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lonelywretchjervistetch · 2 years

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My DC Cinematic Universe: Superman (Part XI)

Chapter XI: Climax

Here it is; the climactic end of this story. If you've miraculously stuck with me over the course of this journey, then...wow, Jesus. That's a lot of reading from a nerd rambling into the void on the internet, so thanks for the attention! If you liked it, great! And if not, that's OK, too. This is the Superman movie I want to see, but like I said, nerd rambling on the internet. My Superman may not be for everybody. And again, as a point, this is set-up for a future of Superman and DC Comics films, so a lot of this theoretical film is devoted to laying plotlines for the future of this story.

So, with all of that said, where are we as we head into the climax? Quick recap.

Superman, after getting a shard of Kryptonite embedded in his chest after a fight with Intergang, was brought to the hospital. In the process, a Kryptonian crystal necklace interacted with his blood, activating it and importing information about Krypton and Superman's parents directly into his head, giving Clark some closure about his origins. After waking up, he's now gotta stop Intergang. And yes, I'm now treating Superman and Clark as one entity, in contrast to last time.

Lois Lane, after investigating Intergang, ended up accompanying Superman to the hospital, and telling Martha Kent that she knows Clark and Superman are the same person. She'll also be helping to take down Intergang in her own way.

The Kents were visiting Clark in Metropolis, when Intergang struck. While Martha is staying with her son and husband, Jonathan ended up having a heart attack from the stress, and is also in the hospital alongside his son.

John Corben is NOT OK after his fight with Superman, confined within an exploding armor and having lost his legs and arm in the process. We get a taste of his backstory as a disgraced military vet, as well as a past with Gordon Crown, who's now offering him an upgrade to take out Superman.

Bruno Manheim got caught in a blast in the hospital as he was trying to visit Corben, and is currently arrested and unconscious.

Bibbo Bibbowski was saved by Superman, and is starting to change his mind about the guy. And speaking of that...

Before this night ends, let's check back in with Bibbo Bibbowski and Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy was planning on spending time at the Ace o' Clubs with Clark and Lois to discuss the day, but as far as he knows, Clark is in the hospital with his dad after the heart attack, while Lois is trying to get an interview with John Corben about the incident. He starts chatting up Bibbo, who's definitely distracted as he thinks about the day. He's confused. Superman saved him, with little reason to do so, and he also almost died in the process. Gives Bibbo a new perspective on this apparent Übermensch, and makes him think he may have misjudged him. A sign of changing attitudes around Superman, who isn't actually the darling of Metropolis at this point in his story.

The other thing I forgot to say last time is that, possibly on the flight home, Lois would bring up the green crystal to Superman. He, admittedly, has no idea what it is, but knows someone who may be able to figure it out. Problem is, when he tries to touch it, he gets fairly ill. So, Lois volunteers to do the leg work, and take it to Superman's connection in Infinity, Emil Hamilton. He thanks her for doing that, and tells her he'd be in touch. It's also during this flight that we can assume Superman gets some info about Corben. But by the time he gets back to the hospital, Corben is gone. And where is he, you may ask? Getting some elective surgery.

Cut to the next day. Clark's focus has shifted to Corben, and he does some research at the Daily Planet about the guy. We get more pieces of his backstory (which I described last time), and learn how dangerous he could be, just as a person. Perry, in the meantime, is looking for someone, anyone, to get more info on what happened with Manheim in the hospital last night. Lois isn't currently there, but Clark covers for her, saying that she'll be on it shortly, after following a separate lead. However, he'll be trying to talk to Manheim as Superman instead.

Manheim's in police custody, of course, and his crimes are fairly well-known to the police. However, they've got difficulty holding him there, due to legitimate business connections and good lawyers. Before they give up on interrogating him, though, Superman arrives to speak with him. Manheim doesn't say much, although we get some perspective on his views of Superman. Manheim's a pretty simply guy, so his views on Superman are more about him just getting in his way. Unlike Lex Luthor, Manheim's dislike of Superman isn't personal; it's purely business. As for Corben's disappearance, Manheim truly knows nothing about it, and Superman believes him. However, Manheim warns that Corben's dislike of Superman, and of any self-styled heroes, absolutely is personal.

Back to Lois, who's meeting with Emil Hamilton. By the way, I'm having Emil played by Richard Ayoade in this essay series. Honestly, the cast just feels right to me, but I didn't come up with it until after the last entry. Anyway, Lois is smart enough not to take the Kryptonite directly to Infinity Labs, especially because she does her research about the place, and discovers who the new owner is. So, she arranges to meet with him outside of the lab, which he agrees to.

Using his own connections at the smaller S.T.A.R. Labs, Hamilton uses a small lab to analyze the Kryptonite given to Lois. He finds that it shares a spectroscopic signature with the crystal given to him before, but is also exuding a significant amount of radiation. However, the type of radiation isn't one he's observed before. It appears to be a form of ionizing radiation that is relatively harmless to human cells, save for long-term exposure. However, when the crystal is exposed to this radiation, it undergoes a conformational change in structure, causing it to change from the clear crystal to different colors (which could be green, red, blue, or other colors depending on the exact conformational change, and depending on the crystal). This change, because of the crystal's normal interaction with Kryptonian biology, becomes extremely lethal to Kryptonian cells, and could easily kill Superman given enough exposure. Thankfully, of course, there's not much of it present on Earth.

...Right?

Let's cut to Corben and Crown. We see a completely-healed Corben in an odd mental space, almost like a dimension of chrome and green, tinged ever-so-subtly in a fiery red and gold. Although he's confused about his circumstances, he accepts them. Also in this environment is Gordon Crown, who asks once again if Corben is ready for what's about to happen to him. Corben asks what exactly that is, and Crown gives him the answer.

At this very moment, Corben's mind is being bound to and transported into a robotic shell, made of the same metal found in the robotic suit. Coining it Metal-Zero, it's an near-indestructible material, that even Superman will have difficulty breaking. But more importantly, the experiment with the Kryptonite was a success, and it does indeed seem to harm Superman. So, using his impressive connections, Crown has managed to get ahold of a larger portion. We see the Kryptonite heart, which will serve as a power source for Corben's new body. Corben asks if he'll be able to kill Superman, and Crown expects him to do exactly that. Crown also tells him that, if their previous fight proved anything, Superman doesn't want any bystanders injured. Corben notes this, and we get a sense of the direction their next battle will go. Lastly, we're asked what will happen to Corben's body. And Crown notes that Corben died hours ago. Who will he be now? And we know the answer to that, of course.

Jonathan, thankfully, is doing pretty well at the moment. The heart attack was a fairly small one...and not his first, we find out. Turns out that Jonathan's heart really has had issues in the last few years, and he didn't let Clark know this because he's had other things to worry about. Which is, obviously, not fair, and definitely upsets Clark when he finds out. Because, remember, Clark is essentially human. Human things should happen in his personal life, and this is a very human sort of thing to happen. In either case, though, Jonathan is doing much better at this point. Clark talks again to his parents about what he found out, and they have a conversation about his origins.

