Writer-director Zack Snyder’s “Full Circle” fundraiser starts today on the VERO app, featuring a celebration of the filmmaker’s trilogy of DC Comics film adaptations and benefiting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The event includes screenings of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, followed by panels and Q&A, with one film each day through the weekend. Today is Man of Steel day and 2023 is the film’s 10-year anniversary, so it’s time for a retro-review of the 2013 film that launched the DCEU.
Official poster for “Man of Steel”
My original review of Man of Steel was more mixed, leaning positive overall because of Zack Snyder’s directing, the terrific performances, a lush score, and an excellent hyper-realism approach to the visual effects. I had a few key complaints about the screenplay (I understood the intent of Pa Kent’s message but feel it was a muddled, I didn’t care for the “I let my dad die for a reason” setup and messaging, and I wasn’t a fan of the choice to have Clark’s “secret” treated as mostly (eventually) public knowledge in Smallville), but felt the film was elevated by Snyder’s vision and the aforementioned tremendous cast and crew of artists and technicians.
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Ten years later, I’ve revisited Man of Steel many times, and each time I liked it better. Its best attributes stand out and sustain, while its flaws fade into irrelevance.
The latter point is greatly aided by the fact I can now see the first two complaints as reflecting the messy complexity, the evolving perspectives and approaches, that ground the film in a naturalistic version of what it looks like when a near-god arrives in our modern world. The same naturalistic reflection of transposing sci-fi superheroism onto our 21st Century society also makes it easier to appreciate that yeah, most of Clark’s hometown knowing his secret is what would probably happen.
My complaints arose first and foremost from the unfamiliarity with those storytelling choices, because they are counter to how these things and themes have been presented previously. His parents, the loss of his father, his life in Smallville, how he kept his secret — these are important foundational aspects of the character, and so much of that backstory is seen from a new perspective deconstructing the origins and common awareness of those events and themes in Clark’s life.
I also complained about the fact the film included so many of the same primary plot points from Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) and Richard Lester’s version of Richard Donner’s Superman II (1980), two of the best superhero movies ever made and still the template used the most successful modern superhero movies (the Marvel Studios approach, which so many DC fans disparage, is in fact just an updated version of the template created in Donner’s Superman, and Christopher Nolan famously pointed to Superman’s template as the one he followed as well). Those are also two of my personal favorite movies of all time from any genre.
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So my reaction to Man of Steel upon seeing it for the time was to mentally keep comparing it to those original Superman films. I was sitting in the theater noticing different choices made and failing to adequately appreciate them in their own context as an intentional reimagining of the Donner films that are such a part of our mainstream pop culture memory and awareness, and which couldn’t merely be ignored yet could be nodded to from a new angle, asking what lies beneath the things we take for granted in those myths, considering what the myth looks like if we imagine a more realistic and modern story in which to ask these questions and understand the answers.
DC superheroes and Marvel heroes are different in a specific way. Marvel uses myths and legendary themes as a way to tell personal stories about the lives of characters. DC uses stories about characters’ lives as a way to talk about myths and legendary themes. Each uses one aspect to get to the other, from different directions, and it makes a huge differences in how to think about and tell these stories.
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Man of Steel speaks even more directly to that underlying aspect of DC storytelling than the original Donner films did, and they did it pretty well, obviously. And that inherently necessitates a different approach to the material and asking the audience to rethink what we know about Superman and his world, to think more directly about Superman and our world.
The more I watched Man of Steel, the more clearly I could see and appreciate these things about it, and to reconsider my complaints in a broader and more complicated light. If someone is still bothered by or unhappy about those things as viewers, then of course that’s entirely their right, but for myself my appraisal of Man of Steel has greatly improved. Whatever flaws it has pale compared to what it gets right and its glorious commitment to its vision.
Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same, his “secret identity” being merely that he carries out his good deeds anonymously at first as a wanderer, and later dons a costume without introducing himself by name to anyone who sees him in it. There’s no effort at creating an alternate personality for his secret identity — it’s a question of costume, glasses, and hairstyle, plus not giving out his real name, and counting on nobody snapping a clear photo or video of his face.
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This approach generally works in Man of Steel (although it’s a minor sticking point for me in the latter films, but doesn’t change my opinion of them or come to mind much while watching them). While Christopher Reeve’s iconic and Oscar-worthy dual portrayal of Clark-Superman personalities is magnificent and fun, Cavill’s more stylized realistic approach once again adds to the strong naturalistic presentation of the character’s mythos. It’s a performance filled with sustained moral uncertainties and ongoing struggle to decide how best to use his Superman identity, whereas Reeves essentially learned what he needed to know from Jor-El in the Fortress of Solitude and then went right to successful and widely beloved status as Superman.
It’s interesting to consider this first step toward a shared cinematic world of DC superheroes — or DC Extended Universe, aka DCEU — with what came after. It’s all part of the same world and story, but Man of Steel took certain specific steps at first to distinguish itself as a standalone franchise.
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Christopher Nolan helped develop the project and produced it while completing his own Batman movie trilogy. That trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises) attempted a faux-realism approach that Nolan brought with him to Man of Steel, as did Man of Steel’s screenwriter David Goyer, who was Nolan’s partner in the Dark Knight trilogy and who conceptualized the rebooting of Superman before bringing it to Nolan and then writing the script.
