A Man of Steel, thanks to a nefarious secret plot involving Kryptonian DNA. Zack Snyder's Man of Steel marked the beginning of the DCEU with an interesting take on Superman's origins. Establishing a darker, sci-fi-heavy tone was a divisive choice in 2013, as it made clear changes to the established canon of one of pop culture's most iconic characters.
Man of Steel, like almost every version of Superman's origin story, features both of its titular hero's father figures: his Kryptonian biological father, Jor-El, and his human adoptive father, Jonathan Kent. The difference between the two figures and their roles in their son's life has often been explored in Superman stories, particularly concerning the conflict it creates in Clark. However, Man of Steel downplays this internal struggle and instead establishes Jor-El as a brilliant Kryptonian scientist who simply wants his son to survive and bring peace to his new home planet.
However, one Man of Steel's Kryptonian Codex in his infant son, Jor-El seemingly sets himself up as the film's secret villain. As a result, the theory suggests that Jor-El's plan was for his son to repopulate the Earth with Kryptonian hybrids using the DNA stored within him, and it's incredibly compelling - making Clark's biological father far less inspirational than he appears to be.
Jor-El Wanted To Bring Natural Birth Back To Krypton
One of the biggest pieces of evidence to this Sinister Jor-El theory is established by Man of Steel's opening scenes. The DCEU's version of Jor-El is a radical scientist, eschewing the traditional Kryptonian way of thinking in favor of his own ideals. This is most obviously displayed in his thoughts on natural birth instead of the artificially-conceived babies that Krypton had been producing for generations.
Exactly how this makes Jor-El Man of Steel's villain is linked to the events surrounding the Codex, but it's an important part of the theory. Jor-El believes that naturally-born Kryptonians are the future, as they are given more choice and freedom over their own lives. Though his sentiment seems irable, the added context of the events of Man of Steel makes Jor-El's obsession with natural birth all the more important within this theory.
Jor-El Hid All Kryptonian DNA Inside Infant Kal-El's Body
Man of Steel's big second act reveals that Jor-El did not simply hide the Codex on Kal-El's ship but implanted it within his infant son. Man of Steel doesn't explicitly state Jor-El's plans for the Codex beyond this, although the theory paints his intentions in a more sinister light than Zack Snyder's movie itself. It's stated in Man of Steel that Henry Cavill's Superman contains the genetic information of all Kryptonians within him, making him the key to Krypton's survival. The subtext of this is that Jor-El perhaps intended to somehow extract the DNA to ensure new Kryptonians could be born, although that's hardly in keeping with his ideals regarding natural birth.
The other implication from Man of Steel's Codex reveal is that Jor-El wanted his son to on the Kryptonian DNA in a more organic way. The simplest way of creating a population of Kryptonians on Earth would be for Kal-El to father as many children as possible, which is something that Jor-El heavily hints at throughout Man of Steel. As the specific nature of the Codex isn't thoroughly explored, the implications of Jor-El's plan are instead contextualized by his stance on natural birth, making it seem as though he wanted Kal-El to bring back Krypton the old-fashioned way.
Jor-El Wanted His Son To Be A Bridge Between Krypton And Earth
So many DCEU villains are aliens, and there's a good reason for that given the Justice League's heroes come together to protect the Earth, and extraterrestrial threats were established in the DCEU's very first film. However, Superman represents a less-threatening category of aliens, and Jor-El specifically states that he intended for his son to act as the "bridge between two worlds." This lends itself perfectly to the theory's idea of Jor-El intending for his son to repopulate Earth with Kryptonians.
Jor-El's ideas about natural birth and freedom, combined with his comments about Kal-El being a "bridge," seem to evidence his true intentions. With all of Krypton's DNA stored within him, Kal-El would be the prime candidate to seed a new Kryptonian society on the DCEU's Earth. Jor-El's comments clarify that it is his intention for Krypton to survive align with his own vision - as the "bridge" seemingly refers to the idea of Kryptonian hybrids, which are shown to have Kryptonian powers, giving them a natural advantage over humanity.
Jor-El's Plan Was The Same As Zod's – Just Less Violent
With everything that can be extrapolated from Jor-El's somewhat cryptic comments, it would seem that he is as much of a villain as General Zod. In Superman canon, the two are said to have once worked together until Jor-El began to disagree with Zod's methods, and this is something that's seemingly paralleled by their respective plans for Earth. Man of Steel's version of General Zod wants to take Earth by force and recreate Krypton in its place, whereas Jor-El's plan is seemingly to have Kal-El slowly populate the Earth with natural-born Kryptonians.
Jor-El's plan reflects the ideas he presents in Man of Steel's opening scenes - he's just as radical as Zod but with slightly more noble intentions. While Zod planned to give surviving Kryptonians an immediate home by repurposing Earth for their own physiology and then repopulating it after the fact, Jor-El wanted to return Kryptonian society to a more organic means of reproduction by essentially having Kal-El begin a new chapter for natural-born Kryptonians on Earth. His talk of the "bridge between two worlds" is presented as noble, when actually it could imply that he intends to make Earth more like Krypton in the long run.
Jor-El May Have Been Man Of Steel's Real Villain
Though General Zod is an iconic Superman movie villain and Jor-El is not, if the nefarious Jor-El theory is to be taken as true, then Kal-El's biological father is Man of Steel's real villain. His plan to recreate a Kryptonian society on Earth may not seem inherently evil, but the subtler implications paint the character in a very different light. As Jor-El states early in the film, Kal-El will be like "a god" on Earth, confirming that he knows how powerful Kryptonians are under Earth's sun.
Jor-El wanting to slowly repopulate Earth with Kryptonians seems to evidence a much slower and more subtle invasion than Zod's, allowing the powerful aliens to slowly gain humanity's trust while wielding an immense advantage over them. In actuality, this wouldn't create the peaceful society Crowe's Jor-El says that he hopes for, which reframes some of his comments as a means of preying on the kind-hearted nature of Henry Cavill's Superman. By exploiting Kal-El's love for humanity and subtly manipulating him into adopting certain ideals, Jor-El could actually be considered the villain of Man of Steel from a certain point of view - and what's worse, he may have actually won in the long run.
