Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting
  • Anvilicious: Yes, we get it, Superman is a Messianic Archetype.
  • Author's Saving Throw: Unlike most Superman media, Jor-El, via stealing the Growth Codex, has a plan to restore the Kryptonian race.
  • Base Breaker:
    • Jonathan Kent telling Clark to hide his gifts. To some, Pa was trying to hold onto his son and shield him for the harsh realities of the media (and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice showed that Pa was right about people fearing and judging Clark), while others found that he was telling Clark not to save people.
    • Superman, particularly his Adaptational Angst Upgrade. To some, it was a new and interesting take on the character which felt appropriate to someone who was still learning his powers while others found it to be not only an insult to Superman but a played out cliché.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Faora.
  • Fanon: As several snarky fans have asked, why didn't Zod just colonize Mars? This led to the fan acceptance that World Engines cannot create something out of nothing and need the target planet to have environmental conditions somewhat similar to Krypton's so it can enact its Hostile Terraforming.
  • First Installment Wins: Not a universally held belief, but it's generally found near the top of DCEU rankings.
  • Franchise Original Sin: A lot of the problems that would plague the pre-James Gunn DC Extended Universe got their start here. But as this was the first film, and was marketed as more grounded than other Superman media, fans were more willing to overlook them.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: An answer to the debate of why Zod didn't just colonize Mars was that he didn't want to throw down with the Martians (who have historically been in Superman's weight class). Fast forward to Zack Snyder's Justice League and it turns out that General Swanwick, who oversaw the military's response to Zod's invasion, was Martian Manhunter. And come The Flash, Zod, incredibly casually, decapitates Swanwick in the Alternate Timeline. Clearly fighting Martians was never a concern for Zod.
  • Older Than They Think:
    • Despite what some reviewers say, this film did not establish the "S" as meaning "hope" in the Kryptonian language or having the Kryptonians being a race of Designer Babies. That was there as early as the Silver Age (the 1950s to 1970s).
    • Superman's Adaptational Angst Upgrade. As anyone who's watched Smallville can tell you, that show had Clark suffering from a lot of angst.
    • Superman killing Zod. Putting aside that Superman has killed enemies in the comics (including General Zod), Superman killed Zod in Superman II. After he'd depowered Zod. At least this Superman actually had a reason to kill Zod and an emotional response to it.
  • Replacement Scrappy:
    • Putting aside his Ron the Death Eater reputation, this Superman's more introverted worldview and generally being perceived as suffering from Angst? What Angst? regarding the fallout from Man of Steel tends to put him near the bottom of the favorites list of Supermen.
    • Compared to his previous incarnations, this iteration of Pa/Jonathan Kent comes off as the least favorite version of the character; While previous Pa Kents' deaths (notably the one from Smallville, where he died from an inevitable heart attack) had made actual impact with their Clark/Supermen, THIS particular Pa Kent is different for the wrong reasons; He instead teaches his adopted son to be reluctant until the latter's heart had became introverted, and later willingly (and pointlessly) sacrifices himself to further prove his point.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Despite choosing the human race over his own people, Superman. Detractors have been known to label him as a Designated Hero/All Powerful Bystander despite Clark having an established Chronic Hero Syndrome, see the school bus sequence, and being a Destructive Saviour despite the fact that he was outnumbered 50 to 1 against Super Soldiers and most of Metropolis was destroyed by the Black Zero's gravity beam. The big one of course is his killing Zod, despite the fact that Superman begged the general to stand down and ultimately had no choice but to kill him, breaking down in shock and horror afterwards.
  • Padding: The general reaction to Jor-El explaining Zod's backstory to Clark and then Zod speaking to him in the Mind Probe. While the visuals are impressive, both largely recap everything that the audience already saw in the prologue.
  • Rooting for the Empire: Michael Shannon's portrayal of Zod won over a good part of the fanbase.
  • Signature Scene:
    • You. Are. Not. Alone.
    • Superman pulling a Neck Snap on Zod.
  • Snark Bait: Oh the snarkier fans had a field day with this one.
  • So Okay It's Average: More or less the general audience's take on the film. It has its problems, ones that set the stage for some of the DCEU's more controversial decisions, but it managed them well enough and is a decent film.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: More or less every complaint about the film can be summarized as this. The big one would have to be Superman's Adaptational Angst Upgrade.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Pa Kent telling Clark not to save him. Given that Pa Kent usually dies from a heart attack to show that even Superman can't save everyone, him dying by a tornado just comes across as Too Dumb to Live and too prideful for his own good.
  • Vindicated by History: After Batman v. Superman and Justice League, complaints about this film have largely died down. It's hardly universal praise but quite a step up from the film's initial reception.
  • What an Idiot!:
    • The Kryptonian Science Council. Despite having the technology to travel faster than light and colonize other planets, they chose to stick a drill into the thing whose gravity field was keeping their planet together to combat their resource shortage.
    • To some, Superman not consulting Jor-El after Zod made his broadcast.

Back to Man of Steel
Advertisement