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seriousficI don't know, I don't manage my time well.
Open on Krypton. A world frozen in every way. The only buildings are great obelisks of crystal, miles apart and all exactly alike. They combine the impersonality of skyscrapers with that of suburbia. A series of shots showing their imposing silence. The sterility of this world. Maybe this Krypton is already dead.
Then we hear a baby’s cries, mounting as we press in on one monolith in a sea of anonymity. We’re close enough now to see the symbol of the House of El embossed on the glass façade. Superman’s famous shield.
INT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
The entire front of this structure is glass, the light through casting the shadow of the shield down onto a man and a woman, both wearing the El-sigil, both in the blue and red of Krypton’s science caste. JOR-EL and LARA, wise yet patrician, cold as the world they were born to. Except they have a baby.
Lara, exhausted but proud, has just given birth to KAL-EL. His cries die down as Jor-El swaddles him. And as Kal-El begins to coo, Jor-El can’t stay the slightest bit neutral. He holds his son in his arms and smiles. Then kneels down beside Lara. Together, they hold him. Eyes lit up with wonder.
Over this, we hear a voice, knowing and serene. Jor-El’s?
VOICE: (V.O.) Krypton. The greatest civilization the universe has ever known. Ten million years of technological advancement, peace, and exploration. (beat) We’ve grown weak.
EXT. HIGH COUNCIL – TIMELESS
A tower with the echoes of Krypton’s glory days Instead of the glorified bunkers of the Homesteads, this building is grandly, artistically sculpted from Krypton’s trademark crystals.
INT. HIGH COUNCIL – TIMELESS
The equal of the exterior. In the center of the room, arrayed around a nexus of crystalline touchscreens, the ELDERS OF KRYPTON, wear the colors of all Kryptonian castes. GENERAL ZOD is speaking. Powerfully built, wearing the red-black of military caste, his eyes hold wounded-animal intensity he tries mightily to hide. He has seen things no one on Krypton an imagine.
We catch glimpses of GUARDS throughout the room, wearing the same red-black undersuit as Zod, but augmented with strange armor instead of robes. They stay at the outskirts of each shot, looming into frame, ominous.
ZOD: The attack caught us completely off-guard. Despite their repellance, the damage is done. Krypton’s core has been destabilized. Jor-El?
In the corner of the sprawling room, Jor-El stares out into the blizzard that covers Krypton year-round. His idiosyncratic smile tells us where his thoughts are. He turns, hardening. And as he speaks, crystal screens project 3D holograms like they’re windows into other worlds instead of clear screens. They deftly show the truth of Jor-El’s words.
JOR-EL: Despite the immense bravery of General Zod and the military caste in repelling the first wave, the Imperiex probe has started a radiological chain within our planet that cannot be stopped. Within weeks, the core will go critical. If the explosion doesn’t kill us, the irradiated debris will.
ZOD: As military leader of Krypton, I recommend a full planetary evacuation.
The Elders look among each other in consternation.
POLITICAL CASTE: Evacuate to where?
Zod walks past Jor-El, taking control of the presentation with a strange smile to Jor-El. ‘I’ve got this.’ Jor-El frowns in confusion. This wasn’t part of the plan.
ZOD: I bring to the Council’s attention—Earth. A young world orbiting a young sun. My friend Jor-El assures me its yellow light will give us great power, while its thin atmosphere will be a boon to our enhanced senses.
Another ELDER points to one screen, reproducing the famous Voyager pictogram.
ELDER: What of the native population?
ZOD: Primitive. Easily dealt with. On this new world, we will be gods among ants.
Something in Zod trembles violently.
ZOD: Nothing will hurt us ever again.
JOR-EL: Zod, this is madness. We cannot wipe out an innocent people to prolong our own existence.
Zod rolls his eyes. Doesn’t have time for this.
ZOD: And what would you have us do? Lie down and die?
JOR-EL: Some of us, yes. We’ll place as many as possible in the Phantom Zone, to be freed when a suitable, uninhabited world is found.
ZOD: And who will seek out this world? You?
