Is this even a fair match up?
It seems to me Man of Steel should win hands down. I am shocked I have seen people say they prefer Superman Returns.
While I get that some people do not like Superman killing in Man of Steel, most will admit that it was really his only choice, and they object to him being backed into a corner, not to him actually doing it in the setting where he did.
Honestly, the fact that Superman killed Zod in Man of Steel didn't bother me, because the movie made it crystal clear that killing Zod was Superman's only choice. What did bother me was the complete decimation of Smallville's downtown, and a large section of Metropolis and, likely, the accompanying deaths of thousands as all the buildings collapsed. Granted, Superman was barely holding his own for a while, but if they'd shown him taking even a
few steps to avoid the mass casualties (and perhaps not throwing Zod into buildings, but trying to pull him away from the city center), I would have been happier. Even worse, they showed Superman come down to the ground in the center of a
field of ruin to kiss Lois Lane and crack jokes about their relationship. Really? Did he even care that thousands of people had probably just died?
All of this would have been rectified with just a few bits here and there with him actually attempting to control the damage. Even if he'd failed, at least they would have shown him trying. In Superman II, Superman's entire fight with Zod revolved around Superman preventing casualties and expressing remorse for the people, and I find that more fitting for his established morals/character than the thoughtless bam smash pow of Man of Steel.
In SR we get Superman as a dead-beat dad, which was one thing in "Chip off the Old Clark" where it was a false accusation, but is another where he really is the father who abandoned his son.
I'm not sure it's fair to call Superman a dead-beat dad, when it looked like from the context of SR, even Lois wasn't certain who the father was until Jason threw that piano. The fact that Lois told Superman he was Jason's father at the end of the film smacks to me of him simply not knowing. He may even have considered that yes, sex can lead to children, but with Lois's amnesia, I'm not sure it's likely she would have figured out she was pregnant that quickly, let alone felt it was any of Clark's (or Superman's) business.
This of course brings up the issue of Lois's amnesia, which was rather heinous, but that is the fault of Superman II. Superman Returns was left with a mess to clean up.
The other big problem is that Clark lacks a sufficiently compelling reason to go to Krypton. This gets even worse if this is a sequel to Superman 2. There we have a major problem because there is no Superman for a few days. He says he won't leave again and then leaves for 5 years. How does that make any sense?
Very true. It doesn't make any sense at all. To me, both movies had systemic problems of different kinds, and both were enjoyable for different reasons.
I have to admit I loved Man of Steel, but will admit it could be better. Still, it certainly beats Superman returns in my view.
I actually find myself favoring SR over Man of Steel despite its inconsistencies. The Zod fight in Man of Steel left too bad a taste in my mouth.
I think I would rate Man of Steel as the best Superman movie ever, and I am tempted to rate Superman Returns as the worst, but on the bottom of the scale, I have to say that Superman IV is very cringe-worthy, and Superman 3 almost writing Lois out of the script is very problematic too.
I like elements from most of the movies. If Superman: The Movie hadn't made Lex so cornball, I probably would vote that my favorite. As it is, I'm not sure I can really pick, beyond saying Superman III and IV were by far the worst, and Man of Steel had too many issues to be the best.
