With the imminent destruction of Krypton, their home planet, Jor-El sends his infant son to Earth to preserve the future of their race. Raised as Clark Kent by farmers in Kansas, the young man struggles to conceal his extraordinary powers and find his place in the world. But when General Zod, a ruthless Kryptonian military leader, arrives on Earth searching for the lost codex, Clark must embrace his heritage to become the hero mankind needs before the planet is terraformed into a new Krypton.
Information |
|
|---|---|
Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
June 14, 2013 |
Running time |
143 minutes |
Genre |
Action Adventure Sci-Fi |
Budget |
$225,000,000 |
Box Office |
$668,045,518 |
Crew |
|
Directed by |
Zack Snyder |
Produced by |
Charles Roven Christopher Nolan Emma Thomas Deborah Snyder |
Written by |
David S. Goyer |
Music by |
Hans Zimmer |
Cinematography |
Amir Mokri |
Edited by |
David Brenner |
Production Co. |
Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures Syncopy DC Entertainment |
Distributed by |
Warner Bros. |
Official Trailer
The Plot
The Fall of Krypton
On the distant, technologically advanced planet Krypton, Lara Lor-Van gives birth to a son, Kal-El, with the assistance of her husband, the scientist Jor-El. This event is a significant violation of Kryptonian law, as for centuries, babies have been bred through genetic engineering using a planetary "Growth Codex" to predetermined roles in society. Kal-El is the first naturally conceived and birthed Kryptonian in generations. Jor-El and Lara have chosen this path because their planet is on the brink of destruction; the civilization's harvesting of the planetary core for resources has made the core unstable and prone to implosion.
Leaving his wife and newborn, Jor-El travels to the city of Kandor on his flying creature, H'Raka. He appears before the Kryptonian Law Council, pleading with them to let him save the Codex and send it to a habitable world to preserve their race. However, the proceedings are violently interrupted by General Dru-Zod and his followers, the Sword of Rao. Zod stages a coup d'état, swiftly murdering High Eminence Ro-Zar and declaring himself the new leader to save the planet. Although Jor-El agrees the Council has failed, he refuses to join Zod's violent uprising. Zod orders his former friend arrested, but Jor-El escapes, fleeing to the Genesis Chamber.
Jor-El retrieves the Growth Codex—an ancient skull encrusted with the genetic patterns of the entire race—and races back to the Citadel. There, he grafts the atomized particles of the Codex directly onto Kal-El's living cells. He also prepares a Command Key for the infant. As Zod's forces close in, Jor-El and Lara place Kal-El into a small starship aimed at Earth, a distant planet orbiting a yellow sun that Jor-El predicts will give the child god-like abilities. Zod arrives just as the launch sequence initiates. He engages Jor-El in brutal hand-to-hand combat while Lara initiates the launch. Zod stabs and kills Jor-El just as the rocket blasts off, escaping Krypton's atmosphere.
Simultaneously, the Sapphire Guards rally to defeat the coup forces. Zod and his surviving officers, including Sub-Commander Faora-Ul and the towering Nam-Ek, are arrested. They are put on trial for treason and the murder of Jor-El, sentenced to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Before being cryogenically frozen, Zod vows to Lara that he will find her son and reclaim the Codex. The prisoners are loaded onto the massive prison ship, the Black Zero, which is banished into the Phantom Zone. shortly after, Krypton's core collapses. As the planet explodes, Lara watches the destruction, praying that her son will make a better world. Kal-El's ship travels through the phantom drive and crash-lands in a field in Smallville, Kansas, where he is found by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent.
The Drifter and the Discovery
Thirty-three years later, Kal-El, now living as Clark Kent, works on a crab boat. A distress signal reveals a nearby oil rig is engulfed in flames. Clark jumps overboard, swimming to the rig to help evacuate the crew before the Coast Guard arrives. As the rig collapses, a massive piece of equipment threatens to crush the workers; Clark holds it up with superhuman strength, allowing them to escape, but is engulfed in an explosion that throws him into the ocean. While drifting unconsciously, he recalls his childhood. At age nine, his super-hearing and x-ray vision manifested in a terrifying sensory overload during class. He hid in a janitor's closet until his mother, Martha, talked him through focusing on her voice, teaching him to control his senses.
