Clark Kent (DC Extended Universe)
Clark Joseph Kent, also known by his birth name Kal-El or superhero persona Superman, is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe series of films, based on the character of the same name created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. In the films, he is an exile from the planet Krypton who lands on Earth, developing superhuman abilities and becoming one of Earth's greatest protectors, inspiring other metahumans to fight crime.
First appearing in the film Man of Steel, the character is portrayed by Henry Cavill, who is the first non-American actor to portray Superman in film. This version of Superman has also appeared in other films such as and Justice League, serving as one of the central characters in the DC Extended Universe. The DCEU has aimed to portray Superman in a less idealistic and more human light as compared to the previous film series by Warner Bros., which has received polarized reviews from critics.
Character concept and development
As one of the most prominent superhero characters for DC Comics, Superman had previously been portrayed in film several times in film serials and most prominently in the 1978–87 Superman film series, with Christopher Reeve taking on the role of Superman. While Reeve's performance was widely regarded as one of the greatest in film history, the series was placed in jeopardy following the critical and commercial failure of . Following Superman Returns, a 2006 homage sequel to the film series' first two films which saw Brandon Routh replace Reeve, talks commenced regarding using that film to create a shared universe for other DC characters, but they stalled out. With Routh's contract to portray Superman expiring in 2009, Warner Bros. decided to reboot the franchise, beginning to take pitches on ideas to restart the film series. One of the most prominent ideas that emerged was that of a Golden-Age inspired Superman "when he was a bit more of a regular person."During the production of the Dark Knight trilogy of Batman films, which later saw tremendous success, producer David S. Goyer told director Christopher Nolan his idea regarding how to present Superman in a modern context. Impressed with Goyer's concept, Nolan pitched the idea to the studio, who hired Nolan to produce and Goyer to write based on the financial and critical success of The Dark Knight.
Nolan admired Bryan Singer's work on Superman Returns for its connection to Richard Donner's version, stating that "A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that's what I know how to do," emphasizing the idea that Batman exists in a world where he is the only superhero and a similar approach to the Man of Steel would assure the integrity needed for the film. "Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other." Nolan, however, clarified that the new film would not have any relationship with the previous film series. Filming of Man of Steel began in 2011 with a lawsuit stipulating that Warner Bros. would be able to be sued by the family of Superman creator Jerry Siegel for lost revenue on an unproduced film after that year, thanks to the Siegel estate recapturing 50% of the rights to Superman's origins and Siegel's share of the copyright in Action Comics #1, despite the studio not owing the Siegel estate money for previous films.
Casting and portrayal
English actor Henry Cavill was cast as Clark Kent/Superman for Man of Steel. Cavill is the first non-American actor to play the character. He was previously cast in Superman: Flyby, which was ultimately shelved, and was considered for the role in Superman Returns, but lost to Routh. Cavill stated, "There's a very real story behind the Superman character." He explained that everyone's goal has been to explore the difficulties his character faces as a result of having multiple identities—including his birth name, Kal-El, and his alter ego, Clark Kent. Cavill also stated that, "He's alone and there's no one like him," referring to Superman's vulnerabilities. "That must be incredibly scary and lonely, not to know who you are or what you are, and trying to find out what makes sense. Where's your baseline? What do you draw from? Where do you draw a limit with the power you have? In itself, that's an incredible weakness." In an interview with Total Film magazine, Cavill stated he had been consuming nearly 5,000 calories a day, training for over two hours daily and plowing protein to pack on the muscle mass. Cooper Timberline was cast as the 9-year-old Clark Kent, and Dylan Sprayberry was cast as the 13-year-old Clark Kent.Themes and characterization
