8. Krypton's Republic
Now this one requires a little bit of pre-reading, but is a nice nod to one of the more unexplored themes of Man Of Steel. When we see Clark being bullied and resisting the urge to turn the other boys into a fine pulp, hes holding Platos Republic; nothing like a casual bit of Greek after school. Aside from highlighting how different Clark was as a child, its an exciting reference to an interesting element of Krypton. In Republic, the notion of a world where each person is bred with a specific role in mind is explored, with the three types of men being workers, warriors and rulers, exactly the same as what happened with Krypton in the film. The text's inclusion puts a very damning view on this, highlighting how naive the Kryptonians are; humans figured it out over 2000 years ago. Aside from Zods rather interesting speech on the simplicity of his existence, this plot element was only lightly touched on, which is a real shame; it would have been a great way to give the film a unique identity. At least it sort of explain Kal-Els very quick understanding of Kryptonian life once he finds the reimagined Fortress Of Solitude; he'd already learnt their folly.