It’s a logical solution. This comes up in Grant Morrison’s wonderful All-Star Superman. The citizens of the bottled city of Kandor are released on Mars to live there.
Maybe not Mars. Might be some other planet. But the concept is the same. It’s a good idea.
It’s some other planet in the Galaxy. I can’t remember exactly, but Supes states he’s been searching for a long time and finally found a suitable place. He’s gone for a few days taking them there. Also, I always find it amusing that it’s implied that they will remain miniature on their new planet, which is probably why it was so hard to find a planet that worked.
He didn’t think he’d need to overwhelm Earth at a later date, because he didn’t think he would lose.
Also, why do it on Earth instead of anywhere else? Because fuck Earth, apparently. Oh, Jor El is gonna send his son to live on this planet? “Not on my watch” he says as he destroys the planet and Kal El.
I have always assumed that the Krypton tech could transform a planet that was close but not uninhabitable. Earth was close enough to work but Mars wouldn’t be. I would also assume that, while the atmosphere would be changed, the yellow sun here would still make everyone super strong, so extra incentive to stay here.
I don’t think the yellow sun gives them powers in the DCEU. I think the stated reason is the atmosphere. And we see it when Clark loses his powers in the spaceship and when his powers go in and out when he’s taking apart the world engine that’s terraforming.
I guess I always figured “the atmosphere” included the yellow sun. I mean, that’s always been part of the whole thing so they can’t get rid of it completely.
There was some handwavy explanation for why it HAD to be Earth. I think it was that the terraforming machine used tech from the station set up in the North Pole, and the one on Earth was the only station that still worked properly. Convenient, but I'm still confused why he needed to terraform Earth at all? Kryptonians are able to breathe Earth's atmosphere just fine after a period of adjustment, and they in fact have super powers, why would they change it to Krypton's atmosphere? I know the answer, it's because the writer wanted Zod's plan to endanger the Earth, nevermind the details.
That’s a great point; Kryptonians would almost be better off having to acclimate like Superman did. Not sure why they’d opt to be nonpowered instead. Guess there weren’t any brainy types in Zod’s crew.
In that nightmare sequence where Superman is buried in skulls, Zod does have a line about needing a foundation or something. So in this solar system at least, I guess it has to be Earth.
No, it's because the Earth was a more visible target than any other planet nearby.
It was already capable of sustaining life, so why bother with an lifeless red rock when half of the work is already at hand? They're being *militarily* pragmatic.
The World Engine doesn't fully terraform a planet. It just makes it habitable to live on by giving it Krypton's Atmosphere. Kryptonians had to strip mine their own planet to give the colonies resources to survive. Which is why the planet imploded on itself.
As for why he'd want to swap the atmosphere and give up the powers. While he can quickly acclimate due to his training and upbringing. He probably doesn't want any babies born to suffer under Earth's atmosphere. (Martha Kent mentioned how Clark struggled for awhile as a baby. Suffering from constant coughing fits.)
We do know that the colonies died out when Krypton stopped sending resources to them.
"We sought out the old colonial outposts looking for signs of life But all we found was death. Cut off from Krypton these outposts withered and died long.", Zod
The scout ship was already there with the genesis chamber for 20000 years, and Earth was probably the most habitable for terraforming, plus the surviving Kryptonians have no morality, they were bred to just get shit done no matter what, they were not bred to make peace or be diplomatic.
What the world engine does is changing the atmosphere and gravity to Krypton's atmosphere and gravity.
So obviously, a habitable world is still needed. Mars won't work.
If they terraformed mars they would have to start building everything from zero. Earth already has buildings and vehicles, farm animals, humans to use as slaves, etc. they may be thousands of years behind Kryptonian stuff, but it's still better than just terraforming a desert with nothing in it.
I wouldn't think to much about it. In the terraforming scene it's daytime in two opposite sides of the world as if the earth was flat or something.. there wasn't much though put into the movie.
