Man of Steel (2013): Cast, Plot, Ending and Where to Watch

Man of Steel (2013) is about Kal-El, the last son of a dying planet, who grows up in Kansas as Clark Kent and has to decide when to show the world what he can do. The film opens on Krypton, where the planet is falling apart because its core has been mined too hard.

The scientist Jor-El, ignored by the ruling Council, sends his newborn son to Earth in a pod that carries the genetic codex of the Kryptonian people. General Zod kills Jor-El in a failed coup and is exiled with his followers to the Phantom Zone. On Earth, Jonathan and Martha Kent raise the boy in Kansas, and he struggles to hide his growing powers.

The full story of Man of Steel (2013) follows Clark from a hidden childhood to a public fight with Zod over the future of two worlds.

Spoilers follow.

After Krypton is destroyed, Zod is freed from the Phantom Zone. Clark grows up in Kansas, and his adoptive father Jonathan urges him to keep his abilities secret, even at great personal cost. As an adult, Clark drifts from job to job and finds a buried Kryptonian scout ship in the Arctic. There an artificial intelligence modeled on Jor-El explains his origins and gives him a suit.

Reporter Lois Lane tracks him down and chooses to protect his identity. Zod then arrives at Earth and demands that Clark be handed over. Clark surrenders to the military, escapes Zod's ship with Lois, and fights Zod's followers in Smallville.

Zod learns the codex is stored in Clark's cells and plans to use a world engine to remake Earth into a new Krypton. Clark destroys the engine over Metropolis, while the military uses the scout ship to open a portal that sends Zod's crew back to the Phantom Zone. Zod stays on Earth after the portal sends his crew back to the Phantom Zone, and he attacks a family, so Clark is forced to kill him. Afterward, Clark persuades the military to trust him, and he takes a job at the Daily Planet.

The world premiere of Man of Steel (2013) took place on June 10, 2013, at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York City, as reported by Fox News.

That screening came four days before the film opened in the United States on June 14, 2013. Audiences in the United Kingdom could see it a day earlier, on June 13, 2013, while Australian theaters followed on June 27, 2013. The ratings differ by market: PG-13 in the US, 12A in the UK and M in Australia. Whichever country you watch in, the running time is 143 minutes.

The Man of Steel (2013) ending shows Superman killing Zod to save a threatened family, and then settling into a double life as a reporter. Spoilers follow.

The final act runs in a clear sequence. Clark destroys the world engine over Metropolis, and the military uses the Kryptonian scout ship from the Arctic to open a portal that sends Zod's crew back to the Phantom Zone. Zod is left behind, and he attacks a family. Clark is forced to kill him and is shaken by it. Afterward the military accepts that he will act on his own terms, and a drone tracking him is called off. Clark then joins the Daily Planet, with Lois and Perry White as colleagues, and continues his life as Clark Kent.

The kill is the film's defining scene because the portal has already used up the one clean way to remove Zod. The Phantom Zone is closed to him, so Clark has no option left that keeps the family alive. Opinion: the quiet newsroom finish is what gives the moment weight, since it shows a hero who has paid a price and gone back to work instead of celebrating.

The setting adds to the reading. According to Reel Chicago, the Metropolis destruction and battle scenes were shot in the Chicago Loop, and Willis Tower stands in for the Daily Planet. The same skyline that is wrecked in the fight is the building where Clark reports for work in the last scene, which ties the ruin and the fresh start together.

The credit structure explains some of the tone. Christopher Nolan is credited with the story alongside David S. Goyer and produced the film, and Zack Snyder directed, so the origin is told as a grounded, large scale drama. That is why the ending feels so different from Superman (1978), where the tone is lighter. Within the series, Man of Steel (2013) is the sixth film in release order, and it is the one that ends by asking what a hero owes the people he saves.

The last beat matters for what comes next. The ending leaves a world that now knows Superman exists, and the later appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League pick up from that point.

Man of Steel (2013) was filmed in West Chicago, Plano and the Chicago Loop in Illinois, and also in Vancouver, Canada.

Principal photography began in August 2011 in West Chicago, Illinois. Plano, Illinois, about 60 miles west of Chicago, stood in for Smallville and provided the primary Smallville scenes. The Chicago Loop doubled for Metropolis and hosted the destruction and battle scenes, with Willis Tower serving as the Daily Planet newspaper office. Vancouver supplied studio sets and waterfront scenes.

The best known production details of Man of Steel (2013) trace back to Illinois, where cameras first rolled in West Chicago in August 2011, and to Christopher Nolan's role behind the scenes.

• Plano, Illinois, roughly 60 miles west of Chicago, doubled as the town of Smallville.
• Willis Tower in the Chicago Loop played the Daily Planet newspaper office.
• Nolan's company Syncopy joined Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures as a production company.
• Nolan produced the film and shares the story credit with David S. Goyer.
• Box Office Mojo and The Numbers both put the production budget at $225 million.