11. Why Is Superman Blamed For The Africa Incident?
The Question: An early step in Lex Luthor's master plan is to implicate Superman in the massacre of an African village...even though we clearly see Lex's hit squad shoot the victims dead with bullets, and so why would anyone ever believe that Superman would use a gun when he could just, you know, rip their heads off? Why didn't Lex stage the scene to look a little more like Superman actually caused it? The Likely Answer: Though it really just comes down to lazy writing, the canonical answer is probably something related to the emotional testimony of a survivor we briefly see in the senate hearing, who blames Superman for the death of her family. We all know how damning impact statements can be regardless of their total truth, but even so, couldn't the film have just explained that Lex bribed people to cover up the fact these people were shot? With his vast resources, we'll just pretend that's what really happened, even though there's no way he could keep Lois from telling the truth.