On the Kents and Superman in the DCEU

On the Kents and Superman in the DCEU

The characterization of Superman in the DCEU has been to say the least divisive. Many, although not all of his powers are properly highlighted, and we have even seen him throwing a punch. However, to many his personality and character growth seem to be lacking. Here is my interpretation of why?

Editorial Opinion
By HeyWait - Apr 12, 2016 02:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Superman

Imagine a farm in Kansas, a boy wakes at 4AM in the morning to help his dad with the harvest. His mom brews coffee, pours a glass of cold milk, fries eggs and bacon and toasts bread.

The morning/night is cold, but the home is warm. Mother, father and son sit at the old kitchen table to enjoy their breakfast and each other's companny. These are good people, these are happy, simple people... Except the son is not from Earth. This has never been an issue. His parents love him profoundly and with equal intensity he loves them back. The boy has no idea he is from another planet, there has never been a reason to tell him. Why would anyone put such a burden on a kid anyway? But now the time has come. Lately the boy has developed amazing abilities.  These abilities are confusing him, causing him pain and joy. He is strong - beyond meassure, he can see through walls, hear a cricket miles away, run faster than any car, make Smore's with his eyes and much more - but he doesn't undertand his abilities and many times he can't control them. There had already been three minor fires in the farm and several needs for wall repairs.

The parents are worried how can they help their son understand or control his abilitiles? How can they protect him from the prying eyes of the world? How can they provide the moral compass that will guide him on the use of his abilities? How can they make sure that deep inside, he'll always remain the incredible goodhearted boy who woke up at 4AM today to help his old man in the farm? The selfless boy that spent his Saturday helping his friends with math homework instead of playing ball? The caring boy who a week ago offered to carry Mrs. Lang groceries, so she could rest her broken leg? How can they provide the guidance - for when the time comes, and it will come - that will make their boy able to differentiate between good and evil; selflessness and selfishness; action and indefference; love and anger; hope and fear. The guidance that will let him use his abilities not out of fear, but out of hope? There is so much good in this boy and it's their burden to nurture it, to guide it, to let it grow - so one day; when their boy is man - he will know how to act... 

Here is where the path divides.

If you have read Superman comics over the years, watch the animated series or the old movies - you know that his moral compass rests squarely on his upbringing from the Kents. His abilities may come from Krypton, but his humanity - who he is comes from Kansas, from working in a farm and growing up in a loving family. As a man he knows how to act because his parents have taught him to be selfless, to be basically good and to love his fellow humans - in his own eyes this boy, this man thinks of himself as one of us. Yes, he has these awesome abilities, but they do not define who he is. Only what he can do. As any of us, he is defined by what he choses to do with his abilities, and what he choses is simple. He choses to help. No conflict, he  understand what his abilities allow him to do and he choses to help.

In MoS and BvS, this boy also loves and is loved by his parents, but his parents are not hopeful. They are afraid, and the boy can sense their fear. They are not, like the classical Kents, a beacon of hope, of kindness. They are more like us, they are scared, they are selfish. They want to protect their son, and the rest is secondary. And who could blame them? How many parents would lay everything and everyone for their kids?

The DCEU Superman, grows in a farm, where the Kents provide love, but not moral guidance he needs. He grows in a farm, where he is taught to hide, to fear the world, to do nothing, or at most do good only if he is sure no one can see him - no matter the consequences of inaction. The boy, to his merit revels against it, but he is conflicted. "Should I have left them die?" he asks. "Maybe" his dad's answer. As an adult, when looking for guidance "Be their hero, be their angel, be their hope" his mom tells him, just to finish it up with "...or be none of it, you don't owe this world a thing". Or his words to his girlfriend " No one stays good in this world"... All this conversations, carry the same message: defeat, lack of hope.

The Kents in MoS and BvS have raised a man who is at conflict with himself.  A man who is so afraid of revealing what he can do, that he willingly let his father take a risk he should have taken and then die (albeit at his own father request) to keep his secret. A man that to protect his mother endangers a full town, a man afraid, like anyone else, to loose those he loves. 

