Looking back, I can’t believe a major Man of Steel movie scene was done in a strikingly similar way 33 years earlier in a different DC film starring the hero. Superman’s movie roster is a considerable one, though also certainly one that’s had its own highs and lows throughout the years. With that said, we still have a wide range of iconic Superman movies to enjoy, which is arguably enhanced by the different takes on the character that have cropped up in these stories – a concept that the DCU Superman movie will hopefully continue to make reality.
While the differences between these Kryptonian heroes helps make them all their own distinct enтιтies, this also makes the similarities that crop up between various Superman movies and film stories all the more interesting, especially when they tie together two of the otherwise more contrasting big-screen iterations of the iconic DC golden boy. A prime example of this can be found in the striking parallels between one major Man of Steel scene, and a far older Superman movie which had its own take on the scene within its story that came long before the DCEU timeline.
Man Of Steel’s Broadcast Scene Is A Crucial Part Of Its Story
General Zod’s Broadcast Brings Superman To Him
Man Of Steel‘s main storyline and conflict with General Zod and his troops begins to properly kick off upon Zod sending out a broadcast that reaches the screens of all of Earth, wherein he tells the populus that he’s searching for the Kryptonian living on their planet – who is none other than Clark Kent, though the General doeasn’t know this yet – and that, if this Kryptonian doesn’t give themselves in, he will reign havoc upon Earth. Of course, Zod’s plans are to terraform Earth either way, but the threat proves a potent one, and one that sees Superman eventually hand himself over in order to protect those around him.
The execution of the scene also means it remains a striking part of the movie even all these years later, with the sequence showing how the message is being sent around all of Earth, and translated into differing languages so that the entirety of the world could all learn Zod’s instructions, and fear for their lives and what could happen if this mysterious other Kryptonian didn’t acquiesce to his demands. This makes it all the more interesting that the scene mirrors a key part of Superman 2‘s story over thirty years later – especially since the two films’ stories go in different directions in a lot of other ways.
Superman 2 Pulled Off Almost The Exact Same Scene Decades Earlier
General Zod Calls Superman To Him With A Broadcast In Superman II As Well
Superman II also has General Zod as its central villain – though the plot delves into some notably different directions, with the early chapters of the plot focusing more on Lois Lane’s efforts to work out Superman’s secret idenтιтy, and his brief decision to get rid of his powers to live as a normal mortal human. Ultimately, though, this choice lasts for the span of a few minutes, since Clark quickly learns that while he and Lois have been spending time together, General Zod has been taking over the Earth, as Zod has the President of the United States make a public broadcast explaining he’s surrendered to the General.
However, when the President uses this broadcast to beg Superman for help, General Zod takes over the message, calling out the Man of Steel and challenging the hero to come and face him. In this way, the Superman II scene and Man of Steel end up being very much similar, in terms of what happens in the scene itself, how the scene establishes Zod as an even bigger threat than it seemed before, and how it sets up the final conflicts of the films.
Even the settings for Clark in both scenes, while not identical, are still similar, with Man of Steel seeing the hero witness this broadcast while at his mother’s farmhouse out in the countryside, and Superman II showing Clark catching the film’s own broadcast while at a diner that similarly appears to be very much out of the way. This underlines just how easily Clark could get away with not showing up to face Zod, and thus how much his choice to go and eventually take him on all the more poignant, and all the more clearly a mark of Superman’s desire to protect others and do the right thing even when this has personal cost.
Why The Man Of Steel & Superman 2 Scenes Are So Similar
The Two Versions Of Superman Have Some Core Similarities
Man of Steel and Superman II‘s respective versions of the тιтular hero are notably different. Christopher Reeve’s rendition of The Last Son of Krypton is a more light-hearted and jovial character, as well as a figure whose overall persona matches the more classical era of Superman that was closer to when the movie released, whereas Henry Cavill’s iteration of the character leans a little more towards being a brooding action hero type of figure – not something that’s strictly unheard of when it comes to Superman comics or stories, but something that puts him in contrast to the prior movie take.
However, despite their differences, a lot of the core of these two versions of Superman are still very much the same, with both holding their sense of justice and doing the right thing above all else. As such, it makes perfect sense for these movies to put the heroes against General Zod, as the ultimate opponent on a power level, and when it comes to challenging whether Clark will stand up against the final other remaining Kryptonians to protect the planet he was raised on and the people within it.
This also serves to explain why both movies use very similar scenes when it comes to Superman being summoned via broadcast to face General Zod – not just because it’s a convenient way to explain how Zod and Superman finally meet, but also because it sets up a scenario where Clark has time to question if he’s willing to risk life and limb by going to Zod, and thus appears more heroic for his eventual decision to do so. The fact that these moments mirror each other over three decades apart arguably only underlines their effectiveness, since the scene works pretty well in both Man of Steel and Superman II.
