Follow up to Man of Steel Blog

So, did you ever spout some exposition about science that turned out to be completely wrong?  I did, and I'm man enough to admit it.  When one looks at the Fortress of Solitude, one sees a crystal construct built in the middle of the Artic Circle, and one naturally assumes it has to be insanely cold.  Well, probably not.

Take a look at this article: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/crystal-giants/shea-text.  The gist of it is that a location encased in crystals is actually pretty dang hot.  Insanely hot.  Causes heat stroke in the causal visitor hot.  Which, if you put two and two together, makes you realize that the Arctic Circle is one of the few locations on the planet where a crystal fortress would make sense.  Given the meeting of these two extremes, you would have a residence that's probably a pretty comfortable temperature, shrouded in a thick layer of fog.

Superman bringing Lois there with no winter clothing makes sense since the close proximity of crystals that large would keep her warm, while the intense cold of the out doors would prevent the crystals from becoming a natural oven.  The process of the heat escaping into the cold would create a large cloud around the building.

If anything, Lex Luthor and his cronies in Superman Returns should have had to strip off their heavy coats upon entering otherwise they would succumb to heat stroke.

So what does that mean to the previous blog?  Well, General Zod, now made human (shattered hand and all) probably wouldn't have died of hypothermia.  Given that he fell down a crevice, who's foundation and walls are made of closely placed crystals, would have probably died of heat stroke.  We're never given an idea of how deep these crevices are, only that their deep enough for a prolonged, echoing scream as the Man of Steel's helpless victims plummet to their ultimate demise.  Either they broke their necks and/or back on impact, or they were rendered unconscious upon impact and were slowly broiled alive.

Or, since Superman Returns portrays Superman leaving Earth shortly after having relations with Lois Lane (since her relationship with Richard White came close enough that she affords some ambiguity about her child's paternity) and Superman stayed away from Earth for five or six years, if Zod and crew did survive their fall, Zod at least starved to death, unable to climb out with a broken hand.

Would that be a deleted scene from Superman Returns, having Non and Ursa climb out of their respective crevices, pull Zod out, only to have the three die in the frozen tundra as the Fortress was shut down and abandoned.

I'm not saying that Superman is a horrible character, or that Superman 1, 2, and Returns are horrible movies.  Quite the contrary, I love them, flaws and all.  My stance is that we tend to hold Superman to a standard that has never actually been set, either by his publishers, his writers, or his creators.  Superman has generally held to the ideal that death is the last possible option, but in other instances has willfully taken a life, and not always to the benefit of the story.  Each instance was decided upon by a team of people and came from trying to tell the best possible story.  If anything, the death of General Zod in Man of Steel was one of the most justifiable instances in all of Superman's history.

Thanks for reading.