Back on shore, Clark steals clothes and moves on. He sees a school bus, triggering a memory from age thirteen. When his school bus blew a tire and plunged off a bridge into a river, Clark used his strength to push the bus to safety, saving the drowning children, including Lana Lang and Pete Ross. Although Pete's mother realized what happened, Jonathan Kent insisted Clark keep his powers a secret, fearing the world would reject him out of fear. Jonathan revealed the spacecraft found in the barn and the Command Key, telling Clark he was sent for a reason and must find out who he is.
Clark eventually finds work at a remote bar in Canada. He overhears military personnel discussing a "strange object" found under the Arctic ice. After defending a waitress from a harassment by a truck driver—and secretly destroying the driver's logging truck in retaliation—Clark heads north. Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane arrives at the Arctic site, where Colonel Nathan Hardy and Dr. Emil Hamilton of DARPA are studying a 20,000-year-old alien vessel trapped in the ice. That night, Clark uses his heat vision to burrow through the ice and enters the ship.
Jor-El's Ghost
Inside the ancient scout ship, Clark encounters a defensive robot sentry. He utilizes the Command Key Jonathan gave him, inserting it into a port which activates the ship's systems and disables the sentry. Lois Lane, who followed Clark, attempts to photograph the sentry and is attacked. Clark saves her, using his heat vision to cauterize her internal wound, and carries her to safety before the ship activates. The vessel blasts out of the ice and flies to Ellesmere Island. Lois returns to civilization and writes a story about the alien, but her editor Perry White refuses to publish it. She leaks the story to blogger Glenn Woodburn instead.
On the ship, a holographic consciousness of Jor-El appears to Clark. Jor-El explains the history of Krypton: a once-great civilization that explored the stars but collapsed due to artificial population control and resource exhaustion. He reveals that Clark was conceived to break this cycle, embodying the freedom of choice. Jor-El presents Clark with a Kryptonian skinsuit bearing the House of El crest—an "S" shape symbolizing hope. Encouraged by his father to test his limits, Clark steps outside. He stumbles at first, but soon masters gravity, soaring into the sky and flying around the globe for the first time.
The Ultimatum
Lois tracks Clark's identity back to Smallville, interviewing Pete Ross and eventually finding Martha Kent. She visits Jonathan Kent's grave, where Clark confronts her. He explains why he stays hidden, recounting the day Jonathan died. During a tornado, Jonathan refused to let Clark save him, sacrificing his life to protect Clark's secret from the watching crowd. Moved by the story, Lois agrees to drop her investigation. Clark returns home to Martha, revealing he has found his origins.
Suddenly, the Black Zero enters Earth's orbit. General Zod broadcasts a message globally to every screen and device, speaking in all languages: "You are not alone." He demands that the alien living among them surrender within 24 hours, or Earth will suffer consequences. The FBI arrests Lois Lane after Woodburn reveals she knows the alien. Clark seeks spiritual counsel from Father Leone at a local church, debating whether to trust humanity. The priest advises him to take a "leap of faith." Clark dons his suit and flies to Edwards Air Force Base, surrendering to General Swanwick and Colonel Hardy on the condition that Lois is released.
Aboard the Black Zero
In the desert, a Kryptonian dropship lands. Sub-commander Faora-Ul emerges and demands Lois accompany them. Clark passes the Command Key to Lois before they board. On the Black Zero, the Kryptonian atmosphere weakens Clark, causing him to cough up blood and lose his powers. He meets Zod, who uses a mental projection to explain his survival: the destruction of Krypton shattered the Phantom Zone, freeing them. They repurposed the prison ship and sought out old outposts for resources. Zod reveals his plan to use the Codex—which he believes is lost—to rebuild Krypton. However, this requires terraforming Earth, which will kill all humans. Clark refuses to help.
Lois, using the Command Key provided by Clark, activates the ship's systems, allowing the Jor-El AI to take control. Jor-El restores the atmosphere around Clark, returning his strength, and guides Lois to an escape pod. Clark rescues Lois as her pod is attacked, sending her safely to Earth. He then flees the ship to stop Zod.
The Battle of Smallville
Zod descends to the Kent Farm, threatening Martha to find the Codex. Clark arrives, tackling Zod with tremendous force. The two crash through fields and into downtown Smallville. Zod's helmet malfunctions, exposing him to Earth's sensory environment; overwhelmed by x-ray vision and super-hearing, he is incapacitated. As Zod is extracted by his ship, Faora and the massive Nam-Ek remain to fight Clark. The battle destroys much of Smallville's main street. The US military, led by Colonel Hardy, engages the aliens with A-10 Warthogs and helicopters, but Faora moves with blistering speed, destroying the aircraft and slaughtering soldiers.
