3. Superman Kills Zod
Zods death scene is completely baffling from a character perspective. After smacking his greatest enemy down from space, Supermans got his arm around his neck and could probably snap it. Yet as the ultimate paragon of good, he clearly doesnt want to. Thats understandable. Yet when Zod threatens a family in close proximity with his heat-vision, Superman decides that he simply has to kill Zod in order to prevent any more death. Now, lets get one thing clear. Im not an expert, but surely when youve got somebody in the position in which Superman has Zod, their windpipe is pretty much at your mercy. Zod even acknowledges that hes doomed, saying he cant stop himself from killing even if it means he could die himself. He knows Supermans overpowered him and that whatever he chooses to do next, Zod wont be able to stop him. Yet we make the mistake of thinking that all Superman could do was snap his neck. What about a sleeper hold? Did he even attempt that, or are Kryptonians suddenly immune to that sort of thing? Granted, I realise that merely putting Zod to sleep robs of the film of a dramatic resolution, but if anything, its done at the expense of character-defining moment. When Superman snaps Zods neck were obviously shocked, but when the dust settles we begin to feel confused about the Man of Steel as a character. If he had just knocked Zod out, it could have further shown the virtuous streak which defines Superman as a character. Also, we would have got to see the excellent Michael Shannon in another film. As it is, it sets up a troubling quandary for all future Superman movies. Now that Supermans made it clear he can murder if he absolutely has to, all villains less powerful than Zod and there are a lot of them must surely be fearing for their lives. If Lex Luthor gets a bit too murder-y in the future, Superman might decide to break him moral code again and turn him inside out. After all, he easily could, and the audience might now expect that of him. Bet that sleeper hold looks a lot better now, doesnt it?