MAN OF STEEL (2013): 30 Plots Holes, Errors, Logic Gaps in the Film

Man of Steel Plot Holes, Errors, Logic Gaps. Like most superhero film and comic book movies, Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel (2013) is not perfect. In fact, the cinematic return film was littered with more holes than Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises, a deplorable achievement, but one with which this Superman film has been crowned. I am all for taking leaps of faith (John Dahl‘s Joy Ride) and for certain things not being shown on-screen (Robert Harmon‘s The Hitcher), but with Man of Steel, the gaps in logic began hurting the film. I noted many of the plot holes in our over 2300 word Man of Steel (2013) Film Review, but noting all the errors would have been detrimental to the flow of the review. Those story holes plus all those previously un-noted are below.

Man of Steel’s 27 Plots Holes, Errors, Logic Gaps:

1.) The biggest plot hole in the entire film happened within the brilliance of its beginning: no Kryptonians left Krypton before it exploded (besides the prisoners and Kal-El). Why? David S. Goyer already established that Kryptonians were capable of space flight, had colonized other worlds, and had set up outposts in the past. Jor-El said they couldn’t leave (that it was too late) but never why they couldn’t leave and why it was too late. It certainly was not too late to hold a trial and sentence criminals to prison.

2.) If the Jor-El A.I. was uploading into the Kryptonians’ ship during Lois Lane’s escape, after the upload was complete, why didn’t it take over the ship? If it could control the doors while uploading, it stands to reason that when the upload was complete, it could override and control more crucial systems.

3.) What happened when the Jor-El A.I upload into Zod’s Kryptonian ship was complete?

4.) Why didn’t the Jor-El A.I. stop the World Engine from being launched?

5.) Why didn’t the Jor-El A.I. shut down the ship or crash it into Earth?

6.) If the Jor-El A.I. could close doors then it could open them as well. Why didn’t it open an outer space door and blow the Kryptonians out into space?

7.) Speaking of doors, why did the doors stop the Kryptonians abroad their ship in the first place? They are all as powerful as Superman? One punch or kick would have gotten them through those doors instantly.

8.) How did the Kryptonians learn to speak English so quickly and why don’t they speak their own language when they are not in the presence of human beings?

9.) Why don’t the Kryptonians speak English with an accent? When foreign speakers learn a new language (especially quickly), they inherently speak with an accent from the region of the world they are from. Example: most people born in Mexico that speak English speak it with a Spanish accent. When don’t the Kryptonians speak English with a Kryptonian accent?

10.) On the subject of powers, how did all the Kryptonians (besides Ka-El)  know how to use their powers so expertly and so fast?

11.) Who taught the Zod’s Kyprtonians how to use their powers? Who was their teacher?

12.) How did Zod’s Kyprtonians know that they had enhanced jumping capabilities and strength in the first place?

13.) Martha Kent (Diane Lane) said that when Clark was a baby, he struggled to breathe. When General Zod was first without his helmet on Earth, he had absolutely no trouble breathing Earth air for the first time even though he had trouble with all of his other senses. Why?

14.) The same thing happened when Faora-Ul was knocked unconscious with no helmet on Earth yet was seen breathing normally. How? She was breathing in alien air into a system unaccustomed to it. Just because she was unconscious does not mean she could suddenly breathe Earth air normally or easily.

15.) Why do the humans give Clark Kent a nickname (Superman) when from the moment he became known to humanity, he was called Kal-El? Why shoe-horn that name into the film? No one called Catwoman Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. Since Kal-El is not a human being or a man (in Earth’s definition of the word), how does the moniker Superman apply to him? Won’t SuperAlien, Kryptonian, Alien Boy, Illegal Alien, or Fugee be more appropriate in the context of this film? For all humanity knows, female Kryptonians look like human men and vice versa or Kryptonians could all be hermaphrodites. No human scientists has studied Kryptonian physiology yet.

16.) Did Clark Kent go to college? Clark and Jonathan had an argument about Clark becoming a farmer but that was all the audience heard about Clark’s future plans. If he did not go to college, how did he get a job at the Daily Planet? A mere high school graduate could not get a job at such a prestigious newspaper, especially a reporting position.