Not much else happens on this day, but we know that on the following day, Crown is holding another rally. Not to be kept down by the assassination attempt days earlier, or by the assault on the police department, Gordon is taking advantage of the outrage against Intergang and criminal activities to whip Metropolis into a frenzy. With his pieces in place, and with almost no one knowing that he's even a player on the board, Crown is planning on using Corben to make his anti-crime stance even stronger, sow chaos in the populace of Metropolis and beyond, and hopefully kill Superman and destroy the city's building symbol of hope. And if Corben gets out of control? Easy; Crown has a kill switch. Crown looks poised to win here, if Corben does his job.

However...I said almost no one knows about Gordon's influence.

Lex Luthor. Of course, Lex Luthor.

His name has been dropped throughout the course of this movie, and while he isn't the main antagonist or anything beyond an extended cameo, he's still a presence within Metropolis up to this point. However, we haven't seen him, just heard him. But now, we visit in on Crown looking over Metropolis through another window, after looking at multiple news reports about the recent events and his upcoming rally. As evening comes, Crown gets a visit from Lex Luthor, and we see the two clearly have prior association.

Lex has at least some awareness of Crown's connections to Manheim, and it certainly seems up to this point that the major connection Crown has is Lex. It would stand to reason that Lex would somehow be able to get his hands on Kryptonite and give it to Crown. But that notion is quickly shaken, when Crown offers Luthor a small piece of Kryptonite, apparently as payment for providing the Toastmaster blueprints to him. Luthor, knowing that ramping up crime in Metropolis will also prompt the police to buy into his technology for the Special Forces Unit, is more than happy to help. Crown will publicly present Luthor as a major help to the city and the police, giving Luthor business and clout in the city.

And, of course, this is yet another set up for the future beyond this film. But more on that later, of course.

Before the night ends, we go back to Intergang and the White Rabbits. With Manheim out and Corben apparently out of commission, Frank Sixty is planning on taking over as head of the organization. However, Angora Lapin seeks a merger between the two gangs, and offers to lead it herself. A meeting between the groups is quickly building to violence. But right in the middle of this debacle walks Corben, seemingly completely fine at this point. He's taking over all of them, by force if necessary. Lapin's not a fan of this, and one of her men points Toastmasters at him. Corben, proving a point, happily offers to take the hit. He does, and the fake skin covering his new robotic form partially blows away from his shoulder, revealing the unharmed robotic body underneath. With eyes glowing green, he tells Intergang and the Rabbits what the new plan is.

The next day comes. And by the way, a professional writer should be able to fill in a lot of the blank time, maybe even add to it, but as I've said before...not a professional writer. I'm just word vomiting what I'd like to see in a Superman movie that was meant to be the first part of a larger franchise. So, yeah, the next day comes. Crown holds a rally that morning, and more people than before have shown up here. Bibbo, a number of Daily Planet staff (especially Ron Troupe, who's wearing a Crown button at this point), and a number of others are visiting the rally, including Clark, Lois, and Jimmy. As it begins, Crown sends a silent signal out to Corben, as well as the Intergang men now working for him.

Time for the climax.

An explosion. Something is going on in the city, and the rally comes to a pause. Crown attempts to keep going, but the sounds of explosions become closer and more frequent. Clark, of course, was gone at the first explosion, trying to find the chaos. In the most populated portion of New Troy, Intergang is going after the police department once again. This is also happening in the other districts of Metropolis, creating a multi-pronged attack on the police and citizens in order to weaken the city.

At this point, you may have noticed that Intergang's goals have fully changed. In the beginning of the movie, under Manheim's control, we get the idea that they're hungry for money and power. But now, their goal appears to be chaos. That'll be a problem for some members of the group, namely the Rabbits. Intergang, on the other hand, will now have their motivations fully altered while under the control of Gordon Crown and his thrall, Corben. And the best way to spread chaos in Metropolis is to hit the cops. That'll also get the attention of Superman, which is the real purpose of this fight. And so, as expected, Superman shows up.

Now, here's the real struggle. Clark can't get close to these guys with their Kryptonite-powered weapons, and he's obviously extremely surprised to see Corben, seemingly unprotected by an armor and just out in the open. Taking out the guys with the guns is pretty easy, though. Heat vision and super speed makes it pretty easy to disarm Corben's crew. Should give us a neat action scene, though, with Clark figuring out how to take these guys out. At this point, by the way, we should get the idea that Clark hasn't been in many challenging fights as Superman at this point. But something about Superman in the comics that everybody seems to forget is his creativity.

In basically every movie, except maybe the Reeves/Routh films, Superman's solution for fighting criminals is to punch. And then, if that fails, there's always punching. No? OK, third option, hear me out: punching. Especially in recent days, that's Clark's only solution to problems, along with some heat-vision. While this situation definitely requires attacks at range, it at least provides a set-up for an interesting combat set-up. A talented director and action choreographer should be able to do wonders with this.

After a minor struggle, though, that leaves just Corben. Appearing disarmed, it'd be somewhat easy to catch Clark off-guard. If he's smart, though, Clark would X-ray him and realize that something was very wrong. Yes, in this universe, the metal that Corben is now made of is similar to lead, and X-ray proof. It's Apokoliptian, after all, and should be able to block all radiation, as well as electromagnetic rays like X-rays. Makes sense that Clark wouldn't be able to see through it, which will give him a MAJOR disadvantage when going up against Apokoliptian forces later in this cinematic universe.

Realizing the danger here, Clark and Corben would have a conversation of sorts, possibly talking about how Corben was up and walking, maybe with Clark bringing in information he'd uncovered about Corben's past and career. Corben, for his part, would probably say something about collateral damage, the wrecked city around them, and his disdain for so-called heroes that would place themselves on a higher pedestal than himself. Because here's the thing about villains. Sometimes, yes, they have a grand goal and ambition, fueled by a past of torture and regret. Sometimes, their path towards evil is a multifaceted network of sociopolitical influence and abusive pasts. Sometimes, a villain is sympathetic, with their actions proving to be morally divisive to an audience, and reflective of their own experiences in a way that makes us question our very natures.

But some people...some people are just assholes.

After it's made abundantly clear that Corben can and will harm innocents, as well as the fact that he's been somehow enhanced, Clark realizes that he has to take Corben out quickly. Fight starts here, and Superman tries to move Corben away from the populated city center. And at first, Corben's pretty clearly routed. As this portion of the fight takes place, with Clark attempting to move Corben, two things happen. One, it's made abundantly clear that Corben is extremely strong, not only throwing cars (and maybe people) at Superman, but also very much able to take a punch from him.

Two, people are watching. The Daily Planet in particular gets on this, and Lois and Jimmy meet up to try and get pictures of Superman. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Martha are watching, worried about their son, but still believing that he'll succeed against him. And yes, this really should feel like Superman vs. Doomsday. It's an inexperienced Superman going up against a massive threat that can match him for power, and possesses a major weakness of his. And as a note...nobody except for Corben and Crown even knows about that last thing yet. We know that Superman will live, sure, and that he'll win this fight. But we're not going to make it easy, and it WILL NOT be free of consequences. And at this point...a brief intermission.

Intermission: Final Fights

Real quick point to be made about a final fight for Superman prior to this: it's not very easy, and they've varied wildly over time. In the first 1978 film, there wasn't even a fight at the end. Instead, Superman reversed fucking time to save Lois Lane and thwart Lex Luthor's real estate villainy (for these were simpler times). In the second film, however, we got Superman vs. Zod, Ursa, and Non, three Kryptonian criminals that had escaped the Phantom Zone. And most of that fight was a pile of Kryptonian crystal tech bullshit, with holograms, laser, power-removing technology, and an inexplicable giant cellophane S. A very different kind of fight, is what I'm saying.

