Synopsis:

A Companion Piece to my BvS-UE IMAX (151min Edit) and ZSJL Cinematic Edit (2.20:1 AR 181min), with 9min cut from the original runtime of 143min.

Intentions:

Inspired by Dan Olson’s (Folding Ideas) video "Man of Steel Redux" on YouTube (https://youtu.be/teTOkGXa_W8)

Change List:

See companion PDF to the Edit: Edit Info – MoS (AEdit) 1. Removed sequence of Zod ordering to concentrate fire on the main doors of Jor-El’s abode; instead we cut from Zod’s ships about to land, to Lara readying Kal’s ship. 2. Cut the Oil Rig rescue scene as per reasons pointed out by Dan Olson in his video (“Man of Steel Redux” by Folding Ideas); to show that even though Clark is having a good nature, he’s maintaining a low-profile till it becomes absolutely necessary for him to reveal his truth to the world (as happens later in the story after Zod’s message to the world). 3. Due to the Rig Rescue Omission, we now have a match cut from Kal’s ship about to crash on Earth to the Fishing vessel in choppy waters, where a young man saves a co-worker from getting hurt, and the co-worker asks “Where the hell did they find you Greenhorn?”, and the audio overlay leads us into the scene of young Clark in school, having trouble with his heightened senses. 4. From the school scene where Martha is introduced, we move to the next shot of Clark on land wearing a coat, with audio overlay of Martha calling his name, to lead into the song when he sees a School bus, and goes into another flashback with a pre-teen Clark and the bus accident/rescue scene. 5. For the Bar-room scene with the handsy Trucker, the flashback with the school bullies is inserted as pointed out in Dan Olson’s video; to show that after the bus rescue, and as per Jonathan Kent’s reasoning for Clark to avoid revealing his truth even for a good deed, Clark actively tries to hold back reacting to bullies and be the better man albeit with difficulty at first. 6. Hence, in the bar scene, just as when we see Clark starting to react, we overlay the audio of a banging sound, to cut to the start of the flashback of Ken slapping on the window of Clark’s car; and we end the flashback with Jonathan’s message of Clark having to decide whether to be a good person or bad, with audio overlay of glass breaking in the bar scene; cutting back to present when the waitress stops Clark from reacting. Clark then quits his gig on the spot and begins to walk away towards the exit. When the Trucker throws a can at him, Clark pauses, but then continues forward and leaves the bar, with the audio overlay of the music starting, and cutting to him on the road turning back to ask a Truck for a lift. 7. The interim scene with the Trucker exiting the bar later and finding his truck impaled with logs, is cut, as it would be highly improbable for people to have ignored such a loud act; but more importantly it would go against Clark’s mantra of not reacting and being a better man; and instead show his pettiness by teaching the Trucker a lesson by hurting his means of livelihood. 8. Cut the interim shots and dialogue of Lois interviewing the Helicopter Pilots who were part of the Oil Rig rescue scene; instead we cut from Lois interviewing the waitress to her at the pier checking with someone who worked on the Fishing vessel, then her leading to Pete Ross and finally at Martha’s doorstep. 9. Cut the interim shots of Zod’s message being seen in different parts of the world, mainly to avoid inconsistency in Time of Day at different locations around the world; instead we cut from Zod’s message being seen in the Military Control Room and the shot of Captain Ferris reacting, to the Daily Planet’s office and Jenny pointing out that the message is on the RSS feeds and on her phone. 10. Cut the scene with Clark approaching the Priest for advice and relocating the flashback with the school bullies to the bar scene earlier. Also the previous scene of Lois getting arrested by the FBI is shortened by omitting the reveal of Col. Hardy having accompanied the Feds. 11. Instead, we cut from the Feds arresting Lois, to see the Military readying their guns and pointing to something in the sky, to reveal Clark in his costume, revealing himself to the Military and requesting to surrender on the condition of Lois’ release. As per Dan Olson’s video, in addition to the fact that the Bullies Flashback is misplaced, the idea that Clark being a person who strives to help and is good natured, would still have doubts to whether respond to Zod’s threat, even after learning about Zod through AI Jor-El’s explanation of Krypton’s fate, seems to be wheel-spinning the obvious. So instead, when the world sees Zod’s threat, we can presume that Clark decides on his own to respond and surrender; and when Lois is taken in by the FBI & Military, Clark would immediately act to assist Lois, who did not reveal his truth to the world previously when he told her about his reason for keeping a low