Not as a conseuence, but in spite of his upbringing, this man is still willing to risk and give his life to save his adopted planet. He is still willing to believe in second chances and once his powers are out he is trying to help. For this Superman, selflessnes comes out in spite of his adoptive parents and not from them. That is why, while classical Superman represents pure, unadulterated hope and love for humanity -the man of steel represents the conflict between fear and hope, with neither of them getting the upper hand for too long.

To some, this might be a more nuanced, even more interesting Superman. To me, although I enjoyed both MoS and BvS, this wasn't necesary - Superman is supposed to light the way not because he is powerful, but just because his parents taught him to be kind, to be loving and to hope for the best in all of us. Superman is an aspirational and inspirational character... His conflict should be his inhability to help everyone, not wether he should help at all.

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HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/12/2016, 4:57 PM
There are some typos I'll correct. Needed to go, but don't want to loose my work.
Apologies.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/12/2016, 9:28 PM
@HeyWait - fixed typos and paragraphs... Feel free to find more mistakes :)
DerekLake
DerekLake - 4/12/2016, 5:46 PM
Here's my take: I absolutely love it that Jonathan Kent is wary of the negative impacts the revelation of a powerful human-like alien might have on the world, his family and on his adopted alien son. I also like that he's mistrustful of government; he didn't grow up in Depression-era Kansas, he grew up during the worst years of the Cold War and then Vietnam. The one problem I have is not that Jonathan tells Clark to hide his powers; it's that he doesn't tell him what to do instead. He doesn't teach him how to positively do ordinary good. At least, we don't SEE him teach him that. Jonathan teaching Clark to show compassion, by taking a beating for someone or feeding someone or listening to them or helping them out or being generous with farm equipment... That's what we should have seen. A demonstration of ordinary human goodness even with mistrust of government. Let Jonathan teach him how to be Clark Kent, and let Jor-El teach him how to be Superman. That, I think would have struck a good balance.

And then, had they done that in MOS, Clark's arc in BvS could have had much more meaning. At the same time that Clark is struggling to be Superman in the face of negative consequences to his actions, his mother and hallucinationDad could have told him very simply, "Do good. Do what you can. Use your strength to do simple good." And that way, BvS could have shown that Superman isn't relevant because he stops terrorists or defeats monsters. Superman is relevant because he helps people. Simple and trite, yet very profound, especially in the context of three people (Bruce, Lex and Diana) who've seen this worst of humanity. And that sort of ethos shines out all the more especially when Superman's power is still a cause of fear more than it is of hope. And that's another theme: Superman inspires hope not because he's powerful, but because he helps people.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/12/2016, 6:42 PM
@DerekLake - I'm at work now, but we'll read and reply as soon as I can :)
Thanks gir taking the tube to read and respond!
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/12/2016, 8:11 PM
@DerekLake - I completely agree, Superman inspired people because he is a good person, his powers are only a tool. If they had shown his nature and upbringing in MoS as you described I would also have much less problems with the Kent's fearful attitude, however all we see is advise to not show himself up hide and to remain indifferent - which for me culminates in Clark letting his dad die, when he could have easily, first pick up the dog or second save his dad. The fact that he doesn't show how much mistrust and fear his parents have drill into his head. To the point that he forsakes his most basic inflicts and let his dad die to protect his secret. That to me is very messed up fir anyone to do and even more for Superman.
DerekLake
DerekLake - 4/12/2016, 9:09 PM
@HeyWait - I get what they were trying to go for with the tornado scene, but there really isn't any way to get that point across. They wanted Clark to have to choose between saving lives and possibly upsetting human society. But I question if they should have presented that dilemma at all.

I think the big problem is that given Cavill's age, the scene appears to show a 30-year old Clark letting a middle-aged man play the hero and die. When really it's a 17-year old kid (a MINOR) who dutifully obeys and trusts his middle-aged dad. So I can still appreciate the scene because it demonstrates that Clark trusts and honors his father.

But I think there was a better way to get the point across than setting up a dilemma between displaying his powers and ruining human society. I think rather it should have been Clark choosing between saving people and upsetting the Kents' place in Smallville (with all the economic and social hardship that would bring). And perhaps it could have played out like this:

Keep the tornado scenario, but change the events and the outcome. Jonathan can still go back for the dog (as stupid a decision as that is, people do it). Clark can still face the dilemma between staying put and rescuing Jonathan. But instead of staying, Clark actually acts. He dashes off, displaying his incredible speed beyond what he even knows is possible. And he reaches Jonathan and manages to free him. But the tornado overtakes them both, and Jonathan still dies. He can't save him. And that's the last any of those people see of Clark and Jonathan.

