For all its flaws,Man of Steelis a remarkably nerdy, even reverent Superman movie.
So lets get to work, shall we?
THE BASICS
Superman first appeared inAction Comics#1 in 1938, but you already knew that.
Celebrated writer/artist John Byrne was brought in to restart the Superman mythos.
It was a success.
You get the picture, right?
So lets head to…
KRYPTON
Opening with Kal-Els literal birth serves a few purposes.
First off, theres the story purpose.
But as you might imagine, things like actual sex fell by the wayside.
Genetic material was co-mingled in birthing matrixes, and thats where the embryo would develop.
Theres a kind of meta message here, though, with the audience literally witnessing Supermans birth.
The two floating droids attending the birth are also right out of theMan of Steelcomic.
One of them is identified as Kelex (who also recently put in an appearance on theSupergirlTV series).
The other one is Kelor, another robot serving the House of El in theMan of Steelcomic.
Clearly, that doesnt happen here, so there will be no Bottle City of Kandor in future films.
When first introduced, they were Jor-L and Lora.
As Supes himself points out later on, its not an S but a Kryptonian family crest.
Different Kryptonian houses each have their own crests.
Later in the film, Superman tells Lois that the not an S means hope on Krypton.
The Kryptonians have ruined their world and depleted its natural resources, and now the planet is doomed.
Lara is concerned that on Earth, Clark will be an outcast, a freak.
Lara says that Kal-El belongs to the stars.
In Kryptonese, Kal-El roughly translates as Star Child.
GENERAL ZOD
General Dru-Zod first appeared inAdventure Comics#283 in 1961.
Like many long-lasting elements of expanded Superman mythology, General Zod was first introduced in a Superboy story.
This was the same comic that introduced the concept of the Phantom Zone.
More on that down below.
Zod tells Jor-El to join us.
Gosh, that all sounds a little familiar, right?
Faora is a master of Horu-Kanu, a Kryptonian martial art.
The way Faora is played here is similar to Ursa inSuperman II.
Cruel, taciturn, and fiercely loyal to her leader.
JAX-UR
Jax is the Dr. Mengele looking creep played by Mackenzie Gray in the movie.
Yep, that was another Superboy story.
Thats Wegthor, which according to the comics, was destroyed by a missile launched by Jax-Ur.
NAM-EK
The big guy who doesnt speak isnt Non, but Nam-Ek.
They dont appear to have horns, though.
It seems that theres a ban on space travel in place, perhaps because of Kryptons previous imperialistic history.
That ban on space travel has long been a feature of Superman comics.
Is it just me?
Its very possible that its just me, I totally get that.
The giant flying penises that everyone gets encased in takes them to the Phantom Zone.
Of course, nobody thought the planet would explode and there would be nobody to bring them back.
The ship that takes Zod and friends to the Phantom Zone is the Black Zero.
It took until the early 1950s for Jonathan and Martha to stick.
Note that its not just him, though.
Basically,everybodyin Smallville is a terrible human being.
Lana Lang is the only person genuinely nice to Clark.
Hes a horrible ass, apparently.
Speaking of Smallville, the bus accident is reminiscent of the car crash in the opening scene of theSmallvillepilot.
Right down to keeping the ship under a tarp underground.
Why he doesnt do it here is beyond me.
Nice to see that The Kents are dog people, but theres no sign of Krypto.
Although in that, he was more explicitly out to do good deeds.
Thats not as clear here.
Clark taking revenge on a douchey trucker bully has shades of the ending ofSuperman IIto it.
Cavills bearded/shirtless Clark looks kind of like Hercules here.
The song that plays during this sequence is Seasons by Chris Cornell.
Clark hitchhiking to the north is more than a little reminiscent ofSuperman II.
Emil Hamilton is a surprisingly neat supporting character who was first introduced inAdventures of Superman#424 in 1987.
He was created by Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway.
Making the ancient Kryptonian probe essentially become the Fortress of Solitude is a sensible touch.
The only difference is here we actually see him presented with the costume.
That dealt with the future of Supermans legacy, though, not Kryptons past.
Those polar bears finally showed up in a Superman movie!
Its also a much better redesign than what Supes is currently wearing in the comics.
Supermans pre-flight leaps are a nod to his earliest appearances, where his power levels were more modest.
Superman still couldnt quite fly in his earliest animated appearances in the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons.
This could be a nod to that.
And, of course, the outer space flyby is how every Christopher Reeve movie ended.
THE DAILY PLANET
Clark originally worked forThe Daily Starunder editor George Taylor.
The paper wasnt namedThe Daily PlanetuntilAction Comics#23 in 1940.
Perry White came along a few months later inSuperman#7.
Its nice that they didnt make this Lois wait 60 years to figure out Clarks secret, though.
This movie handles all of that quite nicely.
Plenty of precedent for this.
Jenny Jurwych was originally intended to be Jenny Olsen but that did change for whatever reason.
As ofBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, theres still no sign of Jimmy Olsen in this world.
THE BIG CONTROVERSY
Yes, Superman has killed in the comics.
The difference is that those stories all ended in serious consequences for Superman.
In Whatever Happened… Superman kills, and then immediately strips himself permanently of his powers as punishment.
As penance, Superman then exiles himself from the planet.
Regardless, Melonis character aint him.
A WayneTech communications satellite also gets trashed during the battle.
Ive often wondered if General Swanwicks name is a reference to classic Superman artist, Curt Swan.
This, too, is a nod toSuperman: The Movie, in an exchange with Jor-El and Lara.
I was always bummed that news of the alien visitation breaks on CNN in the newsroom and not GBS.
The way the chopper crashes during the battle with the Kryptonians seems to be another nod toSuperman II.