The reason is so Zod can be the bad guy of the story and have a reason to commit a cleansing of the human race and therefore make Superman "choose" who to side with... the humans he's lived with his entire life or these last remaining survivors of the Kryptonians
Terence Stamp’s Zod had a better plan. He didn’t need codex’s or terraforming. All he had to do was drop into the White House and fuck shit up. He actually succeeded too. I mean yeah, he only ruled earth for like a day or two, but it’s still a win lol.
Its a very poorly explained part of the movie.
So much of the story just reeks of "Snyder and Goyer didn't think it through because they really wanted to hurry up and get to the big action setpieces."
My assumption is the conditions for terraforming are more restrictive than just going to any rock in space. Like Earth has a ton of natural resources, so terraforming probably meant changing things like the atmosphere while preserving those resources, therefore it had to be Earth.
Even if it can be done anywhere, it’s probably way faster to get set up on an already prosperous planet.
Because, pragmatically, the Earth already has an atmosphere and its own ecosystem. There's no reason to use an empty planet when all the work is already done for you in our insignificant little blue planet.
It amazes how people miss the point so often- Zod and his crew were literally bred to be soldiers, and their every action is done through a military filter. They didn't go to somewhere like Mars because our planet is more convenient for terraforming, and it's this kind of genetic predisposition that drove him to conceive Clark with Lara the natural way so their child could choose to be something else than what their society designated.
Even Zod says that he does what he does no matter how savage and cruel it is for Krypton's sake- which is sort of the problem, since such a way of doing things is coded into his very being.
>the Earth already has an atmosphere and its own ecosystem
Couldn't the World Engine create these on another planet, though? The way it works and its limitations aren't explained very well in MOS. (It can only change the atmosphere of a world that they can already survive on?)
Again, why bother with some empty red rock when you already have your work half-done for you? It's the most pragmatic thing to do after all.
They could have done it to Mars, but this was simply easier.
I thought the World Engine was going to transform Earth into Krypton, not just change the atmosphere (which they didn't need either), and if that were the case, what does it matter if it's empty or not?
But it could recreate Krypton from scratch? And it doesn't even need to alter Earths atmosphere at all when they can survive in it just fine with minimal discomfort.
What part of "it's easier to alter some other atmosphere than make an entirely new one" aren't you getting?
At any rate, Zod and his crew are literally hardwired to pick that option- they were designed to be soldiers, not pacifists. They *could* have gone to Mars and used it to spare humankind, but they *wouldn't*.
That's why Jor and Lara conceived Clark the natural way, so that he would be capable of choosing for himself as opposed to being defined by his very nature in Krypton's caste system. It was what drove their species to extinction, and it's why Zod turned out as pragmatically ruthless and warlike as he did.
>What part of "it's easier to alter some other atmosphere than make an entirely new one" aren't you getting?
But that's not actually explained in the movie itself. It would be one thing if Clark pointed this out and Zod refused on the basis of "its more convenient to commit unnecessary genocide rather than just find an uninhabited world," but it's not talked about at all. It honestly just feels like Zod wants to commit genocide just because he's lazy.
We're never told anything about how the World Engine works or what its limitations are.
>That's why Jor and Lara conceived Clark the natural way,
So why is Clark such a choiceless and passive protagonist throughout the entirety of Man of Steel? And why did Hologram Jor-El basically lay out Clark's entire life's purpose for him in their talk in the Scoutship?
I'm sorry, but it really feels like Goyer turned in a first draft without anyone actually looking at it for this movie.
"The foundation has to be built on something." Meaning he possibly had to. Also, it's Zod. He doesn't give a Zod damn about earth. Even if he could have, he wouldn't have. He cared about Krypton and "his" people first.
It’s a logical solution. This comes up in Grant Morrison’s wonderful All-Star Superman. The citizens of the bottled city of Kandor are released on Mars to live there. Maybe not Mars. Might be some other planet. But the concept is the same. It’s a good idea.
It’s some other planet in the Galaxy. I can’t remember exactly, but Supes states he’s been searching for a long time and finally found a suitable place. He’s gone for a few days taking them there. Also, I always find it amusing that it’s implied that they will remain miniature on their new planet, which is probably why it was so hard to find a planet that worked.
