5 Things People Use to Bash ‘Man of Steel’ That Are Completely Wrong

We’re reposting this list due to the forthcoming release of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. It was originally published in October of 2014.

This week, Warner Brothers officially announced the entire line up of DC Cinematic Universe films through 2020. As these movies were spawned from 2013’s Man of Steel, there is a fresh round of people spouting off dumb reasons why “Man of Steel sucks” based on their selective memory about the character, his mythos, and the movie itself. A lot of these reasons are just recycled from last summer where people spammed them on social media as if they were Superman experts, when in reality they were completely wrong and just making themselves look stupid by parroting the hivemind of negativity that so often springs up around big summer movies.

Here are five of the big reasons people attack Man of Steel, and why they’re completely wrong.

Superman Never Kills

“My Superman doesn’t kill.” That was one of the big complaints people had against Man of Steel, and it came from fans and comic writers alike. They seem to exist in a world where Superman has a “no killing” rule like Batman, which isn’t the Superman of the comics at all. You may think that “your” Superman would never kill, but Man of Steel isn’t based on “your” Superman. It’s based on the Superman who has existed in the comics for 75 years.

People with selective memory about the character probably don’t realize that unlike Batman, Superman will kill when it is absolutely necessary. Stopping Zod from terraforming Earth and killing every human? Yea, I’d say that was pretty necessary. These people also forget that Superman killed Zod in Superman II. But it’s easy to remember things selectively if it gives you a soapbox to bitch from on the internet.

Superman Didn’t Save Enough People

This concept is almost tied with the dumb “Superman doesn’t kill” idea. Due to the massive destruction in Metropolis, people bitched and moaned that it was completely against Superman’s character to not stop and try to save every single person in those skyscrapers. These people again have selective memories of the character, and likely never read many Superman comics.

One of the most famous storylines, 1993’s Death of Superman, saw similar levels of destruction in Metropolis as Superman was focused on stopping Doomsday. Even with the massive destruction in Metropolis, that wasn’t Zod’s goal. Zod wanted to kill every single human on the planet, by stopping Zod Superman saved the entire planet. So by saying “Superman didn’t save enough people”, you’re saying six billion lives aren’t as important as a few city blocks in Metropolis.