It’s really odd how people so often make a comparison between DCEU Superman and MCU Captain America usually to make some nonsense point about how Cap is how Superman should be or something similar as, when you look at Cap’s personality, he has some of the same qualities people complain about in DCEU Supes or which they claim he has, preventing him from being a hero they can get behind.
He’s stoic, he has little issue with killing, he can be self-righteous and a hypocrite, he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor, he doesn’t smile very much (which is apparently essential to being a hero), he can be impulsive and somewhat reckless and even cynical and despairing at times, which someone who is supposed to be a symbol of hope is never, ever, ever allowed to be according to the people saying this stuff.
Tag: superman
the first thing Lois says after she believes Clark when he admits he’s Superman: omg that’s so unethical; you wrote stories about yourself
yep. perfect
Make a better world than ours, Kal.
Happy 5th Anniversary, Man of Steel! (June 14, 2013)
“doing good” is not an innate thing that people know how to do. it even takes time to articulate what “doing good” would mean even if our inclination to do so is pure and selfless. does it matter more to protect the people on your street? your country? the world? is it enough to save their life or to make their lives better? do you have enough moral foresight to make those decisions? if you only have so much time, who do you spend it on?
these are the questions zack snyder asks in man of steel and batman v. superman. too often, you will see people say that, because clark is taking the time to really consider his responsibilities, he is not a good person, that he has been hollowed out to someone who disdains the people he most often helps. this is a vestige of our desire to see superheroes hatching out fully formed; all they need is a suit and a plan, and they’re good to go, with a full sense of self-sacrifice. but what clark attempts is a careful consideration of difficult moral decisions that have no clear-cut answer. if your father believes that your life will be in danger if you save him, do you respect his wishes? if the closest thing you have to your race will kill another innocent family if you don’t kill him, what do you do? if a fellow crime fighter is terrorizing a poor neighborhood with impunity, how do you stop him? is the pen actually mightier than the sword? at what point is a line crossed that says you must interfere? what if interfering makes it worse?
mos and bvs are profoundly moral movies. they are altruistic movies. they are selfless movies. superman is humble enough, caring enough, kind enough, to know when he is out of his depth, to know that he cannot simply act and rationalize it after the fact. he can do too much good to rely on his own instincts without interrogating his own motives and making sure he knows what he’s doing and why.
if anyone tries to tell you that clark doesn’t want to help, or that zack snyder’s movies position him as a distant god who’s icked out by the commoners, rather than someone deeply concerned with making sure that harming and helping don’t end up being basically the same, then they have never considered these questions for themselves, and their superman isn’t one i would care to fight for me.
Superman saves Lex from Doomsday.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) dir. Zack Snyder
DCEU Superman as an introvert
I really dislike how so many people wanted some sort of Reeve!Superman incarnation. For a start, it doesn’t fit with the tone or maturity of the DCEU. Plus, it obviously didn’t work for Superman Returns. It’s sad that audiences feel the need for constant dialogue, quips, and exposition to empathize with Clark/Superman, or like him. To me personally, this signifies a global misunderstanding of introverts and “quiet” people.
Cavill!Clark felt like a REAL person, and as an introverted/shy person, this is so refreshing to see in a movie. ((Same can be said about Mako in Pacific Rim)). Clark didn’t need to be talking non-stop to express thoughts and emotions. We see his little smiles with Lois, his face falling after the Capitol explosion, his terrifying anger at Lex. We SAW his inner turmoil and heard it through other characters (Finch, Martha, Lois, the media) .
Most importantly, Clark spoke when it mattered.
I totally agree misunderstanding introverts is one of the issues. Reminded me of this quote (from the book Quiet)
“today we make room for a remarkably narrow range of personalities. We’re told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable.“
I think the last part especially applies because Clark smiles and has happy moments but it’s expressed differently than an extrovert (for example, the way his smiles are more modest and less frequent around strangers vs when he’s with martha or lois) and this gets ignored & written off as “joyless” or misinterpreted as bad characterization or bad acting but really it’s just people not being used to seeing introverts unless they’re the weirdo/ creep/ psycho character. And cavill!clark shatters that stereotype, not to mention he shows that true heroism and optimism comes from your actions, not big speeches or a constant smile
today was another big reminder that DCEU haters have the actual worst reasons to justify their hatred and also they’re so annoying because seriously you won, they turned Superman into the perpetually smiling cocky alpha male you wanted and you’re still acting like you’ve been personally wronged
Also, I actually read some of Ayn Rand’s writings for a philosophy class I took in undergrad, and y’all seem to have no idea how her philosophy works or what makes it so toxic.
