We need a long-ass 2hr 20 mins movie to tell this. Hell, my ‘script’ is actually gonna need more than 2h 20m, shucks…it is a 3 hr epic…a la LOTR!!!...but I do believe it satisfies fans of the comics and movies!!! THIS IS MORE OF A PLOT ACTUALLY THAN THE PREVIOUS STORIES I DID WHICH WERE IN FACT...STORIES!!! DECIDED TO CONTINUE FROM SINGER'S FILM...as i believe skill is showed in the ability to salvage...and personally, i enjoyed Singer's film...it wasn't what we needed however
THE MAN OF STEEL –
After Returns, it’s 3-5 years later & we focus on Superman hovering above the earth doing his super-hearing world-wide transmissions. We hear people talking due to his supersonic hearing, re-telling what happened in Returns in a montage of stories. Before we know it, we segue and see Superman exiting an elevator and entering the Daily Planet conference room as Clark Kent. Lois is there, along with Perry and her fiancé, Richard, in the news room as they investigate a series of crimes and murders, following an accident at a newly designed STAR lab facility on the outskirts of Metropolis. People are being essentially drained of their life’s energy and essence, thus a slew of corpses are left in the wake of the murderer. Clark is angry that he is yet to find the killer, which flashbacks and investigation shows is STAR labs employee Raymond Jensen, who after chemicals explode onto him, becomes the Parasite. Lois heads off to investigate but Clark has a meeting with Dr. Hamilton at STAR labs over a ‘special project’ they undertook since the inception of the facility after events of Returns. It seems that Superman has been focusing lately on global missions of peace and monitoring warfare rather than the petty criminals in local districts, which has enraged Lois into dangerous investigations on her own, which her fiancé and boss disapprove of. Ironically, Lois’ investigations and clues to these murders lead her to the revenge-seeking Raymond, whom she has discovered is the Parasite. She is led to the STAR labs facility, where Raymond is planning to attack and kill Superman and destroy the entire facility. While this is occurring we see a meteor speeding towards Earth and it is tearing through the kryptonite island (thrown into space by Superman) from Returns and absorbing kryptonite shards into its mass. It becomes stuck in the island and further intakes the kryptonite into the core of the meteor now.
We also glimpse what Lex & Kitty has been doing all this time. He was rescued by what seems to be a terrorist cell of ex-Soviets, Nazis and other war-mongers, who have formed a new faction, as they are seeking haven and revenge against Superman for his peace-keeping missions and anti-terrorist stance as he has basically wiped out the major terrorist factions in the world. Lex has become their brain-child and we see the major project of the faction – Metallo, a cyborg to kill Superman. Lex places the centre-piece of the machine, a kryptonite heart which he has refined to be the fuel source/ power cell of Metallo (due to the aid of the terrorist scientists). Metallo is a walking terminator-like machine, powered by the green rock and equipped to shoot krypton-laced lasers and emit electric shocks of kryptonite energy. Metallo suddenly turns on the entire faction and kills them all- save for Kitty and Lex, as Luthor planned and programmed Metallo all along, he alone must be responsible for Superman’s demise. Luthor, Kitty and Metallo destroy the terrorist base whilst gathering the necessary supplies.
We return to STAR labs where Parasite attacks and he reveals why he intends to kill everyone, especially Superman, at the facility. He says the chemical explosion that made him Parasite was the special project that Superman and Hamilton were working on but they refute this. Nonetheless, Parasite attacks and massacres several people, and he absorbs Superman’s powers, till Superman is powerless at Parasite’s mercy. Parasite destroys the majority of the facility with his new-found Powers, but his new-found weakness proves his downfall, as when he is about to obliterate both Superman and Hamilton for cursing him, Lois, after stumbling upon the true ‘secret project’, attacks and weakens Parasite with kryptonite. It is revealed that the ‘project’ was Superman and Hamilton using the anti-terrorist and worldwide campaign to collect and get rid of the world’s kryptonite via lead-based equipment etc. Parasite pleads to be saved and Superman tells him the only way to do so is to transfer back his powers. Parasite does so before passing out. Lois has saved Superman and Hamilton, and the police come to salvage the facility and attend to casualties. Parasite is taken away into the special-science cells by a new science-police crime unit, CADMUS, a government-sanctioned research and science unit, led by AMANDA WALLER. Superman is suspicious as he nor Hamilton knows of this facility but Waller does reprimand both for using STAR Labs for their kryptonite crusade. Superman attempts to reconcile and thank Lois but after the events of Returns and the past 3-5 years, Lois, despite saving his life, tells him she is meant for a new life and she simply did the right thing, not for Love, but for Justice. She leaves him distraught and he is still weakened as his powers re-adjust. He flies to the Fortress after seeing Richard and Jason come to meet Lois. He is enraged, bitter and broken as he seems to lose something valuable no matter what and he is fed-up of sacrifice…it’s either Lois or being Earth’s saviour. He cannot have both and begins to tear the fortress apart as Jor-El is not answering him. The fortress is de-powered after Kitty tossed the crystals into the krypto-island and has not come-online since due to the crystals’ absence and exile in space. Suddenly Superman has a seizure and falls to the ground in agony.