Superman III had Clark fighting...an evil clone of himself (don't ask), then an evil self-aware supercomputer, which he basically just throws acid on. It's...it's not a great movie. But Superman IV, which is most certainly the worst Superman film ever made (yes, including Man of Steel and BvS), ends with a battle on the Moon against Nuclear Man, a Luthor-made clone of Superman, ironically giving us the most action movie-esque ending fight of all four of these films. I mean, it's a really, REALLY bad fight, but it definitely feels the most like a modern superhero movie fight. Superman even causes a FUCKING LUNAR ECLIPSE to defeat him, which is the biggest Silver Age bullshit in any of these movies, save the whole reversing time thing.

Superman Returns ends on a fucking Kryptonite island, and Superman somehow, FUCKING SOMEHOW, manages to push the entire island into space, despite the fact that it's made of FUCKING KRYPTONITE. And yeah, I know, some of it is normal rock, but COME ON. No way he should be OK enough to do that, even in the universe of the movie. Anyway, the closest we get to a final fight there is Lex Luthor vs. a weakened Superman, and it's cinematic...but not really in a satisfying way for a Superman-centric film.

And then, silence for a while, save for animated films, until we get to the infamous Man of Steel fight against Zod. I've already talked about this in previous entries, but that fight destroys Superman's character almost completely, essentially making him party to destroying an entire fucking city because he didn't even ATTEMPT to move the fight. It's a big fight and set piece, and one of the more iconic fights in recent superhero film memory as a result, but it's also a boring, washed-out slugfest with serious unintended implications for Clark as a character, and serious consequences.

But that said...part of that is actually a good idea.

Yeah, after bitching and moaning about this movie for years, and throughout this essay series, I actually have something positive to say about this scene. Other than having some very good choreography when it comes to Zod's fighting in many ways, as well as a clear progression of ability and threat throughout, it's also got a great general idea within it. It's a fight meant to teach Clark a lesson, and meant to formulate his ideals going forward. The idea is that it teaches Clark that it's bad to murder your enemies (even though he technically did it AGAIN in the next film), and it's a fight that poses a pretty big threat to Superman. Plus, it's a fight with consequences that reach beyond this movie. And yeah, it's a set of good ideas. However, the execution is SHIT. It's just not good.

Still, though, it ain't as bad as BvS!

This fucking fight. From a narrative standpoint, this stupid-ass fight is COMPLETELY. FUCKING. USELESS. First of all, fuck you for "killing" Superman in his SECOND APPEARANCE in this universe. Second of all, yeah, the Trinity is in it, and that's neat (I guess), but it's clearly only there to establish some stupid fucking plan to beat Marvel at its own game, which failed specfuckingtacularly. And third of all, we know Superman's gonna live. And more importantly, WE ALSO KNOW HE'S GOING TO DIE, AND THEN LIVE. The second Doomsday is introduced as a villain in a franchise, he comes with the pre-established storyline of Superman dying, and then coming back to life. Was this really meant to be a fucking surprise, Snyder? WE KNOW YOU'RE MAKING A JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE! OBVIOUSLY HE'S COMING FUCKING BACK!!!! AND YOU ALREADY BLEW DOOMSDAY IN THE SECOND FUCKING MOVIE GAAAAAHHHHHH

Yeah, fuck this movie. Plus, the action scene itself, while the music is pretty good, is super washed-out and not particularly fun to watch. Hell, the titular Batman vs. Superman fight is better than this, even though it's still real fucking stupid. This final fight has its moments, sure, but I don't care about fucking anything happening during the fight. Granted, that's also because the entire goddamn movie is a burning shit-covered tire fire, but that's a rant for another post.

So, in summary, the fight in this theoretical film should be dynamic and visually interesting, while also having a narrative purpose for Clark's personal storyline, and for the cinematic universe at large. Plus, while it won't kill Superman, it should at least make things interesting by posing a threat for someone else. And, oh...I have some ideas for that WITHOUT destroying Metropolis. Well...not all of Metropolis, anyway...

Back to Fight Night

OK, now that that's done, the fight in this theoretical film resumes. Corben and Superman fight, and in the process, there's a good number of collateral damage as a result. All throughout, Superman saves civilians from damage, but is also unable to save some people that Corben gets to first. As the fight escalates, Corben realizes Superman's effort to rescue people. And, either because he wants Superman to focus on him and him alone, or because he realizes that civilians are the way to destroy Superman by proxy, Corben just makes the damage worse and worse, possibly even damaging the Daily Planet building in the process.

As an example of this, one of the targets that Corben uses against Superman is an old toy shop, called Schott's Shop, and looking less than good in the modern day. This shop is absolutely getting destroyed during this fight, and that's going to have some major implications for the next film. This is also the place where, amongst the toys and wreckage, Superman finally manages to damage Corben with a punch. In the process, Corben loses some of his skin, and we FINALLY see the robot underneath. We'll also say that, this whole time, he's been using a wrist-mounted Kryptonite blaster that Superman's been avoiding, and that this finally gets damaged and left behind in the shop during the fight. That'll also have future implications down the line.

Anyway, we finally get a view of Corben's inner workings, and so does the public. Throughout the chaos, cops show up and get bodied by Corben, who's trying to cause as much chaos as possible at this point. Also at the scene is Lois and Jimmy, reporting on the scene and getting pictures of Corben. They see the writing "Metal-0, now exposed on his metal body, and the name-happy Lois finally coins him with his future name: Metallo. And they also speculate whether or not Clark can beat this guy. At this point in the fight, Clark has the edge. And that's the point when finally, FINALLY, the Kryptonite gets exposed.

Now, remember, at this point, nobody knows about Kryptonite's effect, save for a select few. More importantly, though, nobody knows that Metallo has the Kryptonite heart, including Clark. So, once Corben seems beaten, he exposes the most vulnerable part of him, the Kryptonite heart. And yes, I said weakest part of him. If this thing gets destroyed, Metallo's fucked. So, in order to compensate for that, a couple of things are going to have to change.

First things first: at this point, all pretenses are off. Corben's gotta protect his power source, meaning that the fight HAS to end, and soon. So, to do that, his body changes into a much more aggressive form, and we finally get to see the full capability of this robotic body. At this point, it would make sense to lose the skin, showing us the difference between these two. Chrome vs. color, metal vs. flesh.

Of course, this is also a huge problem for Clark, because he now has to defeat Metallo, whose heart contains his newly-discovered greatest weakness, and prevent him from hurting any other civilians. And yes, Superman is going to live through this fight, and he will probably defeat Metallo. But here's the question for the audiences at this point: how in the Hell is he gonna win? Yeah, he's Superman, but this is an actual threat to him. It's a defeat that'll require some creativity on his part, because punching it hasn't really done the trick, and we quickly determine that heat vision is blocked by Metallo's metal body. So, yeah, what the fuck is the plan here, chief?

Originally, y'know, I was going to give Clark a lead-lined suit. It's been done in the comics and animated series against Metallo, but there's no way he would have the time to figure that out, or miraculously procure it from somewhere. For that matter, in the comics or animated series, Superman sans suit defeats Metallo by covering the heart with lead, trapping him underwater, finding a way to destroy the heart itself, etc. So, it's a winnable fight, but it's up to Clark to figure that out himself. However, at this moment, he's weakened from the exposed Kryptonite, and not very able to fight back. A distraction would be fantastic right about now.