Why do you think the reason hater said that zack snyder project his view on ayn rand objectivism onto superman?? Most of the haters I know off said that superman being feeling very burden and unhappy about helping people is zack snyder somehow project his ayn rand viewpoint onto superman?? I’m not so sure what this have to do with ayn rand philosophy? From what I observe, this is just zack adopting superman with the balance of both idealist and realist. I get it that superman is very popular for adopting the value of altruism. And yes altruism do make you feel happy when you are helping people. But at the same time, altruism can also bring you misery and sadness if you try to help people beyond your own limit of your ability. Altruism in my opinion should not be come at the cost of your own self happiness. I believe that everyone have a right to pursuit their own happiness and being altruism or helping other people is your own freedom of choice to do so. It is sounds so wrong if you need to give up your own happiness in order devote yourself into helping other people.
That is why i agree with zack take in the film that altruism is not fully realistic and that altruism don necessarily bring you happiness all the time. His take in the film don really seems to be an idealistic one but at the same time zack do not reach to the realist conclusion as he basically shown that you can be realist but that does not mean you cannot be idealistic. Both of idealist and realist need to be well balanced and I believe this is how it should be because none of these philosophy can be applied at 100%. So for zack snyder superman, he shown that superman can able to help people while at the same time pursuit his own self happiness. This is my take from what I observe on zack snyder superman so far
They say Zack’s movies are Randian because Zack said back in 2016 he wanted to do an adaptation of one of her novels so haters latched onto it and started saying his movies promoted Ayn Rand, like they’d been hating on his movies since 2013 but they only started calling them Randian after that interview, because they never thought of them that way until Zack gave them an opening to.
And it’s so stupid because as nonsensical, convoluted, and stupid as Rand’s actual philosophy, it’s really not hard to understand the core point, which is that you should only care about yourself, concern yourself only with your own happiness and not worry about others. The essay I read in college was literally titled something like “The Virtues of Selfishness,” you know subtle. The fact that Clark keeps saving people and thinking of others throughout Zack’s movies means they can’t possibly endorse a Randian worldview because that goes against the core of her philosophy. I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to tell a truly Randian superhero story, even when stories have Randian elements, like The Dark Knight Returns or The Incredibles, I don’t think they actually depict a fully Randian worldview (a more generally conservative/libertarian worldview sure–even more so than the average superhero story–but not a specifically Randian one).
And like you seem to be saying, Zack is just trying to present a realistic take on altruism. Like, activism and social justice work are not fun. They just aren’t. They require long hours of work for very little money, and if you become particularly notable you’ll also have to live with near-constant death threats (or worse.) Work is never-ending and progress is slow to nonexistent, and after any victory there’s a realization that there are still dozens of more mountains to climb. It’s not FUN being selfless, I mean being really selfless, not just joining a cause while it’s trendy and dropping it when it’s not, but rather committing to a cause and seeing it out. There are people who have been fighting for gun control since before I was born, can you imagine how frustrating that must be? There are lawyers and activists for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood who spend years in court fighting one state’s anti-abortion laws, and in the meantime dozens of other states pass their own attacks on body autonomy. Altruism isn’t glamorous. Altruism isn’t fun. Altruism isn’t one big pile of laughs and Whedon-quips. Altruism is fucking hard, but you commit to it anyway, you take the pain, disappointment, and frustration that comes with it, because a part of you just can’t not do anything while this world is so cruel and unjust.
And this depiction of altruism is not unique to Zack’s movies or some sort of Randian propaganda. George Bailey gives up his dreams of travel to save Bedford Falls, and while the citizens bail him out when he’s about to be arrested, that’s all they do, the money will run out eventually, George never gets to live his dream, Mr. Potter still runs the town, a lifetime of sacrifice doesn’t really net him much, but he has friends and a loving family and that’ll have to do. (Which of course is the movie’s message, but some people don’t pick up on these things.) Atticus Finch doesn’t actually save Tom Robinson, and later a character explains to his son that “There are some men in this world who are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father’s one of them.” (Imagine if Zack used that quote to describe Superman, haters would point to that as proof he was Randian.) Jefferson Smith collapses in the middle of his filibuster before he can clear his name, sure one of the corrupt senators discovers a conscience and confesses, but the fate of the political machine is never resolved. High Noon, The Grapes of Wrath, The Ox-Bow Incident, lots of movies depict heroism as a sacrifice or responsibility loaded with disappointments. And all of these movies are considered classics, and their leads are seen as cultural embodiments of heroism and idealism. So yeah, once again there’s absolutely no good reason that Zack’s depiction of heroism has to be read as Randian.
