DeConick A.D

105
SUPERPOWERS AND MONSTERS
the revelator of the truth but also as the power who takes on the monsters
and defeats them in a cosmic struggle. This struggle is most often associated
with the crucifixion, when Jesus’ death defeated the monsters who
rule the world. Gnostics engaging Christian scriptures thought that Jesus’
powerful spirit was released when he died, something that took the enemy
by surprise. In this moment of chaos, Jesus was able to subdue the cosmic
monsters so that his followers would be safeguarded from them forever.
In Man of Steel , the voluntary sacrifice of Superman to the monster
Zod could not be more transparent. Standing in the middle of a desert
with the U.S. Marines behind him, Clark offers himself to Zod with no
struggle. Zod thinks he and his lieutenants have won. He is unaware that
a trick is in play.
What Zod doesn’t know is that that Clark will not follow the evil plan
of Zod and his lieutenants. Clark will not destroy life on earth to recreate
Krypton, because while Clark has lived among humans, he has developed
a moral self and a love for humanity that galvanizes him. Clark will choose
to save humanity, even if it costs him his own life.
Zod also doesn’t know that Clark is now twice as powerful as all other
Kryptonians, including Zod and his militia. Clark’s body contains the Codex,
the entire genetic pool of Krypton, but this alien DNA also has
been exposed to the human environment for thirty years, which has transformed
it into something new and formidable.
So, in scene after scene, Superman takes on Zod and his militia, and
one by one they are eliminated. In the last of these action sequences,
Super man has Zod in a deadlock. When Zod decides to use his laser eyes
to randomly kill humans around him, Superman takes Zod’s neck and
snaps it. With this unexpected sleight of hand, this final trick, Superman
saves the world.