We suddenly refocus onto the meteor which has apparently re-emerged from the krypto-island and flares into earth’s atmosphere. We see the island in space as no longer green, but simply, earth rocks and dirt, as the kryptonite has been assimilated into the green meteor before the green aura disappears. The meteor is on fire and crashes into Smallville. It destroys a bus and we see something emerge. It attacks and destroys the surroundings, particularly going after a young blonde woman who apparently decided to visit Ma Kent. The woman seems to be able to miraculously withstand the accident but is weakened, but the creature quickly subdues her and kills her. We see her ID tagged Kara Danvers, as Ma Kent hides in rubble before seeing the creature head leap towards the Metropolis skyline. (This is more an Easter egg and homage to Supergirl as it no way shows her to be super-powered…just very lucky in the crash survival. But how could she survive the crash which killed everyone else? Gasp.. Before you get a chance to possibly see her in action, she is killed. Open to interpretation folks…as I’m trying to tie together the continuity of the previous movies along with the comics)
As Superman grovels, we see the fortress re-lit and Jor-El’s voice tapped into Superman’s mind. They are both on some astral plane as Jor-El reveals the fortress’ life-span is at an end and that he has used the emergency back-up supply of the fortress to mind-meld with his son. He tells Clark that there is a destroyer that has arrived on Earth, to eliminate Kryptonians and the Earth’s people. He focuses Kal-El’s mind back to Krypton and reveals that Zod was working on a secret military weapon for Krypton’s army, which apparently was designed to be a warrior designed from Krypton’s strongest mineral planetary rock. The project was scrapped, or so Zod said on trial, after Zor- El accused Zod of stealing his technology and we see that Jor-El and Zor-El used this as part of the case & arrest of Zod, labelling him a terrorist and potential dictator. Zor cannot find the prototype warrior however as Zod has hidden it. Zor and his police unit search for the weapon and experimental labs, while Jor and the council prosecute Zod and company into the Phantom Zone. Flashbacks, not from the mind of Jor-El, but just there to tie in what happened on Krypton, shows Zod injecting his, Ursa’s and mostly Non’s DNA into the mineral based indestructible monster being created. The creature was exposed to Krypton’s most severe weather conditions and volcanoes etc…it is seen that the majority of experiments took place at the core of Krypton, all experiment done by the terrorist-faction Black Zero, who felt that Krypton should be the most superior rulers of the galaxy, thus they conducted several centuries old nuclear-powered experiments, based on cloning technology, evolutional advances, and genetic modification under the auspices of ‘PROJECT ERADICATOR’ in hopes of creating the perfect Destroyer. These nuclear experiments were seen to be the cause of the radiation poisoning of Krypton, which destabilized its core leading to the planet’s destruction. We see Kal-El’s ship escape but also the experiment which has proven successful was hidden away within Krypton’s crust and thus, the Destroyer managed to escape via a meteor-cased pod into the vastness of space. We see Zod implanting the final codes before he was arrested – seek out and kill any Kryptonian life-form as Zod felt betrayed and a degree of treason by his fellow Kryptonian man. Zod destroyed Krypton unwittingly via his group’s war experiments to create the perfect weapon, and now the weapon has found the Last Son of Krypton on Earth.