Because remember, Clark is only 17 years old, meaning he hasn't fully developed yet. 33-year old Clark couldn't hold up a collapsing oil rig; 17 year old Clark probably isn't fast enough yet or strong enough yet to withstand a tornado of such magnitude, and even if he were, Jonathan would most likely still suffocate in those winds, or get hit by debris (Clark isn't big enough to fully cover him). So Clark fails to save Jonathan and all of Smallville knows without a doubt that Clark is inhumanly strong. So the damage is done, and Clark -- partly out of guilt for not respecting Jonathan's wishes, partly out of guilt for not saving Jonathan, and mostly out of guilt for putting his family under that spotlight, decides it's best if he leaves Smallville. With Smallville assuming both Jonathan and Clark are dead, his mom might be left in peace.

So Clark still acts in keeping with his traditional values, but the situation highlights that the world isn't perfect and that Clark's actions have consequences. And it also provides the reason why Clark spends the next 16 years wandering the US.
DerekLake
DerekLake - 4/12/2016, 9:17 PM
@DerekLake - And it also sets up "Superman" as the way in which Clark can both use his powers to help people while also keeping a spotlight away from himself.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/12/2016, 9:41 PM
@DerekLake - To be honest, I rather this scene was never there and Clark had his two parents. Or if Jonathan had to die, just make him die of natural cases - the pain is already enough to humanize Clark.

If they were going to do the scene (and they did) I think your take is much better - he didn't let his father die, he failed to save him, and on top of it he betrayed his wishes and now has to deal with the consequences... That can give him the determination to develop his abilities not to fail again, while still maintaining secrecy out of respect for his dad.
RandalCabbage
RandalCabbage - 4/12/2016, 6:26 PM
^^^^^^

holy shit you guys gotta break up pargraphs
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/12/2016, 6:41 PM
@RandalCabbage - Yeap- still need some editing. Fixing tonight I hope-
Thanks for the constructive comment :)
jaysin420
jaysin420 - 4/12/2016, 10:41 PM
Good article, I def agree. I mentioned last week that the Kent's were kind of dick's in this universe (understandably), which is a big factor in Clark being the way he is.

You obv said it much better than me, so nice job.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/12/2016, 10:56 PM
@jaysin420 - thanks man. I think ppl underestimate how important the Kents are yo who superman is.
CrappyNappy
CrappyNappy - 4/13/2016, 5:48 AM
"Yes, he has these awesome abilities, but they do not define who he is. Only what he can do"

This quote right here perfectly encapsulates what I dislike about Synder's Superman. What you just said is what superman's character SHOULD be. Instead, Zack made it the other away around.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/13/2016, 8:13 AM
@CrappyNappy - hi, thanks for reading. I agree with you Snyder gave us a Man of Steel, but he is confused. He didn't have the guidance to become the Superman we all know and love. He is a very powerful man, but he lacks the soul that he shows for example in the banner of this editorial. The saddest part is that if Cavill would have been given the chance I think he would have made a better superman than man of steel.
CrappyNappy
CrappyNappy - 4/13/2016, 8:36 AM
@HeyWait - Cavil can be incredibly charismatic and likeable when he's given the right direction. He was amazing in "Man from U.N.C.L.E" .

This is 100% Synder's fault.

Just look at this quote from him!

"I kinda came to the conclusion also that they couldn't really talk in their suits, um, with any credibility..."

"[..]more than 4 or 5 lines and you start to notice, like wait, these are two guys ... one guys dressed up like a bat and the other has a big red 'S' on his chest, and they're being super serious about how mad they are at each other."

That right there is proof that he doesn't understand these characters or the genre. At all. If anything he has almost this odd "contempt" for them. It's so bizzare that he would create a very "comic-accurate" Batman and then simultaneously insult the character.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/13/2016, 8:40 AM
@CrappyNappy - I hadn't seen that quote before, but it's awful- who cares what they are wearing if the dialogue is good and the characters well developed people will pay attention!
CrappyNappy
CrappyNappy - 4/13/2016, 8:50 AM
@HeyWait - I know right! I actually think Superman's costume is the most bad-ass its ever been.

