Man Of Steel 2’s Best Villain Would Fix 2 Huge Cavill Superman Criticisms

Manchester Black would be the best villain for Man of Steel 2, with his comic debut serving as the perfect story to fix two criticisms of Henry Cavill’s Superman. Cavill’s DCEU iteration of Kal-El divided audiences with 2013’s Man of Steel and 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, though both films ultimately depicted an authentic and faithful representation of Superman from the comics. Adapting Manchester Black’s 2001 Action Comics debut would mitigate the misconceptions about Cavill’s Superman while providing him with an exciting new adversary.

2013’s Man of Steel initiated the DCEU film franchise on a somewhat divisive note. Although Henry Cavill played a comic-accurate, uplifting, and likable new version of Superman, some viewers took issue with the film’s destructive third act battle and Superman killing General Zod at its conclusion. Man of Steel’s sequel, Dawn of Justice, had Superman clash with Batman, though both heroes were being manipulated by Lex Luthor. The film, which concluded with Superman’s death, did little to sway Man of Steel’s critics.

Manchester Black, a Modern Age Superman comic villain, specifically challenged the Man of Steel’s old-fashioned style of heroism and belief in never killing his enemies in the 2001 story “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?” The story concluded with Superman pretending to become a brutal antihero who killed his opponents in cold blood, using the ruse to prove the merits of his gentler methods of fighting crime and the error of Manchester Black’s cynical ways. The comic was adapted in the animated film Superman vs. The Elite and would be the perfect basis for Man of Steel 2 to reinforce the no-kill rule and comic accuracy of Cavill’s Superman.

Act 3 of Man of Steel featured an extremely destructive final battle between Superman and General Zod, whose brawl resulted in whole buildings being demolished and Superman killing the General out of desperation to stop him from murdering a Metropolis family with his heat vision. What’s often overlooked about the finale is that Superman was using his abilities against a superpowered being for the first time, and while he was still using his powers with restraint, Zod had no qualms about the horrific collateral damage their brawl caused. Superman’s anguish over killing Zod resulted in his no-kill rule, which a Man of Steel sequel would be able to explore in-depth.

Manchester Black, a powerful superhuman with telepathic and telekinetic abilities, is precisely the sort of grim, brutal, cynical, antihero that critics of Man of Steel believe Cavill’s Superman to be. He mocks the idealism of Superman, believing that his methods are ineffective and challenging Superman’s refusal to kill his enemies. Superman’s deceptive defeat of Manchester Black would align with Superman’s characterization in the rest of the DCEU while providing an entertaining rebuttal to viewers who felt he strayed too far from the Superman of the comics.

Having Man of Steel 2 be an adaptation of Manchester Black’s comic debut would be the ideal way to address Superman’s killing of General Zod and the subsequent establishment of his no-kill rule. After Superman’s exciting resurrection in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a solo film that serves as an action-packed character study would be the ideal return for Henry Cavill to the role. Cavill’s Superman has always been the idealistic superhero from the comics, and a Manchester Black storyline for Man of Steel 2 would be the perfect way to prove this.

About The Author

David Miller
(618 Articles Published)

David Miller is a staff writer for Screen Rant, indie comic writer, and life-long lover of all things Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. He was born and raised in New York and has a degree in English from Rider University. He relates to Peter Parker maybe a little too much.

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