Jor-el tells Kal that if he falls to the creature, then so too will everyone else as he was born to breed destruction. The files Jor and Zor recovered are quickly downloaded into Kal’s mind but he is warned that this is just the theory behind the monster…no one knows his practical limits nor rage. With that Kal thanks Jor-El, and promises to return to save a fading fortress. As he flies away, the fortress lights diminish. Superman quickly heads to Smallville as he is re-powered and aids the people there quickly; especially making sure his mother is well. But things are amok as the creature tears Metropolis apart. We see a science-unit destroyed belonging to Waller and CADMUS. She is terrified as her general, John Irons, is broken in half and barely breathing despite what seems to be a special steel suit. Her special force, boasts tactical soldiers with various technologies but all fall to the monster. Waller is in tears as she sees her city in flames and rubble. Kal’s mother tells him it is the Armageddon and that he must stop the creature…for this monster has brought ‘Doomsday’ upon us she tells him. Kal leaves a tattered Smallville and heads straight for Metropolis as he remembered Doomsday is after Kryptonians first, and we segue into DOOMSDAY now turning his attention to the Daily Planet where Lois, Jason and Richard are all running for their lives. Jimmy barely survives as the building is destroyed in a minute; Doomsday wants Jason and uses the Planet’s globe symbol to drop it onto the car carrying Perry, killing him. Jimmy ushers Lois and family into a car as they speed away but Doomsday interrupts them, and goes after the boy. Superman intervenes and now we have what we wanted to see…the Showdown. Hopefully we have reached 1 hr 45 mins in the movie as the ensuing battle can’t drag on for too long…or can it?...hmmm…well it is going to be high-paced action so maybe a 20-25 minute epic fight scene is enough…I think it will be.
Superman and Doomsday square off and the fight scenes are something I cant describe as it is brutal, giants clashing, fists raining like thunder-claps, and it is hell on earth!! They tear the city apart, which gives Lois and company time to help run away and evacuate the city. The cops and Special Forces need all the help they can get as this city needs to be evacuated ASAP…it becomes a battle ground! Blood and gore ensues as we see Doomsday with his rock shards protruding and beating Superman. The krypton rocks from the space-island, due to the early Kryptonian experiments, have been assimilated into his bloodstream, making Doomsday invulnerable to Kryptonite, but making his attacks have a Krypton effect on Superman. Superman isn’t fully weakened as the lead in Doomsday shields Superman from the radiation but Doomsday’s strength and blows are probably double what Superman dishes out. Doomsday is impervious to all his attacks as he withstands Superman’s heat vision, cold-breath, strength…all these do is weaken and hurt him but they slow him down, they don’t stop him. Superman is losing but he attempts to kill by flying Doomsday into a power station, where there is a huge explosion but both survive. They are weakened but Doomsday thrives on such a battle and further beats Superman down. Superman is bloody and coughing whilst a wounded Doomsday seems to enjoy this. He does not speak but he loves it! Before he can finish Superman off, enter Metallo and Lex dropped off via Kitty. Metallo surprise attack incapacitates Doomsday for a while before Metallo attacks Superman…telling him ‘to kill Earth’s saviour is a personal pleasure…but to kill its destroyer is an eternal glory!!!’…before leaving a battered Superman on the ground, to go after Doomsday again. But Lex and company encounter an even stronger creature and when Metallo realises his Kryptonian attacks cannot harm Doomsday as he is invulnerable and uses the Kryptonian-induced attacks to re-strengthen, he breaks Metallo in two and used the robot’s arm to impale Kitty. Lex is in shock and scared as he was certain Metallo would be victorious. Before he can run, Doomsday attacks and decapitates Luthor, in front Superman. Superman sees this and gathers his last bits of strength to attack Doomsday who in turn senses the finishing blow. Lois gathers word of what is happening as they are on the outskirts of the city. They are able to gain access to satellite imagery showing the final scenes of this fight. Lois looks at Richard and Jason, before sneaking off to return to the city via vehicle.
Superman uses everything in his arsenal and his blows are crushing. Doomsday leaps to administer a headshot but Superman catches him and flies to the uppermost areas of Earth before both take to space where Superman absorbs the sunlight, just as Doomsday is strangling and crushing him – crushing his ribcage and everything inside till Superman begins bleeding inside and through his mouth, and both shoot down to Earth to cause an enormous crater in Metropolis’s airport. The shockwave turns over Lois’ car and destroys the city even more. Superman is barely breathing whilst Doomsday struggles to stand. The Man of Steel remembers Lois and his son and mother…and Pa Kent, before lunging with fist extended towards Doomsday. Blood pours from his mouth, as his crimson-soaked face and eyes cringe, and his fist goes straight through Doomsday’s chest and rips his heart out the sternum, before Superman uses his heat vision to lobotomize Doomsday. He crushes the heart as he watches Doomsday fall to the floor, dead at last.
