Is Superman a murderer in Superman II?

Question

I recently watched the extended version of Superman II. I hadn’t watched it since I was a child, so I didn’t really remember it in detail. After watching it, I was genuinely surprised.

After depowering General Zod, Ursa, and Non, he seems to commit murder. Zod posed no threat, as his powers were gone, but Superman throws him against a wall and lets him fall, presumably to his death. Non leaps to attack Superman and falls in the same pit. Lois punches Ursa, who also falls into the pit.

None of them posed a threat to Superman and he could have easily saved them and had them incarcerated. This would be considered murder in a court of law.

So is Superman a murderer?

Yes, he does reverse time back to the beginning of the movie, in a deus ex machina moment. However, to me, that doesn’t change his actions at the time.

Answer 1

Yes, and no, and yes, and no and yes.

Yes

Superman clearly disposes of Zod when he's de-powered. This would appear to be the very definition of Excessive Force given that he's not an immediate threat to Superman.

No

Except that Zod does still arguably pose a substantial ongoing threat to Superman and Lois. Firstly, he might order Ursa to kill Lois. Secondly, he will almost certainly seek to regain his superpowers and attack Superman again. Superman could easily argue that he still feared for Lois' life (as a clear and present threat) as well as his own life in future, justifying his use of lethal force in self-defence.

Yes and No

Having said that, If Superman was in Massachusetts he'd probably be convicted of murder. Except that he's not, he's at the centre of the Arctic, itself a hotly disputed legal grey zone, where normal laws don't apply

Yes

Except that they do apply in the Richard Donner Cut where we see that the Arctic has its own Police Force, and presumably its own laws and judiciary.

No

Except that neither Zod, nor Superman is human. Although you could argue that Superman is a US citizen, Zod certainly isn't and there are no laws that specifically forbid the deliberate killing of non-terrestrials.

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So there you go. Clear as mud.

Answer 2

There is no clearcut evidence in Superman II that anyone died at the end of the theatrical release of the film. although I admit it might be implied.

"but Superman throws him against a wall and lets him fall, presumably to his death. Non leaps to attack Superman and falls in the same pit. Lois punches Ursa, who also falls into the pit."

Yes, PRESUMABLY to their death(s). But we did not see a pit full of corpses, all we saw was Superman's conversation with Lex Luthor and Lois Lane, then it cuts away to him flying her back to civilization. Since it seems that it wasn't nearly as cold inside the fortress of solitude (no one was wearing winter coats or anything), one could also presume that Superman merely trapped them in the pit and came back later to take them to jail.

Furthermore, in other releases of the film and deleted scenes added to various viewings, the fate of the criminals is revealed. In one version they are arrested, and in another version Superman turns back time which re-imprisoned them in the phantom zone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_II#Later_releases In 1984, when Superman II premiered on television, 24 minutes were re-inserted into the film (17 minutes on ABC). Much of the extra footage was directed by Richard Donner. In the ABC-TV version, a U.S. "polar patrol" is shown picking up the three Kryptonians and Lex Luthor at the end of the film. Without this ending, it appears that Superman has let the Kryptonians die, though Superman has a strict code against killing and their deaths aren't necessary once they are depowered. On the other hand, the theatrical version's ending implies that Luthor is left stranded at the Fortress of Solitude, leaving the viewer to wonder how he got to prison in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace — that question was answered in the extended versions where Superman reverses the rotation of the Earth where one of the things he does involves preventing Lex Luthor from escaping from prison. The ending of the extended cuts also has Superman, with Lois standing beside him, destroying the Fortress of Solitude.

Answer 3

Too long for a comment: If Superman did kill Zod et al, then I suspect (given some of the other arguments presented in the comments) that he could be indicted on these crimes.

In Action Comics #358, “SUPERMAN…GUILTY OF HOMICIDE!” Ron Noble, the secret head of the International Crime Exchange, plots to frame Superman for accidental homicide in a boxing exhibition.

This story line is continued in Action Comics #359, “THE CASE OF THE PEOPLE VS. SUPERMAN!” Superman apparently stands trial for the accidental killing of Ron Noble.

It isn't clear from the references what the result of the case was but in Action Comics #361, Superman meets up with the Parasite again (Action Comics #360 seems to be a Supergirl special.

Answer 4

He absolutely kills Zod. Zod has no powers, and he's essentially a human being at that point like Lara described to Superman when he was talking to her about his relationship with Lois. Superman breaks his hand, tosses him to a wall of ice, and lets him fall to nothingness and we're supposed to believe Zod survived it? If Clark was all messed up from the fight he got into at the diner after he lost his powers, how does Zod do anything after what Superman does to him? And we don't see how Superman gets his powers back. You can infer that it's just the reverse of the process to take them away, but the fact is we don't know. Only Superman knows. And if only Superman knows, how will Zod and his crew (assuming they survived the falls) know the process on how to regain their powers?