Like, that scene where he's walking through the court house the only thing I could think was

"damn he looks so freaking cool"

To think that above quote may explain why superman is so uncharasmatic in this movie.

http://soundcloud.com/empiremagazine/batman-v-superman-spoiler-special-with-zack-snyder-charles-roven-deborah-snyder

Around 5:55 he says that quote I think
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/13/2016, 8:59 AM
@CrappyNappy - thanks for the link. Can't believe he can be in charge of a whole comic book cinematic universe and say that! It's such a mismatch!
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/13/2016, 9:01 AM
@CrappyNappy - and yes the costume, all the costumes as well as the visuals are awesome in these movies, but that is not enough.
CrappyNappy
CrappyNappy - 4/13/2016, 9:16 AM
@HeyWait - Deffo.
TheTank
TheTank - 4/13/2016, 2:23 PM
Im tired of this world weary, insecure Superman, that the world isn't sure they even want around that we have seen in Man of Steel and in BvS. Also I dont like the allusion to a future Superman who is evil. I felt like they messed up in Man of steel by having Superman make his debut only because he was forced to by General Zod. I would have liked it had we at least established Superman as a force for good before Zod called him out. We never had that amazing moment where Superman is revealed to the world due to some major catastrophe that he prevented. I like that Clark wasn't working for the DP until the end, that was a good nod to the Man of Steel mini series from the 80s. But we never got to enjoy Clark in the DP in Batman v Superman. There was so many things wrong with BvS. They should have reduced batman's role to be more along the lines of Black Widow in Iron Man 2, where bruce was present thru the whole movie and then shows up at the end as Batman in order to help superman, while thru the whole movie he's uncovering Lex's schemes. The movie should have had more shit where Lex was testing Superman like in the comics, blowing up bridges and shit and having the public blame superman.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/13/2016, 2:34 PM
@TheTank - I agree, they screwed up Superman personality. And a team movie would have made much more sense than vs. Having Superman be afraid of being Superman and only coming out, cause he had no chance was a mistake - but it is what we got. I just hope that when the bring him back is not as an evil version, whihc needs to be saved (that is so trite) - but they bring him back optimist, happy to be alive and to save the day - when the league is falling apart.

Thanks for reading and take care!
TheTank
TheTank - 4/13/2016, 6:53 PM
@HeyWait - Yeah dude, I hope that WB realizes the mistakes they have made and when they bring superman back from the dead that they make him more along the lines of the way we all know him
TheTank
TheTank - 4/13/2016, 7:41 PM
Also, i dont like the the allusion to Superman becoming evil in the future, with the Flash warning Bruce that he's right about Superman. That whole INJUSTICE storyline is cool for what it is but not for a movie. I dont wanna see that shit.

This movie would have been much tighter if the movie was dedicated to Luthor testing Superman with various catastrophes around Metropolis, some which framed Superman. And all the while Batman had been investigating and finally at the end he appears and tells Superman that luthor has been behind everything and not only that, there are others with powers and he's keeping tabs on them as well for god knows what. And u have Batman help to find Martha Kent, while Superman confronts lex and then lex releases doomsday. Have a much more drag down brawl fist fight between the 2, rather than the CGI mess that they had. Doomsday never had the ability to absorb and expel energy like that. You could have saved Wonder Woman for another movie, but hinted to her existence thru Lex's files.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/13/2016, 7:44 PM
@TheTank - I agree with you completely- it's ridiculous that BvS Superman is much closer to the Injustice than all start version. And with regard to the movie they did try to mix way too much stuff- they would have been better with a simplr take.
TheTank
TheTank - 4/13/2016, 7:58 PM
By having Batman in the movie to the capacity that he was, took too much focus away from developing Superman. They didn't spend enough time with either characters for u to really give a shit. But its different for batman, because everyone is familiar with his character by now so u didn't really need to give him much in terms of exposition. Superman however, we dont know enough about this version.
DudeOfSteel16
DudeOfSteel16 - 4/15/2016, 1:20 PM


But in all seriousness that was one hell of an article. Couldn't have said it better myself.
HeyWait
HeyWait - 4/15/2016, 2:02 PM
@BigChief16 - thanks - appreciate the kind comment :)
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