Man of Very Hard Steel

Amirite, ladies? If you came out of Man of Steel and your initial thought was "They made Diane Lane look really old," then you must be hella blind to have missed the titular Man of Steel flexing and posturing and flying (all while smiling) into the collective female (and some of the male variety too) population's hearts.

Henry Cavill looks like a true Man of Steel. Whether clean-shaven or bearded, clothed or, ehem, un-clothed, the one thing we can all agree on is that the guy is extremely handsome and physically fit. Whoever saw him and said, "That's our Superman," should be getting thank you cards from Cavill for the rest of his/her life.

Then of course, Mr. Cavill started talking and acting and honestly, I thought he came off pretty convincingly as a first-time superhero. This is an important part about the character of Kal-El/Clark Kent in the film because even though he seemed so used-to-this while fighting other Kryptonians and zooming out on Lois Lane, this was his first time out in the costume, as a public figure and not some urban legend of a hero. Guy didn't even have a proper superhero name yet until a no-name character let it slip that most have come to calling him 'Superman.' But I digress. Point is, I think I saw a very thoughtful and strong portrayal of a Superman clearly in Year One (if not Day One). He was kind to those he met, vindictive to those who pissed him off and ultimately heroic in the face of overwhelming odds. There was charm and grace in his interactions with humans and a singular directness to protecting those he loved. Throughout the movie (both times I saw it), I kept on remarking on how nice he was. I took it as a sign that Henry Cavill's Superman really worked for me if I could still see him as the Big Blue Boy Scout.

So he hasn't figured out what 'collateral damage' means yet and he had to resort to one final action to end the threat of General Zod. Remember, the fisticuffs only began as a result of Kal finding out what Zod's true plans for Earth were, AFTER he had decided to turn himself over to Zod's forces to avoid a conflict. His initial reaction was not to jump into a fight but to compromise and to sacrifice. It was only when Zod and his cohorts threatened his adoptive Earth and its people that he jumped (flew) into action. And to me, this made the character and Henry Cavill's portrayal of him worthy of the Superman name.

This is by no means the definitive version of Superman, mainly because there are too many variations of the character in media, not to mention just in comics nor just in the movies. But was it a respectful interpretation of the character? For me, yes. I can still look at his body of work (and body) and see Superman, albeit, a very young Superman. Disagree with me or not, I hope we get more movies so that we can see this Superman reach his full potential.