Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Post-Viewing Discussion: Man of Steel movie (SPOILERS)

Actually, I was thinking about the fic where our Lois & Clark watch Superman:TMP. Let them watch MOS. Oh, when Lois sees that MOS Lois learned who Superman was before there was even a Superman - learned it in a few days. She would throw a fit. It would be hilarious.

I find the genderbending usually without purpose, but I'm not sure if they did that here or not. Promotional (a book) said Jenny Olsen (or so I read), but someone at SHH posted a screencap where her name tag read "Jenny Jerwich." So I don't know.

Oh, that bugged me. Especially since a small town in Kansas was the first attacked and he gave them his age. Check the high school yearbooks for the right timeframe, and there he is.

Now my thoughts:

I've only seen it once, and I'm a person who likes to watch things multiple times. Sometimes I love something and keep loving it (usually), but sometimes it just falls apart on subsequent viewings, and, on rarer occasions, sometimes I appreciate it a lot more of subsequent viewings. So these are all first impression thoughts.

I knew almost nothing going in - I'd heard that the Kents didn't want him using his powers, saw one trailer on the website, and the teaser trailer. Nothing else - I don't think. I don't even think I knew Zod was going to be the villain. I almost didn't see the movie because I have firm opinions about what the Kents should be, and I didn't like what I was hearing.

I enjoyed the movie a lot. I did not think it perfect or amazing. But I did like it.

I loved how Lois tracked him down so quickly. I like what it says about her investigative skills. I love that we saw that she was an amazing investigative reporter. I liked how they talked and how she knew he wouldn't stop helping and said she'd be able to find him that way. It was lovely. A mention of him always having to come back to visit mom would have been nice, but given the themes of this particular movie, I could say it might have been awkward - distracted from the point being made about his heroism. I liked her followup of dropping it. I liked this Perry - he didn't shout and he's ...quieter, I guess, than some Perrys. Both when he refused the original story and when he knew she was lying about her leads, he just kept his calm, said it like it was and such.

I love Lois knowing early. So there aren't jokes on her lack of knowledge that make her look stupid. And she's really part of the action, so that's great.

I did enjoy Jor-El and Lara more than I usually do. I'm a fan of the Kents, and I felt nothing for Jor-El and Lara in TMP or LNC (did like them in the animated series, though). Jor-El was a bit too good at everything, I'll grant, and Lara didn't do much. But Lara had gravitas about her, despite that, and seemed a strongish sort for some reason. It was very interesting how they were never going to go with Kal-El. It wasn't the selfishness of making their son an orphan because of not wanting to leave their world (or one not wanting to leave the other, if one parent could have gone), but rather that they believed they were part of the failed order, that the Kryponians could have their bright future and free destinies with them there. I don't necessarily agree - they broke their bounds already by having that child, and I think they could have contributed, been there and still accomplished their goal. But they don't think they could, and that's what matters. I also found under-reacting holo-Jor-El quite amusing.

I was very disappointed in the Kents, particularly Jonathan. I love the idea that Clark is the hero he is because of how they raised him. I know that is by no means a defining characteristic of the Kents across all versions, but it's a version I love. Here, that simply isn't the case. His father says maybe he should let a bus load of kids die?! No, just no. Instead of being a hero because they raised him to help when he could, he's innately heroic, and they try to discourage him from it because of the risk to himself. He's a hero despite of their guidance, not because of it. I will grant it maybe a "do as I say, not as I do" thing because Jonathan stopped to help the other woman with a child. And Jonathan didn't break his own rules, even for his own life. But I still disliked that aspect of the Kents.

Following up on heroic - I liked Clark and the oil rig. People are in danger, and he has to help. I love it. And the workers there might have been a bit discombobulated when the door was ripped off, but they followed him because he upped their chances of getting out alive and getting out alive is exactly what they wanted. Also like how the pilots were like "get that last guy" - nice to see other people caring about saving lives, too. Then he was holding up the thing so they could get out and they saw that and they left. But that wasn't leaving him to die, since he was already doing the impossible.

I liked Supes talking the military folks - him breaking the handcuffs was fun. I enjoyed all the scenes where they were on the spaceship. I'm slightly confused as to why they wanted Lois, though. I'd thought they were going to use her as a bargaining chip against Kal-El, but they never did. Then again, she did escape her cell almost immediately.

But the Smallville action sequence followed by the Metropolis action sequence just went on too long, got too repetitive. I got bored.

But the ending was nice, and Perry and pals saw Lois kiss Superman (well, the alien, they don't know his name yet). And they don't necessarily know he's the hero. He didn't have establishing heroics in-costume in this version, so he not so much a known entity to them. And many people in Smallville must know Clark is the alien. Several incidents in childhood, then they know aliens with powers exist and the battle happens there. And the cop saw Lois call Superman "Clark."