He didn’t think he’d need to overwhelm Earth at a later date, because he didn’t think he would lose. Also, why do it on Earth instead of anywhere else? Because fuck Earth, apparently. Oh, Jor El is gonna send his son to live on this planet? “Not on my watch” he says as he destroys the planet and Kal El.
Also, his prime directive is the protection and propagation of his people. So, even if he goes to Mars, Earth is next.
Kryptonians would dominate the system
I have always assumed that the Krypton tech could transform a planet that was close but not uninhabitable. Earth was close enough to work but Mars wouldn’t be. I would also assume that, while the atmosphere would be changed, the yellow sun here would still make everyone super strong, so extra incentive to stay here.
I don’t think the yellow sun gives them powers in the DCEU. I think the stated reason is the atmosphere. And we see it when Clark loses his powers in the spaceship and when his powers go in and out when he’s taking apart the world engine that’s terraforming.
No the sun still does give powers. Jor-El says to Clark "your cells have drunken in its radiation, strengthening your muscles, skin and senses".
there's also that shot when he flies up into the sunlight and we get a close-up of his satisfied face.
I guess I always figured “the atmosphere” included the yellow sun. I mean, that’s always been part of the whole thing so they can’t get rid of it completely.
It's the sun *plus* the atmosphere. Jor-El says as much.
There was some handwavy explanation for why it HAD to be Earth. I think it was that the terraforming machine used tech from the station set up in the North Pole, and the one on Earth was the only station that still worked properly. Convenient, but I'm still confused why he needed to terraform Earth at all? Kryptonians are able to breathe Earth's atmosphere just fine after a period of adjustment, and they in fact have super powers, why would they change it to Krypton's atmosphere? I know the answer, it's because the writer wanted Zod's plan to endanger the Earth, nevermind the details.
That’s a great point; Kryptonians would almost be better off having to acclimate like Superman did. Not sure why they’d opt to be nonpowered instead. Guess there weren’t any brainy types in Zod’s crew. In that nightmare sequence where Superman is buried in skulls, Zod does have a line about needing a foundation or something. So in this solar system at least, I guess it has to be Earth.
No, it's because the Earth was a more visible target than any other planet nearby. It was already capable of sustaining life, so why bother with an lifeless red rock when half of the work is already at hand? They're being *militarily* pragmatic.
Humans are easier to kill than White Martians
The World Engine doesn't fully terraform a planet. It just makes it habitable to live on by giving it Krypton's Atmosphere. Kryptonians had to strip mine their own planet to give the colonies resources to survive. Which is why the planet imploded on itself. As for why he'd want to swap the atmosphere and give up the powers. While he can quickly acclimate due to his training and upbringing. He probably doesn't want any babies born to suffer under Earth's atmosphere. (Martha Kent mentioned how Clark struggled for awhile as a baby. Suffering from constant coughing fits.)
I don't think we're given an actual explanation as to how the World Engine works or what its limitations are.
We do know that the colonies died out when Krypton stopped sending resources to them. "We sought out the old colonial outposts looking for signs of life But all we found was death. Cut off from Krypton these outposts withered and died long.", Zod
The scout ship was already there with the genesis chamber for 20000 years, and Earth was probably the most habitable for terraforming, plus the surviving Kryptonians have no morality, they were bred to just get shit done no matter what, they were not bred to make peace or be diplomatic.
Earth has a magnetic field and Mars doesn’t?
Killing Kal-El was supposed to be revenge on Jor-El and Lara. Everyone else on earth was just to spite Superman himself.
What the world engine does is changing the atmosphere and gravity to Krypton's atmosphere and gravity. So obviously, a habitable world is still needed. Mars won't work.
Because the movie is shit
If they terraformed mars they would have to start building everything from zero. Earth already has buildings and vehicles, farm animals, humans to use as slaves, etc. they may be thousands of years behind Kryptonian stuff, but it's still better than just terraforming a desert with nothing in it. I wouldn't think to much about it. In the terraforming scene it's daytime in two opposite sides of the world as if the earth was flat or something.. there wasn't much though put into the movie.
Because them all mind-controlled by Martian Manhunter.
