2. Killing Zod - Man of Steel
For obvious reasons, many Superman fans had a problem with Man of Steel's ending. Not that it completely ruined the movie or anything, but it did raise a few eyebrows. After a fight between Superman and Zod that feels like it lasted longer than the final battle in Transformers 2, Clark is faced with the ultimate choice. Does he take the life of his enemy even though it goes against his moral code or does he continue to let Zod hurt more people? The insane General Zod makes it clear that he will as his last living action kill a family with his laser sight if Superman does not stop him permanently. So Clark makes the hard decision and snaps his neck. As cool as that is and all it means that Superman for the first time in his career has become a killer. That was the one thing his moral code would never allow him to do before. In subsequent movies of Man of Steel how will this action change Superman in ways we have never seen before? Will he kill others in the future, further changing his character? On a side note what I find more troubling about Superman being able to kill Zod is not that he had to kill him, but the fact that he was able to do it. Superman kills the General Zod on his first time out ever fighting a super powered being like himself? Zod is way older and much more powerful, but still is defeated by Superman by sheer brute force? Seems rather... convenient on the storytelling part. However, the recent Superman's most questionable action is not the killing of Zod. Not by a long shot...