And lastly, if these people really believe Clark feeling burdened and unhappy about the responsibilities he has to bear is Zack trying to push a Randian message that helping others is bad, well all that really proves is that the people saying such things are incapable of understanding why someone would commit themselves to helping others if it isn’t FUN for them. And this is the really ironic part (or it would be if it wasn’t just so damn typical of the haters at this point): Believing that altruism is only worth doing if you personally get some pleasure or other reward out of it is A) not true selflessness and B) a sentiment that is very, very Randian.
When Jon is still tiny, godfather Bruce scores extra babysitting hours by lending Lois one of his grapple guns. Walking around with it in her bag makes her feel extra badass.
He taught her how to use it and got to keep Jon for a whole weekend.
Dear god, the idea of Lois with a grappling gun is TERRIFYING.
Just imagine. You’re a CEO who’s been involved in some shady dealings, and they’ve come to light. You’ve spent the entire week dodging the press, and finally get a chance to relax in your office, safely behind three layers of security.
As you make it to your office, you notice a slight draft. Huh, who left the window open, you wonder as you walk over to close it. You sink into your expensive office chair with a sigh. This week has been a nightmare. Sure, you may have payed off some politicians and stiffed some contractors, but you don’t think you deserve this kind of exhaustion. You’re a businessman, after all. Everyone does this, you were just the one with the bad luck to get caught.
Well, at least now you have some time to yourself. You yawn and start to doze off.
“Excuse me, Mr. Paxton?”
Your eyes shoot open. Who said that? Your vision focuses and there she is, hanging upside down from the ceiling.
“Lois Lane, Daily Planet. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“You gave her a grappling gun?”
Bruce barely glanced over his shoulder before returning his attention to the infant he was shaking a set of plastic keys at. “Look, Jon. Who is that? Is that your daddy? Did he come to see you?”
“Actually, he came to ask Uncle Bruce why he and Mommy are conspiring to put Daddy in an early grave.” Clark held his arms out expectantly as Bruce gathered himself and Jon from the floor, inwardly sighing when Bruce stopped just short of his reach. “What?”
Bruce eyed his outstretched arms warily. “It’s Friday.”
“Yes…?”
“Lois said I could keep him until Sun-”
“Just give me my kid, Bruce.”
Bruce huffed his displeasure but did hand Jon over, and Clark could physically feel himself softening once his son was in his arms. Looking down at the bright-eyed, curly-haired little boy dressed in a Wonder Woman onesie and gnawing on a plastic key ring made it hard to remember why he was supposed to be annoyed with anyone.
Still…
“Seriously, Bruce? A grappling gun?” But he was smiling now, and it seemed to be enough to relax Bruce from his defensive posture.
“Yes?” One shoulder lifted in the barest shrug. “You already knew she had it.”
“I knew she carried it around sometimes, not that she knew how to use it.”
“She didn’t. Until I showed her. …That why I get to keep him until Sunday.”
Clark tore his eyes away from his son to fix his best friend with a look of resigned disbelief. “You traded grappling gun lessons for a weekend of babysitting.”
Bruce stared back at him impassively. “Yes.”
Clark let the silence stretch a few seconds before prompting, “Do I have to ask why?”
“Well, she didn’t seem interested in the Batarangs.”
“Bruce…”
“And there was no way I was letting her drive the Batmobile, so-”
“Bruce.”
Bruce gave him another few seconds of emotionless stare-down before his brow furrowed just slightly. “Dick’s at the shore with the Gordons this weekend.”
Clark suppressed another sigh, bouncing Jon a little in his arms. “You know, she would have let you watch him if you’d just told her you were gonna be bored and lonely. Hell,” he continued before Bruce could protest the very idea of sharing his feelings, “she probably would have said yes if all you did was ask.”
“Don’t swear in front of the kid.”
“She actually likes you, Bruce.”
“I know that,” Bruce insisted, stressing the verb in a way that told Clark he really wasn’t so confident. “We’ve known each other longer than you have.”
“Exactly.” But, wow, that was always weird to be reminded of. That Bruce and Lois had an entire history, relationship, and world that didn’t involve Clark at all or only tangentially at best. It didn’t bother him at all. It was just weird.
(And since that world was at least partially comprised of bizarre baby-bartering, it was probably one he was content not to be a part of.)
“You don’t have to be so…” Intimidated? No, not a good word to use. How about… “Hesitant about these kinds of things. And you don’t have to trade favors.” And it was maybe a little unfair when coupled with his next words, but Clark gave him the most beaming, disarming, sincere smile in his arsenal. “You’re family, B.”
Bruce’s eyes widened just a fraction of a fraction, his face warming with the beginnings of a flush before he caught himself and looked away, and yes, that had been completely unfair and uncalled for, but Clark didn’t feel even the slightest bit guilty.
“God,” Bruce muttered, glaring determinedly at the wall. “Fine.”
Clark beamed even brighter, unable to resist pressing just a little more. “Okay…?”
