Man Of Steel is the movie that kick-started the DCEU.
In my opinion, it’s the best Superman movie ever made and I think that the film is massively underrated. Throughout this post we’re going to be going through the best easter eggs in the movie that I think will definitely make you appreciate the movie more. I’ve compiled the best easter eggs from the Snyder watch-along party, things on the internet and just general things I’ve noticed whilst watching it to hopefully give you one of our best breakdowns ever.
Obviously, there will be Heavy Spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to check out the movie then I highly recommend that you check out now.
Introducing Krypton
The movie opens with the Warner Bros, DC and Rat Pac logos in the form of Kryptonian metal. Not only does this play into the idea of Krypton’s aesthetic and style but it also subtly lets us know their biggest downfall.
Throughout this introduction, we learn that the people of the planet mined too much and this eventually caused the planet to implode. The metal can be seen laced throughout all of their technology from their armour, to their ships, holograms and communication devices. Clearly, they became so reliant on it that they completely harvested the planet’s core of the resource and this eventually lead to the death of their world. Though it’s never said in the movie, just looking at this design it’s clearly been chosen as a reason for why Krypton fell apart and shows just how much the creative team were thinking into this aesthetic.
This is mirrored into the name of the film itself and how it ties to Superman. Originally Krypton was thought of as an Ice Planet, however, Snyder and co thought long and hard about why the character would be known as the Man of Steel and how this would tie to his origin. Thus they tied in the character’s long-established name to his home and also how it ended up destroying itself.
The Kryptonians
From here we witness the birth of Kal-El. Accompanying the score by Hans Zimmer we can also hear Kal-El’s heartbeat and symbolically this shows that Superman is the Heart of the DC universe.
His birth also mirrors his death in many ways and the positioning of the shot in this scene was purposely chosen by Snyder to show the beginning and end of his life.
Though he was resurrected in Justice League, this is an astounding use of cinematography and is definitely a credit to just how good Snyder can visualise things.
Jor-El visits the council and his pleas fall on deaf ears. The way this scene is shot also echoes Lara’s death and is purposely repeated to show that the fault of her death lies and Krypton itself lies solely with the politicians.
She is also killed by fire. In Batman V Superman Lex asks Clark what to do with a witch and then he suggests death by fire. Had Martha been killed in the movie she would’ve been burned alive, showing the mirroring of his two mothers.
Jor-El arrives with his forces and you may notice that one of them is a giant compared to the rest. This is actually a character called Nam-Ek. He is this size because the character actually fused his biology with the Rondor beast that we see in the opening of the movie to give him larger muscles and physical prowess.
Jor-El is escorted away by Zod’s forces but he manages to gain the upper hand with help from Keelex. Keelex is actually a reference to the robotic butler that Jor-El had in the comics and it’s a nice little nod to the source material.
Jor-El goes and gets the Kodex and to do this he has to dive into the water and swim for it. This is paralleled in Batman V Superman when a diver does the same thing in order to grab the massive kryptonite rock.
Fighting Zod & Doomsday References
Upon escaping we see Jor-El flying through the sky on a dragon-like beast. During this, in the skyline, you can spot a completely devastated moon. In his watch along, Snyder revealed that this was caused by an ancient version of Doomsday. This is why when Lex goes to resurrect Zod in BVS it comes with a warning as Doomsday can completely destroy worlds should he become powerful enough.
Clark was able to kill him but it could’ve been much much worse had he not sacrificed himself.
Speaking of Doomsday, the ensuing fight that Jor-El has against Zod also mirrors the one that Clark has with Doomsday in several ways. The way things are shot as well as the impaling all line up perfectly and yeah…come on give Snyder his roses.
Jor-El can go hand to hand with Zod quite easily and though he was a scientist he is clearly a well-equipped fighter. We learn in the movie that at birth Kryptonians are told that they have to fit a certain element of society and they must do this without question. The fact Jor-El can fight shows that he likely disobeyed the role set out for him by the council of Krypton and decided to go beyond his predetermined path.
Zod’s face is cut during the scene and this scar can also be seen on Doomsday’s face in the following film showing that the two are the same.
The Codec is placed into Kal-El and it contains all of the information on life in Krypton. In Snyders original 5 film plan for the DCEU, this was going to be taken by Darkseid and then turned into the Anti-Life equation which would allow him to create the Knightmare version of Earth that we see in Bruce’s vision.