JOR-EL: No. I will die with dignity, as so many others must. But there is no reason Krypton need die with me. Our principles can live on. We’ll send a child to Earth, to learn their ways as well as our own. We can decide our fate, and help the Earth people decide theirs. Let us teach them, inspire them, guide them… serve them.
ZOD: You would have us become servants for these… primitives?
JOR-EL: For too long, Krypton has endured for no other reason than its own continuity. Let us look again to the stars, and our fellow man, for our calling. Although our world will die, its name will live on, spoken of in honor and gratitude.
The Elders whisper among themselves, all but a few impressed.
POLITICAL CASTE: What would you need?
JOR-EL: Just a power source…
ZOD: Foolishness! Is this what the great bloodlines of Krypton have come to? Has your endless debate and endless weakness finally escalated to suicide? (to Jor-El) I expected as much from these old fools, but you, Jor-El? I thought your line was strong. Worthy of salvation. But now I see it’s for the best that you die with this decrepit world.
ELDER: General! Your words verge on treason!
ZOD: You’re the traitors! Your cowardice betrays Krypton itself! The eugenics program was supposed to bring our race to the forefront of evolution, but I see now! I see your degenerative bloodlines have brought all of Krypton to this point of crisis. It’s time I defend Krypton from itself.
ELDER: Guards, remove this man.
ZOD: Yes, guards. Punish the traitor.
The guards turn their weapons on the Elder. In a burst of light, he’s gone. Zod takes a rifle and executes the rest himself. Jor-El just stands there, paralyzed by the violence.
ZOD: I’m sorry you had to see that. I know you weren’t born for such sights. Sometimes I think no one was.
He loses himself for a minute, then doubles his resolve.
ZOD: I had hoped that wouldn’t be necessary, but you were right. Not all of Krypton can be saved.
JOR-EL: And you will decide what’s worthy of being saved… and what will be buried?
Zod rips open the front of his tunic, Superman-style, to reveal a chest of SCARS.
ZOD: Haven’t I earned it? (to guards) Get him out of my sight. I have a world to save.
Jor-El is frog-marched away, still in shock.
EXT. LANDING PAD – TIMELESS
On a balcony of the tower, we see Jor-El being led to a waiting ship. In the distance, Zod’s purge has begun. Homesteads are burning, torches in fog.
The ship opens up to receive passengers. Inside is a figure in a Kryptonian radiation suit. All crystalline, like the shields in Dune. The guards are as surprised as Jor-El.
GUARD: What in Rao’s name…
The figure opens a metal box. From inside, a sickly green glow covers the three. They all wither. The figure, protected, kicks away one guard’s gun, picks up the other’s. The box closes. The guards recover, now held at gunpoint, while Jor-El watches the figure remove its headpiece to reveal LARA.
JOR-EL: You were right. The end result of the radiological change is toxic.
LARA: Are you alright?
JOR-EL: None of us are alright. Zod’s taken power.
LARA: I knew not to trust him. The war changed him.
JOR-EL: The war changed everything. We must begin the launch, immediately.
EXT. WARSHIP – TIMELESS
A Kryptonian ship, black crystal in the jagged shape of a dagger, looms over the frozen surface.
INT. WARSHIP – TIMELESS
Zod and his lieutenant, FAORA, stand in the ‘greenhouse’ of the bridge. There are no consoles, no instruments. The glass walls (and ceilings and floor) are both controls and monitors. With a gesture, Zod zooms the floor in on a particular Homestead.
ZOD: There. The House of Os. Their uselessness goes back generations. Faora!
FAORA: Yes, sir!
ZOD: Put them out of their stagnation.
FAORA: Sir… they’re healer caste. Harmless.
ZOD: My concern is not whether they pose a threat. It’s whether you possess the will to do as I deem necessary.
With clear eyes, Faora touches the wall. Ship’s weapons lash out. Someone’s home burns.
INT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
Lara holds baby Kal-El like he’s keeping her alive instead of the other way around.
LARA: I thought we’d have more time.
JOR-EL: Would any span of time be enough?
LARA: We have no idea if this will work. The calculations, the tests… what if he burns up on re-entry? What if they kill him?
JOR-EL: How? (small grin) We have lived our lives by logic and reason. Now, at the end of our time, why not try one last experiment: faith.
