5 Things People Use to Bash ‘Man of Steel’ That Are Completely Wrong
Pa Kent’s Tornado Death
Go to almost any internet forum where Man of Steel is being discussed and some smart-ass will post an animated GIF of Pa Kent. This is the “Red Letter Media Episode I” review for Man of Steel, where someone drives-by and says “I’ll just leave this here”, when it’s another dumb excuse to bash the movie. In the Superman mythos, there are times when the status of his human parents vary. Sometimes one is alive, other times both are dead. Donner’s Superman was based on pre-Crisis when it was common for Pa Kent to not be around. His death in that movie was meant to show that Clark was helpless, even with all his powers he couldn’t save Pa from a heart attack.
Man of Steel continues the “dead Pa Kent” situation, but they change to show that Clark could’ve saved his dad, but understood that the world wasn’t ready to see an invincible, super-fast, flying alien walking around. People complain that he should’ve just ran to save Pa Kent, but that ignores the entire idea that Superman is an alien, the first alien on Earth, and that there was a time and place to reveal himself.
No Red Trunks
I can’t believe we’re still seeing people bitching about the red trunks. For those unaware, DC did a line-wide reboot of all of their comics in 2011 in what’s called the New 52. That’s been the status-quo for the company ever since, and the New 52 is dictating most of what Warner does with he characters from now on. The trunks-less suit in Man of Steel is closely inspired by the trunks-less modernized suit in the New 52. Even the Wonder Woman origin and the Aquaman movie will be based on the New 52.
That reboot brought a whole new group of people into comics. People who never read a comic before were enticed by a fresh start that the New 52 gave to DC comics, so it’s no surprise that Warner and DC are melding the movies (and even games, as LEGO Batman 3 features the New 52 looks) to what many people are now familiar with. Instead of changing the comics to match the movies (which is what Marvel does), DC is making the movies match the current comics. And that’s what they should do. Attacking a movie for trying to match the comics currently on the shelf is just flat-out stupid.
Lois Knowing His Secret Identity
This is one of the biggest head-scratching reasons I’ve seen people bash Man of Steel, as I think it was one of the best changes they made in the movie. There’s a segment of idiots out there who are super offended that Lois was able to figure out that Clark Kent was Superman. Really? You think Lois is that stupid? Even Donner had Lois figure out his identity in Superman II (and the Donner Cut is the superior version of that compared to the Lester one), and in Man of Steel it just shows that Lois is the brilliant reporter she’s supposed to be. Complaining that Lois figured out who Clark was, especially the way she discovered it…through investigation, is one of the dumbest reasons to bash Man of Steel.