‘Man Of Steel’ Recap Before The Two Icons Clash In ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice’

The new DC Cinematic Universe is expected to take off this Friday with the premiere of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” A big part of why the two superheroes will be fighting each other was set up by the events in the previous Superman movie, “Man of Steel.” Before you watch Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) fight one another, here’s a recap of the events that happened in “Man of Steel” that led up to their epic clash.

“Man of Steel” basically rebooted the Superman franchise and started telling the origin story of the hero. After his home planet of Krypton is destroyed, Superman’s father, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) sends him to Earth along with the genetic codex of the entire Kryptonian race. The craft the young Superman was sent away in crash lands in Kansas and he’s adopted by Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane). Superman is given the name Clark by his adopted parents and eventually he learns from his father that he’s an alien with superpowers. However, Jonathan warns him to never use those powers in public.

When Jonathan is killed in a tornado, Clark struggles with the loss and goes off on his own. He later learns the truth about who he is after he comes across a spaceship in the Canadian Arctic and sees a hologram of his father. Lois Lane, a reporter for the Daily Planet, goes onto the ship and Clark has to rescue her from the security system. She writes a story for the paper about her experience, but her editor thinks it’s ridiculous. She then follows up on the story and goes to Kansas to find Clark. When she learns his true story she decides not to write it up to protect his identity.

General Zod (Michael Shannon), a former military leader of Krypton who turned on it’s rulers, makes his way to Earth to find the codex that was stowed away with Clark. Zod threatens to destroy Earth if the codex isn’t turned over to him and Clark willingly turns himself over to Zod. Zod reveals his plans to wipe out all of humanity and to turn Earth into the new Krypton, which doesn’t sit well with Clark. After escaping from Zod, Clark allies himself with the U.S. military to stop Zod from destroying the planet. An epic battle ensues which leads to Clark being forced to kill Zod to save the planet.

After Superman rids the world of Zod, the U.S. government decides to keep tabs on Superman because they don’t trust that he’s really out for their best interests. Superman discovers that a drone is tracking him and he throws it to the ground in the middle of the desert near where General Swanwick (Harry Lennix) is driving with Major Carrie Farris (Christina Wren). Superman assures Swanwick that he’s on his side and is there to help. He asks Swanwick to trust him before he flies away. You can watch the scene below:

Following his meeting with General Swanwick, Superman gets a job as a stringer at the Daily Planet under his alter ego name, Clark Kent, where he will still be working in the new film. In “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” Batman will leave Gotham City to go to Metropolis to try and put a stop to Superman. He believes it’s only a matter of time before Superman turns on humanity and he wants to put him in check before it happens. However, an even greater threat will rise up as the two iconic heroes face-off.

Watch a trailer for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” below:

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” hits theaters Friday.