And just as Metallo is standing over the body of a suffering Superman, ready to take him out of this world permanently...

...he gets hit over the head by a rusty old pipe.

Obviously, this pipe does nothing to Metallo, because it's literally just a normal pipe. But at the other end of the pipe is one Bibbo Bibbowski. Yup, we're coming full circle with Mr. Bibbowski, going from heavily disliking Superman to defending him. Corben, being a sadistic ass, briefly turns away from Clark, stupidly, which gives him just enough time to super-speed away. After a brief confrontation between Bibbo and Corben, the latter turns around to see a blinking outline where a Superman used to be.

At first, Bibbo starts to doubt whether or not Superman actually took off, as does anyone watching. But instead, a blur comes from seemingly nowhere, striking Corben from behind. Then another. The another and another and another, knocking Corben off balance each time. Finally, the pipe that Bibbo used disappears in one of these hits. And from there comes the final strike of this stage of the fight: a heated lead pipe, right to the Kryptonite chest.

Fun fact: lots of buildings in major cities still run on lead plumbing. So now, it doesn't matter if Corben opens or closes that chamber, because the Kryptonite is contained within a lead chamber for the time being. However, both parties now wield new tricks. Corben uses the pipe to focus a Kryptonite blast against Superman. But this, thankfully, is easier for Superman to dodge. Without the threat of Kryptonite, Superman now puts his full effort into taking Corben apart. Using his super speed to catch him off-guard, and debris scattered around from the fight, Superman manages to pin Metallo down, disabling him and finally defeating him. Either that, or he melts the pipe with heat vision, making it pliable, then punches THROUGH the lead with his fist and destroying the heart. Ooh, damn I like that one, let's do that.

So now, Corben's down and defeated. But as Clark is planning on questioning Metallo and taking him to justice, we quickly cut to a hand and a button. A tick is heard, as the chamber around the heart readies to detonate, using a similar remote device that we saw operating the sniper rifle earlier. Corben tries to cry out for help, as well as readying to name Crown as his benefactor. But as the name nearly comes to his lips, a failsafe prevents him from saying it, and Corben's Kryptonite heart explodes, creating a poisonous vapor meant to kill Superman as a last resort. But thankfully, he dodges this explosion, maybe saving a nearby Lois in the process. And all that's left behind is a seemingly dead husk that was Metallo.

And with that, the fight is over, and we descend into the ending of the movie. In the fallout of the fight, a news report comes out from the Daily Planet on the fight, as written by Lois Lane with pictures by Jimmy Olsen. This is accompanied by more narration from Lois, speaking of the public appreciation and backlash aimed at the Man of Steel after this fight. In the former column, we see someone selling Superman shirts, one of which is worn by Bibbo Bibbowski, who's reading the paper and telling his patrons about how he saved Superman's life (which isn't actually untrue). Clark also reunites with his parents, and we see a well Jonathan Kent, still with pills after his brush with death. It won't be the first time.

But in the latter column, we see a rally of Gordon Crown's, which is the biggest we've seen yet, as he criticizes Superman and the damage he's done to the city in his so-called heroic fight. Ron Troupe is seen reading this, and tangentially agreeing with this standpoint. Yeah, I'm making Troupe a bit of a heel in this franchise, but he will be redeemed eventually as well. In any case, he's reporting on Troupe's approval rating increase after the Superman fight, which was part of Crown's plan all along. We also see other detractors of Superman in the wake of this, such as Leslie Willis' radio show, the Live Wire; the destroyed toy shop of one Winslow Schott, which we saw earlier; and even examination of Metallo's body in Infinity Labs, which is also observed by a janitor wearing a nametag and badge that says "Jones". And going from there, we finally see the last of these detractors.

That night, Lex Luthor is in his office, once again. Almost out nowhere, Gordon Crown shows up, without any warning. Luthor congratulates him on the polls, and Gordon thanks him in turn for his assistance in recent endeavors. In return, he gives Luthor a gift: a large hunk of Kryptonite, about the size of Metallo's heart, if not a bit bigger. Luthor asks what he's supposed to do with this, and Crown hints at a secret project of Luthor's that it may be useful for. But as Luthor thinks about this, Crown just...disappears. Batman-style.

Luthor takes the rock, then heads downstairs, calling for Mercy on the way. They head to his laboratory facilities...Infinity Labs. A subsidiary of LexCorp the entire time, we now realize that Lex has a massive hold on the city in multiple ways, using his clout to get an in with the police using his own laboratory facilities. And this also means something else. As he heads downstairs, Luthor looks at the labs' latest acquisition: the body of Metallo. Looking at the empty space where the heart once was, he starts thinking. And honestly...you don't want Lex Luthor thinking if you can help it. He also looks over a file on his phone or a nearby computer, labeled Infinity, Inc. It's fairly clear at this point that Luthor has intricate plans for the Kryptonite...and for Superman. But that, of course, is a plan for the next film, as I've previously discussed.

And as Lois' speech concludes, we look at the last person to be affected by it: Clark himself. He's learned a lot in this movie. He's gotten another piece of his origin story, and while his status as an alien isn't a secret in the public eye, it was a bit of a secret from himself until this movie. Those revelations, along with the article and his changing status and reputation in Metropolis, give him some pause. He flies over the city that night, staring once again at the stars.

With the conclusion of the monologue, we cut to the next week, with Lois writing a new article. There's still the question of Manheim, who's been incarcerated after the event at the hospital, and Lois is writing a report on this. Clark comes in and talks to her, congratulating her on the article, which is rumored to qualify her for a Pultizer Prize for Journalism nomination. Hey, she's gotta get that prize somehow, right? Anyway, the two engage in some small talk, as well as bring up some unanswered questions, and wonder about the future of the city and Superman. As they're having this discussion, though, an explosion occurs in the distance. Lois looks out, and Clark disappears as per usual. She whispers "Go get them, Clark" to herself, then grabs Jimmy to get more details on the story for herself. Clark takes off, and we get that classic Superman shot of him rolling up to the scene of the crime. And just as we're beginning to discuss the future, we see...a giant robotic crab coming out of a bank.

For the record, this is both a reference to one of the Intergang characters we saw earlier (who, in the comics, is known for building a giant robot lobster), as well as to Kevin Smith's Superman film, which was supposed to have Toyman use a giant robot spider. And I considered using Toyman for this one...but I think we've had enough references for one movie, and I don't wanna pull a The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Rhino, if you get my drift. No, instead, this might be a follow-up on a line said by Frank Sixty earlier, and we get to see Superman quickly defeat this mechanical crab, and the film ends...mostly.

Because, hey...this is a superhero movie. And we got a tradition to uphold here.

Epilogue: A New God

Yup, it's a post-credits scene! Or, at least, a mid-credits scene. And a fairly grizzly one. We cut to Bruno Manheim, who's actually in the hospital after the explosion. Catatonic for some reason, as is told to us by Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin, he seems trapped in his own body, staring out of the window on the side of the room. And directly in his eyeline, we see a figure shrouded in shadow, floating in the night sky. And we pan outside to see...Gordon Crown.