LARA: I want to hold him in my arms, hold him until the very end. Does that make me horrible.
JOR-EL: (shakes head) It makes you his mother. (beat) It’s time.
Crying silent tears, Lara lays Kal-El down in a cradle, straps him in lovingly. Jor-El kisses his head, breathes in his scent.
JOR-EL: Goodbye, my son. Remember, though you’ll have powers beyond the ken of mortal man, you are not above them. You are one of them. There is a far greater calling than leadership, and that is to serve.
Lara holds Kal-El’s foot. It’s all she can bear, how tiny he is.
LARA: You are loved. Always remember, Kal-El, how much you are loved.
The building rocks with an explosion. Jor-El’s eyes shoot to the entrance, knowing this is Zod.
JOR-EL: Finish the launch.
EXT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
The Homestead’s automated defenses drive back Zod’s ground assault. It’s a slugfest, like two ironclads exchanging fire. Until Zod arrives on the scene. He backhands a soldier, then stalks straight toward the Homestead. Explosions rain down all around him, but none land. He spreads his arms wide.
ZOD: You were bred for science, Jor-El. You’re not a killer! It’s not in your blood.
The fire from Jor-El cuts off.
INT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
Zod blasts his way into the Homestead. Jor-El stands there, unarmed.
JOR-EL: What do you want, Zod?
ZOD: On Earth, we’ll need a new portal for our people to leave the Phantom Zone. Only the Sunstone has enough power to open one. (sardonic) Your greatest creation.
JOR-EL: Second greatest.
Zod is put on guard.
ZOD: What have you done, old friend?
JOR-EL: Lara has given birth. A natural birth, for the first time in millenia. Our son belongs to no caste. He is simply a son of Krypton.
ZOD: Heresy! You would entrust out entire future to a boy who will not even know what his purpose is!
JOR-EL: He will learn his purpose. As I have.
ZOD: Oh? And what’s your purpose?
JOR-EL: To distract you.
The building vibrates with a growing hum of electricity. Blue light spills from around the corner. Actually growling, Zod runs to see that Lara has encased Kal-El in a giant star-shaped crystal. Lightning rolls from spire to spire, building to blanket the entire capsule.
JOR-EL: The Sunstone will open a portal, Zod. Kal-El will instantly be teleported from here to Earth. Forever beyond your reach. The process cannot be stopped. (beat) It’s over. There’s no need for more bloodshed. Let us—
Whirling, Zod draws a blade and buries it in Jor-El, all one motion.
ZOD: No more distractions.
Jor-El dies watching the portal open.
Zod wheels on Lara, advancing on her with her husband’s blood dripping from his knife, black in the portal’s brightening glow.
ZOD: Shut it down. There must be a way. Shut it down now or join him in pieces!
Lara levels the guard’s gun on Zod. He laughs.
ZOD: Kill me? Is the wife more of a man than the husband?
LARA: I don’t know. Let me ask him.
And, rather than risk giving anything up to torture, Lara turns the gun around and shoots herself in the heart. She falls, bathed in the glow of her son’s salvation. She’s serene. At peace. Until Zod falls on her with animal madness, digging his fingers into her wound. The pain drags her back to consciousness.
ZOD: No. You don’t get to die. Stay with me, Lara, and listen. (a cruel beat) Your son will never know your name. You will never see him walk. You will not hear his first words. But don’t worry. I’ll take your body with me when I seek him out and when I find him—I will find him, Lara—I’ll show him to you. Before I rend his flesh from his bones, I’ll make him kiss your cold, waxen lips.
Zod turns on a dime, from deadly calm to a scream of pure madness as he stabs Lara. He keeps going, a piston, long after she’s dead.
CUT TO: The last days of Krypton. We see a civilization fall entirely to fascism. In montage, we see statues of Zod erected. The sculpter that meets with Zod’s approval is branded with Zod’s crest. Citizens are drafted en masse, put through a quick/brutal boot camp. Zod’s warship is modified for advanced travel. Mass executions are held, left to be buried by the snow. Unwelcome artwork is destroyed. Ancient books are burned. And at the end, a mile-high fence separates Zod’s legions from a sea of undesirables. Some of the latter are scanned at checkpoints, found to meet Zod’s standards, allowed in. Elderly, spouses, children are left behind. All to march into the giant Phantom Zone portal Zod controls. Over this montage, we hear Zod's voice.
