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Neck Snap or Turning back time: Which Superman final resolution do you prefer ?

Neck Snap or Turning Back time: which do you prefer

  • Neck Snap

  • Turning back time

  • I can live with both of them

  • They're both terrible


Results are only viewable after voting.

Batmannerism

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Hi Super-folks,

Two years on and the haters are still ape-**** about the neck snap - in some ways this validates it even more for me, as it was a ballsy departure from previous films. Love it or hate it, it's controversial and something different.

Anyway, we've had 2 Superman origin films and 2 very different resolutions to the final problem.

In Superman the Movie Superman restores Lois to life and undoes the damage of Luthor's nuclear strike by flying really fast and turning back time.

In MOS Superman cannot hold Zod down forever and cannot stop him from frying the family (note: earlier in the film Faora shows that her hand is hurt from Supes' heat ray vision - and she was wearing armoured gloves, so the idea that he could block Zod's blast is just stupid). Anyway, to solve the problem Zod poses, extinction of the human race, Supes has to kill him by breaking his neck.

Which of these do you prefer ? Or alternatively which do you hate more ? Or which do you hate less ?

Personally, going in to MOS, I hated the idea of the neck snap BUT when I saw the movie I had to admit that it made total sense within the story and tone of the film - and I was totally okay with it.

Now, as an 8 year old sitting in Superman the Movie, I was loving that movie - and I thought Chris Reeve did a brilliant job with Superman's scream of anguish when he finds Lois' corpse.............BUT when he flies around the world and turns back time, even as a little kid I thought "That's just dumb, flying around the Earth really fast wouldn't turn back time, even Superman can't do that."

Even today, I love both STM and MOS, but I honestly think that MOS has a better resolution. Sure there were some other bits about the ending that weren't great - I mean, nothing beats seeing Chris Reeve smile at you as he flies into the sunrise, that's magic - but MOS has Superman make a choice that an ordinary person could have made in those circumstances without the cop-out of time travel.

So for me, MOS has the superior resolution.

But what does everyone else think ? All opinions are welcome ! :super:
 
Whilst the neck snap was horribly executed (no pun intended), I prefer the neck snap.
 
I think both options are simultaneously dumb and overnitpicked by fanboys.

The neck snap will win this poll.
 
There's nothing wrong with either in my view, but I'll go with neck snap.
 
Bit of a silly question this one, should be compared more to Superman II's ending given that in Superman the Movie he turned back time to save a loved one and in Man of Steel he broke a super villains neck to stop him killing a family and wreaking more havoc.
 
In Superman II he crushed Zod's hand, needlessly torturing him, and then tossed him down a pit to a potentially slow death, before returning to a bar to beat up a human being who only has a fraction of his strength and did nothing wrong other than be a jerk.
 
Bit of a silly question this one, should be compared more to Superman II's ending given that in Superman the Movie he turned back time to save a loved one and in Man of Steel he broke a super villains neck to stop him killing a family and wreaking more havoc.

I picked the neck snap vs turning back time because both films are Superman origin films, but also because they are both dramatic "heat of the moment " solutions (whereas Supes essentially outwitted Zod in SM 2)

Also because they are totally opposite, in terms of general reaction - Superman can't just travel thru time but actually cause it to reverse to save one person, and everyone seems okay with that but he breaks the neck of someone who's about to commit genocide and people get bent out of shape.
They're also opposite in terms of one being a tough choice and the other being a total cop-out that even an 8 year old thought didn't make sense. Cheers.

But if you find that silly, I respect your opinion.
As for nitpicks, given the reaction the neck snap got from both fans and critics alike, and that these are not minor details or plot points, but the resolution of the final crisis in the film I submit that they are not nitpicks. Ordinarily I don't bother trying to defend my views but in this case I thought it necessary (mostly because I asked the question in the first place).
 
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I picked the neck snap vs turning back time because both films are Superman origin films, but also because they are both dramatic "heat of the moment " solutions (whereas Supes essentially outwitted Zod in SM 2)

Also because they are totally opposite, in terms of general reaction - Superman can't just travel thru time but actually cause it to reverse to save one person, and everyone seems okay with that but he breaks the neck of someone who's about to commit genocide and people get bent out of shape.
They're also opposite in terms of one being a tough choice and the other being a total cop-out that even an 8 year old thought didn't make sense. Cheers.