Crown is floating above the city, standing on two flying platforms and seemingly cloaked from the sight of others. As Superman rushes by to fight the giant lobster from earlier, Crown looks on with a smirk, then brings up a floating device, which transports him into a golden hallway, resplendent with mirrored surfaces and screens aglow with news reports on Earth. The technology is clearly alien, and we can see various scenes and icons on the screens around him as he walks to the end of the hall.

One screen shows an alien device retrieving Kryptonite from the site of Krypton's destruction, complete with reading that aren't understandable by human metrics. Another screen shows footage of strife and war on Earth, with recent footage from the Superman-Metallo fight featuring prominently. Yet another screen shows equations and readings super-imposed upon the Source Wall. As Gordon walks down the hallway, his appearance changes significantly. His presented image fades away, as his hair and eyes become a metallic gold, his skin becomes a pale silver color, and his outfit becomes more alien and majestic.

As he reaches the end of the hallway, he touches a mirror, which pulses with a golden energy pulse and opens into a larger screen, showing a dark world of stone, fire, and machinery. A pale, purple-robed figure appears in the doorway, and asks for a report. Now introducing himself as "Glorious", he responds that his works have been successful thus far, and thanks the figure for his faith in him. The purple robed figure replies that he is not the one to thank, and steps aside to reveal none other than the lord of Apokolips, the New God of evil and darkness, and the wielder of the Omega Force itself... Darkseid.

Glorious immediately bows (obviously), and tells Darkseid that readings indicate that Earth and its strife may be the way towards the Anti-Life Equation. Desaad, the purple-robed figure, scoffs at this suggestion, but Darkseid looks at the screens and data himself. He stands up, causing Desaad to bow his head, and looks down at Glorious from above. He simply nods, and tells him to continue his work, and not to fail him. Glorious exuberantly agrees, and the contact is ended. Glorious walks back out of the hall, and looks down at Metropolis and a screen showing the newspaper. He smiles, and says that this is only the beginning.

Roll credits. And see you in the last essay.

Index: Superman

Part I: Why I Love Superman

Part II: On Lois Lane

Part III: The Kents

Part IV: The 'Rents

Part V: The...Frendts?

Part VI: Lex Luthor

Part VII: The Real Villains

Part VIII: Superman's Rogues Gallery

Part IX: The Story - Act One

Part X: The Story (Acts Two and Three)

Part XI: The Story - Climax

Part XII: Epilogue (Part One)

Part XIII: Epilogue (Part Two)

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lonelywretchjervistetch · 2 years

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My DC Cinematic Universe: Superman (Part X)

Chapter X: Action Rising to Crisis

Well, here we go, part two of this story. By the way, I'm using a four-act structure to put this baby together. So, first act was the set-up. Lays the foundations for the events yet to come, and sets our main characters on their journeys throughout the film. So, what are those journeys? Well, quick recap for the previous part of this essay series, which you can read here if you wanna.

Superman is part of a war between Metropolis and gangs with increasingly better technology, and seeks to stop them,

Clark Kent wants to learn more about his own past, while balancing his job at the Daily Planet, his interpersonal relationships, and gathering information on Intergang using his own means. And yes, I'm treating Superman and Clark as different people.

Lois Lane wants to do her job and help stop Intergang, but also wants to better understand Clark and Superman, who she secretly knows are one and the same.

Bruno Manheim wants money, and to take out Superman to clear the pathway to crime supremacy in Metropolis.

Gordon Crown...is a mystery to the audience at this point. It seemed that he wanted to take out crime and limit vigilante justice, but he's also clearly working with Intergang directly, so his motives are not well-understood at this point.

The Kents are coming to visit Clark in Metropolis; Jimmy Olsen wants a hot dog, as he always does in this continuity; and Bibbo Bibbowski wants Superman to be taken down a peg...for now.

And that's a summary of character goals and story threads that've been introduced. Which, yeah, isn't an insignificant amount, and doesn't even cover all of the characters present. But, to be fair, this is a big world that Clark lives in, and that's kind of the point. SO, without further ado, let's get to the second act in the four-act structure: the rising action.

Clark goes to work in the office after a night of contemplation and confusion. He's definitely a little distracted, but he's looking into the assassination attempt, as well as the technology found with the gun found there. Lois sort of gets on him playfully for horning in on her beat, but she does provide Clark with the information that the gun was brought to Infinity Labs for analysis. The lab works with the new Special Forces division at the MPD to develop new tools and analyze the burgeoning field of crazy weaponry that's come up lately.

Curious, Clark decides to check out this new weaponry, and we cut to him showing up at Infinity Labs as Superman, wanting to look into the weapon. Turns out that he's been here before, and takes advantage of a personal connection of his that works there: Emil Hamilton. Haven't gotten into Emil Hamilton yet, but he's another major supporting character of Superman, especially in the '90s comics and animated series. He's broken bad in both media, but his role in the realm of Superman is fairly unpredictable. But here, we're introducing him as a friend. Although, normally, Hamilton works at S.T.A.R. Labs, but that's neither here nor there in this universe.

Superman comes to Dr. Hamilton, who's kind of scatterbrained in general, but still happy to see him. A somewhat eccentric inventor, Hamilton only just recently began working for Infinity, and he's able to use his position to let Superman into the facility. The two have talked previously (when Hamilton was a professor at Metropolis University), when Superman brought him a relic of his ancient past: a crystal that came with him to Earth, the analysis of which yielded few actionable results. But still, in the instance that new technology or science does come up, Hamilton has helped Superman before.

Infinity also has a growing contract with the MPD, souping up their tools and supplying their Special Forces with new means to defend the city. After showing off a few new toys he's developed (including a force shield for police use), he shows Superman the gun controlling device, as well as one of the Toastmasters. The latter is basically just a souped up gun, which resembles a design for an energy cannon proposed by an old student of his, John Henry Irons. But outside of being essentially a dangerous weapon, it's not particularly innovative. Hamilton's been using it to test his shield, and as he fires the weapon at it, the shield expands into a golden kite shield. And yes, that is a reference to the Golden Age superhero Guardian; good looking out.

Anyway, the Toastmaster isn't anyway particularly special compared to the gun-control. While the base concept isn't anything special either, the circuitry and material is surprisingly advanced, with a metal alloy that Hamilton's machines are having difficulty identifying. The power source actually appears to be the alloy itself, although Hamilton has no idea how that's even possible. It's a mystery to him, and he geeks out a little over the impossibility of it all.

Superman's also interested, and notes that Hamilton had a similar problem with his crystal. But on that front, Hamilton actually has some news for him. His original analyses of the crystal were redone using company-provided software and equipment, and Hamilton now believes that the crystal serves as an information network, with each bond and connection being positioned in such a way that it can be read by the right technology. But what that technology is, he has no idea. He also postulates that the technology may be within the crystal itself, but needs a trigger in order to activate.

What's more, is that he performed astronomical spectroscopy using an advanced telescope that Infinity has access through via the company's owner. In examining the skies, he found an area with a VERY similar signature to the crystal. However, in reviewing previous analyses of this sector, that area is about 26 light years away, and the signature didn't appear until just recently. Additionally, while telescopes are able to detect starlight from this area, the spectroscopic analysis is more akin to that of an asteroid belt, or potentially even planetary debris, which could coincide with a burst of light from this sector recorded about 2 years ago. Again, though, it's all theory from Emil. And unbeknownst to him, this signature is evidence of radioactive crystal that was once the planet Krypton. After that bit of exposition, though, Superman thanks Emil and heads out. He has a lot to think about.