We hear Lois calling Superman as he glances at her in the corner of his eye, he can barely see as he mutters her name under his breath. He falls to the ground and she holds him in her lap…just like the ‘death in the comic’. We see for the first time, Superman’s internal organs etc…as his ribcage, and insides are broken. Lois tells him she loves him – she always will – but he can only whisper ‘Fortress’. Jason and his dad arrive as we see Superman take his last breath, his heart stops and he dies in Lois’ arms. Superman is dead.
The people are all crying as they see images but the only people at the airport are Lois and family. Suddenly, all technology worldwide is cut and Jason hears whispers in his mind. It is Jor-El, guiding him where to go. Jason goes to Doomsday and sticks his hand in the creature as a series of crystals protrude. All the krypton crystals as well as fortress crystals that have not been absorbed but were within Doomsday’s structure begins to emerge. Jason manages to salvage 6 clear crystals. He tells his parents he knows where to take Superman, and his confused parents get on a plane to head, via Richard’s pilot skills’ to the fortress. Jor has contacted his grandson, and Lois explains as they enter the fortress that Richard isn’t his father, Superman is. Richard is in shock as he watches Jason place the crystals in the fortress to re-power it, and he looks at his wife in tears. Lois tells him she is sorry and then places Kal on the table. The memories she lost of Kal are secretly recovered as she remembers Kal is Clark, as well as the time the spent in love. She keeps this a secret from Richard, as she looks at her family and the body of Kal. Suddenly, all 3 are shook by Jor’s voice as he tells them that Kal can be resurrected but that only a Kryptonian life-force can do so. Richard and Lois realise that Jason’s half-kryptonian life-force needs be used. They are uncertain as they feel he would die also, but Jason goes to them and makes it clear this has to be done. Apparently, Jor-El has also downloaded the necessary Kryptonian info into Jason, and they reluctantly agree to place the boy and Kal in the chambers. Jor makes the transformation, as the Kryptonian side of Jason is used to shock Kal and heal him to life again. Lois and Richard are relieved when the boy re-emerges, safe, in fact he is coughing and seems sickly as when he was a child, feeble and young. Suddenly there is a huge stream of sunlight drawn into the fortress, which shocks them, and whilst this happens, Jor whispers into Kal ears, “the speech from the original movie”, and also that Kal must re-enter the world as his work is not complete. The fortress light begins to blind Lois and family, and Jor continues into Kal’s ears – telling him that Jason is now human, and Lois and Richard all know secrets which were not meant for humans to know, now Jason is also one who knows not what a human should know i.e. the kid is now human, and as he says this – Kal awakens and whispers ‘Do it father’ – and the light blinds the entire screen, and we see Kal superspeed away with the family back to the city. In the background we see the fortress is re-lit and brighter than ever.
It is a few days later & Superman is fluttering over the city now, in the wake of all the destruction. No one has heard anything of him and we see people reading ‘the Death of Superman’ published by Lois Lane, not by the Daily Planet, as the emergency paper has been put out by the media collaborative during the rebuilding efforts in Metropolis. We see Lois and family all changing into black, and the city is cleaning up and recovering. Everyone is sad and depressed, as the images of Superman in Lois’ hands is everywhere and there are headlines all over the world and media that Superman is dead. Lois is teary-eyed as her family consoles her, with her article in hand, as she tells them she can’t believe he is gone. The family all hug. It seems that no one knows he has been resurrected. Jor-El has mind-wiped Lois and family as they were the only ones who knew, as he and Kal wanted them to move forward with their human lives, with no knowledge of any personal ties to Kal. They were now a human family again. We forward to the funeral for Perry White. Clark is there with Lois and Jimmy as rain soaks the town. Everyone is in tears. After the funeral, we see everyone, minus a disappearing Clark, gathering at the centre of the city to initiate the mayor’s re-building plans for New Metropolis, as well as to set a date for a memorial service for Superman. As Lois takes the stage to give her speech, the crowd is taken aback as the weather brightens and in the company of sunlight we see Superman descending to the podium, the whole world is in shock. He declares that he is here to see us through the darkness, and looks at Lois and then her family, then the mayor and crowd, and vows to make the city, then the world, better and brighter than ever. Ma Kent is watching the broadcast, tears in her eye, as she watches him, not ever knowing that he actually died. Superman then speeds off, leaving the world in disbelief. Lois suddenly turns to Richard as he holds new employment letters for them under the new Daily Planet Owner. Lois asks who has bought the paper…and he says ‘A Ms. Lana Lang!’ They look to they sky as they hear a sonic boom with a red-blue blur in the sky.
