During Superman's battle with General Zod at the end of Man of Steel, thousands of civilians were killed and the villain was ultimately stopped when the hero broke his neck. It was a significant moment for Superman as he was taking out the only member of his race left, but he did so because he knew Zod would never stop murdering innocent civilians. Despite that, it's still a very divisive moment, and now writer David Goyer has finally weighed in on why the story played out that way.
"The way I work, the way Chris [Nolan] works, is you do what’s right for the story. That exists entirely separately from what fans should or shouldn’t think of that character. You have to do what’s right for the story. In that instance, this was a Superman who had only been Superman for like, a week. He wasn’t Superman as we think of him in the DC Comics...or even in a world that conceived of Superman existing. He’d only flown for the first time a few days before that. He’d never fought anyone that had super powers before. And so he’s going up against a guy who’s not only super-powered, but has been training since birth to use those super powers, who exists as a superhuman killing machine, who has stated, ‘I will never stop until I destroy all of humanity.’ If you take Superman out of it, what’s the right way to tell that story? I think the right way to tell that story is if you take this powered alien who says, ‘You can have your race back, but you have to kill your adopted race,’ the moral, horrible situation to be in is to actually be forced to kill, not wanting to, the only other person from your race. Take Superman aside, I think that’s the right way to tell that story."
Do you agree with Goyer's justification for Superman taking the life of General Zod? It's certainly easy to see where he's coming from here, and this is an explanation which makes a lot of sense. Whether that will bring an end to the never ending debate about the hero's actions in Man of Steel is another matter, but weigh in with your thoughts on these comments in the usual place.