One of those things, of course, is the arrival of his parents, which is set to happen that afternoon. Clark goes to prepare for this, maybe stopping a crime or two on the way there, just so we get some Superman-saving-people action. It's something we really need in order to show a relationship between Superman and Metropolis as a whole. This is also a good place to catch up with Lois a bit.

See, Lois is obviously doing her own research, looking into who could've put the hit on Crown, who's a mostly likeable person. Getting access to security footage from a nearby building (thanks to a connection in the MPD), she and Jimmy are watching a computer, where they see the face of Bruno Manheim, who leaves the crowd just before the shooting takes place. There's no actual evidence to tie him to the event, but it's still suspicious, obviously. This finally tells us a little information about Manheim and who he is, as well as the thought-extinct Intergang, a technologically-adept group whose crimes range from burglary to terrorism. Intergang, in this universe, is a complicated group, and will be a present threat in Metropolis throughout the franchise. Hey, it's a big city, you gotta have crime.

And hey, why not check in on our villains as well? This is how this movie is gonna go; we hop between our players and plots, until they all come together in one solid burst, as the action rises to a head. Bruno is in his office, when he gets a package from an anonymous courier, which is brought in by John Corben. The package is fairly small, and comes with a note. We don't see the note, but we do find out that the package is from Crown, delivering on a promise from the previous night. Along with the Toastmasters, this could give Intergang the advantage over Superman...if it works. Bruno opens the small box, and like the suitcase in Pulp Fiction, we see a glow. But this glow, of course, is acid green.

But Bruno...eh. He doesn't really believe a rock is gonna do anything. Still, why waste the opportunity to go on a test run. He looks at Corben and notes that the pieces are in place, and they might as well pull off a plan to try and take out Superman, maybe even use the rock in the process. He tells Corben to call the Rabbits, and that they're meeting at Frank's place that night.

Another day is coming to a close, and we're gonna be able to track time day-by-day in this movie. So, on this day, the Kents arrive in Metropolis after a long drive that started early in the morning. We meet the Kents in person, finally, and they share some pleasant conversation as they catch up on family stuff. We hear a bit from them about Pete Ross (who's trying to break into Kansas politics and the senate at this point), some local people back home, and Lana Lang, who's still in Smallville. Lots of reminiscing, a little backstory here and there, basically just trying to flesh out Clark's life as...well, Clark.

Knock at the door. It's Lois, showing up to talk to Clark after a day of overwork and analysis into Manheim and Intergang. However, her excitement over this is interrupted by the presence of Clark's parents. Now faced with information about Clark's personal life and past, of which she has precious little, she immediately launches into information-gathering mode, which the Kents are happy to indulge in. Remember, Lois in this continuity knows that Clark is Superman, but doesn't have all the pieces that connect the two identities. So, any information she can get, she'll jump right on it.

Back to Manheim and Corben. Together with Angora Lapin, they meet at a warehouse in Hob's Bay. where all the criminals hang out in every stereotypical piece of fiction. You know, that one. Anyway, this is where engineer Frank Sixty has his workshop, and where Intergang plans many of its operations. He's been working with the Toastmasters, and attaching them to a battlesuit he's been developing. He credits Manheim's connections (namely, Gordon Crown) for supplying some of the raw materials to make it, as he feels that this suit is some of his finest work. To us, the suit looks like a pretty stereotypical battlesuit, but one that would be pretty goddamn threatening to most people. It also has vague visual similarities to Parademons...but that's a different story.

Manheim tells Sixty that the plan to hit the New Troy branch of the MPD is going to go off as planned. Sixty's been waiting to the chance to test the suit, so he's excited. He's also just recently incorporated the Toastmaster design into the suit, giving it a massive wrist-mounted energy cannon on one arm. However, Manheim asks him to incorporate Crown's gift into the Toastmaster, and we finally see Kryptonite in this universe. Nothing too crazy, but it does raise a question: where in the hell did Crown get Kryptonite? That question will be answered, but it's a hell of a mystery from this point. With this as a final ingredient, Sixty gets to work in incorporating the device, and Intergang sets out on their plan to hit the PD.

OK, from there, let's go back to the apartment. After Lois' visit, she realizes that she needs to get home, or back to work. Either one is a possibility with her. Clark sees her out, and they have a brief heart-to-heart. It's clear that this conversation did fill in some blanks about Clark Kent as a human being, and she sees him in a different light. You can also see that the chemistry between the two is building, and we as an audience should now want to see them get together. Because, let's be honest: we all expect these two to get together, but do we ever really want it? I don't know about you, but I wasn't even a little invested in Amy Adams and Henry Cavill in Man of Steel. I actually want people to want them to get together.

But yeah, the two part ways, and Clark goes back to the apartment to talk to his folks. Jonathan's probably fallen asleep while watching the Meteors game, but Martha's still awake. Clark and Martha talk, preferably on the balcony of the apartment, looking over the city and into the sky. Also, there's absolutely a telescope mounted on the balcony, as Clark would be an amateur astronomer for understandable reasons.

Clark tells Martha that he learned something about his home world today. She's interested, obviously, and the two strike up a conversation about Clark's complicated feelings towards home and his personal history, maybe even talking about his dreams. Martha, as Martha should do, gives him a comforting mother-son talk, which a now-awake Jonathan backs up shortly afterwards. They gather on the balcony and look out to the stars, with Clark trying to find the sector where his home world is...or was.

The next morning, Clark and his folks go to have breakfast at a local diner. It's Clark's day off, so they're out on the town in New Troy. This is also the part of Metropolis where the Daily Planet headquarters are, and both Lois and Jimmy are at work preparing the story on Intergang. And on the streets below, the Metropolis PD is active and about, as always. And finally, worlds are about to collide, as Intergang arrives to do their job, and all major players are in one small area. Time for the second act.

Intergang comes in, with each member wearing an armored suit and armed with modified Toastmasters. They roll up in an armored truck, and the main soldiers lay siege on the PD, catching the cops outside by surprise. As the police spill out, a green energy blast comes from the back of the truck, destroying the front of the building and immediately causing major damage. We see the Metal-Zero armored suit in full, composed of the same strange alloy that the gun control was made of, and covered in glowing green lines, as it draws energy from the metal and discharges it through the Kryptonite light cannon in the wrist. However, it needs time to charge, absorbing any kinetic or thermal energy put into it, and discharging it through the cannon. Yeah. This thing is scary. It absorbs bullets from the cops, and Corben charges in to destroy the building.

Sawyer and Turpin mobilize the forces against the assailants, while everyone else reacts in turn. Lois and Jimmy realize they have to get down there, while Perry White and the rest of the Planet watch on and mobilize to prepare to run the story. Bibbo, also in New Troy for business, turns off the Live Wire podcast as he looks at the news, where reports are starting to break. Bruno is listening to intel over an intercom, as is Angora Lapin. Gordon Crown watches from a window above, observing the chaos.

And then, of course, there's Clark and his folks. He hears it before anyone else detects it, and he quickly tells his folks that he'll be back. They obviously understand, and get to safety as instructed. However...they may not stay out of danger for long.