Like Christopher Reeve's portrayal of the character, the DCEU version of Superman has seen several allusions to Jesus. Many reviewers interpreted Man of Steel as a religious allegory, especially since Warner Bros. set up a website www.manofsteelresources.com that contains "a nine-page pamphlet entitled Jesus – The Original Superhero". Justin Craig of Fox News points out several allegories in Man of Steel to Christ, which include Clark's age of 33 in the film, which was the age of Jesus during his crucifixion, being shackled prior to interrogation similar to Jesus' arrest, and Clark's Earthly father Jonathan being a tradesman similar to Jesus' Earthly father Joseph. Craig also compares Kal-El's struggle to the passion of Christ, stating that "Kal-El is more than willing to sacrifice himself to save the people of Earth. Originally reluctant to reveal his identity and powers to the world, Supes decides to turn himself over to Zod to save humanity from annihilation." He further states that there is an allegory to the Trinity within Man of Steel: "Jor-El returns to Kal-El on Earth as a ghost, guiding his budding superhero son on his journey to salvation. Before Jor-El sends his son off to Earth baby Moses-style, he tells his wife that, like Jesus, 'He'll be a god to them.'" Time magazine's Richard Corliss also provided other allegories, such as comparing Clark's rescue of his classmates at age 12 to Jesus being in the temple at the same age as flashes of their potential, being sent to Earth by a "heavenly father", Jor-El, and Clark visiting a church while contemplating surrendering himself to General Zod, with a mural of Jesus during his final days in the background.However, Clark struggles with his identity in the DCEU despite being treated as a god by Earth's citizens. Corliss compares Clark in Man of Steel to Jesus as portrayed in The Last Temptation of Christ in that both figures doubt their divinity in their respective films. In addition, film critic Matt Zoller Seitz notes that Cavill and Sprayberry portray a Clark Kent/Superman riddled with conflict on how to display his powers without being labelled a "freak" and dealing with the aftermath of traumatic events from his life, but is forced out of his comfort zone with the arrival of General Zod on Earth. In addition, Zoller Seitz comments that Cavill does not showcase Superman's signature confidence as Christopher Reeve did due to the character's internal conflict in the film. By the time of Batman v. Superman, Clark has embraced his role as a superhero, with Cavill adding "He's more used to this gig, doing his best to save as many lives as he can", further explaining, "He is no longer frantic. He's no longer a wet-behind-the-ears kind of superhero." Superman also disagrees with Batman's form of justice in the film, leading to conflict between the two vigilantes.
Despite Superman being described as "joyless" in the first two films of the DCEU, director Zack Snyder mentioned that in his original vision for the character's arc, that Clark would become the "true Superman" by the end of Justice League. However, numerous scenes that would have fleshed out the character's arc were cut out once Joss Whedon took over for Snyder. These deleted scenes will likely be shown once Zack Snyder's Justice League, a director's cut of the film, is released in 2021.
Film appearances
''Man of Steel''
Kal-El/Clark Kent first appears in Man of Steel, as he is first Kryptonian born by natural means in many generations. His parents, Jor-El and Lara-El, unsuccessfully fight to save their planet Krypton from inevitable destruction due to the Kryptonians' reckless usage of the planet's resources and must also defend against a plot by General Zod. With no means to save the planet, Jor-El and Lara infuse their son, Kal, with a codex containing the genetic information for future Kryptonian births, before sending him to Earth on a pre-programmed starship. They deduce that their son will develop great powers on Earth and will "become a god to them". Jor-El is killed by Zod, but not before Kal-El's ship escapes, and Zod is sentenced to the Phantom Zone with his followers while Lara and the other Kryptonians perish in the planet's explosion.Kal-El is discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas upon crash-landing on Earth around 1980, and subsequently raised as their adaptive son Clark. The film cuts to Clark as a young man traveling the world and working odd jobs while flashbacks reveal his childhood in Smallville. As he grows up, Clark becomes isolated as a result of developing superhuman powers which he tries to hide from others, but one incident sees him single-handedly lift a school bus carrying his classmates from sinking into a river. He learns his true origins from Jonathan, who urges him to keep his powers hidden. Several years later, Jonathan dies in a tornado while refusing to let Clark rescue him, as that might reveal Clark to the world before he's ready. Burdened with guilt and looking for a new purpose in his life, Clark leaves to travel the world for several years under various aliases.
