There are some good parts to Man of Steel, but overall the movie stands on some really shaky reasoning. For one, if Jor-El’s consciousness controls Zod’s ship, why doesn’t he fly it off into a black hole? That might have a few (thousand) lives.
But a more egregious logical violation is the confused state of Kryptonian biological philosophy. On their home planet, the Kryptonians developed and then mandated a process of genetic engineering. Following the planet’s explosion, Zod, ever the good soldier, loaded up all the materials to get it started again in the “Genesis Ship,” which itself is a curious choice of names for an alien (non-Christian) race.
Now, as anyone who’s seen a sci-fi movie in the 1970s knows, genetic engineering is the sign of a morally bankrupt society corrupted by elitist tendencies, so as Zod goes to the mat to protect this way of life, we already know who the bad guys are. Zod’s soldier Faora-Ul is by his side and therefore must also be an advocate of this social structure. So it is truly baffling when she says the following to Superman:
“You have a sense of morality, and we do not. And that gives us an evolutionary advantage. And if there’s one thing that history teaches us, it’s that evolution always wins.”
Now, there are many issues raised by this statement. For one, what does evolution win against? What exactly is it fighting?
But those are mere puzzlers to the larger issue. The whole Kryptonian Genesis project actually subverts evolution. What the Kryptonians are doing is not evolution in any sense. Evolution is messy and unguided. If I were to give a name to their process, it would be more like “intelligent design.”
Perhaps Faora-Ul spent her formative years on Bizarro World. Or her statement is simply an indicator of the poor state of Kryptonian schools. Faora-Ul must have had to join the military to get out of her jerkwater hometown but not before an underfunded public education system taught her that evolution is the opposite of what it is.
Or maybe she was home schooled…
I’m probably over-thinking it. I shouldn’t expect too much from a director who can’t keep his tripod steady or find the correct speed settings on his camera.