ZOD: (V.O.) People of Krypton, a new age is dawning. Now that the conspirators who plotted against our great civilization have been brought to justice, we are free to embrace true change. Yes, our world will fall. But out of the ashes, a chosen few will rise. Stronger. Better. Once, Krypton was forged from untamed wilderness by the heroes of lore. And a new Krypton will be raised, not from a savage planet, but from a savage universe. As my good friend Jor-El said before his tragic death, there is no higher calling than to serve. And we will serve, humbly, lovingly. Without thought of reward, we will bring the confused, violent barbarians of distant worlds under our benevolent control. Our warm embrace will span the galaxy, so all may benefit form our supreme wisdom. And when we are done, the universe will look up to us and say, with one voice, one language, our language… thank you.
When the end comes, it’s a mercy. The ground quakes with geysers of green glame. Zod watches from on high as the last of his chosen enter the portal. Some of the undesirables breach the fence. Zod calmly shoots them down until a sinkhole consumes them all. Only then, tears in his eyes, does he step into the Phantom Zone himself.
High above, the warship departs as well, leaving Krypton to a final green death.
EXT. EARTH – TIMELESS
The capsule appears above the North Pole, among and reflecting the Aurora Borealis. As it lowers itself, gentle as a snowflake, its core is spat away. We follow it, an instant shooting star, as it passes Canada—the Northwest—a city with a familiar globe-topped building—and into the rolling cornfields of Kansas. It streaks overhead of a rusty old Studebaker. But just before it hits, we smash-cut to.
WOMAN’S VOICE: (pre-lap) Look, up in the sky!
Why?
1. The movie really takes forever stuffing this stuff into the opening act. And yet it also feels super-rushed. Krypton's dying, boom, Zod's leading a rebellion, boom, Zod's been captured, boom, Krypton's dead. I wanted something shorter and sleeker. This is ten pages, so, about ten minutes. Pretty reasonable, I think.
2. Did anyone really want Superman's Dad: Action Hero? Dude's a scientist.
3. This kinda would play out more with the rest of the hypothetical screenplay, but I want to see just how Keep it Simple, Stupid the same basic story could be made. So here, the idea is that Zod has an army of Kryptonians, but he needs Superman's whatsit to get them out of the Phantom Zone.
4. Zod being captured and imprisoned in the Phantom Zone to survive Krypton's destructive is too beholden to Superman 2. It diminishes him as a villain that he gets his ass kicked by Jor-El (a scientist, dude) and then his rebellion fails epicly. Here, he actually wins, just so we get an idea of how an Earth ruled by Zod would suck.
5. Zod's motivation is a bit more interesting, says I. The way I see it, some TBD villain (Brainiac or Darkseid, whatever) launched an attack on Krypton and, though they were beat back, their scorched-earth policy has doomed the planet. Zod himself has a raging case of PTSD, and his paranoia won't be satisfied until his people are absolutely safe. So that's his goal--get Earth, this one planet in the cosmos where all his people are absolutely safe. So you can sympathize with him a little, but also go... Christ, what an asshole. And, you know, a few years down the line when it's sequel time, you can pretty easily make the main villain EVEN WORSE than Zod by revealing they're the guys who trashed Krypton in the first place.
6. A bit more for Lara to do. If I kept going, the "look, up in the sky!" would turn out to be a helicopter carrying Lois Lane, we'd see her first meeting with Clark and then, from her investigation of him, we'd get all the Superman backstory. So instead of just randomly flashing back to Clark seeing X-Rays, we'd see Lois talk to his teacher, et cetera et cetera...
So anyway, that's my bit. It's quick and dirty, but I don't know how much time I really want to spend on this. If you like it, I might try rewriting it as a prose... thing. I have some slight ideas for the rest of the movie, but for some reason, rewriting an entire movie as a fanfic seems just a little less social-life-y than writing lesbian porn based on children's cartoons.
