Time to break away from the Zods and Lexs

[SmokeMonster]

Manchester Black and his group saw the destruction in Metropolis on tv, they hear about how Superman killed Zod and they find inspiration in his actions and begin to use their powers to dole out their own brand of justice. Superman confronts them and directly references the moral dilemma of killing someone to keep the peace. Of course he doesn't agree with them and regrets his own actions but Manchester sees this as weak and inevitably they fight.

It would be a great way to directly speak to the consequences of Clark's actions in MOS and show the guilt he carries over what he did.

Why would Clark regret killing Zod?

[Ascended]

Why would Clark regret killing Zod?

Well in most versions of the story, Zod is one of the few survivors of Krypton. He's one of the few who is not related to Clark, and therefore one of the few chances for a re-populated Kryptonian race not built on incest, and he's one of the only people who can teach Clark about his culture. Clark might have lots of historical records in the Fortress, but I imagine those fail to capture the essence of Krypton; what day-to-day life was like, what Krypton felt and smelled and tasted like. Clark does have Kara for that, but she's a teenaged girl and if teenaged girls on Krypton are anything like teenaged girls on earth, then Kara was most likely quite ignorant of many aspects of her culture. Which isnt to knock Kara, its just accepting that young people typically lack the experience and/or interest in events and history beyond their personal purview.

Those are all pretty solid reasons for Clark regretting the killing of Zod, but really, the fact that he kills him is reason enough to regret it. Clark can take the guy's life, know that it was his only course of action and know that what he did, while terrible, was still the right thing, and still regret having to do it. I mean, come on, you dont need a reason to regret having to take a life. You might accept the need of it, but you can still regret having to do it.

[SmokeMonster]

^Ah, I guess I just thought regret meant something different, like thinking one made a mistake or something.

Regardless, I think it would be a weak and somewhat self-centred argument from Clark. "Don't kill because it'll make you feel bad afterwards"? It should be "Don't kill if it's not necessary".

[Nick Miller]

Superman vs the Crime Syndicate (all of them)