Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel faced heavy backlash when Superman killed General Zod at the end of their destructive battle. In the comics, Superman is known for having a strict no-kill rule. That is a very core part of his character. Yes, Zod was about to kill a family, but even when things look impossible, Superman always finds another way. That is what sets him apart. Instead, he snapped Zod’s neck, and the moment became one of the most controversial in superhero movie history.
Surprisingly, James Gunn’s new rebooted Superman includes a similar moment. Toward the end of the movie, David Corenswet’s Superman ends up killing Ultraman, who is revealed to be a clone of him. Superman makes very little effort to stop him without violence. He says, “you don’t have to do this,” but doesn’t try to reason with him beyond that. Instead, he dislocates his own shoulder to gain enough force to throw Ultraman into falling debris, which knocks him into a black hole. There is no attempt to save him, no hesitation, and no emotion afterward. Clark clearly understands that Ultraman will die from this, yet he doesn’t reflect on it at all, and the movie just moves on. Even though Snyder’s Superman was criticized for killing Zod, at least the movie showed how much the act broke him.
Apart From Ultraman, Gunn’s Superman Is All About Kindness
Image via DCU/Warner Bros.
This scene feels strange because the rest of the movie shows Superman as extremely kind and gentle. In earlier scenes, he risks his life to save even the smallest creatures. During the kaiju fight, he carefully saves a squirrel in the middle of all the destruction. When Mr. Terrific kills the kaiju by blowing its insides, Clark looks visibly upset. He had been trying to subdue the creature or put it down in a more humane way.
Later, he turns himself in to save Krypto, who isn’t even a very good dog. The movie makes it clear that Superman will do anything to save others, no matter how small or flawed they are. But when it comes to Ultraman, all that empathy is missing. What makes this feel even more off is the fact that Ultraman was a clone, a being who didn’t choose to be created or used as a weapon. He was used as a pawn by Lex Luthor. The film does not show him making any real choices. It presents him as someone who is programmed to blindly follow orders, which makes him seem even more innocent.
Ultraman May Still Be Alive
Image via DCU/Warner Bros.
Some fans believe that Ultraman might not actually be dead. There is a popular theory that he could return as Bizarro, another Superman clone from the comics. In the source material, Bizarro comes from a cube-shaped planet where everything works in the opposite way. He even speaks in reverse. In the movie, the pocket dimension that swallows Ultraman has cube-like textures. Lex Luthor also describes it as being created by something similar to the Big Bang. This makes it very possible that Ultraman could come out on the other side of the black hole on a new planet, all mangled up, doing his best to emulate Superman without Luthor’s influence. A naive, baby-brained doppelganger, just like Bizarro in the comics.
However, some fans push back on this theory by pointing out that Gunn has already said characters who die in the DC Universe are gone for good. On Threads, he stated, “In the DCU if you die, you’re dead.” However, he later clarified that there can be exceptions if a death and resurrection were planned together as part of the story. What he meant was that characters won’t come back randomly years later just for the sake of it. If Ultraman’s return as Bizarro was already part of the story from the beginning, there is still a good chance he could return.
Superman is currently playing in theaters. Man of Steel is available to stream on Max.
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Superman (2025) |
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| Cast | David Corenswet (Clark Kent/Superman), Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor), Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced |
| Release Date | July 11, 2025 (U.S. release; world premiere July 7, 2025) |
| Stream On | Theatrical release; HBO Max likely (~77 days post‑release, around Sept 2025) |
| Directed by | James Gunn |
| Produced by | James Gunn, Peter Safran |
| Based On | DC Comics’ Superman, created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster; first film in DCU Chapter One: Gods & Monsters |
| Plot Summary | Clark Kent balances Kryptonian and human lives as Superman, battling public mistrust and Lex Luthor’s machinations |
| Musical Elements | Score by John Murphy (with themes by John Williams) |
| Current Status | Released July 11, 2025. |
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