Open on Krypton. A world frozen in every way. The only buildings are great obelisks of crystal, miles apart and all exactly alike. They combine the impersonality of skyscrapers with that of suburbia. A series of shots showing their imposing silence. The sterility of this world. Maybe this Krypton is already dead.
Then we hear a baby’s cries, mounting as we press in on one monolith in a sea of anonymity. We’re close enough now to see the symbol of the House of El embossed on the glass façade. Superman’s famous shield.
INT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
The entire front of this structure is glass, the light through casting the shadow of the shield down onto a man and a woman, both wearing the El-sigil, both in the blue and red of Krypton’s science caste. JOR-EL and LARA, wise yet patrician, cold as the world they were born to. Except they have a baby.
Lara, exhausted but proud, has just given birth to KAL-EL. His cries die down as Jor-El swaddles him. And as Kal-El begins to coo, Jor-El can’t stay the slightest bit neutral. He holds his son in his arms and smiles. Then kneels down beside Lara. Together, they hold him. Eyes lit up with wonder.
Over this, we hear a voice, knowing and serene. Jor-El’s?
VOICE: (V.O.) Krypton. The greatest civilization the universe has ever known. Ten million years of technological advancement, peace, and exploration. (beat) We’ve grown weak.
EXT. HIGH COUNCIL – TIMELESS
A tower with the echoes of Krypton’s glory days Instead of the glorified bunkers of the Homesteads, this building is grandly, artistically sculpted from Krypton’s trademark crystals.
INT. HIGH COUNCIL – TIMELESS
The equal of the exterior. In the center of the room, arrayed around a nexus of crystalline touchscreens, the ELDERS OF KRYPTON, wear the colors of all Kryptonian castes. GENERAL ZOD is speaking. Powerfully built, wearing the red-black of military caste, his eyes hold wounded-animal intensity he tries mightily to hide. He has seen things no one on Krypton an imagine.
We catch glimpses of GUARDS throughout the room, wearing the same red-black undersuit as Zod, but augmented with strange armor instead of robes. They stay at the outskirts of each shot, looming into frame, ominous.
ZOD: The attack caught us completely off-guard. Despite their repellance, the damage is done. Krypton’s core has been destabilized. Jor-El?
In the corner of the sprawling room, Jor-El stares out into the blizzard that covers Krypton year-round. His idiosyncratic smile tells us where his thoughts are. He turns, hardening. And as he speaks, crystal screens project 3D holograms like they’re windows into other worlds instead of clear screens. They deftly show the truth of Jor-El’s words.
JOR-EL: Despite the immense bravery of General Zod and the military caste in repelling the first wave, the Imperiex probe has started a radiological chain within our planet that cannot be stopped. Within weeks, the core will go critical. If the explosion doesn’t kill us, the irradiated debris will.
ZOD: As military leader of Krypton, I recommend a full planetary evacuation.
The Elders look among each other in consternation.
POLITICAL CASTE: Evacuate to where?
Zod walks past Jor-El, taking control of the presentation with a strange smile to Jor-El. ‘I’ve got this.’ Jor-El frowns in confusion. This wasn’t part of the plan.
ZOD: I bring to the Council’s attention—Earth. A young world orbiting a young sun. My friend Jor-El assures me its yellow light will give us great power, while its thin atmosphere will be a boon to our enhanced senses.
Another ELDER points to one screen, reproducing the famous Voyager pictogram.
ELDER: What of the native population?
ZOD: Primitive. Easily dealt with. On this new world, we will be gods among ants.
Something in Zod trembles violently.
ZOD: Nothing will hurt us ever again.
JOR-EL: Zod, this is madness. We cannot wipe out an innocent people to prolong our own existence.
Zod rolls his eyes. Doesn’t have time for this.
ZOD: And what would you have us do? Lie down and die?
JOR-EL: Some of us, yes. We’ll place as many as possible in the Phantom Zone, to be freed when a suitable, uninhabited world is found.
ZOD: And who will seek out this world? You?
JOR-EL: No. I will die with dignity, as so many others must. But there is no reason Krypton need die with me. Our principles can live on. We’ll send a child to Earth, to learn their ways as well as our own. We can decide our fate, and help the Earth people decide theirs. Let us teach them, inspire them, guide them… serve them.
ZOD: You would have us become servants for these… primitives?
