Tag: dceu

Diana delivered the killing blow to two of her villains, but people are still upset about Clark and Zod?

that-binese-guy:

dc-vertigo-squad:

catie-does-things:

miss-bubles:

comingupforblair:

Evidently so. I have seen some people say it’s because Clark’s manner of doing it was more overtly violent so I guess the message is kill people but don’t do it in an obvious way. I imagine if he’d smiled or made a joke about it, it would have been alright.

Maybe Clark should have just waited and hoped that Zod would tire himself out or some deus ex machina would come along and make things easier for him. Apparently that’s what the REAL Superman would do.

I have long suspected that Clark was visable very upset about killing Zod, the whole mood of the thing was that it was terrible that it happened, so people came away finding that whole thing upsetting and deciding that it was because he killed despite the fact that heaps of other superheroes have killed but it wasn’t framed in such a way as to hit the audience as hard so they werem’t as upset by it on thse counts

That’s definitely a big part of it. People are also generally less precious about Wonder Woman not killing than they are Batman or Superman, for some reason. Possibly because Diana killing a male adversary can be spun as “girl power” or whatever.

But I think a large part of it in this instance is the narrative framing. Clark killing Zod is presented as tragic; Zod is a sympathetic villain and Clark clearly regrets having to kill him. Diana’s villains are more cartoonishly evil and she doesn’t show much emotion over killing them, so obviously the audience isn’t expected to either.

I never realized this but I don’t think I have seen another superhero movie where the hero is visibly upset that he had to kill the villain or that the villain died. Like in Iron Man the Iron Monger was like a life long friend of Tony and his parents but Tony still had no problem killing him at the end. Maybe Thor when Loki fell of the rainbow bridge in the first Thor film but honestly that’s it. Just another reason to love Man of Steel.

Another thing I noticed about superheroes killing villains in general is that the villain always tends to be sort of ‘dehumanized’ near the moment of their death and it is always done in a way that leaves no corpse behind so there is no evidence of the death. Ares is a good example where early on we see him as a human who attempts to influence Diana into joining him, but when she refuses, her puts on armor that obscure his face and he dies in an explosion that vaporizes him. Same thing happened in GOTG Vol 2 with Starlord’s father. During the emotional scenes he is in his human form, but when he is revealed as the villain he turns into the planet itself and he also dies in an explosion. Their characterisation also seems to be flattened at that point where early on they have depth, have understandable and even sympathetic motives, but the closer we get to the climax where they will inevitably ‘die’, the more they will start spouting generic villain lines like ‘I will destroy you!’ and things like that, and the more they lose their ‘human’ features.

I think that sort of contributes to the reason why when villains die in superhero shows we don’t tend to feel anything, because they were made flat and dehumanized moments before. That is something that Man of Steel did not do with Zod, there was a body, and it was a physical act done by Superman’s own hands, not an explosion, or an energy blast, his hands.

squirrelwrangler:

Keep reading

Before you reblog any of the sensational “Amazon costumes in Justice League are a sexist set back” posts – look up some other actual stills of the Amazons in Justice League and notice they are in almost the same armor – Hippolyta actual got a larger helmet – and what looks like some of the prologue Amazon costumes are no less revealing than the training costumes from Wonder Woman. It’s the same arguments against WW’s costume from the very beginning, just brought up and modified for right before JL’s release.

justiceleaque:

i think about the way diana reacted when dr. poison’s gas killed everyone in the village, at a complete loss, total distress on her face because she didn’t save them. i think about the way clark reacted when the bomb went off at the court and everyone died, how he froze, didn’t even look around him despite the flames engulfing everything, becaused he didn’t save them

diana’s “they are dead. they are all dead. i could have saved them.” and clark’s “i was standing right there and i didn’t see it.” are the same statement, they’re both

acknowledging that, under different circumstances and mindsets, they would absolutely have the power to help and even prevent the harm from ever reaching those people, but it all got overshadowed by their personal battles, beliefs and expected outcomes. and at the time of those events, they’re both young, they’re both more naive than they should be but no less than they have the right to, and yet it’s all going to unfold differently for each of them

diana essentially stops ares, wins the war, but ultimately detaches herself from man’s world. she sees we all have the choice to do bad things, nobody forcing our hands, and we choose it. we choose to do bad things and there are no other gods of war she can slay to help us. it’s all on us despite an ever lingering hope we can change for the better. we can. we mostly don’t. clark is thrown into our world on full display without wanting or planning to, simply because he’s forced to fight by someone else’s hand, on more than one occassion. but he does fight because it’s not our fault earth houses the last son of krypton. because the people he loves and wants safe aren’t to blame for the fact he’s feared and misunderstood. it’s not his fault either

diana will go on believing that the number of people choosing to do good aren’t enough to make a considerable dent on the scale, yet the unfolding events upon the justice league’s formation and bruce wayne’s newfound hope in humanity will eventually change that. she’ll learn the scales might surprise you. clark, having died protecting the same people that did everything in their power to show him how much unwanted and feared he was, will return and no matter his newfound disposition either about humanity never deserving him or his resolve to be there for us despite everything, will have changed his mentality considerably due to all the events that caused and took place up until his sacrifice and death

the potential of strong character development between and through any possible interactions diana and clark might have in the dceu is ridiculously exciting to consider. they have so many things in common and yet they’re so different, both when they started and where they currently are. one regained hope, the other posthumously became it

dilithiium:

superman giving the people what they wanted and showing up to a congressional hearing of the senate to answer for his actions that no matter how noble still resulted in collateral damage is one of the bravest things someone in his position could do, and even though it didn’t go well (thanks lex) he still cast aside everything that makes him superior to the average person and put himself at the mercy of the court because that’s what made people feel safe and that’s why superman is my favorite hero

moonisneveralone:

But honest to God though if I were a citizen of the DCEU I’d not trust superman all that much either.

Look the actual first time people hear of Kal is when Zod reveals himself to earth.

So just imagine you’re sitting in front of your device like right now and all of a sudden it glitches and this weird voice keeps repeating. “You’re not alone.” Then he talks about how there is someone among you masquerading like he’s one of you but he’s not.

Zod has already stripped Clark of any sort of human sympathy from anyone who’s watching him. People already expect that it’s a mask. And even more importantly look at what Zod looks like through the screen I’d have peed myself if that just happened out of nowhere.

And then this clearly non human figure saying that there is someone like him disguised to look like a human. Wouldn’t trust that guy would you even when he shows up with a handsome and friendly face.

fyeahsupermanandloislane:

Grieving Superman/Clark in Justice League

     “Martha is seeing everyone mourning this Superman character, but she’s mourning Clark, her son. And she can’t tell anyone that Superman was her son. It’s a terrible loneliness and pain for her to go through. It’s excruciating for both Martha and Lois to see all these people mourning a man that none of them truly knew.” – Henry Cavill
     “[Lois is] now Lois after Clark. She’s not the same person that she was, and she definitely feels the absence of the hope that he had brought into her life. It feels devastating, so she’s isolating herself.” Instead, she writes fluff pieces for The Daily Planet, because “she can’t go back and face the world again just yet.” – Amy Adams