Even when he could have killed Nor, Clark didn't (couldn't?) do it. The instinct to kill wasn't there.
Wasn't it? I believe we were told (and shown) the exact opposite. From the "Battleground Earth" script:
CHING
There is a mind-set crucial to all drei-masters. A point in the match where the man becomes the weapon. All else vanishes. No doubts. No heart. No mercy. Just the kill.
ZARA
You have not shown us that.
Clark considers this, glances over at Lois, and:
CLARK
And I won't. That's not me.
CHING
Yes it is, Clark. It is part of the Kryptonian will that lies within you.
CLARK
I've... never believed in killing. I've closed my mind to Kryptonian instincts like that.
A moment, then:
CHING
Then I doubt you will survive the duel.
Later, the duel, and the script says:
Suddenly Superman looks up at Nor and the same deadly expression Ching earlier wore transforms Superman's face. He is focussed, calm, deadly power flowing through him. Nor brings down his drei and Superman catches the end of it in his palm.
He shoves it violently back at Nor who staggers backward. Superman leaps to his feet, still holding the drei, swinging Nor around. He now flings Nor's drei aside, and with his fists, pastes Nor and the man staggers dazedly. Superman picks up his own drei, which glows in his hand, and, swinging it like a bat, he connects with Nor, the shimmering PHOTONS sending him flying back against the wall, where he collapses in an unconscious heap. Lois stares, stunned.
A beat, then:
LOIS
(awed)
You did it. 'No doubts... no mercy... Just the kill.'
Superman stares from Nor to Lois, startled himself by what came over him, and not entirely happy about it.
This is, in fact, what we were shown on the show, as well. I think it was established that Clark/Superman can and will kill, under certain circumstances. It's canon. It's not out of character at all for L&C:TNAOS's Clark, because the show established it as in character, thereby deviating from the general assumption and rule that "Superman does not kill, period."
Just something to think about.
P.S. Just to add to the list of people whose death Superman has caused: in WIEAK, he was responsible for Patrick Sullivan's demise.
