Man of Steel has recently been released to mild critical praise and fantastic box office success. Some of the criticism directed towards the movie has centred on the amount of destruction and civilian casualties that happen in the last act, and also the lack of action from Superman in trying to lessen said casualties. In an interview David S. Goyer had this to say:
“One of the things we were hoping to depict is that Superman is not a god. We say he’s a god-like figure but he’s not omnipotent. Even in the comic books he cannot save everyone. I think people die [in Metropolis]. Clearly hundreds if not thousands of people have died while the gravity machines are going off. There were probably even people who died in Smallville.
“When you’re dealing with a threat like this, there will be collateral damage. This is something that hadn’t been depicted in comic book films is what it would be like if these powerful figures did clash, if The Hulk and Thor fought, people would probably die. Particularly in this case where Zod and the Kryptonians really don’t care if people die. I think people died and I’m sure that upsets some people.”
Goyer has either missed the point of the backlash or side-stepped it by only addressing part of the complaints. Some movie-goers have said that by not following through with the aftermath in a battle that resulted in what should have been a nationwide catastrophe and impacted the story is a big problem. How do you feel about the collateral damage in Man of Steel and its consequences or lack thereof? Let us know in the comments…
Read our reviews of Man of Steel here, here and here.
Originally published June 19, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
