shouldn’t have been distracted by those things if I were enjoying the movie overall. The length and unending destruction are probably what took me out of the movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-steel-anyone-seen-it-open-spoilers-after-the-first-post/660764.md?page=6)