Years later, Clark drifts around North America on a pilgrimage. On board a ship, he and the crew are soon alerted to a distress call for help from a flaming oil rig. Clark quickly disappears from the ship and is on the rig moments later, rescuing the crew and getting them to board a Coast Guard chopper. He is unable to join them, as he rushes to keep a part of the rig from collapsing. As the chopper flies away with the rig's crew, the rig collapses down on him and he ends up floating in the water. Clark manages to return to land and borrows some clothes. He later ventures to Canada, first getting a job as a bartender but later finding work with an drilling company that has discovered an object that turns out to a Kryptonian scout ship. Clark enters the ship and activates its central computer using a key left by Jor-El, which allows him to communicate with an artificial intelligence modeled after his father. The AI explains that Clark was sent to Earth to guide its people, and presents him with a Kryptonian uniform bearing his family's symbol. While following Clark, reporter Lois Lane from the Daily Planet inadvertently triggers the ship's security system. Clark uses his powers to rescue Lois, who is covering the event, before wearing the uniform and testing his flying abilities. Unable to convince supervisor Perry White to publish an article on the incident, Lois tracks down Clark back to his family home in Kansas, intent on finding the truth. She tries to persuade Clark to let her reveal his story, but decides to drop it after hearing of Jonathan Kent's sacrifice, and keeps Clark's identity safe.
Escaping the Phantom Zone, Zod and his crew intercept a transmission from the scout vessel and travel to Earth. Deducing that Kal-El is nearby, they broadcast a global address demanding that he surrender within 24 hours or risk war. Clark seeks counsel from a local pastor on whether to trust humanity, having confessed that he is the one Zod is looking for and deduced that Zod will wage war regardless, with the pastor telling him to take a "leap of faith". Without revealing his identity and wearing the Kryptonian uniform, Clark meets with the United States Air Force and agrees to comply, with Lois joining him as a hostage. Zod reveals that he possesses several terraforming devices, the largest called a World Engine, which he salvaged from Kryptonian outposts, which he intends to use to transform Earth into a new Krypton. His science officer, Jax-Ur, extracts information from Clark's genes to create Kryptonian colonists who will annihilate humanity and build a society based on Zod's ideals of genetic purity.
Using the Jor-El AI to take over the ship, Clark and Lois flee and warn the U.S. military of Zod's plan, resulting in an explosive confrontation between Clark and Zod's troops around Smallville, just as Zod orders an invasion. Zod deploys the World Engine from the Kryptonian ship, which touches down in the Indian Ocean and begins firing a beam through the planet towards the ship, severely damaging the city of Metropolis on the opposite side of the world, and initiating the terraforming strategy. Clark destroys the World Engine while the military launches a suicide attack on the ship, sending Zod's troops back to the Phantom Zone. With the ship destroyed and Krypton's only hope of revival gone, Zod vows to destroy the Earth and its inhabitants out of revenge. The two Kryptonians engage in a lengthy battle across Metropolis, which concludes when Clark is forced to kill Zod as he attacks a cornered family in a train station.
Clark adopts a separate public identity with the military codename "Superman" and persuades the government to let him act independently, so long as he does not turn against humanity. To allow access to dangerous situations without attracting attention, he covertly maintains his civilian identity and takes a job as a freelance reporter for the Daily Planet.
''Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice''
Two years after the Kryptonian invasion by Zod, Superman is now a controversial figure, being hailed as a hero by some, but denounced as a "false god" and dangerous by others, including billionaire Bruce Wayne, who happened to witness Superman's destructive fight with Zod in Metropolis. Clark is now in a relationship with Lois and has received a promotion at the Daily Planet, while as Superman, he has engaged in numerous acts such as engaging wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, rescuing passengers on a train, halting a missile attack on the United States, and apprehending criminals.Superman saves Lois from the warlord Amajagh during the beginning of the film, but Russian mobster Anatoli Knyazev's henchmen make it appear that Superman brutally murdered Amajagh's men with his heat vision. At the same time, LexCorp CEO Lex Luthor has been trying to extract Kryptonite left during Zod's terraforming attempt. Clark is then assigned a sports story in Gotham City by Perry, but instead starts investigating on Batman, who is also a controversial figure. This leads to a brief conflict, but Clark is invited back to Gotham by Luthor, who requests that Clark be the reporter for a gala he is holding. There, he meets Bruce, asking him about his opinion on Batman much to Bruce's annoyance, leading to an argument about the deeds of Superman compared with Batman's, before Luthor injects himself into the conversation to introduce himself. Bruce is at the gala to try and steal information from Luthor, and is also seeking kryptonite in an attempt to take on Superman. He subsequently dreams of Superman in an alternate universe going rogue and taking over the world.
While watching television, Clark sees numerous personalities, including cosmologist Neil deGrasse Tyson and U.S. Senator June Finch, argue about Superman's effect on the world, with Tyson supporting Superman and Finch expressing skepticism. Following Perry's rebuffal of Clark's attempts to investigate Batman and reports of misconduct by Batman from the Gotham Free Press, he decides to confront the caped crusader more directly as Superman, halting Batman's attempt to seize kryptonite from Luthor's men and leaving him a warning while Batman promises to make the god-like alien "bleed".
During a publicized congressional hearing at the U.S. Capitol on Superman's actions, Finch questions Superman for some of his alleged controversies, but a bomb planted there by Luthor explodes, killing everyone inside except for Superman. Superman blames himself for not detecting it in time and self-imposes exile. Elsewhere, Batman breaks into LexCorp and steals the kryptonite. He builds a powered exoskeleton, a kryptonite grenade launcher, and a kryptonite-tipped spear in preparation for battling Superman. Meanwhile, Luthor enters the Kryptonian ship and accesses a database of technology accumulated from over 100,000 worlds.
Luthor lures Superman out of exile by kidnapping Lois and Martha Kent, Clark's adoptive mother. He pushes Lois off the LexCorp building. Superman saves her and confronts Luthor, who reveals he manipulated him and Batman by fueling their distrust. Luthor demands he kill Batman in exchange for Martha's life. Superman tries to explain this to Batman, who instead attacks him and eventually subdues him using a kryptonite gas following a lengthy duel. As Batman prepares to move in for the kill using the spear, Superman pleads with him to "save Martha" - the same name as Batman's mother. Batman hesitates, yelling "why did you say that name?" until Lois arrives and explains what Superman meant. Coming to his senses about how far he has fallen from grace, he promises to rescue Martha. Superman regains his strength and confronts Luthor on the scout ship.
Luthor executes his backup plan, unleashing a monster genetically engineered from DNA from both Zod's body and his own. Diana Prince, an antiques dealer whom Bruce encountered at the gala earlier and was also revealed as a metahuman known as "Wonder Woman", arrives with her metahuman powers on display, and joins forces with Batman and Superman against the creature. Though outmatched, Superman realizes its vulnerability to kryptonite and retrieves the spear. After biding goodbye to Lois, he impales the creature with the spear, but in its dying moments, the creature kills Superman, who was weakened by kryptonite exposure.
Following Luthor's arrest, Batman confronts him in prison, warning him that he will always be watching. Luthor gloats that Superman's death has made the world vulnerable to powerful alien threats. A memorial is held for Superman in Metropolis. Clark is also declared dead, and Wayne and Prince both attend his funeral in Smallville. Martha gives Lois an envelope containing an engagement ring from Clark. Bruce tells Diana that he regrets having failed Superman in life. He asks her help to form a team of metahumans, starting with those named in Luthor's files, to protect the world in Superman's absence. After everyone leaves, the dirt atop Clark's coffin levitates.
