With all the recent big news surrounding Batman vs Superman, I thought now would be a good time to do an editorial on some of the information that’s been floating around lately. For this editorial I’m going to focus on one of the more (supposed) plot points that’s been rumored for a while now. Quite a few sites have been reporting that at some point in Batman vs Superman, we’ll see Superman sporting his full beard yet, while in exile, yet again. The question I want an answer to is “Why?”
To me the idea of putting Superman in exile isn't a step forward, it’s a step backwards. I understand that Superman has gone into exile a few times over the years in the comics, but this is the movie universe. It seems pointless to put Superman back into exile, when we've already seen him in exile for pretty much the first half of Man of Steel. It seems like a strange decision to put him right back where he started. For a sequel anyway, if they’re going to do it, they should at least wait until the 3rd MOS to do so, it just seems repetitive.
Enough of my personal rant, let’s move on to the meat of this editorial. I’m going to give you guys 3 explanations for why/how Supes ends up in exile.
1. This one is kind of obvious and more than likely the route they’ll take. He does it to himself!
At the end of Man of Steel we see the big blue boy scout snap Zod’s neck, killing him. This is a big deal because, Zod is, whether Superman likes it or not, a Kryptonian, he and Superman are essentially the last of their kind, so I wouldn't imagine it’s an easy decision to make, not only killing someone, but effectively wiping out your own species, sacrificing any chance your species had of living on, just to save another. We see Superman’s reaction to what he’s done immediately after, he’s devastated, as the viewer we can tell this was a traumatic experience for him and one that could POSSIBLY, lead him to put up his cape, and go into exile. We already get the sense in the beginning of the MOS that Superman is already a little unsure of himself, of his powers and the things he can do, maybe being forced to kill Zod is the push that makes Superman, stop being Superman.
2. In my opinion, this option is just as likely as the first.
Lex Luthor puts him there!
Yes, I think it’s a strong possibility that Superman goes into exile, as a result of the actions of the devious, and villainous, Mark Zuckerberg!! I mean Lex Luthor!!!
As we all know, Lex isn't exactly a physical match for Superman, assuming that in this film at least, Lex won't have his battle armor. So how can a super villain, with no superpowers at all, defeat someone with god-like abilities? With good ‘ol fashioned power, and public influence. Perhaps after the events of MOS, Lex Luthor takes it upon himself to mentally destroy Superman, and basically run him out of town. He uses his public influence to basically convince the city, or the entire world, that Superman is bad news, that in the grand scheme of things, he’s no different than Zod. I mean look at all the destruction he caused. Yes all that destruction was a result of Superman saving the entire planet, but look at the bigger picture here, the entire world has seen was Superman is CAPABLE of. They don’t know Superman, sure they know he “supposedly” stands for truth, justice, and all that other crap, but why would they trust him? Everyone is already going to be a little on edge after the events of MOS, and I think all it would take is one perfectly executed push, from our dear friend Lex Luthor, to push the people of Earth into pure hatred for Superman, or fear. Of course the main flaw with this route is the "Why?". What reason would Lex have for having such hatred for Superman?
3. The 3rd, and admittedly least likely scenario.
Because he’s dead!!
Wait, what? Yes, because Superman, is, dead. This one might be reaching a little bit, but IMO it’s the coolest of the 3 options so for that reason alone I left it on the list.
How? You might ask. Simple, I refer you to one specific story arc. The Death of Superman.
That’s right, I’m implying Doomsday, the tough as nails, unstoppable, vicious killing machine, could possibly show up to put good ‘ol Supes 6 feet under. Admittedly any evidence I have to support this theory is flimsy and flawed at best.
I refer you to this hidden message from the MOS blu-ray.
Seems like an odd easter-egg to place on the blu-ray if they didn’t plan on bringing Doomsday into the story in some fashion right? Now I’m not saying they're going to adapt the full story line and we’ll see a bunch of different Supermen popping up throughout the movie. But I am saying that it’s entirely possibly, that they’re going to adapt the actual killing, and resurrection of Superman. You'll remember that Superman was alive for quite some time before he actually made his return into the world.This battle with Doomsday could also be the reason as to why so many Justice League members are RUMORED to be making an appearance. In the end however, I’ll admit, this 3rd theory is flawed and there isn’t much evidence to support it, but I thought it was a cool idea so I figured I’d share it with you guys.
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So there you have it, those are my 3 ideas for why/how Superman could possibly end up in exile during
Batman vs Superman. Keep in mind that as of right now, the whole exile thing is nothing more than a rumor, and might not end up happening at all. Which personally I would prefer because as I stated in the beginning, it seems slightly repetitive.