The Zod situation was in character for Superman hates to kill. He only does so when there is just no other alternative. Doomsday has been brought up already, but I'll bring it up again. Superman's abilities put him at the advantage over virtually any of his foes. In the case of Doomsday and Zod, he faced an opponent were neutralization wasn't possible, his hand was force. His reaction after killing Zod spoke volumes. He was beside himself, disgusted, and grief stricken. He was begging Zod to stop. Zod would accept nothing but victory or death.

What I find most annoying about the Man of Steel situation is there was a near universal dislike of Superman Returns trying to emulate the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. Man of Steel is it's own movie. The same critics that were down on Superman Returns for being a spiritual sequel to the Reeve movies are down on it, for being it's own movie.

Side note: I actually liked Superman Returns for the most part. I still find Routh's resemblance to character and Reeve a bit eerie.

I really don't get how people like any of the other superman movies other  than Man of Steel.

Because the other 2 Superman movies are better then Man of Steel. Three biggest problem I have with the movie:

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

1. Clark Kent will never stand there and watch is father die. NEVER!

2. Johnathen Kent will never tell Clark Kent to let inocent people die to protect his own idenity.

3. BIGGEST ONE! Superman doesn't KILL. Plain and simple. (Doomsday was never killed by Superman, Doomsday was alive)

Every character doesn't have to be like what was said in the comics. Infact in Man of Steel this superman was real. He was not the 2D character he was in the older lousy Superman movies which had no depth in terms of character (or anything).  

Spoliers....

1. He trusted his father never knew that he would let himself die.

2. ...I don't even know how to answer to that lousy response.

3. In superman II the Man of Steel killed Zod while smiling when he clearly didn't have too. And in some of the comics HE HAS KILLED before only when it was nessesary. And that one scene spoke volumes about his characters...despite having superpowers he still struggles in situations like these where he is forced to kill.

And the IMDB and metacritic user score clearly indiactes that MOS was better than any superman movie.

Name me the people he have killed in his main Universe. NOT Elseworld stories or What IF stories.

Go read Action Comics #775 OR read Superman: Ending Battle by Geoff John. But going by your reply I doubt you have ever read a Superman comics in your life.

I have to clap for you. Thank you for bring up Superman II.

I voted it sucked.

I have the same problem with it that I had with The amazing spiderman, the movie just lacked charm. For all its faults I enjoyed Superman Returns more.

SPOILERS follow!!!

All the characters were dull. Its okay for superman to be dull, but lois lane usually provides a counter to that and here she was just boring as hell.

Pa Kent's pointless death because of a dog

Action scenes were too michael bayish. Avengers had better directing and the scenes just flowed better. This movie was just an excessive jumble of debris and explosions.

Superman should NOT kill. Even if there comes a time when superman kills it shouldn't happen in the first movie. They hadn't earned that yet. Now going forward, as soon as a villain threatens a human life there is no reason for superman not to run up and snap their neck. There really shouldn't be any more fight scenes. Supes has already crossed that line, he may as well just go around insta-killing bad guys from now on. Also, how much collateral damage had already been done due to superman's reckless fighting. Hundreds of people were probably killed and injured during their fight but all of a sudden superman is concerned with one family?? Bull.

At the end of the movie nobody recognizes Clark Kent is superman. Richard Donner's movies and the 2006 Superman can get away with this because they established themselves as existing in that cheesy quirky world. This humorless, "realistic" superman movie cannot pull that off. They haven't established that world, it doesn't make sense in this universe.

Wow, you thought batman begins was better than The dark knight sequels?  I absolutely hated batman begins. I'd say man of steel was better than that but nowhere near as good as TDK or TDKR.

Don't read this if you haven't seen the movie.

1: Superman wouldn't. Teen Clark, not yet Superman, yes.

2: Jonathan Kent will do everything to protect his family and Clark's secret. And he didn't tell Clark to let innocent people die. He didn't know the answer to that question. You just fail to understand the emotional impact behind the scene. Which was pretty obvious, to begin with.

3: Superman has a mantra to not kill. Yes. But he has killed a few times already. Zod was killed (premedited at that) by Superman in 1987 during the acclaimed Byrne era of the comics. And he did kill Doomsday. His intents at that last punch moment was to kill him. No amount of retcons will change that fact. Nice try though. Now for all we know, the fact that he killed Zod, even though he begged Zod to stop beforehand, and his reaction to it afterward, would be what trifggers this mantra of his to do anything to not ever come to this ever again.

They weren't dead. If you look closely on "The Richard Donner Cut" in the deleted scenes section, you can see that Zod, Ursa and Non are still alive and are being placed within the back of the truck of the Arctic Patrol, where Lex is then placed. All four were locked up as a result. In the five films, Superman never once kills any of the villains. Lex, Otis, Lenny, Ross, Vera and Lorelei are locked up. Or in Lex and Kitty's case, stranded on a deserted island. Zod, Ursa and Non are imprisoned.