Superman (DCEU)

Krypton is on the verge of collapse after mining its own core. Scientist Jor-El and his wife, Lara, have the first naturally born child in centuries. Jor-El steals the Codex, which holds the genetic material of the entire race, writes it into the baby's cells and launches him into space during General Zod's coup. Zod is sentenced to the Phantom Zone, and Krypton explodes.

The ship lands in Kansas. Jonathan and Martha Kent raise the boy as Clark. His powers arrive slowly and frighten him: at school his heightened senses send him into a panic, and later he saves classmates from a school bus that plunges into a river. Jonathan fears how the world will react and asks him to hide who he is. When a tornado hits the highway, Jonathan goes back for the dog and signals Clark to stay put. Clark obeys and watches his father die. Afterward he spends years drifting under false names, saving people without leaving a trace.

Working at an Arctic base, Clark finds a Kryptonian ship buried in the ice. A projection of Jor-El tells him his origin and explains that the symbol on his chest means hope in Krypton's language. Clark puts on the suit and learns to fly. Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane follows his trail to Smallville and decides to keep his secret.

Zod, freed when Krypton exploded, arrives on Earth and demands that the hidden Kryptonian surrender. Clark turns himself in to the military and escapes Zod's ship with Lois. The general's plan is to use the Codex to turn Earth into a new Krypton, wiping out humanity. Superman destroys the machine reshaping the planet, and the military sends Zod's soldiers back to the Phantom Zone. With nothing left to lose, Zod fights him across Metropolis. In the train station, when Zod aims his heat vision at a family, Superman snaps his neck and screams in anguish. Soon after, Clark starts working at the Daily Planet.

Eighteen months later, Superman divides the world. Some worship him, others accuse him of acting above the law. Clark is dating Lois and, at the Daily Planet, criticizes Gotham's Batman. Lex Luthor takes advantage: he gets hold of kryptonite and Zod's body. At a congressional hearing, a bomb kills everyone in the room, and Superman, who never saw the bomb, blames himself and withdraws.

Lex kidnaps Martha Kent and gives the order: Superman must kill Batman. Clark tries to talk, but the fight starts, and Batman, armed with kryptonite gas, brings him down. With the spear at his throat, Superman begs him to save Martha. It's Bruce's mother's name, and the blow never comes. Batman rescues Martha Kent. Lex then unleashes Doomsday, made from Zod's body. With Batman and Wonder Woman, Superman takes on the creature and drives the kryptonite spear through it as it kills him in turn. He's buried in Smallville. On the coffin, the dirt begins to rise.

Superman's death awakens the Mother Boxes and draws Steppenwolf to Earth. Batman decides to bring Clark back. The League uses one of the boxes and the Kryptonian ship's genesis chamber to revive the body. Superman wakes with no memory and attacks the group until Bruce calls in Lois Lane, and she calms him down. The two go to Smallville, where Clark reunites with Martha.

In Zack Snyder's version, he visits the ship and puts on a black suit before leaving. Superman reaches the battle in an abandoned Russian town while the League is losing and turns the fight against Steppenwolf. In the end, he goes back to life as Clark Kent, with Lois and at the Daily Planet.

Years later, in Kahndaq, Amanda Waller warns Black Adam that the country is now his prison. He answers that no one on the planet can stop him. Waller says she'll call someone who isn't from this planet. Superman descends from the sky, stops in front of him and says only: we need to talk. The scene, after the credits, marked Henry Cavill's return to the role five years after Justice League.

Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938. Man of Steel borrows from John Byrne, who retold the origin in 1986, the idea of a Krypton that had abandoned natural birth, and from Mark Waid's Superman: Birthright (2003) the S as a Kryptonian symbol of hope. Cavill's suit dropped the red trunks worn over the pants. Cavill, who is British, was the first non-American to play the hero on film.