On Earth
Clark lands on Earth and we jump forward several decades to see Clark rescuing people trapped on an oil rig. Cavill was asked to shave his chest for this scene, however, he cited the death of Superman as a reason not to as he’s sporting hairy pecs under the suit in that.
Clark lands in the water and we cut back and forth between his memories.
His senses overwhelm him and he flees to a cupboard to block everything out. His mother arrives and tells him to listen to her voice and in the series, he always has an ear on her and Lois. This is how he can rescue Lois as she’s dropped off a skyscraper in BVS.
As for the water, in the live stream, Snyder did say that he had heard of the theory that Aquaman rescued him at this point however did not confirm it. He did say it would be a cool idea though so draw your own conclusions there.
Clark makes his way to land and sees a school bus which reminds him of the time he saved his class. One of the students is Pete Ross who would actually become a friend of Clark in the comics and Lana Lang who was, of course, his first love. There’s also a nod to Chloe Sullivan in the movie at one point with a sign in the background of a scene but yeah, it’s probably best not to mention her for a long time…cos damn.
Amy Adams also appeared in Smallville too so there are a lot of tiebacks to the show.
It’s here that we’re introduced to Jonathan Kent. I love how both Clark’s fathers are played by people who’ve played Robin Hood.
Not sure if that’s an easter egg but there it is.
Finding the Ship
Clark eventually makes his way to a military base after making a guy’s truck look like a game of Kerplunk. Here he meets Lois. Clark helps her with her bags and she says to be careful they’re heavy but we can clearly see him lifting them with ease. On the ship, he sees a pod with its lid open showing that someone from the ship climbed out. Snyder said this was supposed to be a nod to Super Girl who is already meant to be on Earth and could end up appearing in a DC film very soon.
After powering up the ship, Clark is introduced to a hologram of his father who recounts the history of Krypton. In this scene we see can see Clark’s vessel travelling to Earth. Behind it is a star symbol and this is a reference to the Christopher Reeves movie in which the ship looked very similar.
Clark is given his suit and he gets the blue and red one over the black that is typical of his house as it’s meant to be a brighter version of it. This represents a more hopeful version of his family and Clark will hopefully lead the planet away from the darker fate of his home world.
In the watch along, Snyder referred to this as the suit of optimism.
Clark takes his first flight and I absolutely love this scene as it really feels like Clark is having a blast with it.
We learn about the death of his father and also Lois discovers who he is.
Does Lex Know?
Clark returns home and we can see a Lexcorp van dropping him off. I’m not sure If I’m reaching here but in Batman V Superman we learn that Lex is well aware of who Superman really is. It’s also clear that he’s been keeping tabs on other Meta Humans due to the files on his computer so he may have had someone in his company following Clark to keep tabs on him.
Again, might be a reach.
Church Symbolism
Zod puts out a call for the Kryptonian and this is intercepted by the army, namely General Swanwick. In the Snyder Cut, Swanwick is going to be Martian Manhunter and it’s rumoured that additional scenes are being filmed with this reveal.
It’s worrying for Clark and he travels to a church seeking advice.
The priest actually returns in Batman V Superman as the one that carries out Clark’s funeral and it’s a nice little return for the actor to be on both sides of his sacrifices.
Jesus can be seen behind Clark and as he questions whether he should give up his life for humanity, the stained glass imagery is also meant to echo this as Jesus did the same thing to God which this image portrays.
There is more Jesus imagery in the film such as Clark throwing his arms out when he exits Zod’s ship which looks very similar to the crucifixion pose.
Jesus was crucified at 33 which we learn is the age that Clark is in the film.
He was also stabbed with a spear which would later be called the spear of destiny. So we have this notion of Spears being used to damage Gods. In Batman V Superman Batman uses a spear with Kryptonite on it because Snyder said that he would view this as a weapon worth taking down such a powerful being because of religion.
Supes goes to the military and this shot echoes his media attention in Batman v Superman, this shows that guns aren’t the only weapons we have and that it is possible to take people down in other ways. BVS centres around Lex defaming Supes and his court appearance too mirrors him being taken in by the military showing the correlation between these moments.
Clark hands himself over to the Kryptonians and though they never say Kneel Before Zod the effects he feels on the ship force him to do it.