Corben continues to wreak havoc, blasting the Kryptonite laser again and depleting its energy. But it's at this point, as he's about to grab Sawyer with the robotic hands, that Superman intervenes, throwing Corben and the suit upwards while he takes care of the other members of Intergang with the backup of the Metropolis PD. And we should get some good action here. This should be a scene where fans of Superman are cheering, where we see some solid fight choreography, and where Superman is winning, even with the Toastmasters in play. This should be a good showcase of Superman at his basic strength, fighting multiple people at once, and scaling up the conflict we saw in the opening act.

But after this scene, Corben is still in the air. The suit itself could have boosters, allowing him to slow his descent. However, Superman should intervene to catch him in mid-air, as would have been his plan in the first place, only to be hit by the regular Toastmaster blast from the cannon in the suit. Again, this should be a neat fight, in mid-air between the two combatants. And it should be somewhat challenging for Superman, as the regular blast cannon is a souped-up Toastmaster, while the metal of the suit absorbs any energy Superman puts into it, including his heat vision and punches. And once it takes an impact from Superman...the cannon is charged.

So, Corben blasts Superman with the cannon, and it HURTS. Like, We see a green flash, then black out and come back to Superman falling through the sky, still waking up. Corben comes after him as he begins to recover, but it was clearly not a good blast for Clark to take. Because it was an energy blast instead of solid Kryptonite, he recovers fairly quickly, just in time to see Corben in the suit attack him further. But, Superman wakes up just enough to slow himself down, and he escapes Corben's attacks and hitting the ground.

Corben, frustrated (and having been enjoying this fight a little too much), tries to hit Superman against with the blast, but a wary Clark is staying away from hitting him at this point, trying to figure out what just happened. So, Corben enacts a back-up plan, which he would've been warned against doing. Remember before, when I said the metal used in the remote seemed to generate its own energy? Well, Frank Sixty figured out a way to jury-rig the metal itself to supply stored energy into the cannon. But doing so would make the cannon and suit unstable, risking Corben's life. But Corben doesn't care: he wants to take Superman out permanently.

So, at this point, I haven't talked much about Corben, and there's a reason for that. Corben hasn't really been a major part of the story at this point, but he'll now be allowed to step into the forefront. A former mercenary, he has a major chip on his shoulder when it comes to vigilantes and self-styled heroes. He's actually a pretty big fan of Gordon Crown, and we should see some hints of this when the two interact previously in the film. In fact, Corben technically doesn't work for Intergang; he actually works for Crown, and has been under his sway for a while. We'll find out more about this later. For now, Corben's been gunning for Superman, and taking him out will make his career.

So, Corben activates the device, overclocking the armor and supercharging the cannon. As this happens, the two get closer to the ground, and Corben hits Superman with a Toastmaster blast, pushing him away. Why? So that he can purposely hit the ground. Corben crashes into the street, causing some major damage to the roads, and danger to civilians. When Superman, now oddly a bit weakened, regains his composure, he zooms in to save civilians in danger from the impact. One of these civilians is Bibbo Bibbowski, who notices the fact that Superman is endangering himself to save a civilian like himself. Meanwhile, Corben gets up, the suit humming with intense energy. The impact to the ground, combined with overclocking the suit, has caused a dangerous overload of energy. And as Superman is getting people out of the way, and everybody on the ground (including his parents) are watching...Corben points the cannon, a green energy pulse is created, and...

Yeah, the suit just fucking explodes. A shard of the Kryptonite survives the explosion, travelling at a high velocity and embedding itself into Superman's chest. Very bad. Other people are injured, but no lives are lost, thanks to Superman. And yes, that includes Corben himself. As the fog of war fades, we see Corben in the remains of the suit, Anakin-style injured and in pain, but still barely alive. But Superman is not doing great, with a shard in his chest and partially trapped beneath rubble.

Jonathan and Martha watch this, and Jonathan runs out to drag Clark out of the rubble when it's clear he can't do so himself. Lois, having rushed down at this point, comes in to help, and locks eyes with Jonathan in the process. They see that the shard is lodged in Clark's chest and realize that it's hurting and/or killing him. And so, the fight is on. Medics come, taking Corben to intensive care and caring for bystanders, and then trying to help Superman. However, the Kryptonite is close to his heart, and the opening wound is beginning to seal shut, with no way to open it up. Martha, no longer able to hold herself back from her son, goes up to him as they're trying to figure out what's going on. And in her hand is Clark's crystal, which she's had since the previous night when they were talking about what Clark had discovered about it. She puts it in Clark's hand, which is covered in his own blood. And once the crystal touches Clark's blood...

Real quick, before I continue...let's talk about crystals and Krypton. Ever since Richard Donner's 1978 Superman: The Movie, crystals have been a major part of Krypton's mythos. I've talked about this a little bit in a previous essay entry, but it's one of those things that's never really been fleshed out in any media. Just something that's been said, and little else. SO...here's how Kryptonian crystal databases work in this universe. They're network solids arranged in such a way that records information. However, to open them up, you need a key. And, given the fact that this is a family artifact of the El family, it would make sense that they key for these crystals is Clark's blood.

So yeah, that's a problem normally. After all, Superman doesn't bleed very easily, and Jor-El should've known that would be a problem underneath a red sun. But here's the thing: it was random, remember? I'm assuming you read that essay via the link I put up there, but if you didn't, just know that Jor-El in this universe used Zeta beam technology to cause the ship to go somehwere, ANYWHERE, that was safe from Krypton's explosion, in a desperate last effort to save his son. So, he had no idea that Kal would find himself underneath a yellow sun, where the blood-activated crystal wouldn't work. But now that Clark is bleeding...

Oh, and if you did read that essay, you may wonder why I changed this scene from the whole crystal ship idea. Short answer is that I couldn't figure out a good way to get Clark to the apartment with the Kryptonite in his chest, and without drawing attention, and I decided that I wanted Clark to know less about his origins, which includes losing the ship. Plus, no STAR Labs in this universe as of yet. So, with that said and clarified...

Requiem of the Last Son

Act three time, baby. The crystal activates once in contact with Clark's blood, and it glows brightly. Clark reacts to this, but quickly becomes unresponsive as the crystal begins to communicate with him. Not sure what's happening, the doctors and those assembled watch on, afraid that Superman is dying. But Lois, thinking quickly and raised by a military father, realizes that this object, whatever it is, actually cut into Superman. She looks around, and sees the wrecked cannon being taken into police custody. She runs over, and finds a piece of the Kryptonite lens that was used to create the blast. She nicks it, then runs back over to test her theory.

But as this is happening, Clark is getting information about his origins from the crystal. I realize that we've all seen the origin story of Superman by now, and that's not exactly what this is. The crystal tells Clark his original name, as well as factual information about Krypton. Basically, it's a Simple Wikipedia entry, recorded for a young Clark to learn more about his planet. It also includes a message from his parents, as well as some information about them. And so, Clark briefly learns about what happened to his home planet, the name of which he finally knows is Krypton. But, because of the hasty exit from Krypton, this is all that could be sent with him. And that's going to leave Clark wanting quite a bit, but he at least gets a tiny piece of closure about his past.

By the way, this is going to be a trippy look at the history of Krypton through Clark's eyes, as the crystal has been damaged over the years. However, it can be repaired over time, by being made into a seed crystal that can generate a network solid from native material and give itself more space. Basically, it's a terabyte drive that can reproduce and make baby kilobytes. But since we're taking a look at currently damaged information, we should get a strange and, well, alien glimpse at this other world. Krypton won't define this story, but will be a part of Clark's path.