Clark manages to throw Nam-Ek into a train yard. He then tackles Faora, but Nam-Ek returns, throwing a locomotive engine at Clark. The military fires a missile, which strikes Faora, knocking her senses offline. The Kryptonians retreat. Clark emerges from the rubble, and Colonel Hardy, witnessing Clark's efforts to save soldiers, declares, "This man is not our enemy." Clark flies back to the farm to check on Martha.
The World Engine
Aboard the Black Zero, the scientist Jax-Ur discovers that the Codex is not a physical object anymore; it is bonded to Clark's DNA. Zod orders the deployment of the World Engine. The massive tripod machine lands in the Indian Ocean, while the Black Zero hovers over Metropolis. Together, they initiate a gravity beam that begins increasing Earth's mass and changing the atmosphere to match Krypton's, flattening Metropolis in the process.
General Swanwick and Dr. Hamilton determine that colliding Clark's baby ship (which has a Phantom Drive) with the Black Zero will create a singularity, sucking the invaders back into the Phantom Zone. Clark, now dubbed "Superman" by the military, flies to the Indian Ocean to stop the World Engine. The machine's defenses—liquid geo-tentacles—drag him down, and the gravity beam weakens him. Forcing himself against the crushing gravity, Clark flies directly through the center of the World Engine, destroying it.
The Singularity
In Metropolis, the military plane carrying the baby ship, piloted by Colonel Hardy with Lois and Hamilton on board, approaches the Black Zero. Zod, piloting the scout ship he seized from the Arctic, intercepts them. He destroys the plane's escort and fires on the cargo plane. Superman returns, crashing into Zod's scout ship. Inside, Zod ignores the pleas of the Jor-El AI and deletes it, taking full manual control. Superman uses his heat vision to destroy the ship's Genesis Chamber, ruining the only means to breed new Kryptonians. The scout ship crashes into the city.
Faora ambushes the cargo plane, but Colonel Hardy crashes the plane directly into the Black Zero's drive core. The impact activates the Phantom Drive, creating a massive singularity. The Black Zero, Faora, and the debris are sucked into the Phantom Zone. Lois falls from the plane but is caught in mid-air by Superman. He gently sets her down near Perry White and the surviving staff of the Daily Planet.
The Last Son vs. The General
Zod, who survived the crash of the scout ship, emerges from the rubble. He tells Superman that without the Codex and the Genesis Chamber, his soul's purpose—the preservation of Krypton—is gone. Swearing to destroy everything Superman loves, Zod attacks. The two engage in a cataclysmic duel across Metropolis, smashing through skyscrapers and exploding tankers. Zod sheds his armor and masters the ability to fly, taking the fight into space and back down to the city's central station.
Zod tackles Superman into the station's main hall. He grapples Superman, aiming his heat vision at a family of four cornered against a wall. Zod struggles to force the beams toward the family, vowing never to stop. With no other choice, Superman snaps Zod's neck, killing him instantly. Overwhelmed with grief at killing the last of his kind, Superman falls to his knees and screams in agony. Lois arrives, comforting him.
Welcome to the Planet
Some time later, Superman intercepts a US military surveillance drone, bringing it down in the desert before General Swanwick. He tells the General that he knows they are tracking him to find where he "hangs his cape." Superman asserts that he is here to help and is an American, but he will not be controlled or spied upon. Swanwick grudgingly accepts the terms.
Clark returns to Smallville to visit Martha. They reminisce about his childhood, with Martha recalling how he used to run around with a red cape, playing with the dog. Clark expresses his need for a job that keeps him connected to the world's news. The story concludes in Metropolis, where Clark Kent, wearing glasses and a suit to disguise his identity, is introduced by Perry White as the newest stringer for the Daily Planet. Lois Lane welcomes him to the team with a knowing smile.
Top Cast
- Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Superman
- Amy Adams as Lois Lane
- Michael Shannon as General Zod
- Diane Lane as Martha Kent
- Russell Crowe as Jor-El
- Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent
- Antje Traue as Faora-Ul
- Laurence Fishburne as Perry White
- Christopher Meloni as Colonel Nathan Hardy
- Harry Lennix as General Swanwick
Movie Collection
- Man of Steel (2013)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