I'd love to see fanfic about how the world perceives Superman right now. I expect Lois will push the heroism as far as Perry will let her. But Zod came to this planet only because of alien, so some people might blame him for just being here. They don't know he's a hero yet. He doesn't have the past actions or the publicity. And some will undoubtedly think of it as just a battle between aliens, not accepting/realizing that the reason for Superman's battle was to save earth and that he lost a chance to bring his people back over it. At least until Lois gets writing (somehow I don't think her three weeks leave without pay is going to stick). I expect the military/government will publicly say "he's on our side" no matter what they actually believe because they don't want to panic people. How much will they want Lois to keep secret - and how bad will they fail at that?


What do you want for the sequel?

I think Lois should be showing him the ropes as a reporter. As far as we know, he neither any training, experience, or education in the field.

I'd really like to avoid the the Lois-wants-him-to-use-his-powers-for-her-story thing. I dislike that idea intensely. Lois is very, very good on her own.

I can't decide if it would be amusing or annoying to have someone else see his lack of experience and wonder how he got the the job.

Obviously follow-up on the subset of the population that rejects Superman, those that might blame him for drawing Zod here, would be good to me. I'm not sure how I want Lex to play in in that. I mean, him using anti-Superman sentiment, even whipping it up further, seems quite feasible to me, given the themes of MOS. But they really gave Zod a motivation, a reason, for his nature, his actions. So what is Lex's reason for what he is doing - why does he hate Superman? What does he gain from destroying him? If they go the scienc-y route with Lex, would the codex in Superman's blood be of use to him?

As for any potential anti-Superman sentiment - I'd like to see that the DP made sure they put out Superman as hero. Because he is, of course. And Lois knows that he gave himself up and how he did this to save them at the expense of his own people being reborn. Not sure how much of that will be publicly available - what would Perry allow to be published? Unlike the beginning of the movie, the public is now willing take seriously anything Lois might write about it. It will be interesting how much the DP shapes pubic opinion on Superman. And how do the other DP staffers feel about him? Of course, this aspect on how soon after MOS a sequel picks up.

I am fervently hoping there is no mindwipe of Lois - and I don't think there will be. But a tiny part of me still worries, given her history. I want to see more of the Lois/Clark dynamic, of them learning more about each other. But we can't see all that, of course, because there's only so much time in a movie. Some of it will have to alluded to or implied. Or have already happened off-screen, between movies. But I'd like to see some, and some of the two of them being reporters - perhaps as a lead-in to a plot-point or action scene. I don't want really-dweeby Clark. I always liked the Clark-as-the-real-guy version. Well, most of the real guy, anyway. That way he can have real relationships, friendships, etc. But, since Lois does know the truth, he can already have that relationship, even if he plays the dork. But it they go that way I so want Clark and Lois to rehearse/try-out some of the dorky bits as a humorous scene.

How does Perry treat Lois in the aspect of her potentially knowing Superman's identify? Does he want to publish it? Or want her to consider it? No, I think he knows she won't (phone conversation in MOS), but how does he feel about it? Think it's just being a responsible journalist? And will we get some implication that he's a smart enough journalist himself that he can put those pieces together and see that it's Clark (but never tip his hand to them)?

Emotional issues over having had to kill are likely to plague Clark. I don't want that to overshadow everything else, but as a recurring theme and part of a larger whole, it could work well.

Lastly, I guess, I want to see how Clark reacts to having a permanent place. It seems he was a traveler before, he didn't forge new connections of any depth. He always had to ready to walk away a moment's notice, as soon as something happened? Now we the issue that he can put a costume and then go back to work afterwards. Does he maybe consider running when something happens? He is using his real name now, and I don't think he was before (he definitely wasn't as "Joe", but Lois' talk about tracking him down indicate he wasn't the other times, either, I think). I don't think running will come up - I think he's past that. But maybe. It's just an interesting thought, how making himself a permanent place might effect his non-Lois, non-Mom relationships.

ETA: Forgot to mention these two bits - I loved Lois and Supes talking when he was handcuffed. He was like "if it makes them feel better..." and I wondered about the handcuff scene with soldier when I saw the promo. Once I saw it and I realized they had no clue he was super strong, it made more sense.

Also - there's a big plot-hole in the movie. It can probably be fanwanked, but there's no explanation given in-movie (that I recall): why did Zod want to make Earth his new Krypton? They can terraform planets, so why not pick one with no life on it? Then Kal-El might have been more agreeable to Zod getting the codex (well, he didn't trust him anyway, but still). Why did it have to be Earth. I mean, I know Earth was closest, but it's such a small inconvenience to go elsewhere and avoid genocide.