Meanwhile, Lois' idea bears fruit, as a medic uses the Kryptonite lens to cut Clark's flesh long enough to get the other shard out of Clark's chest. Once this is done, the wound heals up quickly, and the crystal in Clark's hand, which was glowing red at the time, begins to clear as Clark's vitals stabilize. Lois takes the lens piece, and quietly pockets it, so as not to let the information about Superman's weakness leak out. This won't make it into the papers. However, this does mean that, because of her quick-thinking nature, Lois actually saves Superman in this film. Yup.

So, while this is happening, how's Corben doing?

Ah. So, extremely bad. Yeah, Corben is most certainly the worse for wear after the explosion, and he's taken to the hospital under police custody after the explosion. But he's not the only one, as the stress FINALLY gets to Jonathan Kent. Throughout this movie, we've had hints and drops about Jonathan's ailing heart, and Chekov's CHF as finally come to roost. Jonathan starts to feel chest pain, as he begins to succumb to a minor heart attack. The paramedic, already having a long-ass day, takes care of him and also gets Jonathan to the hospital, alongside his stable son and worried wife. Rough day for the Kents.

The fallout of this climax is seen throughout Metropolis, as those people we've met all show their particular reactions. One of the most interesting of these is Bibbo, who's now seeing Superman in a slightly different light, after having been saved by him, and seeing the sacrifice he was willing to make. However, not everyone is thinking about Superman. Crown very quickly pulls together a press conference, decrying this brazen attack on the police department, and holding it up as a reason why more militarization is needed. Bruno is watching this and smiling, until Crown name drops intergang in his speech, blaming them for the attack. He also notes that this attack, alongside the almost-killed Superman, prove that one man is not enough to defend the city, and that the police need better tools and weapons to face threats like Intergang. And his polls are looking pretty goddamn good.

We rush to the hospital, where Jonathan is taken for his heart attack. It's a relatively minor one, and he'll be OK with medical intervention, but it's going to be a close call. We now get a rare moment alone with Martha Kent, just worried for her son and husband, only one of whom she can admit to. Shortly after this, Lois gets to the hospital to talk to Corben, and possibly to see Superman as well. The former isn't possible at the moment, as he's in surgery just to stabilize him. He's in dire straits at the moment, and may not make it. She also isn't allowed to see Superman as of yet, as he's being monitored and allowed to stay in a room to rest, while he's still communicating with the crystal.

Lois sits down, a bit frustrated at her lack of progress. However, in the waiting room, she sees Martha Kent, and finds out that Jonathan's had a heart attack. The hospital won't let her speak with him yet, as he's also still being stabilized, but she's just waiting. However, the rest of her worry is that Clark, her son, is also here, and she can't go see him at all, or even admit a connection between the two of them. And again, Lois knows about this connection, and realizes how difficult this must be. So, she sits with Martha and comforts her as best she can, without revealing her knowledge of Clark's identity.

But, once Lois' connection in the hospital allows her in to visit Superman, she brings Martha along with her. And it's at this point that Martha picks up on the fact that Lois knows. And Lois doesn't really deny that. They have a conversation about this, and we find out how long Lois has known, and how she was able to find out. Maybe even get a crack about his glasses in there. We get a real heart-to-heart about it, and we finally hear Lois' reasons for not exposing Clark as Superman. Martha agrees to keep her secret until Clark is ready to tell her as a friend (if not more). And the two bond over this.

We enter another set of visions of the past, but not Clark's this time. We see pieces of John Corben's origins. Once named George Grant, he's a sociopathic monster, who only entered the military service to hurt others, and was dishonorably discharged and arrested after being found guilty of war crimes. He was turned in by a fellow officer and discharged. However, instead of being arrested, he was recruited by an organization led by Rick Flag Sr., and brought onto a team whose descendants would be known as the Suicide Squad.

However, Grant was the only survivor after a catastrophic mission to take out enemies in the nation of Quraq, he was written off the books and was a legal dead man. He only survived thanks to a young American politician, who was visiting Quraq on business, and saw in Grant a soldier he could manipulate. He gave Grant a new name and a new face, and eventually set him up with a position in Intergang. And the vision changes to see the man's face...

At this point, we realize that Crown is far more of a menace than planned. For some people, this should be a massive surprise. For others, a confirmation of Crown's true identity. But either way, we now see the true face of this man. He walks up to the guards of Corben's room, who had given so much trouble to Lois. They let him part with very little protest, and Crown enters the room to see a badly injured Corben, whose eyes are now open. Crown drops the pretense, and the glasses, and we see that behind the glasses were fiery eyes of gold and red, obscured previously.

Crown's demeanor also changes, gaining a much more regal countenance and posture. This guy should be a very stereotypical kind of evil. Not scenery-chewing, but absolutely sinister and manipulative. Think a young emperor in the Star Wars prequels, both as Palpatine and as Sidious. Pure menace behind a perfect grin. He looks at Corben, begrudges the poor job he's done, but also offers him a chance to do better. Corben can't speak through his injuries, so Crown places some kind of technological device on his chest, allowing him to speak easier by suppressing his pain. Injured forever, he takes the opportunity for recovery and power, but only if he's the one to take down Superman. Crown's more than happy about that offer, and agrees to the terms. Gordon leaves, but gives him a watch and says that he'll be in touch.

Crown leaves the room, and Lois Lane sees him exit. Again, she's rebuffed from going into Corben's room, but manages a short conversation with Gordon. He uses the opportunity to try and manipulate her, but Lois is a very strong-willed person naturally, and not as easy to fool. Still, they have a conversation about Superman and their stances on the city, and it's clear that Lois doesn't quite agree with Gordon's extreme stances. The two part ways, not super amiably, and Lois goes back to speaking with Martha.

Later that night, maybe once we get word about Jonathan and/or one last vision of Krypton, Clark finally wakes up. The crystal, now empty of available information, stops glowing, and Superman is good as new afterwards. Not a surprise, of course, but it's more about the events that happen during the threat to his life, than it is an actual threat to his life. Lois is still in the room (since Martha being there would raise some suspicion), but she's still asleep. Clark raises his hand, and lets the Crystal fly off. It's going north to regenerate its data and create more crystal. This wakes Lois up, and she lets him know that Jonathan had a heart attack, but is going to be OK (without letting him know that she knows he's Clark). He offers to take Lois home, confident that Corben is unfortunately not going anywhere. As far as he knows. We get our first set of interactions between Lois and Superman, and it should be sweet, if a little awkward.

Soon after they leave, back at the hospital, Manheim visits under the cover of night, and bribing who he must in order to get in and talk to Corben. But before he has the chance, Corben's watch begins to beep. With great pain, he manages to tap the watch on his chest, or with his head if he can, and it changes. Space suddenly folds in on itself, and it takes Corben with it. With a scream, he's taken out of this place, and his body disappears. Space releases itself within the room, and a massive BOOM shakes the room. It destroys the walls and door, blowing Manheim and the guards back just as he's about to enter. Manheim is knocked out, and once he wakes up, he's been found and arrested. The boss of Intergang is no longer in the picture, and a new boss is about to enter the fray. And where is Corben?

He's about to get a makeover. End of Act Three.