It’s here that he experiences visions of Zod’s plan. At one point he sinks into a pit of skulls and this is referenced once more in the day of the dead stream in Batman V Superman.
In the stream, Snyder also addressed this scene and said that it symbolises that Superman’s worst fear is not his own death but rather the death of all those around him.
We also see a destroyed moon, perhaps referencing the one from the beginning.
Battle in Smallville
Lois manages to disable the atmosphere on the ship by bringing a sort of computer virus aboard the ship in the form of Jor-El. We actually find out that he designed the ship so clearly the guy was a great scientist that helped to build vessels. This also explains how he was able to create such a good ship to send his son off with.
Clark battles with the Kryptonian forces in Smallville and we see several notable locations. Firstly we see a sign that shows the name of the local team. That is the Smallville Spartans which is a reference to Snyder’s prior film 300. Even the helmet is the same and it’s a cool little easter egg.
The locals also hide in the post office which is called Ezra’s Mail Depot. Ezra Small actually founded Smallville so this is a nod to the town’s creator.
We also see the local Sears destroyed in the battle. In the film we learn that Martha Kent works there however in BVS she works in a Diner and likely had to change her job because it was destroyed during the fight.
The Kryptonians discover that Kal-El has the Codex within him and Snyder did hint that this opens things up for the future, citing that it is possible for Clark to potentially restart the Kryptonian race if needed. He also teased that Faora could come back and try and extract this. I actually hope if they do a Supergirl movie that she’s the villain because year, one of the best characters in this movie.
They launch the world engine which impacts the Indian Ocean and this location would of course return for Batman V Superman.
It also goes to Metropolis where the Terraforming commences.
Batman Vs Superman Scene Comparison
In the ocean, Clark stops it and he is badly wounded. He reaches out to the sun and this actually recharges him. This is something from the comics as Superman draws his power from the sun, however, it was also brought up in Batman V Superman after the Nuke attack.
Now I just wanna give a huge shoutout to Daniel Edits who has placed this scene side by side with the one from Batman V Superman. It shows just how much effort the creative team really put into making sure that things lined up side by side absolutely everything is perfect.
I really can’t stress enough how well these two scenes accompany one another and it’s incredible seeing the battle from the perspective of Clark and then Bruce in the sequel. You can honestly see why Bruce would become so terrified of Superman to the point that he would try to destroy him and though Man Of Steel often gets criticised for the destruction in this scene, I feel like it was necessary to set up the following film.
Snyder actually addressed this controversy in his watch-along and said that this was an invasion movie and that we needed to see the real-life consequences of Terraforming and just how powerful the Kryptonians really were. This destruction lead to why Clark had to snap his neck which I’ll get into in just a bit.
Callbacks to other Movies
Now at one point they go through a building and for a split second you can see a poster that says ‘Keep Calm And Call Batman’ this is actually referenced in the follow-up as we see things from the point of view of Jack, a Wayne Employee that keeps calm in the destruction and calls Bruce, or rather Batman.
There’s also a Lex Corp Truck which Zod kicks at Clark. For a split second, we can see the smiley face symbol from Watchmen which appears on screen for a split second. Snyder of course directed Watchmen so this is another call back to his work.
At one point they also go to a construction site and we can see a sign that says 106 days without an accident which changes to 0 after Clark is smashed into it.
There’s a building that has a blaze comics sign which is a fictional comic company in the DC universe. We also see Utopia Casinos which is owned by Tony Gallo who discovered that Superman’s weakness was Kryptonite. The building doesn’t get destroyed which is a nice nod to the character.
There’s also a Wayne Enterprise Satellite that I’m sure you noticed, but hey we like to be thorough.
Killing Zod
The battle ends with Superman snapping Zod’s neck and Snyder has received a lot of criticism over this. In the live stream, he said that though we can debate over whether he would do this, symbolically it shows that Clark has a choice to either be with his own people or humanity but he chooses us and the family on Earth rather than his own.
Now I don’t know if this is definite but I think this train station might be where Bruce ends up taking Clark in BVS. Also, there’s a little Riddler symbol there.
Jonathan sees a vision of Clark as the man he would become and Clark joins the Daily Planet as a reporter. Lois says welcome to the planet because she’s saying…look you’re not stupid you got it. I love you.
Anyway, that pretty much ends the movie and sets up things to come leading to a DCEU that I personally love.
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