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In this episode, we cover the Remnants of Kryptonian Technology. What’s still on Earth after “Man of Steel” concluded and may appear again in the DC Cinematic Universe:
- Lois’s Escape Pod
- Kryptonian Signals or Code
- Environmental Impact / Terraformed Earth
- Zod’s Body
- Scout Ship
- Zod’s Arctic Shuttle /Dropship
- Zod’s Armor
While covering our topics, we answer the following questions:
- Who is Car-Vex?
- How did Lois fall away from the Phantom Zone singularity?
- Could we see the return of Jor-El’s AI?
- Why don’t Kryptonians have hovering jet packs?
- Did the Kryptonians know they weren’t alone in the universe?
- A new DCCU origin for The Flash?
- Is Kryptonian armor powered? How durable is it?
…and much more!
Web: ManOfSteelAnswers.com
Twitter: @mosanswers
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Software Generated Transcript
First of all, I’ve just started listening to this podcast, but I love what I’ve heard so far–including your youtube channel–and can’t wait to catch up! However, I’d like to bring up a point about the bio-electric field emitted by Kryptonians on Earth; I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that this field only extends slightly over the body. Meaning that it protects his costume/uniform (because it’s compressed to his skin) and not his cape or his street clothes. Therefore it would not extend over armor or the clothes that Clark was wearing on the oil rig.
As for the small arms fire and the knife that killed Jor-El; keep in mind that the small arms fire used by Zod, Jor-El and Lois were energy weapons. I would imagine they have a much different effect than our kinetic Earth weapons. As for the knife; it probably did just hit an unarmored area–especially considering that the armor that Jor-El was wearing only seemed to cover his arms shoulders and chest (I can’t recall how much of his lower body was covered–if any).
You have a good theory, though–as you can see, I had a similar thought ;P. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for listening and your comments. I think we agree on the bioelectric field which is why I said his clothes are in tatters from the oil rig rescue… but I might not say it in this episode, it’s been a while!
I agree that the weapons are energy vs. kinetic (the artbook and Blu-Ray extras explicitly say they’re plasma), I guess I’m pointing out the assumption that the type of energy matters since the total amount of energy would still be about the same. That said, it is a traditional trope that Superman might feel an electrical shock more than, say, a physical punch containing more energy. Maybe that’s a function of how his forcefield works? We’ll see!
You do mention that in a later episode, true. You make a good point about electricity still harming him, but I think it could also be that they have more of a kick when they hit someone. Which, due to them having the same mass as people without powers, would mean that they would still be knocked back–especially if they weren’t prepared to withstand it.
Also, you make a very cool point about how people–especially in the DC Universe–would definitely mess around with Zod’s body! I never considered that, but you so very right! Many people, good and bad–regardless of their intentions–will, most certainly, want to get their hands on all of this tech!
Hey, I just discovered your podcast via an essay that you wrote (About wonder woman’s “I walked away from mankind” line in BvS and how it relates to themes of godhood throughout the dceu [real, quality work that essay]) that someone linked to the dc cinematic reddit page.
I listened to this podcast and I wanted to offer up another theory that seems to satisfy all of the requirements. According to my brain, there is, at one point in the comics or in an adaptation, an explanation that the reason superman’s costume/etc are indestructible is because they respond to the yellow sun and earth’s atmosphere/etc the same way he does.
Regardless of the origins, the idea seems to work: all of the examples of the armor failing are in instances when the characters are not on earth and are in krypton-like atmospheres (I.e. Jor-el on Krypton, Kryptonian killed by lois on the ship, etc). This would explain why the oil rig destroyed his earth clothes, and the fighting did not destroy either the armor or underarmor of Superman and the Kryptonians.
Even the helmets breaking makes sense, because they are funneling the krypton atmosphere which would make the helmet weaker and thus more breakable.
Thats my two cents. Love the podcast! Can’t wait to keep listening!
I love it. I came to the same theory via the art book or the making-of features when they described the Kryptonian restraints / manacles as skeletons / bones. Basically, the “magic” that makes Kryptonians invulnerable is common to all organic materials on their planet… and since they grow everything… everything has that same property. The two hang-ups I had, and why I held the theory back, was 1) I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put out there that invulnerability continues on after death (it obviously had to in non-living matter like hair and nails, but I could excuse that with the proximity to Superman’s living field); and 2) I had some issues with Clark being able to puncture the ships so easily or crush the Sentry robots… I had to distinguish or explain why they were different materials.
BvS basically overcame the first objection with Zod’s body and Superman’s death… but by the time I satisfied myself with respect to the second objection, I couldn’t find a context to come back and explain the same idea you came to.
In any case, thanks for listening, I’m excited that you seem to like to solve these kinds of consistency puzzles too. Maybe you’ll have even better or more elegant answers than I have or could cover (I always regret not putting an emphasis on the blue veins of light on Superman’s face when being pulled back towards the singularity… it really pulls together my theory on that but I think I forgot to mention it!) and if you come up with especially good ones, be sure to share and, of course, you’ll get full credit in the podcast if it comes up. Best.