I read your arguments, and Im still a little vague on this. Exactly what point did they miss, or are you afraid that they will miss in the sequel?
You address the points I feel were "missed" below, so I'll respond individually.
I dont think what happens on the Kent farm is that weird, in context.
If you feel that Superman, enraged over the threat to his mother, would be careless enough as a result to plow Zod into Smallville, I can't really argue that point except to say I disagree.
And I wouldnt begin to call what he does aboard the fortress casual.
I think it's presented that way, though certainly not intentionally.
I dont think the first part of that is accurate. While it may be a theme of the franchise, and is an accepted part of the mythology, this movie is not about the world trusting Superman. The movie is almost the opposite. It is about the issues that would arise if someone like Superman existed. Thats made quite plain. A few people come to trust him, but the rest of the world is supposed to be more leery. And understandably so.
Its a little unrealistic that, even if he hadnt been associated with the Kryptonians and the disaster, that people would trust someone like Superman entirely. So in that respect, the film does exactly what it set out to do.
The end of the film, though, pretty much shows every person of note in the film choosing to trust him--tentatively, if not absolutely.
That's why I'm making the argument that this is very much intended to be the story of how the world came to trust Superman, and thus, my problem.
Zod makes the argument he does to Superman because Zod is of one mind, and expects Superman to feel the same way he does about humanity. Its the join us offer. That makes Zod close minded, to be sure, and maybe thats a stupid way to think, but actually stupid? No. Just flawed. And we already know Zod is flawed. Hes pretty much a single minded, blunt instrument.
And keep in mind, the interaction takes place in the mind. Zod has Superman contained already; its not like hes facing down a free, powered Superman. For all he knows, hes already won. Superman escapes later on.
Keywords: His fathers hope for integration.
Superman is never really about bringing Krypton back. Earth is his adopted world.
Jor-El recognizes the mistakes of the past, and its only with Zod, who has the means to bring Krypton back, that he pleads for integration with. Its really more an aspect of Jor-Els character than Supermans in this film.
And the film shows Jor-El and Zod having the integration debate. So its not like they didnt address that concept. They just gave that element to Jor-El. And Im glad, because otherwise, construct Jor-El feels a lot less like a character extension and more like an absolute plot device.
Superman doesnt actually obliterate his own people. They were already obliterated when Krypton was destroyed.
Superman destroys the fortress, preventing Kryptonians from coming back in that respect.
But he does so in order to stop Zod, who is using the Fortress as an attack vehicle. Its not just a scene about destroying Kryptons chance for rebirth. Its a scene about potentially destroying Kryptons chance for rebirth to save another species. How does that hurt his characterization, exactly?
My issue isn't with his choice, it's with the
presentation. Same situation as Zod's killing--it doesn't bother me that he made either choice; it bothers me that these choices were not presented to my satisfaction. Because Superman does not even attempt to make an appeal to Zod during their discussion, it appears he doesn't recognize or care that this is not a binary problem (that is to say the options are not "destroy all humans" or "destroy Krypton's future"), and the rather frustrating line that "Krypton had it's chance" only exacerbates the problem. Again, I understand they did not
intend for this to appear a casual or careless decision, but that is how I read it as a result of the way it was presented.
Thats not a bad idea, but within this film it does sort of lessen the impact of him making that choice in the first place. ("Phew, its damaged, but not TOO damaged!").
Perhaps, but since the pace of the film didn't allow for the impact of said decision to really be a part of the film, I don't consider this a heavy loss.
I dont think weve seen the last of the codex and the hope of Krypton. I suspect well see some sort of Kandor/hope of Krypton aspect come in when Braniac does. A second chance for Kal-El.
Yeah, I can see that happening.
Sure, he just didn't smile
enough.
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