Superman Ascends

Superman Ascends is a 2013 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Superman. The film serves as a reboot of the Superman film series which began in 1978, with Christopher Reeve portraying Superman.

Plot
The planet Krypton is facing imminent destruction due to its increasingly unstable core. Scientist Jor-El learns of the danger Krypton faces and attempts to warn the Kryptonian High Council. Before any action can be taken, soldiers led by General Dru-Zod, an old friend of Jor-El's, launch an uprising and overthrow the council. Knowing that artificial population control and isolationism have ruined their civilization, Jor-El and his wife Lara launch their newborn son, Kal-El, the first naturally born Kryptonian child in centuries, on a spacecraft to Earth after removing the planetary binding genes in his genetic makeup. Zod orders the rocket destroyed, but forces loyal to the council arrive to put down the rebellion. Based on Jor-El's testimony, Zod and his followers are convicted of treason and imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. However, they are indirectly freed when Krypton explodes.

Kal-El's ship lands on Earth near Smallville, a farming town in Kansas. He is raised as the adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent, who name him Clark. Clark's Kryptonian physiology grants him superhuman powers on Earth, much to his confusion. Jonathan reveals to a teenage Clark that he is an extraterrestrial and forewarns him about social rejection. However, he also tells Clark that is on Earth for a reason, and gives him a key from the spacecraft that brought him to Earth. After Jonathan dies of a heart attack, Clark hears a strange noise emanating from the key and decides to leave home and travel, hoping to find a purpose to his life. Over the next several years, Clark works various jobs under assumed identities, anonymously performs good deeds, and begins to develop a connection to people.

Clark eventually makes his way to Metropolis, where he finds work as a reporter at the Daily Planet newspaper run by editor Perry White. Clark works with investigative journalist Lois Lane, to whom he develops a romantic attraction, and photographer Jimmy Olsen. The trio is tasked with traveling to the Arctic, where the U.S. military has unearthed an ancient Kryptonian scout ship. The key guides Clark inside the ship and allows him to activate its central computer. The perserved consciousness of Jor-El appears in the form of a hologram, and proceeds to explain Clark's origins and the extinction of his people. Jor-El tells Clark that he was sent to Earth help mankind towards a better future, and presents him with a Kryptonian uniform bearing his family's symbol. While following Clark, Lois is attacked by the ship's security system. Clark uses his powers to save Lois and returns her to safety before disappearing. Lois tracks Clark back to Smallville with the intention of writing an expose on him. After hearing his story, however, she promises to keep his identity secret.

Clark dons the Kryptonian uniform and using his ability to fly, rescues a commercial airliner from crashing into an airport terminal, revealing himself to the world. An international manhunt is launched to find the mysterious rescuer. Meanwhile, Zod and his crew pick up a Kryptonian distress signal sent from the ship Clark discovered on Earth. Zod arrives and demands that humanity surrender Kal-El or suffer the consequences. Clark accepts, and the military hand him and Lois over to Zod's second-in-command Faora. Zod reveals that he possesses  terraforming equipment salvaged from Kryptonian outposts, which he intends to use to transform Earth into a new Krypton and repopulate the planet with genetically-engineered Kryptonians, unremorseful of the fact that this will kill Earth's indigenous life in the process. Zod offers Clark the opportunity to join him, but Clark refuses and escapes Zod's ship along with Lois. Clark defeats Faora and another Kryptonian sent to eliminate him, and convinces the military that he is an ally, just as Zod and his crew launch their invasion.

Clark destorys the terraforming device while the military launches a suicide attack, activating a portal and sending Zod's troops back into the Phantom Zone. Zod survives and vows to kill as many humans as possible to avenge the destruction of his race. Zod engages Clark in a battle across Metropolis, endangering many civilians as Clark tries to protect them. When Zod attempts to drop a building on top of a crowd of innocent bystanders, Clark is forced to stop him by breaking his neck.

Clark obtains Zod's body from the U.S. government and releases it into space, accepting his positon as the last free suriving Kryptonian. Lois writes a different article on the alien hero, in which she dubs him, "Superman." Clark returns to the scout ship found in the Arctic and tranforms it into the Fortress of Solitude, perserving the consciousness of his parents in the fortress's computer programs. In the final scene, Clark is talking to Martha on the phone when police sirens sound in the distance, causing Clark to respond as Superman.

Cast
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