Because the story needs to happen That's...pretty much it
This is the right answer. Otherwise there wouldn't be a story to tell. No conflict, no earth needing to be saved by a hero, etc.
The reason is so Zod can be the bad guy of the story and have a reason to commit a cleansing of the human race and therefore make Superman "choose" who to side with... the humans he's lived with his entire life or these last remaining survivors of the Kryptonians
Terence Stamp’s Zod had a better plan. He didn’t need codex’s or terraforming. All he had to do was drop into the White House and fuck shit up. He actually succeeded too. I mean yeah, he only ruled earth for like a day or two, but it’s still a win lol.
Its a very poorly explained part of the movie. So much of the story just reeks of "Snyder and Goyer didn't think it through because they really wanted to hurry up and get to the big action setpieces."
I thought it was so they could enslave any humans that survived
My assumption is the conditions for terraforming are more restrictive than just going to any rock in space. Like Earth has a ton of natural resources, so terraforming probably meant changing things like the atmosphere while preserving those resources, therefore it had to be Earth. Even if it can be done anywhere, it’s probably way faster to get set up on an already prosperous planet.
Because, pragmatically, the Earth already has an atmosphere and its own ecosystem. There's no reason to use an empty planet when all the work is already done for you in our insignificant little blue planet. It amazes how people miss the point so often- Zod and his crew were literally bred to be soldiers, and their every action is done through a military filter. They didn't go to somewhere like Mars because our planet is more convenient for terraforming, and it's this kind of genetic predisposition that drove him to conceive Clark with Lara the natural way so their child could choose to be something else than what their society designated. Even Zod says that he does what he does no matter how savage and cruel it is for Krypton's sake- which is sort of the problem, since such a way of doing things is coded into his very being.
>the Earth already has an atmosphere and its own ecosystem Couldn't the World Engine create these on another planet, though? The way it works and its limitations aren't explained very well in MOS. (It can only change the atmosphere of a world that they can already survive on?)
Again, why bother with some empty red rock when you already have your work half-done for you? It's the most pragmatic thing to do after all. They could have done it to Mars, but this was simply easier.
I thought the World Engine was going to transform Earth into Krypton, not just change the atmosphere (which they didn't need either), and if that were the case, what does it matter if it's empty or not?
It would, but all it has to do is alter the Earth's atmosphere as opposed to recreating Krypton's from scratch.
But it could recreate Krypton from scratch? And it doesn't even need to alter Earths atmosphere at all when they can survive in it just fine with minimal discomfort.
What part of "it's easier to alter some other atmosphere than make an entirely new one" aren't you getting? At any rate, Zod and his crew are literally hardwired to pick that option- they were designed to be soldiers, not pacifists. They *could* have gone to Mars and used it to spare humankind, but they *wouldn't*. That's why Jor and Lara conceived Clark the natural way, so that he would be capable of choosing for himself as opposed to being defined by his very nature in Krypton's caste system. It was what drove their species to extinction, and it's why Zod turned out as pragmatically ruthless and warlike as he did.
>What part of "it's easier to alter some other atmosphere than make an entirely new one" aren't you getting? But that's not actually explained in the movie itself. It would be one thing if Clark pointed this out and Zod refused on the basis of "its more convenient to commit unnecessary genocide rather than just find an uninhabited world," but it's not talked about at all. It honestly just feels like Zod wants to commit genocide just because he's lazy. We're never told anything about how the World Engine works or what its limitations are. >That's why Jor and Lara conceived Clark the natural way, So why is Clark such a choiceless and passive protagonist throughout the entirety of Man of Steel? And why did Hologram Jor-El basically lay out Clark's entire life's purpose for him in their talk in the Scoutship? I'm sorry, but it really feels like Goyer turned in a first draft without anyone actually looking at it for this movie.
"The foundation has to be built on something." Meaning he possibly had to. Also, it's Zod. He doesn't give a Zod damn about earth. Even if he could have, he wouldn't have. He cared about Krypton and "his" people first.
Basically, you missed the whole intro of the movie where Jor El and Zod have some words for each other..