profile including him not being able to save Jonathan due to the same. 12. Cut the interim portion of the scene when Clark decides to tackle the World Engine, by omitting him asking Lois to step back a little bit more and her continual smiling; to try to maintain the sombre tone owing to the serious nature of the risky decision of Clark tackling the World Engine that could weaken him the closer he gets to it. Instead we only see him ask Lois to step back once and then fly off, followed by everyone gazing upwards and the iconic sonic boom shot of Superman flying up towards the sky. 13. Cut the scene of Clark reaching towards the sunlight dawning after destroying the World Engine; instead we cut from the destruction to the beam stopping at the Black Zero in Metropolis and Jenny and co getting saved, and Col. Hardy confirming that they can proceed to do the drop since the gravity field is non-existent around Zod’s ship and telling it’s up to Lois and Dr. Hamilton to ready the drop, to them entering the cargo bay whose doors are being opened. This scene is cut to help accentuate Clarks re-entry to Metropolis when he crashes into Zod’s Scout Ship that’s going to fire onto Lois’ plane. 14. Cut the interim sequence of Clark crash-landing in the Piloting chamber of the Scout Ship where Zod’s present, and making the decision to destroy Krypton’s last chance of revival by harming the Scout Ship and the Genesis Chamber housed within. Instead, we cut from Clark crashing into the Scout Ship from Lois’ POV, to a quick cut of Zod reacting to the impact, and back to Lois’ POV where the Ship starts to veer off-course and descend for crash-landing into Metropolis. Cutting this scene in order to avoid showing Clark deliberately choosing Earth over Krypton by actively destroying the embryos in Genesis Chamber and in effect killing innocents even if for the greater good. Instead we can presume that his intent was to save Lois and co. on the plane which was under missile lock of Zod’s ship, and him crashing into its side leads to Zod losing control of the ship and with the hole punched into the ship, it starts to descend for a crash-landing. Effectively, the death of Krypton’s future is a collateral damage of both Zod and Clark’s actions instead of Clark’s sole decision. 15. Cut the scene of Clark and Lois’ kiss with the slightly comedic line of it going all downhill after the first kiss, as per Dan Olson’s video. Instead we only retain the first kiss after Clark rescues Lois and they’re both having an adrenaline rush, followed by Jenny pointing out Clark saved them and her, Lombard and Perry climbing down from the debris, and immediately cut to Clark and Lois’ kiss abruptly ending due to a loud noise further afield where Zod seems to have survived. Retaining the first kiss since it shows the deep connection Clark and Lois have developed after having gone through so much in a short span of time, but keeping the sombre tone of the tragedy with the death and destruction surrounding them directly caused by the Black Zero & World Engine. 16. Cut interim shot of Lois having reached the train station where Clark and Zod have their final bout, as well as the scene of her approaching and consoling the distraught Clark after he snaps Zod’s neck. When Clark and Zod re-enter Metropolis with the Satellite debris around them, we see Lois being far away and in the company of Jenny, Lombard and Perry. However, in the next scene she miraculously covers that distance to reach the train station where Clark has Zod in a chokehold and is pleading with him to stop trying to kill innocents with his eye-lasers. So instead, she is cut from the scene to avoid this logic gap, and the wide profile shot of Clark screaming while kneeling in front of Zod’s corpse is cropped to avoid showing her standing on the steps; and we transition into the next scene in the graveyard where Clark and Martha are visiting Jonathan’s resting place. 17. Along with cutting the scene of Lois consoling Clark in the train station, the next scene is also cut, where Clark destroys a US military surveillance drone and asks Gen. Swanwick to stop searching for his location, and Capt. Ferris’ blushingly tells the General that she finds Clark to be hot. As per Dan Olson’s video, the heavy resolution of the preceding scene where Clark kills someone for the first time, is followed by an atonal scene of him destroying military property and stating that he’s on US’ side, as well as Capt. Ferris’ superficially comedic joke about Clark’s attractiveness. Instead we go from Clark having killed Zod to a scene occurring some time in the future where he is being affirmed by Martha that Jonathan saw Clark’s potential for good and always believed in him. And then the denouement follows where Martha asks Clark about his future plans and we see the classic Clark Kent journalist persona getting formed, ending the film with Lois welcoming Clark to the Planet.