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rainwatersparkThis is one of the most common criticisms of the movie. It's somewhat understandable, as there is quite a lot of destruction in Man of Steel, but to blame it all on Clark is...well, factually inaccurate.
Overall, the thing that sticks out to me most is: Clark is not a physics expert. He can't predict whether he's going to crash into a building from a flying tackle that starts miles away. It's doubtful to me that Clark even necessarily has a grasp on the fact that when he punches someone, that someone is going to fly through several walls, because Clark has spent a lifetime restraining himself and not punching people, he's not clear on what his own limits are, and he is not a physics expert (especially when it comes to Kryptonian capabilities rather than human capabilities).
1. The Battle for Smallville
- Some people blame Clark for bringing Zod to Smallville, to which my answer is: Why do we assume Clark meant to bring Zod to Smallville in the first place? All he was probably trying to do was get Zod as far away from Martha as possible, and after flying for several miles they ended up crashing into Smallville.
- After the Kryptonians pick up Zod and Clark faces Faora and Nam-Ek, there's no reason to suspect Clark wasn't going to try to get them out of Smallville—until the military shows up and causes complete chaos.
- Clark is clearly outmatched when facing both Faora and Nam-Ek alone, and especially when facing them together. Most of the fight is him either getting pounded into the ground or being used as a wrecking ball.
- Clark does warn the Smallville residents to "get inside, it's not safe," he saves a pilot by tackling Faora out of the air, he saves the soldier who falls out of the helicopter (and then immediately shoves him away to get him clear of Nam-Ek), and lastly he saves Colonel Hardy from Faora.
- Like when he tackled Zod, there's no reason to suspect Clark was purposely tackling Faora into the iHop; it's more reasonable to assume he was trying to get her as far away as possible, but didn't make it far enough.
- At one point, Clark does take Faora and try to fly away with her, presumably to get out of Smallville—but Nam-Ek tackles them and brings them back down to the ground.
2. The Destruction of Metropolis
Well, Superman wasn't there because he was trying to stop the World Engine on the other side of the world, so...it seems unfair to blame the destruction on him.
3. The Battle in Metropolis
ManOfSteelAnswers.com does a good job breaking things down in their video:
Saying the destruction was "unnecessary" implies that Clark somehow unreasonably prolonged the fight or was capable of ending it sooner—but, as this video quite clearly demonstrates, Clark was completely outclassed throughout the entire fight and was doing all he could to keep up with Zod. People also often say Clark should've lured Zod to a deserted area, but (a) Clark was not at all in control of the fight (you see him trying to punch Zod out of Metropolis, but that doesn't last too long before Zod has enough of that), and (b) Zod made it quite clear that he intended to "make [the humans] suffer," so there was no guarantee that he would blindly follow Clark out of the city if Clark retreated—he could just as well have started murdering everyone.
(And even if they were out in the countryside, they'd probably end up destroying agricultural fields and mountains, and possibly small towns as well. It's not like even the more rural parts of the US are completely deserted. As awful as it sounds, at least Metropolis's skyscrapers and buildings severely limited the extent of some of their damage.)
There are a couple of things that I wanted to add to the video's analysis of Clark's final battle with Zod and why the destruction may have been extreme, but not unbelievable:
- Clark and Zod are both the equivalent of gods on Earth. There was essentially no way they could have a no-holds-barred beatdown without causing this much damage.
- Clark does mostly try to limit collateral damage and human casualties. The only really egregious moment, in my opinion, was when he smashed Zod's face against a skyscraper, but at most, he caused non-structural damage and scared the people inside. If you pay close attention to the fight, you can notice:
> Clark gets smacked to the ground by Zod when the LexCorp truck blows up the parking garage because he's distracted by the explosion. I strongly believe he's so distracted because he's trying to see if there was anyone in the parking garage who might be injured or killed by the blast (because he deliberately fully turns around to look at the explosion).
> Clark gets smacked by a construction beam when he tries to close off his heat vision—either to reduce collateral damage or avoid seriously injuring Zod.