Epilogue –
Amanda Waller is meeting with the CADMUS board in Washington, watching the playback of Superman’s return to Metropolis, they are worried that they were ravaged by the Doomsday alien and now, with Superman resurrecting, Waller asks the board…”What next?...He did save us from the monster!!!”
We see Morgan Edge emerging from his chair and stating that Waller’s special ops team did fall at the hands of Doomsday, and more stringent measures need be taken as another alien invasion may see the Earth fall. “Imagine if 100 of those creatures descended…we would be wiped out…only 1 was needed to take on Superman and nearly kill him. We need our own army of these creatures!” Edge then asks Waller to display the storage facility for the body of Doomsday on the screen but when it comes on the facility is empty. All the stored materials are missing and there is no evidence as to what happened. The room is left stunned.
“Where is everything?” asks Edge and Waller, “where’s the creature, the meteor he came in; and all the kryptonite we seized from STAR?”
We pan out to Superman flying into space and throwing the Doomsday body and the lead shipment of all seized kryptonite, as well as the meteor, into the Sun. He sees the island he threw previously into space and nudges that too into the Sun, before flying back to Earth’s stratosphere to listen in to the people’s voices again! We see his cape fluttering as the sun hits his face, and he spots a shining fortress in the North!!! He smiles!
After credits –
We then see the man at the head of the table, leaving, saying “after this screw-up, the President is sure to end CADMUS now…good luck with your operations now Waller!!!”…and then heads to his jet. He sits as it takes off, while whispering to himself “we don’t need any army of monsters, we need an army of Supermen!!”…he then opens a suitcase with vials of what seems to be Superman’s blood, gathered after the Doomsday fight!! He also views footage of what appears to be some sort of brain-box extracted from the Doomsday meteor, as this was the engine that led Doomsday to Earth. He smirks as his eyes alight in viewing this metallic element, and we see the Brainiac symbol reflecting in his eyes. He closes the case…and we see his name on the case “MAXWELL LORD”!
Okay then, I know it’s a lot to take in but this is the epic movie I believe Superman deserves, it ties in the previous titles and is faithful to the villains and comic book lore, as best as could be done. I think after Singer’s story and tale of re-emergence in his flick, now we can have the non-stop yet relevant action that we need to see. I’ve tied in all the characters from Returns, and showed exactly what they have been up to since. Also, I brought in Parasite and Metallo, whilst not main villains, they are properly used to tell the tale of what is relevant to Superman’s life since Returns. The ‘parasite’ plot shows that he is scavenging kryptonite as he can’t have a repeat of what Lex did to him before, and the ‘Metallo’ plot shows that Lex is still out for Superman’s head. Lex never needs to know Superman’s secret identity as he never had many dealings with Clark, but I did feel that Richard needed to know his son is that of Superman. Also, I felt that the complex ‘son of Kal’ storyline needed to be wrapped up and this fit well into bringing Kal back to life, and with Lois and her family now human, I felt it best to end the saga of ‘Lois and Clark’ as Singer really complicated things with the intro of Jason, and ended any hopes for their future. I would have loved to delve into a Clark-revealing his identity once again to Lois - romantic relationship. But the kid messed that plot up, as I felt having Lois leave Richard and embark with Superman and son, was too complicated and too dramatic for the story. Such drama would take away from the villains and storyline etc. hence I brought in at the end Clark’s first love, maybe his true one, Lana. Also, it was best to wipe the minds of Lois and co. we need a fresh romance for Superman, although I’m sure he’ll be torn watching Lois and son with Richard. The fortress was restored as I believe future plots for Darkseid or even a return for Zod can be addressed, especially now that we see the Brainiac thread at the end, as this showed Brainiac was Zod’s engine to locate the Kryptonians for Doomsday to murder – will be explored later on in my own sequel to this script. And now Clark has lost his ‘wife and son’, he needs his mother and ‘father’ more than ever…and we see him embracing Jor-El at long last. We do see some selfish acts from Superman as he wants to rid the world of the green rock and also, he is torn between saviour and his past lover/family. At the end, he realises he is meant for a greater destiny i.e. saviour of earth and allows Lois to leave. Hence, maybe Lana can be his other half later on.
****The easter eggs with Supergirl and Steel are also offered, but they are never confirmed by their superhero sobriquets. It’s a tease. But Morgan Edge is confirmed in the end, as well as the big Maxwell Lord/ Brainiac reveal in the end.