Will the Man of Steel Lighten Up In the Sequel? Should He?

So...now that Man of Steel is out and doing its thing, and you’ve read the reviews that accuse Zack Snyder’s film of being a “joyless,” sad bore, I have a question.

Should the in-the-works follow-up lighten things up?

I think it has to, and now that it can, it will.

As we see at the end of the just-out blockbuster – stop reading if you haven’t gone to the theater yet and f---in’ get! – Henry Cavill, finally wearing Clark Kent’s stylish Warby Parker glasses, joins Amy Adams’ Lois Lane in Metropolis, where he will work alongside her at the Daily Planet, hiding in plain sight so that he can keep his ear to the ground.

He has pledged allegiance to the American flag – he’s a Kansas boy, after all, he says. And neither he nor Earth faces threats from Krypton or anything or anyone related to it (right?).

Clark is finally free (but not without unexamined cost).

Danger will always lurk at every corner, but now he knows who he is...what he is, and what he can and wants to do with life. But he’s arrived at this knowledge at great, shocking expense, as he – Spoiler Alert! – quite literally has had to sever his last connection to his planet by snapping General Zod’s (Michael Shannon) neck – in order to save innocents who cannot help themselves.

And for the sake of, well...running time, I guess, he’s had to mourn the loss of his extraterrestrial roots, and his boyish innocence and anger, become the man both his fathers hoped he would, and move on. Quickly.

Again I will say, that is not supposed to be a joyful experience.

By teasing us with Clark’s move to the big city and eradicating the alien threat, the filmmakers are also free to inject the sequel with some of that levity that some thought is missing in Man of Steel (and/or set in motion events that will lead to a long-hoped-for Avengers-style Justice League movie, for which David S. Goyer is already contracted, given that he did not do that with Man of Steel, after all).

The powers that be now can flirt with a little workplace humor, and, better yet, explore the blossoming relationship between Clark and his friend Lois...as well as the effect of taking a life, however monstrous, has had on the hero’s psyche.

And since it’s safe to presume Superman will be facing a more grounded foe (y’all did catch all those Lex Luthor Easter eggs in the third act of the film, right?), those who had a problem with the over-the-top-ness of it will be pleased to find some (temporary) solace in thinking that maybe, just maybe, the next time Superman packs a super-punch, it won’t result in the oh-so-“loud” near-obliteration of the world.

And in a little bit of camp. Seems to me people want his man in tights to stand for truth, justice, and the American right to camp.

Photo: Warner Bros.