> When they're in outer space, Clark intially tries to catch the satellite Zod throws at him—so it won't fall to Earth and potentially kill people with the debris.
Overall, the thing that sticks out to me most is: Clark is not a physics expert. He can't predict whether he's going to crash into a building from a flying tackle that starts miles away. It's doubtful to me that Clark even necessarily has a grasp on the fact that when he punches someone, that someone is going to fly through several walls, because Clark has spent a lifetime restraining himself and not punching people, he's not clear on what his own limits are, and he is not a physics expert (especially when it comes to Kryptonian capabilities rather than human capabilities).
1. The Battle for Smallville
- Some people blame Clark for bringing Zod to Smallville, to which my answer is: Why do we assume Clark meant to bring Zod to Smallville in the first place? All he was probably trying to do was get Zod as far away from Martha as possible, and after flying for several miles they ended up crashing into Smallville.
- After the Kryptonians pick up Zod and Clark faces Faora and Nam-Ek, there's no reason to suspect Clark wasn't going to try to get them out of Smallville—until the military shows up and causes complete chaos.
- Clark is clearly outmatched when facing both Faora and Nam-Ek alone, and especially when facing them together. Most of the fight is him either getting pounded into the ground or being used as a wrecking ball.
- Clark does warn the Smallville residents to "get inside, it's not safe," he saves a pilot by tackling Faora out of the air, he saves the soldier who falls out of the helicopter (and then immediately shoves him away to get him clear of Nam-Ek), and lastly he saves Colonel Hardy from Faora.
- Like when he tackled Zod, there's no reason to suspect Clark was purposely tackling Faora into the iHop; it's more reasonable to assume he was trying to get her as far away as possible, but didn't make it far enough.
- At one point, Clark does take Faora and try to fly away with her, presumably to get out of Smallville—but Nam-Ek tackles them and brings them back down to the ground.
2. The Destruction of Metropolis
Well, Superman wasn't there because he was trying to stop the World Engine on the other side of the world, so...it seems unfair to blame the destruction on him.
3. The Battle in Metropolis
ManOfSteelAnswers.com does a good job breaking things down in their video:
Saying the destruction was "unnecessary" implies that Clark somehow unreasonably prolonged the fight or was capable of ending it sooner—but, as this video quite clearly demonstrates, Clark was completely outclassed throughout the entire fight and was doing all he could to keep up with Zod. People also often say Clark should've lured Zod to a deserted area, but (a) Clark was not at all in control of the fight (you see him trying to punch Zod out of Metropolis, but that doesn't last too long before Zod has enough of that), and (b) Zod made it quite clear that he intended to "make [the humans] suffer," so there was no guarantee that he would blindly follow Clark out of the city if Clark retreated—he could just as well have started murdering everyone.
(And even if they were out in the countryside, they'd probably end up destroying agricultural fields and mountains, and possibly small towns as well. It's not like even the more rural parts of the US are completely deserted. As awful as it sounds, at least Metropolis's skyscrapers and buildings severely limited the extent of some of their damage.)
There are a couple of things that I wanted to add to the video's analysis of Clark's final battle with Zod and why the destruction may have been extreme, but not unbelievable:
- Clark and Zod are both the equivalent of gods on Earth. There was essentially no way they could have a no-holds-barred beatdown without causing this much damage.
- Clark does mostly try to limit collateral damage and human casualties. The only really egregious moment, in my opinion, was when he smashed Zod's face against a skyscraper, but at most, he caused non-structural damage and scared the people inside. If you pay close attention to the fight, you can notice:
> Clark gets smacked to the ground by Zod when the LexCorp truck blows up the parking garage because he's distracted by the explosion. I strongly believe he's so distracted because he's trying to see if there was anyone in the parking garage who might be injured or killed by the blast (because he deliberately fully turns around to look at the explosion).
> Clark gets smacked by a construction beam when he tries to close off his heat vision—either to reduce collateral damage or avoid seriously injuring Zod.
> When they're in outer space, Clark intially tries to catch the satellite Zod throws at him—so it won't fall to Earth and potentially kill people with the debris.
