While Man of Steel's ending became controversial in part due to the level of destruction Metropolis suffered and Superman's role in it, the movie's most divisive moment was certainly Clark killing General Zod.

Cavill would later regrettably confirm this, with the amicable clarification that James Gunn and Peter Safran "have a universe to build" in which a younger Superman would appear in the early stages of his superhero career. Almost as soon as Gunn assumed the role in November 2022, Man of Steel 2 was scrapped.

Outside of the Nolan Batman films, this is one of the best DC films that have been made. The backstory of how Krypton came to its end, how General Zodd came into power, and how superman was sent to earth as a way of preserving the Kryptonian people were all done in a very interesting way.

"We always knew we would be using the Superman glyph or the shield as we call it. But Man Of Steel was also supposed to represent our take, which was he's a man, but he's not made of flesh and blood, metaphorically he's a man of steel. So that was sort of the whole thing wrapped up in a nutshell."