Superman Returns Was Superman trying to kill Lex?

[Spare-Flair]

Did Superman consciously know that he could likely kill Lex and his henchmen including Kitty?

When he dove under New Krypton and began lifting it into space, how did he know that Lex and Co. on the surface would make it to the helicopter and be able to get off in time before being crushed by falling Krypton rocks, dying in an earthquake, falling into a chasm, or suffocating or freezing to death in the upper altitude?

Something in my mind is nagging me that Superman should have made sure that Lex and Co. (especially Kitty) were off and safe before he started to lift the continent.

 

[bosef982]

Did Superman consciously know that he could likely kill Lex and his henchmen including Kitty?

When he dove under New Krypton and began lifting it into space, how did he know that Lex and Co. on the surface would make it to the helicopter and be able to get off in time before being crushed by falling Krypton rocks, dying in an earthquake, falling into a chasm, or suffocating or freezing to death in the upper altitude?

Something in my mind is nagging me that Superman should have made sure that Lex and Co. (especially Kitty) were off and safe before he started to lift the continent.

Wow...just wow....


Um, let's see....who gets to die? One super-villian and his thugs a dog....the entire planet? Hmmmmmm, hard decision much? Let me write your scene, which would of course have staggering CGI effects and a non-complaining Superman with Revlon, not Clinque, make-up.

SUPERMAN: Luthor, get off the island now.

Superman grabs his aching side in pain, the blood still spilling out of Luthor's stabbing.

LUTHOR: No.

EXT. MONTAGE - THE WORLD

Everyone's dying. Everything's falling. Fire. Brimestone. Earthquakes. Tornadoes as...

EXT. NEW KRYPTON - SAME MOMENT

SUPERMAN: Luthor, I said leave, Come on, I hvae to get rid of this!

LUTHOR: Hellz to the no!

SUPERMAN: But, millions of people will die.

LUTHOR: BILLIONS!

EXT. MONTAGE - WORLD - SAME MOMENT

Billions dying.

EXT. NEW KRYPTON - SAME MOMENT

SUPERMAN: Goddammit, Luthor. Leave so I can throw this away!

LUTHOR: Just do it! I dare you!

SUPERMAN: I can't, otherwise the unending legion of fanboys that unfortuantely are surviving this catastrophe will descend upon me and call me immoral for saving billions since you decided not to get off the island in the first place.

LUTHOR: AHAHA! My plan! Double Jeapordy Superman! Save me, everyone dies. Save the world, the fanboys will hate you!

 

[The Guard]

He's got a point. Stopping New Krypton was more important at the time, than making sure Luthor got off the island. And since Luthor had just, you know, almost killed him, Lois, her child (Superman's) AND half the world, I'm thinking there were some, you know, hard feelings from Superman's end.

 

[bosef982]

He's got a point. Stopping New Krypton was more important at the time, than making sure Luthor got off the island. And since Luthor had just, you know, almost killed him, Lois, her child (Superman's) AND half the world, I'm thinking there were some, you know, hard feelings from Superman's end.

Hard. Hard. Hard...feelings...from Singer's Superman....? Uh-oh. I think Luthor may have to worry about getting "stabbed..."

 

[Immortalfire]

SUPERMAN: I can't, otherwise the unending legion of fanboys that unfortuantely are surviving this catastrophe will descend upon me and call me immoral for saving billions since you decided not to get off the island in the first place.

LUTHOR: AHAHA! My plan! Double Jeapordy Superman! Save me, everyone dies. Save the world, the fanboys will hate you!

Lmao

 

[GreenKToo]

wow,wow,wow.

 

[ervann]

He could well have meant to kill Luthor, either that or he didn't give a F.

Notice how pissed he look when Luthor flies past him (sort of) in the chopper. It's like he could have dropped NK back into the sea and just go after the Luthor.

But bottom line is...we're running out of things to discuss.