But if you find that silly, I respect your opinion.
As for nitpicks, given the reaction the neck snap got from both fans and critics alike, and that these are not minor details or plot points, but the resolution of the final crisis in the film I submit that they are not nitpicks. Ordinarily I don't bother trying to defend my views but in this case I thought it necessary (mostly because I asked the question in the first place).

Sorry if I offended, it just seems to me they are two totally different things and can't really be compared in my view. So I don't think an either or works in this scenario.

For me it annoys me that the neck break is moaned about yet people conveniently forget what Superman did to the Kryptonian's in SII. I'd say as many people moan about turning back time as they do with the neck break tbh.

I really hope I haven't caused any offence and probably shouldn't have said it as I did.
 
Sorry if I offended, it just seems to me they are two totally different things and can't really be compared in my view. So I don't think an either or works in this scenario.

For me it annoys me that the neck break is moaned about yet people conveniently forget what Superman did to the Kryptonian's in SII. I'd say as many people moan about turning back time as they do with the neck break tbh.

I really hope I haven't caused any offence and probably shouldn't have said it as I did.

No need to apologize, no offence taken, I guess the turning-back-time ending has been bugging me for nearly 40 years, so when people complain over a superman film which has a final resolution that makes sense within the context of the film, I feel the need to draw attention to it.

Thinking back to SM 2, I never believed that Superman threw Zod and co to their deaths. It's too out of character, I think there's a deleted scene of the bad guys being taken away by arctic cops somewhere. As a kid I imagined that there was some kind of jail in the fortress, under the mist Supes chucked them into.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA5d66AnT7s

Btw check out the new B v S trailer its epic !
 
For what it's worth I think neck snap is at least progressive. The turning back time thing is regressive to the point of insult and also bad form from Superman in terms of his actions roots in pure selfishness. At least the neck snap was influenced by selflessness.

With that said I thought both were terrible based on execution more so than concept though. Also STM is one of my favorite movies of all time and that has only been the biggest beef I've ever had with it. I didn't like MOS. So it's not even based on favoritism for the record it's just me being purely objective here.
 
Neck Snap. The complaints about it never cease to irk me. Sure it was decisive, but the "turn-back-time" stunt was just plain stupid.
 
Neck snap. Even as a kid I knew the turning back time thing was silly. I showed my kids SM: The Movie last year and they thought it was silly too. My five year old son turned to me and said: "Daddy, could that really happen?"
 
Which one do I prefer?

That's like asking which nut I want to cut off.
 
Which one do I prefer?

That's like asking which nut I want to cut off.

I suggested in the OP that you could also state which one you hate more, or hate less, or whatever. Don't take it out on your nuts when it's really Richard Donner and David Goyer who are to blame. :woot:
 
i prefer laser burn to head from justice lord, but neck snap is great or pierce through body from injustice also incredible touche choice. can't wait for a new fatality move from bvs.
 
The neck snap completely worked for me. Superman got backed into a situation where just being an all powerful deity didn't mean jack squat and had to make a tough decision with consequences he's going to have to live with.
 
I'm not a fan of the Donner films, and one of the many reasons for that is the ending to Superman: The Movie. I'm not against the idea of turning back time as a plot resolution for a character as powerful as Supes, but the way it was done was stupid even for a comic book adaptation from the 70s.
 
The neck snap completely worked for me. Superman got backed into a situation where just being an all powerful deity didn't mean jack squat and had to make a tough decision with consequences he's going to have to live with.

Yup, that's how I see it too.

I'm not a fan of the Donner films, and one of the many reasons for that is the ending to Superman: The Movie. I'm not against the idea of turning back time as a plot resolution for a character as powerful as Supes, but the way it was done was stupid even for a comic book adaptation from the 70s.

Well, I love Superman the movie - always have, always will- DESPITE totally agreeing with you that turning back time was done in a really stupid way - I mean, I thought so as an 8 year old, so what does that tell you.

I can see why folks don't like the Donner films - but I've never heard anyone knock Chris Reeve as Superman, he's still my favourite. What he did with the material he was given, was just magic.
 
Neck snap by far. I really find the criticisms against Superman killing Zod to be rather unfounded. Unlike the Donner films at least Superman showed remorse for killing Zod. And his hasty decision wasn't done out of selfishness like turning back time in Superman the Movie.
 
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