I think the problem that people take up with Zod's death scene is ridiculous.
It's not like Supes pulled an Optimus Prime "give me your face". Trust me, I was a HUGE Transformers fan when that movie came around and the forums I frequented exploded with rage over that.
Superman had to save that innocent family. That's what he does. Goes to lengths in order to protect the common man. If those lengths mean ending the life of a madman hellbent on destroying an entire race for the sake of his own, I don't see a problem with showing that side of Supes on screen. It makes him interesting and gets rid of the perception that he's a pushover.
I mean, they even showed how agonizing it was for him to make the decision: he begged Zod to stop firing and tried to hold his face away from the people. Then after the deed was done, he cried. It's inconceivable to me that people nitpicked that aspect of MOS. I had my disappointments with the movie, but that scene was not one of them.
Sorry, had to rant