 

[Xybalba69]

Did Superman consciously know that he could likely kill Lex and his henchmen including Kitty?

When he dove under New Krypton and began lifting it into space, how did he know that Lex and Co. on the surface would make it to the helicopter and be able to get off in time before being crushed by falling Krypton rocks, dying in an earthquake, falling into a chasm, or suffocating or freezing to death in the upper altitude?

Something in my mind is nagging me that Superman should have made sure that Lex and Co. (especially Kitty) were off and safe before he started to lift the continent.

dude..are you joking, right ??
i really would have loved to see Super break Lex's back alá Bane with Bats...
i wouldn't have cared less is Lex was smashed right with the goons back there...
but, hey...that's just me...wishing for a great Superman comeback and action secuence...

 

[afan]

If you don't know that Superman adheres to an amazingly strict code of morals and ethics, of which a prime concern involves the absolute protection from harm of all living things including criminals, then you don't know Superman; and neither did this film, which in my opinion was it's biggest fault.

And don't roll out the "What was he supposed to do NK was threatening mankind......" argument, we are not talking a lack of plot alternatives, they are only limited by the imagination of the producers of the tale.

We are talking a lack of knowledge by the writers regarding the mettle of the character, sloppy attention to details, and a total lack of creative thinking that would allow Superman to triumph while still adhering to the ethical code that makes the Man of Steel unique among his peers.

 

[tgjensen]

Superman won't kill unless it is absolutely nessacery. He certainly did his best attempting to kill Doomsday, and AFAIK he once (in the Byrne era) executed someone?
And since Lex and his cohorts did have a chance to escape, Superman wasn't so much trying to kill them as leaving their fates in their own hands - much like Batman (who also never kills) at the end of Batman Begins.

"I won't kill you, but that doesn't mean I have to save you!"

 

[captain_jimbo]

Did Superman consciously know that he could likely kill Lex and his henchmen including Kitty?

When he dove under New Krypton and began lifting it into space, how did he know that Lex and Co. on the surface would make it to the helicopter and be able to get off in time before being crushed by falling Krypton rocks, dying in an earthquake, falling into a chasm, or suffocating or freezing to death in the upper altitude?

Something in my mind is nagging me that Superman should have made sure that Lex and Co. (especially Kitty) were off and safe before he started to lift the continent.

After the beating they gave him, they deserved to die. F**k 'em!

 

[The Kid]

They're pretty ****ed alright. Superman's moral code does not permit him to kill people who he considers bad. The only way I see that being flexible is when he's in a kill or be killed situation as with Doomsday.

What we have here is a dilema the writers wrote themselves into. Superman can go back to Otisburg to beat lex and drag them off Otisburg or get whooped again. Or just chuck them all into space hoping that they get to the heli. If they don't then oh well...

Here he plans to throw Otisburg into space and of course doesn't care whether lex dies or not. True superman probably doesn't care if lex dies anyway but it would be different if his death was in his hands. I believe it was an episode of STAS that showed superman as some evil version who just goes around killing all his adversaries. That's not right. Come on...

No one was in immediate danger. So where was the rush to chuck Otisburg? Catch a few more rays at least.

Anyway in the end, what supes does is careless... he's portrayed that way throughout the entire film actually so it wasn't a surprise. ...though I'd have liked him to have used a little bit more of that brain of his. Muscle over mind won in the end so you were wroooooooooooooooooooooooooong hackman, spacey, whoever you are.

 

[afan]

Re. Doomsday
Wasn't Superman's intent to "stop" Doomsday and not "kill" him, and Doomsday's death as well as Superman's a by-product of the battle.
And i'm foggy on this point, but was Doomsday "alive" or some sort of construct?

 

[tgjensen]

Well I guess it's never really explained, but people certainly assumed Doomsday had died, and Superman's last words were something like "Is he - Did I - ?", Lois replying yes. And there certainly were no holds barred when Supes threw his last punch, so if you ask me, at the very end, he went for the kill.