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So recently, Zack Snyder (director of up coming Superman film Man of Steel) has hit a pretty controversial bombshell about the film. He was quoted on various websites as saying:

I’m going to be honest with you. We haven’t used kryptonite in the film.

This has of course caused mas hysteria among the comic book community. Well I’m here now to tell why it’s just not needed.

1. The Villains

Michael Shannon as General Zod

Not only is kryptonite not needed, it also wouldn’t make any sense to include it. Man of Steel’s only villains are General Zod (played by Michael Shannon, pictured) and Faora (played by Antje Trau) – both of whom are also Kryptonian. Within the context of a superhero film, the only person that would use a superhero’s greatest weakness against them is the villain. But in this case, said weakness would hurt the villain just as much as it hurts the superhero. Why would Zod just carry kryptonite around with him, knowing full well it saps all his strength?

2. It’s Stupid

Even as a huge Superman and DC Comics fan, I can very quickly agree with this. The fact that possibly the greatest and most powerful superhero to ever grace print can be so easily beaten with just a chunk of fucking rock is pretty pathetic. Henry Cavill (Superman in Man of Steel) has gone on record saying:

Although he is not susceptible to the frailties of mankind, he is definitely susceptible to the emotional frailties.

To which Zack Snyder reiterated:

It’s all emotional kryptonite.

Basically stating that kryptonite just wouldn’t make sense within the narrative of their film and that instead the film will play on the emotions of the world around him being Superman’s greatest weakness. Expect things like wanting to hug his mother (Diane Lane) but being too afraid he’ll crush her. That kind of emotion.

3. Sequels

Snyder hasn’t actually expressly stated that they won’t use kryptonite in the film series as a whole, only this first one. If they use a villain like Lex Luthor in any of the sequels then they would have to introduce something like kryptonite just so Luthor stands a chance. There is also the villain Metallo, who’s entire suit and backstory relys on kryptonite.

4. Superman Collapsing

The only thing that has me confused about this is a small moment in the second trailer, check out the 1:52 mark of the trailer:

You can clearly see Superman collapsing, seemingly in quite a lot of pain. When I first saw this, I thought it was kryptonite related, but now that we know kriptonite is not in the film I’m not sure. What exactly has happened to him? Are they pulling a “Superman II” and having him temporarily loose his powers? Or maybe General Zod is just too damn powerful for Supes to handle? What ever it is, it’s certainly intriguing.

So what do you think about the omission of kryptonite? Do you think it is stupid to have a Superman film without it? Or perhaps you agree with it being left out? Or perhaps you just don’t give a shit. Sound out in the comments below…

Man of Steel is released worldwide on 14th June 2013. It is directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay by David S. Goyer, and produced by Christopher Nolan. It stars Henry Cavill as Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Amy Adams as Louis Lane, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Antje Trau as Faora, and Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White.