''Justice League''
Two years after Superman's death, the world continues to mourn his loss, and groups of metahumans have been formed in his absence, including one coming to existence as Amanda Waller organizes dangerous criminals to form Task Force X to fight dangerous threats. Sensing the paranoia of Earth's citizens, Steppenwolf, who had attempted to and failed take over Earth 30,000 years prior, re-emerges to try again, aiming to gather the scattered Mother Boxes to destroy life on Earth and terraform the planet to mimic his homeworld. After failing to stop him, Diana Prince teams up with Bruce Wayne to create their own metahuman group, recruiting Barry Allen, known as the "Flash", Arthur Curry, known as "Aquaman", and Victor Stone, known as "Cyborg".However, the group still proves no match for Steppenwolf and his minions, and Wayne comes to the conclusion that they need to resurrect Superman if they truly wish to save the Earth. Diana and Curry are hesitant about the idea, but Wayne forms a secret contingency plan in case Superman returns as hostile. Clark Kent's body is exhumed by Allen and Stone and placed in the amniotic fluid of the Kryptonian scout ship's genesis chamber, alongside a Mother Box that they had retrieved, as the device was used to save Stone's life after a horrific accident. Flash uses his powers to charge it up and successfully resurrects Superman. However, Superman's memories have not returned, and he attacks the group after Cyborg accidentally launches a projectile at him. On the verge of being killed by Superman, Batman enacts his contingency plan: Lois Lane. Superman calms down and leaves with Lane to his family home in Smallville, where he reflects, and his memories slowly come back. In the turmoil, the last Mother Box is left unguarded allowing Steppenwolf to retrieve it with ease.
Without Superman to aid them, the five heroes travel to a village in Russia where Steppenwolf aims to unite the Mother Boxes once again to remake Earth for his uncle and superior Darkseid who is the ruler of the planet Apokolips. The team fights their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf, although they are unable to distract him enough for Stone to separate the Mother Boxes. Superman arrives, remembering his promise to help Batman, and assists Allen in evacuating the city, as well as Stone, in separating the Mother Boxes. The team defeats Steppenwolf with Superman and Wonder Woman destroying his axe. Overcome with fear, Steppenwolf is attacked by his own Parademons before they all teleport back to Apokolips.
In the aftermath of the battle, Wayne reacquires the Kent farm for Martha Kent before it can be foreclosed and decides to rebuild Wayne Manor as a base of operations for the team and he and Prince agree that more heroes could join. Superman resumes his life as reporter Clark Kent and as protector of Earth, thanking Wayne and Prince for not losing hope in humanity, as Batman offers Superman the mantle of leadership for the newly-minted Justice League. Superman later has a friendly race with Flash to see who is faster.
''Shazam!''
Superman makes a faceless cameo appearance at the end of the film, as Shazam brings the former along while visiting his foster brother Freddy Freeman during a school lunch. He is portrayed by Levi's body double as Henry Cavil was unavailable for filming at the time.Reception
Cavill's performance as Superman has received mixed reviews from critics. While Cavill's portrayal of Clark Kent's inner turmoil and chemistry with co-star Amy Adams was praised, other critics commented on perceived stiffness and a lack of charisma in Man of Steel. These critical assessments proved to carry over to the film's sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Particularly criticized was Superman's decision to kill General Zod during the climax of Man of Steel. Artist Neal Adams suggested that other alternatives were open to Superman when Zod threatened innocent people with his heat vision, such as covering his eyes. He also criticized Superman for not moving the battle away from Metropolis as the character did at the end of Superman II. In a positive review of the film, Richard Corliss wrote, "The movie finds its true, lofty footing not when it displays Kal-El's extraordinary powers, but when it dramatizes Clark Kent's roiling humanity. The super part of Man of Steel is just okay, but the man part is super."In Justice League, viewers noted that Superman became more hopeful and optimistic and more in line with Christopher Reeve's portrayal of the character, but that his change of character was abrupt and unexplained, among one of many inconsistencies in the film caused by the sudden handover of directorial duties from Zack Snyder to Joss Whedon.