JOR-EL: For too long, Krypton has endured for no other reason than its own continuity. Let us look again to the stars, and our fellow man, for our calling. Although our world will die, its name will live on, spoken of in honor and gratitude.
The Elders whisper among themselves, all but a few impressed.
POLITICAL CASTE: What would you need?
JOR-EL: Just a power source…
ZOD: Foolishness! Is this what the great bloodlines of Krypton have come to? Has your endless debate and endless weakness finally escalated to suicide? (to Jor-El) I expected as much from these old fools, but you, Jor-El? I thought your line was strong. Worthy of salvation. But now I see it’s for the best that you die with this decrepit world.
ELDER: General! Your words verge on treason!
ZOD: You’re the traitors! Your cowardice betrays Krypton itself! The eugenics program was supposed to bring our race to the forefront of evolution, but I see now! I see your degenerative bloodlines have brought all of Krypton to this point of crisis. It’s time I defend Krypton from itself.
ELDER: Guards, remove this man.
ZOD: Yes, guards. Punish the traitor.
The guards turn their weapons on the Elder. In a burst of light, he’s gone. Zod takes a rifle and executes the rest himself. Jor-El just stands there, paralyzed by the violence.
ZOD: I’m sorry you had to see that. I know you weren’t born for such sights. Sometimes I think no one was.
He loses himself for a minute, then doubles his resolve.
ZOD: I had hoped that wouldn’t be necessary, but you were right. Not all of Krypton can be saved.
JOR-EL: And you will decide what’s worthy of being saved… and what will be buried?
Zod rips open the front of his tunic, Superman-style, to reveal a chest of SCARS.
ZOD: Haven’t I earned it? (to guards) Get him out of my sight. I have a world to save.
Jor-El is frog-marched away, still in shock.
EXT. LANDING PAD – TIMELESS
On a balcony of the tower, we see Jor-El being led to a waiting ship. In the distance, Zod’s purge has begun. Homesteads are burning, torches in fog.
The ship opens up to receive passengers. Inside is a figure in a Kryptonian radiation suit. All crystalline, like the shields in Dune. The guards are as surprised as Jor-El.
GUARD: What in Rao’s name…
The figure opens a metal box. From inside, a sickly green glow covers the three. They all wither. The figure, protected, kicks away one guard’s gun, picks up the other’s. The box closes. The guards recover, now held at gunpoint, while Jor-El watches the figure remove its headpiece to reveal LARA.
JOR-EL: You were right. The end result of the radiological change is toxic.
LARA: Are you alright?
JOR-EL: None of us are alright. Zod’s taken power.
LARA: I knew not to trust him. The war changed him.
JOR-EL: The war changed everything. We must begin the launch, immediately.
EXT. WARSHIP – TIMELESS
A Kryptonian ship, black crystal in the jagged shape of a dagger, looms over the frozen surface.
INT. WARSHIP – TIMELESS
Zod and his lieutenant, FAORA, stand in the ‘greenhouse’ of the bridge. There are no consoles, no instruments. The glass walls (and ceilings and floor) are both controls and monitors. With a gesture, Zod zooms the floor in on a particular Homestead.
ZOD: There. The House of Os. Their uselessness goes back generations. Faora!
FAORA: Yes, sir!
ZOD: Put them out of their stagnation.
FAORA: Sir… they’re healer caste. Harmless.
ZOD: My concern is not whether they pose a threat. It’s whether you possess the will to do as I deem necessary.
With clear eyes, Faora touches the wall. Ship’s weapons lash out. Someone’s home burns.
INT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
Lara holds baby Kal-El like he’s keeping her alive instead of the other way around.
LARA: I thought we’d have more time.
JOR-EL: Would any span of time be enough?
LARA: We have no idea if this will work. The calculations, the tests… what if he burns up on re-entry? What if they kill him?
JOR-EL: How? (small grin) We have lived our lives by logic and reason. Now, at the end of our time, why not try one last experiment: faith.
LARA: I want to hold him in my arms, hold him until the very end. Does that make me horrible.
JOR-EL: (shakes head) It makes you his mother. (beat) It’s time.
