There are few moments in superhero movies that have generated more controversy than Superman snapping Zod’s neck in the finale of Man of Steel. Even though Kal-El has never had the same no-killing rule as Batman, fans didn’t react well arguing that there must have been some way for him to non-lethally subdue Zod.
In Superman’s defense, there was no Phantom Zone and no Kryptonite, while Zod was quite clear that he wouldn’t stop his rampage until every man, woman, and child on Earth was toast. So, faced with the villain literally about to incinerate a terrified family with his heat vision, he did what he had to.
Even so, the discussion clearly still inspires passion amongst fans:
Did we really need to see Superman murdering someone?
It’s also worth pointing out that for all the arguments over whether this was his only option, that’s only the case because it was written this way:
But with the passing of time, many now see it as a key moment in Cavill’s Superman’s character development:
It’s really a no-win situation:
It’s also worth mentioning that Zod continues to have a long afterlife in the DCU. His corpse was used as the basis for Doomsday in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Michael Shannon is set to make a comeback in an alt-timeline in The Flash this summer. Will Barry Allen or Supergirl be faced with the same dilemma in, and could they find a way to subdue him without taking the lethal route?
Either way, expect this Man of Steel debate to rage for years to come.
