Zack Snyder's original plan to introduce a spoken Kryptonian language in Man of Steel actually would have made the film's problems much worse. The film that started the DCEU, Man of Steel remains divisive. Despite Henry Cavill's Superman bringing an interesting iteration of the iconic character to life, Man of Steel is often considered responsible for setting the ill-advised tone for the films that followed, including the controversial sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Man of Steel serves not only as the starting point of the DCEU, but also as the origin of DC's most iconic hero, Superman. As such, Man of Steel delves into Kryptonian culture in the last days of Krypton leading up to the moment in which Jor-El (Russell Crowe) sends his son to Earth. Much of the film's plot concerns General Zod (Michael Shannon) as he tracks Kal-El and then lays siege to Earth, later attempting to terraform it to better suit the Kryptonian physiology. Importantly, Man of Steel offered a far greater insight into its version of Krypton than previous cinematic incarnations of Superman.
Originally, Zack Snyder's plan for Man of Steel was to incorporate an original creation: a spoken Kryptonian language. However, this would actually have made many of the film's most criticized aspects even worse. Man of Steel's focus on Kryptonian society and technology was something that many felt detracted from the essence of Henry Cavill's Superman, and had Snyder stuck with his original plan, this would likely have been all the more evident. The use of a spoken Kryptonian language would have been interesting, but ultimately it would have changed Man of Steel's story and tone just enough to hurt the film.
Zack Snyder's Kryptonian Language Idea Explained
Snyder's idea to include a spoken Kryptonian language in Man of Steel is indeed an interesting prospect. It would have undoubtedly drawn parallels with Lord of the Rings' Elvish and Star Trek's Klingon, serving to build immersion and make the film's world (or universe) feel far deeper and richer. Originally, the plan was for some of Man of Steel's characters to speak using a language created specifically for the film, subtitled for the audience to follow the alien tongue as characters engaged in conversation.
The idea was to have the film's Kryptonian characters speak their own language while on Krypton in the film's early scenes. This almost certainly would have continued throughout the film, with Man of Steel's Kryptonian villains communicating with one another using the language and also potentially Jor-El's holographic projection doing the same. Ultimately, Snyder decided against the idea as he considered it to be "a barrier to the viewer and not be as immersive right out of the box."
The Kryptonian Language Would Subtly Change Superman's Origins
In Man of Steel, Jor-El and Lara-El make the difficult decision to send their son to Earth in order to ensure that Krypton's legacy lives on. Had Snyder gone ahead with his plan to incorporate a Kryptonian language into the film, the origin of Henry Cavill's Superman would have been subtly different in a number of key ways. One of the key elements of the character, and particularly of his internal conflict in Man of Steel, was his status as an outsider from both Kryptonian and human society. His Kryptonian physiology separated him from humans, but his upbringing gave him more human sensibilities that put him at odds with Man of Steel's General Zod.
By introducing the idea of the Kryptonians speaking their own language, Kal-El would be made even more of an outsider. If people from his own planet were raised speaking Kryptonian, Kal-El's human upbringing would prevent him from understanding them. It's a small detail that would be easy to write around, but it would subtly change the way that Superman finds himself trapped between the two cultures, as it would instead push him closer to humanity. This theoretically would have lessened the impact of the character's internal conflict, as it would have made his human identity feel more valid by making the Kryptonians seem more alien to Clark's ears.
Man Of Steel Already Used Too Much Sci-Fi
The first film in the DCEU was criticized for its extensive use of sci-fi tropes to tell its story. Though this was an interesting and somewhat innovative approach to exploring the character, Man of Steel essentially got Superman all wrong by focusing too hard on the Kryptonian aspect of his story. Introducing an original Kryptonian spoken language specifically for the film would have pushed the film's sci-fi even further to the fore, making it entirely impossible to disregard.
Though Superman's story undoubtedly contains elements of science fiction (he is an alien, after all), the way that Man of Steel approached this was particularly intense. Not only did the film open with multiple expository scenes set on Krypton, but the central premise sees surviving Kryptonians lay siege to Earth in an attempt to end all human life. As the primary motivations of Zod include his desire to terraform Earth in Man of Steel, factoring in an extra sci-fi touch like the creation of an entire fictional language would only draw even more attention to the film's alien aspect. As Man of Steel being skewed towards sci-fi was ultimately a divisive choice, opting not to use the Kryptonian language was almost certainly a good decision.
How A Kryptonian Language Would Have Made Man Of Steel's Problems Worse
In terms of critical reception, one of the most common criticisms of Man of Steel was the film's pacing. The exposition-heavy opening and use of occasionally convoluted sci-fi elements slowed Man of Steel considerably, and that's something that would have been made much worse by scenes spoken entirely in a fictional language. The Kryptonian heritage of the DCEU's Superman was so thoroughly explored in Man of Steel that it actually made the film feel both slow and overstuffed according to some critics, and bloating it further with a brand new language would surely have exacerbated the issue.
Though Snyder's idea for creating a spoken Kryptonian language was undeniably intriguing, he made the right decision not to do so for Man of Steel. Though it may not have changed the finished film drastically, the subtle implications - both narratively and thematically - could potentially have derailed the character's DCEU story even further. Though Snyder's intention of creating a much more engaging, believable Kryptonian culture for Man of Steel was admirable, using a fictional language for entire scenes would have simply been a step too far.