17.) Why Does Kal-El tell the authorities that he is 33 years old and that he was was raised in Kansas? Those two pieces of information will make it extremely easy for the authorities to track down Clark Kent, his home, and Martha Kent. With those two pieces of information, the authorities can simply use the process of elimination for Kansas residents going back 33 years.

18.) Clark Kent, in full Superman regalia, appears on the porch of Martha Kent’s home when a cop car pulls up and Lois Lane emerges. The cop sees him. That cop will later see (if he hadn’t already) news footage of Superman, will put two and two together and call the FBI.

19.) How did Jonathan Kent hide such a large space craft beneath his barn?

20.) How did Jonathan Kent move such a large and heavy space craft without anyone noticing it?

21.) Why didn’t Earth detect Kal-El’s space craft when it was crash landing? They detected the other Kyrptonian craft beneath the ice after thousands of years there. It stands to reason they could detect one not covered in ice much quicker. They certainly detected Zod’s ship in Earth’s orbit.

22.) Without any explanation, the film jumps from Clark being a nomad on the road to him being a worker at a icy military dig.

23.) Why were there no military sentries on duty at the ice dig site to protect the dig’s integrity and security? The military just trusted that Lois Lane would not go snooping around or that no one curious would try to break into the site or out with something they shouldn’t have?

24.) How did Lois Lane get so high up on the ice wall without climbing equipment and ice spikes?

25.) Why couldn’t Clark hear Lois Lane following him into the ice with his super hearing?

26.) If Clark didn’t go to college and only has a high school education, how did he forge creditable documents to get into a highly classified military dig, documents that could pass the military’s screening? Clark Kent is not a NOC and he isn’t CIA. A fake driver’s license would not have gotten him into a dig of that magnitude.

27.) Why did this particular ice dig capture Kal-El’s interest when there are thousands of digs going on around the world?

28.) There were numerous Kryptonians on Zod’s ship yet Zod stationed none of them as sentry to the World Engine, the only World Engine he had. Why?

29.) The World Engine, from what was shown in the film, could create a Kyrptonian-friendly environment out of any environment, so why not use it on an uninhabited planet like Mars? Why did General Zod want to kill to get what you needed when he did not have to, when it was free on other neighboring worlds?

30.) After the World Engine decision was made, Zod’s biggest contradiction occurred: He said earlier to Kal-El that he had been trained to adapt but later Zod said to the Jor-El A.I. hologram that he did not want to adapt to Earth’s environment (because of the time it would take). If Zod was trained to and and could so easily adapt (which he did), why use the World Engine? Again, why use it on Earth? Why not train the new born Krypotonians the techniques of speedy adaptation? Wouldn’t that training  have helped them in a multitude of situations, as it was helping him on Earth?

We previously published these Man of Steel articles:

Man of Steel (2013) Movie Trailer: San Diego Comic-Con Video Footage

Man of Steel (2013) Teaser Trailers

Man of Steel (2013) Movie Poster

Man of Steel (2013) Movie Trailer

Man of Steel (2013) TV spot 1, 7 Entertainment Weekly Photos, Article Scans

Man of Steel (2013) Movie Trailer 2, Movie Pictures

Man of Steel (2013) TV Spot 7: Superman Uses Eye Lasers

Man of Steel (2013) Movie Featurettes: Speed, Strength, Flight, BTS

Man of Steel (2013) TV Spots 9-11: The Military is Scared on Superman

Man of Steel (2013) Movie Trailer 4, Early Film Reviews, 8 Movie Photographs

Man of Steel (2013) 5 Movie Clips

Man of Steel (2013) TV Spots 16-19

Man of Steel (2013) Film Review

Man of Steel‘s plot synopsis: “Clark Kent is a journalist in his twenties who was adopted as a child by Martha and Jonathan Kent after he was transported to Earth from the dying planet Krypton. Raised with the values of his adoptive parents, he feels alienated because of his unique super abilities and struggles to find his place in life. When the world is attacked, he becomes the hero Superman to protect its people.”

Man of Steel stars Antje Traue, Henry Cavill, Michael Shannon, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Christopher Meloni, Laurence Fishburne, Jadin Gould, Ayelet Zurer, Tahmoh Penikett, Michael Kelly, Dylan Sprayberry, and David Paetkau.

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