Crying silent tears, Lara lays Kal-El down in a cradle, straps him in lovingly. Jor-El kisses his head, breathes in his scent.
JOR-EL: Goodbye, my son. Remember, though you’ll have powers beyond the ken of mortal man, you are not above them. You are one of them. There is a far greater calling than leadership, and that is to serve.
Lara holds Kal-El’s foot. It’s all she can bear, how tiny he is.
LARA: You are loved. Always remember, Kal-El, how much you are loved.
The building rocks with an explosion. Jor-El’s eyes shoot to the entrance, knowing this is Zod.
JOR-EL: Finish the launch.
EXT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
The Homestead’s automated defenses drive back Zod’s ground assault. It’s a slugfest, like two ironclads exchanging fire. Until Zod arrives on the scene. He backhands a soldier, then stalks straight toward the Homestead. Explosions rain down all around him, but none land. He spreads his arms wide.
ZOD: You were bred for science, Jor-El. You’re not a killer! It’s not in your blood.
The fire from Jor-El cuts off.
INT. JOR-EL’S HOMESTEAD – TIMELESS
Zod blasts his way into the Homestead. Jor-El stands there, unarmed.
JOR-EL: What do you want, Zod?
ZOD: On Earth, we’ll need a new portal for our people to leave the Phantom Zone. Only the Sunstone has enough power to open one. (sardonic) Your greatest creation.
JOR-EL: Second greatest.
Zod is put on guard.
ZOD: What have you done, old friend?
JOR-EL: Lara has given birth. A natural birth, for the first time in millenia. Our son belongs to no caste. He is simply a son of Krypton.
ZOD: Heresy! You would entrust out entire future to a boy who will not even know what his purpose is!
JOR-EL: He will learn his purpose. As I have.
ZOD: Oh? And what’s your purpose?
JOR-EL: To distract you.
The building vibrates with a growing hum of electricity. Blue light spills from around the corner. Actually growling, Zod runs to see that Lara has encased Kal-El in a giant star-shaped crystal. Lightning rolls from spire to spire, building to blanket the entire capsule.
JOR-EL: The Sunstone will open a portal, Zod. Kal-El will instantly be teleported from here to Earth. Forever beyond your reach. The process cannot be stopped. (beat) It’s over. There’s no need for more bloodshed. Let us—
Whirling, Zod draws a blade and buries it in Jor-El, all one motion.
ZOD: No more distractions.
Jor-El dies watching the portal open.
Zod wheels on Lara, advancing on her with her husband’s blood dripping from his knife, black in the portal’s brightening glow.
ZOD: Shut it down. There must be a way. Shut it down now or join him in pieces!
Lara levels the guard’s gun on Zod. He laughs.
ZOD: Kill me? Is the wife more of a man than the husband?
LARA: I don’t know. Let me ask him.
And, rather than risk giving anything up to torture, Lara turns the gun around and shoots herself in the heart. She falls, bathed in the glow of her son’s salvation. She’s serene. At peace. Until Zod falls on her with animal madness, digging his fingers into her wound. The pain drags her back to consciousness.
ZOD: No. You don’t get to die. Stay with me, Lara, and listen. (a cruel beat) Your son will never know your name. You will never see him walk. You will not hear his first words. But don’t worry. I’ll take your body with me when I seek him out and when I find him—I will find him, Lara—I’ll show him to you. Before I rend his flesh from his bones, I’ll make him kiss your cold, waxen lips.
Zod turns on a dime, from deadly calm to a scream of pure madness as he stabs Lara. He keeps going, a piston, long after she’s dead.
CUT TO: The last days of Krypton. We see a civilization fall entirely to fascism. In montage, we see statues of Zod erected. The sculpter that meets with Zod’s approval is branded with Zod’s crest. Citizens are drafted en masse, put through a quick/brutal boot camp. Zod’s warship is modified for advanced travel. Mass executions are held, left to be buried by the snow. Unwelcome artwork is destroyed. Ancient books are burned. And at the end, a mile-high fence separates Zod’s legions from a sea of undesirables. Some of the latter are scanned at checkpoints, found to meet Zod’s standards, allowed in. Elderly, spouses, children are left behind. All to march into the giant Phantom Zone portal Zod controls. Over this montage, we hear Zod's voice.
