10 Superman Moments That Shocked The World

5. Snapping Zod’s Neck - Man Of Steel

Superman Doctor Light Justice League Trinity War
Warner Bros.

Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man of Steel was the movie which launched the mixed bag shared cinematic realm known as the DC Extended Universe. And much like the DCEU has split opinion, so to did the shocking ending of Snyder’s Superman picture.

Having battled Michael Shannon’s General Zod, Henry Cavill’s Last Son of Krypton is left with the ultimate decision to make. As Zod’s heat vision has an innocent family in its sights, Superman makes the call to snap his opponent’s neck.

To this day, many comic book aficionados and long-time Superman fans lambast this scene as being completely out of character for Superman. But then, this is a version of Superman that has been handled so poorly at times, with Cavill’s take on the character only rarely capturing the fundamentals of what makes Superman such a fascinating figure and one of pop culture’s greatest heroes.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.