I am here to address the issue of Lois Lane not being sucked into the Phantom Zone. Some say it is bad writing, some say it's because "Superman has to save her anyway". Both could be true, but for those negatives naysayers have, fans can also have their own postive look on things. Some have even accused this film of "spelling everything out" for the viewers (ie. the explanation of terraforming) which is the only example of that. This film leaves lots of things open for debate that are meant to be assumed. Which I can applaud Snyder, such as the Kryptonian suit being left on his FAMILYS ship. Explaining why it is there. Moving on...
The plan to send them to the Phantom Zone was explained on the air strip where the military loads Kal's pod onto the carrier. It was said a singularity would be created when the drives collided with one another. "Like a black hole" as General Swanwick says. That is the key here. "like* a black hole", not "it's a black hole". It is only like one in the sense things will be pulled into it.
When the time comes and the drives collide, we watch as the Kryptonians are sucked in, and the ship collapses into it. We are also able to notice that bits of debris from Metropolis are being sucked in, while Lois falls freely. So, here is the theory.
I've always assumed (since my 2nd of 37 viewings of the film) that the Phantom Zone was only sucking in Kryptonian things. And the reason debris was going in was because of it being pounded on by the World Engine (which has been stopped by this point) and we know it was pounding Kryptonian particles into the air and surrounding land. This is why debris was getting sucked in, and Lois was not (while Kal is very clearly being pulled on). And lets face it, if she was also being pulled in, he still would have gotten her.
I am also here to address the rumors of Superman working for the government in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I believe these rumors have only been running wild because of the film drawing inspiration from the Dark Knight Returns. Which features a very differently written Superman than ever before. Which I find to be terrible. Some believe he is going to be working for them "to atone for the destruction" in Man of Steel. "The people of earth should be torn, some will be scared of him. Some will hate him", shout the naysayers. I still believe if this happened, the majority of people would be supporters, and we saw very clearly Zod give a message to the world showing he's not the good guy here. But how did we see someone react to this that was directly involved in the destruction?
"He saved us." That is correct. He saved a good 7 billion people from asphyxiation and a Kryptonian gone mad. People are bound to see it this way. Supporters and non supporters of Superman in this universe will exist, I won't deny it. But this is a reaction we saw. There are other ways for the public to view him positively other than working for the government.
Very little damage actually occured during Zod and Supermans fight to begin with. The World Engine causes all the ruckus. While only one building falls due to Zods volcano eyes during that sequence. Everything else was small potatoes. So to me, these rumors are just silly fan speculation, when everything in Man of Steel says otherwise of this. With two very obvious examples.
During the interrogation scene, Superman approaches Swanwick telling him "You're scared of me because you can't control me. You don't, and you never will." Seems like a pretty declarative statement to me.
The second example:
As Superman crashes a military surveillance drone, he and Swanwick have another conversation.
-"Then I'll ask the obvious question: How do we know you won't one day act against America's interests?"
-"I grew up in Kansas, general. I'm about as American as it gets. Look, I'm here to help, but it has to be on my own terms. You have to convince Washington of that."
While leaving and trusting the General to take care of it. Pretty straight forward Superman characterization that is consistent with him.
So there you have it folks, sound off below while I wipe my geek-sweat away!