It is a supposed tenet of the Superman mythos that the Man Of Steel does not kill. It’s a topic that has inspired a surprising amount of controversy over the years, mostly among nerds. But come on. In the course of carrying out his duties with those awesome and awesomely destructive powers of his, which include shooting deadly laser beams from his eyes, Superman would actually be killing people left and right. And that’s exactly what he does in a new supercut by a YouTuber named Mr. Sunday Movies, who previously provided the same service for the much-less-killing-averse Batman. Mr. Sunday Movies has limited his scope to Superman’s live action feature films, but there is still plenty of mayhem to go around. Even when the strange visitor from Krypton isn’t directly killing anyone, he certainly allows others—including innocent civilians—to die by the hundreds around him. Such is the nature of the job.
“Superman Kill Count” is two minutes and 40 seconds of high-flying, rip-roaring super-murder, ironically set to the cheerful, heroic strains of John Williams’ famous 1978 theme. Those who think Superman’s killing ways somehow started with Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man Of Steel, in which Henry Cavill straight up snaps Michael Shannon’s neck as if it were a stalk of celery, are due for a rude super-awakening. Just look how Supes coldly (pun intended) dispatches the Krypton criminals in 1980’s Superman II, for instance. Yep, they’re definitely dead after that. There’s no recovery in their future. He even lets Lois Lane kill one of them, the sick bastard. And in Superman III, the big guy even gets to strangle himself to death, eerily foreshadowing the infamous Man Of Steel scene. Considering the potentially grim subject matter, “Superman Kill Count” is witty and upbeat in tone. Gene Hackman and Valerie Perrine are on hand to offer adorable commentary on the proceedings (“The man never ages.” “Never ages”), and even noted comic junkie and thwarted Superman Returns scripter Kevin Smith shows up to make light of Superman’s homicidal ways.
[via Laughing Squid]