“Okay! Yes, fine. Stop smiling.”
“Not happening.” He did, however, tone his grin down to emotionally manageable levels for Bruce and turned its powers to Jon for a moment, chuckling. “But seriously, B. A grappling gun?”
“Why not?” Bruce shrugged again. He was still staring at the wall, but his glare had relaxed. “Seems to make her happy.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Her job’s already dangerous.”
“So why add to it?”
“It’d only really be adding to it if she were bad at it. But she’s pretty good.”
“Pretty good?”
“She could stand a little more upper body strength if she really wanted to master it.” Something like… not quite fear, but maybe apprehension flickered in Bruce’s eyes, and he looked quickly back to Clark. “You can tell her that.”
Clark’s grin turned mischievous, and a singsong note snuck into his voice. “You’re afraid of her…”
“Of course I’m afraid of her. I’m smart.”
Clark gave a half-shrug and nod combo. “Granted. But still, I’m not-”
“Listen, Clark…” Bruce cut him off, his shoulders and mouth sagging in the way that signaled he was resigning himself to open and clear communication. “I know I don’t have to remind you, but Lois can take care of herself.”
Clark stopped himself before he could open his mouth, holding Jon a little closer and letting Bruce continue.
“I know she… I know we’re all fragile… squishy little humans you can’t help but want to brood over like a hen on a nest. Yes, I know I’m one to talk, shut up. But we’ve been watching out for ourselves a long time before you showed up. We’re happy to… We’re grateful that you’re here to help. But you don’t have to hold our hands the whole way.”
Clark once again let a measured silence pass. Then he tilted his head to the side. “Are you saying you want to hold hands, Bruce?”
Bruce looked the least impressed Clark had ever seen him. “We were having a moment.”
“I know.”
“You ruined it.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Not enough to stop grinning entirely, but he did incline his head concedingly. “You’re right, though.” Lois had already said as much earlier. (Again, weird.) “But I’m always going to worry.”
“Fine, worry. Obviously. God knows I’ve called Dick three times already today, and the most risky thing he’s doing is eating amusement part hot dogs.” Bruce’s gaze flicked to the phone sitting on the couch, and Clark suspected he would have made more than three calls if he hadn’t been distracted by Jon. “Just maybe not so much that you barge into my house in the middle of the day in full uniform.”
Jon chose that moment to pat at the “S” on Clark’s chest, giggling, and Clark passed a sheepishly glance between them. “Noted.”
“Good.”
“But for the record, you’ve got negative room to be talking about barging into people’s homes in full uniform at any time of the day.”
“Also, noted.”
“Also, good.”
Bruce dropped his eyes to the tiny, babbling child in Clark’s arms and smiled for the first time since Clark got there. “Besides, Kansas, Lois might actually be safer this way.”
“How do you figure?”
“Now she’s got a way to save herself when she’s pushed off a building for the… What is it now? The twenty-eighth time?”
“Twenty-seventh,” Clark said with a sigh then blinked. “That… is true. She’s really annoyed by that.”
“So I’ve heard. And…” Bruce’s smirk was practically gleeful. “Think of how this broadens our combined horizons for inconveniencing Luthor.”
“That is a… very good point.” Clark nodded slowly, gaze drifting upward. “Perry, too. He was so pi-” His eyes darted down to Jon. “Ticked off today.”
“I bet.”
“And Steve moped for three hours about how he didn’t get to have a grapple gun…” Clark shook his head, meeting Bruce’s gaze again when a defeated laugh. “Okay, I give. You’re right. This is a win-win.”
Bruce smiled with false modesty, his tilted head and open-palmed shrug clearly saying, “Yes, of course I’m right, Clark. Thanks for joining us.”
“Yeah, yeah, Batman’s right, and Superman’s wrong. Film at 11.”
“Technically, Batman and Lois are right, and-”
“Do you want the kid back or not?”
“Yes, please.” Bruce shut his mouth and held his arms out to receive Jon, who started making grabbing motions with his tiny hands once he saw who he was being handed off to and gurgled happy nonsense once settled against Bruce’s shoulder, patting at his face with the plastic keys.
“What?” Bruce asked in response to Clark’s raised eyebrow, and this time his smirk was positively shit-eating. “Aliens love me.”
Clark Kent/Superman + perseverance
One of the many, many reasons why I love Snyder/Cavill’s Superman is his determination to keep going, keep fighting, keep protecting. It doesn’t matter what he’s endured or what he’s up against, he’ll keep trying. And you can see the brief moments where he feels overwhelmed, afraid, sad, exhausted, questioning both himself and his actions, and then he renews his resolve and presses on. it’s these very human moments that make the character all the more inspiring and heroic.
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