Eventually, more of the larger DC world crept in, with Easter eggs and other references to DC comic book characters outside of Superman’s own supporting cast found in the Wayne satellite, Luthor’s building, Booster Gold’s store, Supergirl’s open cryo-pod, and a host of other examples. But at that point, it was still unclear how much, if at all, Man of Steel would serve to introduce a larger DCEU.
By the time of release, however, it was understood that Man of Steel was the Warner Bros. attempt to match Marvel Studio’s incredible success with shared superhero cinematic universes and team-ups. The year before Man of Steel hit theaters, Marvel’s The Avengers became the third-highest grossing movie in history and the MCU was instantly the most influential franchise — and superhero movies the most influential genre — of the 21st Century.
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It made sense, then, that WB craved a piece of the pie. And Man of Steel did enough heavy lifting to provide a good starting point. While it didn’t gross as high as studio executives hoped and (right or wrongly) expected — Nolan’s name, Superman’s global awareness, and the remarkable success of superhero cinema at that moment led the studio brass to expect something to the tune of $800+/- million and rave critical reviews. They were taken aback by mixed press and audience reactions, and privately mildly disappointed with an otherwise good box office result of $668 million.
Nevertheless, it was a good enough performance for Man of Steel to get a sequel, and Warner Bros. was happy to put Zack Snyder in charge of building the rest of their DCEU. As early as 2009, I was a big supporter of the idea of Snyder having a bigger role in DC movies, as I felt his Watchmen was a perfect example of how a DCEU should generally be approached on film. By the time the trailers for Man of Steel dropped and then after seeing the film, I loudly and consistently said Warner should put Zack Snyder in charge of creating their DCEU. So when that’s exactly what finally happened, I was thrilled.
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While a sequel was being developed, questions about whether Man of Steel would cross over with Nolan’s Batman universe were on everyone’s lips. Some advocated for it, others against it. I was against it at first, but came around to feeling it would be good and could work as long as Nolan was onboard and stayed involved too.
But over time, I’ve come to think that from a purely business standpoint, within the context of Man of Steel’s release — and irrespective of what I think about Ben Affleck’s Batman, which I loved and am grateful was the way things turned out — it was probably insane for WB to agree to close the door on a billion dollar Batman franchise that was among the most popular superhero series of all time and would all but ensure billion dollar results every time he showed up in any of the new DC films.
Let yourself imagine it for just a moment. What if Batman v Superman opened with Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway climbing out of that helicopter, rushing through the streets of Metropolis and saving that child from a collapsing building? What if Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Batman died in those opening events while saving people, giving Bruce added fury at Superman? What if Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman was part of the story (Bruce’s date to Luthor’s gala so she can hack the data about the “White Russian,” helping Batman steal Kryptonite, and being a voice of reason like Alfred)?
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That would’ve been box office gold, the film easily would’ve topped a billion, and the fate of the DCEU would’ve been very different.
Again, I’m a huge fan of Affleck in general, I suggested he make Batman movies back in 2012 (he was my top pick, and Snyder was also on the list), I applauded when he was cast, and I wrote articles telling fans that Affleck would make an excellent Batman and anyone bashing him was wrong. Film after film, he was an awesome Batman and I’m glad he wound up in the role.
But in the moment, in 2013 when it was time to decide whether to use Nolan’s Batman or not (even if it meant recasting the role but using the same costume and as much of the same supporting cast as possible), the style and tone of Man of Steel actually looked closer to the Nolanverse than what came next. Batman v Superman took a few big steps toward an even more comic-faithful tone and style, more fully reflecting Snyder’s vision than Nolan’s and Goyer’s.
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That grounded realism and more somber, considered approach in Man of Steel was a strong contrast to the Marvel approach with their own films, and helped distinguish the DCEU from the MCU. From the stories and the score to the tone and sensibilities, from the naturalistic performances to the demonstration of superhuman powers, Man of Steel’s commitment to that foundational realism stands out in the early DCEU, straddling the space between Nolan’s vision and Snyder’s vision. In that way, it is particularly unique in the DCEU and in Snyder’s trilogy.
The commitment to realism also translates into some of the best action sequences and sci-fi moments. When Superman falls into a mountain, we see the immense destruction it causes. When he crashes the street, the pavement buckles and crumbles. When he fights, buildings tumble down. And when he flies… oh, when he flies! Sonic booms, clouds swirling, in and out of orbit. It’s all a glorious demonstration of the true weight and effect of so much power unleashed.
The consolidation of such power in one place, the ability to reshape the world as we know it, with so much potential for change and so much reason to hope, is accompanied by fear of the enormity of that power and its manifestation in one place, resulting in both hope and cynicism about the responsible use and potential abuse — a fear that resides not just within society upon introduction to Superman but also within Superman himself, wondering how and when best to use his powers and whether or not he can trust humanity.
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Resonating with themes of xenophobia, militarism, faith, and colonization/fall of empires, Man of Steel brought Superman into the modern world and asked if modern humanity has lost sight of what gives us hope and inspiration, and whether we’ve turned our backs on the exercise of great power for immense good. To me, this is analogous to President Obama’s America and the world’s desire to have hope again in the U.S. as a righteous, benevolent world leader that represents modern ideals of progress and justice, of unity and — yes — hope.
Such deconstruction is popular and appreciated in comics, where nearly a century of these characters and stories has seen plenty of attempts to rethink the role Superman plays and what exactly makes him and his worldview tick. While subsequent films in the DCEU went further in deconstruction and received backlash for it, Man of Steel found a good balance that, although still resulting in some criticisms that it didn’t offer enough fun moments and super-rescues, holds up well and ages like fine wine.
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