Warning: Spoilers ahead for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, including a pretty big one.
While Henry Cavill’s Superman has earned less love from critics and audiences than Ben Affleck’s Batman or Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, there were some great moments for the Man of Steel in the new film.
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So…what were our favorites?
I’ll get out the way that one of my personal favorites was the Lois and Clark stuff; I’ve always liked it when that relationship is depicted as being adult and respectful, rather than the cat-and-mouse of the old Lois/Clark/Superman love triangle or Lois chasing down his secret identity. I loved it that Clark called her “Lo” in this movie. But those aren’t exactly the kind of things most of our audience would think of as stand-out, so here’s what I came up with…
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Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is now playing in theaters.
SUPER-HEARING
One of the early laughs in the screening of the movie I attended was the moment where Bruce was talking to Alfred during Lex Luthor’s dinner party — and Clark hears the whole thing.
Following that up just flat-out calling him “Bruce” (during the fight) later shows that this movie was more than just a “brain versus brawn” thing, and that Clark isn’t stupid. It didn’t take him much to figure out what was going on.
It was a cool, creative use of the powers and one that didn’t require them to use any VFX or bring down the house to do it.
THE COMEBACK
Saving Lois is a staple of any Superman movie, but the way he did it this time was a kick.
After having a crisis of faith following his inability to stop the Capitol bombing, Superman briefly considers walking away from his role as Earth’s protector. He’s drawn back in — in part — by the intervention of Lex Luthor, who throws Lois off a roof to get his attention.
That was — we’ll admit — one of the sillier elements of Lex’s incredibly convoluted plan, but like everything else that happened right up until the very end, it went just the way he hoped. We got a great Lois and Clark moment out of it, and another great use of Superman’s powers in the way he saves her without the Gwen Stacy problem rearing its head.
TRYING TO REASON WITH BRUCE
This is a very little thing, but it’s worth mentioning, considering the accusations people are making about this franchise’s take on Superman in particular.
Superman absolutely tried to reason with Batman.
With Martha Kent’s life on the line, he told Lois that he wouldn’t rule out killing Batman to save his mother…but before saying that, he told Lois that he needed Batman’s help. And then when he landed in Gotham, the first thing he said was something along the lines of “Bruce, you need to listen –” before the fight started.
Throughout the fight, he never tried to use decisively lethal force against Batman, and he continuously appealed to Batman to listen to him.
This is not only a profoundly “Superman” way to handle stuff, it also runs counter to the narrative that Snyder’s Superman just bashes into things without any concern for what Superman would do.
SUPERMAN SAVES LUTHOR
There’s something just quintessentially Superman about this moment.
Luthor threw Lois off a roof; he bombed the Capitol and got Superman blamed in the court of public opinion; he kidnapped Martha Kent and tried to have her killed; and he nearly got Superman killed by pitting him against an unhinged Batman.
Oh! And then he built a giant, rampaging monster — consequences to the city be damned — so that he could use it to kill Superman.
And when that mindless abomination’s first act is to lash out against its “father,” what does Superman do? He damn near breaks the sound barrier to get in front of a thirty-foot Kryptonian killing machine, to save Lex Luthor.
This is the juiced-up, action-movie version of Superman’s fundamental belief that everyone’s life — including Lex’s — has value, that everyone is worth saving, and that anybody at any time could turn it all around and redeem themself.
THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN
One of the best-selling DC Comics stories of all time, this isn’t the first time they’ve tried to make a live-action adaptation of Doomsday’s bloody rampage through Metropolis.
This also isn’t the first time it’s been adapted for the screen, with the animated feature Superman: Doomsday covering the ground already.
That said, Superman’s decision to sacrifice himself for the world — along with his final kiss and “I love you” to Lois — were touching, perfectly in-character, and executed about as well as they could be, considering they didn’t have a whole film to play out the Doomsday fight.
