Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel is widely regarded as one of the best movies ever made on the Blue Boy Scout, being the perfect blend of action, grit, and Clark Kent finding his true identity. But this film wasn’t one without controversies, and earned some backlash for the same as well. In fact, when it comes to that respective superhero universe, it was even mocked in other storylines, like in Superman & Lois.
For instance, there was a controversial scene where Kevin Costner’s Jonathan Kent seemingly implied that it was better that Kal-El had let the kid drown as the school bus sank rather than saving him to keep his real identity under the wraps. And, ironically enough, the storyline featured in the comic series mentioned above actually took a dig at this very scene in an iconic scene of its own.
Superman & Lois Took a Subtle Dig at This Controversial Man of Steel Scene
As fans must already know, at the beginning of Man of Steel, Henry Cavill‘s superhero is shown as a very confused young kid who is still trying to figure out his real identity through all the powers that he has. During this, there came the scene when Kent’s school bus plunged into a river while avoiding collision with one other vehicle, leading to all the kids in danger.
As this scene further unfolded, it was seen that instead of letting the kids drown with the school bus, Kent decides to save everyone, leading to the children doubting his real identity as well. This was followed by the one kid’s mother, whose life Kent had saved, suspiciously arriving to his door and asking his parents about his true identity.
Distressed by this incident and the fear that people would think Kent is a freak and treat him as an outcast after finding out about his Kryptonian heritage, Kevin Costner, who played the dad Kent, i.e. Jonathan Kent in the movie, implied that it may have been better had Kent let the kid drown instead of saving him.
Cold, yes, but somewhat understandable too considering how Costner’s character also doesn’t let Kent save him during the tornado scene for the same reason.
However, as humane as Zack Snyder may have tried to make Costner’s Jonathan look in this particular scene, the result was still one that garnered a lot of negative attention and deemed to be a controversial outlook, both from fans and critics.
But while that’s that, the comic series prequel to CW’s Superman & Lois, Earth-Prime #2 made sure to undo this damage by creating a much warmer scene that took an open dig at this Man of Steel one.
Superman & Lois Crafted a Warmer Approach to This Scene
In the latest released series in Kal-El’s comic book series, Earth-Prime #2, there is a scene that re-did this very scene but in a different light and under different circumstances, taking a much, much warmer approach than the dark and grittier one Snyder took with Costner’s scene.
This scene features Clark Kent and his father walking down the Smallville streets when they witness a bus speeding towards a child with a bike on the road. Instinctively, without hesitating, Kent uses his superhuman ability to travel super-fast like Flash to jump on the road and save the kid and his bike from colliding with the speeding bus.
In this comic book scene too, Kent is later seen apologizing to his father as he realizes that he had been watching all along as Kent put his superhuman abilities at full display. But while Kal-El says, “I’m sorry, dad,” and continues to accept that he shouldn’t have done that, in this instance, he is instead cut short by his father who, instead of scolding him, shares his perspective.
As drawn in the book, Jonathan Kent says:
What were you supposed to do, Clark? Just let him get hit?
Needless to say, Costner’s character was drawn as a much more humble and understanding character in the books, who actually believed in his son’s goodness and letting him do what’s right with all the great power he had been endowed with rather than fearing about his true identity getting leaked in the meanwhile.
You can stream Man of Steel on Netflix.
