Have you read "Exile"? Because you're not really describing it. And while, as Ascended said, not many of us like the idea of Superman just leaving his "never-ending battle", for a Superman who's just started out and hasn't fully been established as taking on that mantle at that point yet.. that might not be as bad (if it's a part of his "arc" to becoming a hero in the more traditional sense).
Bendis has been tipping boats left and right, just (imo) some of the worst ones to tip. His Superman did have an edge at first, and I'm hoping we see more of it. His run in very confusing to me - in some ways I love his style, but I'm having a lot less love for his follow-through and some of his execution. As for the sun bathing thing, I don't mind that so much. But I also think it doesn't have to exclude him lifting. He can do both, I'd think: sun-dipping overcharges the batteries, and exercise/etc increases the capacity of said batteries so to speak, if that makes any sense? (though not sure what all he'd have to lift to build muscle)
Oh, I see. I'd be more in for "tangible conflict" (speaking from a narrative perspective) than "tangible loss," but I can get behind that.
That just means they're in the Zone with no way to get out. The pods were a means of transport, not a survival assurance. Like I said, to my mind there's been no version of the Zone that meant death. And if not having them all die means it's not impactful, that makes my point about "action movie" endings. "The bad guy dies in the end" is more impactful to an action audience - so, in many instances, they'll keep going back to it.
Good point - I know he's not averse to killing characters.. so I'd say add WB officially as one of the "writers" in that mix (though they'd be more of an editor, but still). They (the writers + WB collectively) wouldn't let Lex die unless they knew for sure there was nothing more they wanted to do with him in that version of the franchise. And maybe not even then.