2. Jonathan Kent
Possibly one of my favourite scenes in the entire film was the heroic death of Pa Kent. Now don't take this the wrong way, he's one of my favourite characters in the Superman mythos and although many people are somewhat opposed to the way Pa Kent is killed in Man of Steel, the moment resonated with me. In the "original version", Jonathan Kent dies of a heart attack, with the symbolism behind this being that for all the power that Clark and has and with all that he can do, he can't save his father from a simple heart attack, because he
has limitations and there are things that
even Superman can't do
. Snyder chose to go in a different direction here, channelling the Spiderman story a little more, to establish an equally emotionally devastating motif that there are some things that Clark Kent
shouldn't do, despite his powers to preserve balance and his identity. Just when the tornado is about to hit Pa Kent, Clark looks up and their eyes meet. Clark looks back desperately at the rest of the civilans knowing that his father would be furious at the idea of even revealing his abilities just to save his life, and just when he decides to defy that, Pa Kent raises his hand, shakes his head and smiles. He accepts that to protect Clark he must give himself up, as his biological parents did, and his spirit is preserved in Superman's commitment to saving everyone he can.