ZOD: (V.O.) People of Krypton, a new age is dawning. Now that the conspirators who plotted against our great civilization have been brought to justice, we are free to embrace true change. Yes, our world will fall. But out of the ashes, a chosen few will rise. Stronger. Better. Once, Krypton was forged from untamed wilderness by the heroes of lore. And a new Krypton will be raised, not from a savage planet, but from a savage universe. As my good friend Jor-El said before his tragic death, there is no higher calling than to serve. And we will serve, humbly, lovingly. Without thought of reward, we will bring the confused, violent barbarians of distant worlds under our benevolent control. Our warm embrace will span the galaxy, so all may benefit form our supreme wisdom. And when we are done, the universe will look up to us and say, with one voice, one language, our language… thank you.
When the end comes, it’s a mercy. The ground quakes with geysers of green glame. Zod watches from on high as the last of his chosen enter the portal. Some of the undesirables breach the fence. Zod calmly shoots them down until a sinkhole consumes them all. Only then, tears in his eyes, does he step into the Phantom Zone himself.
High above, the warship departs as well, leaving Krypton to a final green death.
EXT. EARTH – TIMELESS
The capsule appears above the North Pole, among and reflecting the Aurora Borealis. As it lowers itself, gentle as a snowflake, its core is spat away. We follow it, an instant shooting star, as it passes Canada—the Northwest—a city with a familiar globe-topped building—and into the rolling cornfields of Kansas. It streaks overhead of a rusty old Studebaker. But just before it hits, we smash-cut to.
WOMAN’S VOICE: (pre-lap) Look, up in the sky!
Why?
1. The movie really takes forever stuffing this stuff into the opening act. And yet it also feels super-rushed. Krypton's dying, boom, Zod's leading a rebellion, boom, Zod's been captured, boom, Krypton's dead. I wanted something shorter and sleeker. This is ten pages, so, about ten minutes. Pretty reasonable, I think.
2. Did anyone really want Superman's Dad: Action Hero? Dude's a scientist.
3. This kinda would play out more with the rest of the hypothetical screenplay, but I want to see just how Keep it Simple, Stupid the same basic story could be made. So here, the idea is that Zod has an army of Kryptonians, but he needs Superman's whatsit to get them out of the Phantom Zone.
4. Zod being captured and imprisoned in the Phantom Zone to survive Krypton's destructive is too beholden to Superman 2. It diminishes him as a villain that he gets his ass kicked by Jor-El (a scientist, dude) and then his rebellion fails epicly. Here, he actually wins, just so we get an idea of how an Earth ruled by Zod would suck.
5. Zod's motivation is a bit more interesting, says I. The way I see it, some TBD villain (Brainiac or Darkseid, whatever) launched an attack on Krypton and, though they were beat back, their scorched-earth policy has doomed the planet. Zod himself has a raging case of PTSD, and his paranoia won't be satisfied until his people are absolutely safe. So that's his goal--get Earth, this one planet in the cosmos where all his people are absolutely safe. So you can sympathize with him a little, but also go... Christ, what an asshole. And, you know, a few years down the line when it's sequel time, you can pretty easily make the main villain EVEN WORSE than Zod by revealing they're the guys who trashed Krypton in the first place.
6. A bit more for Lara to do. If I kept going, the "look, up in the sky!" would turn out to be a helicopter carrying Lois Lane, we'd see her first meeting with Clark and then, from her investigation of him, we'd get all the Superman backstory. So instead of just randomly flashing back to Clark seeing X-Rays, we'd see Lois talk to his teacher, et cetera et cetera...
So anyway, that's my bit. It's quick and dirty, but I don't know how much time I really want to spend on this. If you like it, I might try rewriting it as a prose... thing. I have some slight ideas for the rest of the movie, but for some reason, rewriting an entire movie as a fanfic seems just a little less social-life-y than writing lesbian porn based on children's cartoons.
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Date: 2013-07-10 10:56 pm (UTC)Jor-El playing superhero was kind of common in the silver age and had some references in the 00's.
Overall, I'm not a fan. I'm not sure that I'd like Man of Steel's opening any better or not but I don't like this.