Short Author's Note: 200,000 words and 62 chapters in... Wow. What a milestone.
Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long and Maka Albarn's Commentary of Man of Steel (Part 2)
"So Clark, or as some people are calling him now, Superman, gets Lois out of the escape pod before it explodes. Aww, what a charming, romantic mo-oh! No time for that. We got exposition to spew.", summarizes Ruby after their short break, as they watch the next scene where Lois tells him that they looked inside her mind as Superman says they did to his too, "Huh. Guess they forgot to show that scene. Kinda pointless, seeing how they could get the exact same information out of him. Hell, maybe Zod managed to find the correct imagery this time."
Yang then said, "So Zod approaches Clark's mother dressed as that Space Jockey from the opening of Alien and tries to force her to tell him where the Codex is.", as Zod angrily asks Martha where the Codex was to which she doesn't know where it is, forcing him to shout the question again; the blonde giggled, "Does this guy have any charm outside of just shouting his ass off? How'd this guy get this position anyway? Blackadder? Mr. Bean?", before describing next, "Superman saves his mother, but potentially dooms this entire town by bringing the battle to them. It seems okay for the moment as Zod can't adapt to Earth's atmosphere, but Miss Not-Ursa and her masked minions can make up for that."
"Oh, and the scene when Superman crashes into an iHop restaurant, I bet the waiter's like, 'I'm sorry, sir, the red, white and blue pancakes are at Denny's. I appreciate your enthusiasm, though.'", Ruby joked as Yang and Maka smiled to this, before discussing, "And as many people have pointed out, the product placements in this scene are beyond horrendous, including some painful plugs for IHOP, Sears, 7-11, U-Haul. There's so many ads clashing in this scene that I don't think they can properly plug them all in time."
Maka came to think of this, "Alright, alright, I'll give you that one. There is way too much of that in the film. But you have to admit, the action scene is still amazing!"
"Does this involve countless plugs and people dying left and right? Despite that, of course it's fucking awesome!", said Ruby and Yang.
The meister smiles, "I know, right?"
"And oh my gods, that scene where he takes the van and he throws it at them! Nyoow! Ka-boom! And that scene where the guy jumps on the jet! Shoom! And Superman's like BOOM and then crashes in the ground! Do-do-do-do-do! And then they're going at it like Dragon Ball Z, except all the shitty stuff is cut out, well, some of it! Not Dragon Ball Z shitty stuff, but new shitty stuff! This stuff is awesome!", complimented the red-black-haired huntress, synopsizing, "He finally gets their helmets off...strange, seeing how Zod's came off in one explosion and theirs took like a bajillion...and seeing how he's won, he goes back to his mother to see if she's alright."
The blonde elder sister reacts when Martha complimented Superman's suit as her son says he was sorry to which she replies that it was only stuff, "He could respond saying, 'Oh, good. Could you tell the people down the street that? I'm up to my ass in property damages.'", as she continues the story, "But Zod discovers the Codex is in Superman's bloodstream and that he doesn't need to be alive in order for them to get it. So it's time to do a little planet redecorating. Ladies and gentlemen, because you've never seen the destruction of a major city in a summer blockbuster before, we give you...that thing we just said.", as they see Zod's ship firing a beam as it arrived at Metropolis, letting out a huge shockwave that was destroying most of the city.
"Oh my Gods, look at all the places they're destroying! Including IHOP, Denny's, Toys R Us, Sears! Target, McDonalds, GameStop, Walmart! Oh, the ingeniously marketed humanity!", Ruby woes, before abstracting, "So two machines on either side of the world start leveling the planet. This calls for Star Trek-style mumbo jumbo mixed in with a simple analogy that the audience can understand.", as the movie had Superman telling Swanwick and Dr. Hamilton in the film that his pod and Zod's ship are powered by phantom drives, which will cause a black hole singularity if they collided, "So the army goes to take out the one in the city while Superman goes to take out the one over the Indian Ocean."
The taupe-haired girl notifies, "Now I know there's a lot of people who get angry saying, 'Superman should've taken the one in the city first.' No! It's not just Superman who saves the world with one direct method. Brave civilians, our military, and Superman working together as one. Only he can make it there that fast to the other side of the world. And only he could possibly get around its defenses."
"Maka, honestly this set-up is so confusing, we'll just take your word for it.", said the leader of team RWBY.
The chain scythe wielder insists, "Okay. But you know, it recalled the time when me and my friends had battled an evil kishin known as Asura, okay? Me and Tsubaki were fighting alongside our friends Soul, Black Star, Kid, Liz and Patty, and let me tell you girls, it was one of the most difficult experiences I had, but we made it through by the way."
"Maka, is it okay if we take care of this part of the review? It only will take a few minutes.", suggested Ruby's sister.
The meister answered back, "Well, I was still telling my story though. I will be with you girls, just a few minutes?"
"We'll hear about it while we review this movie. We're listening.", both Ruby and Yang says.
"I'll be in my room. Also during that time, the battle was so brutal, it had only me and Tsubaki left standing, as if we were the last hope that would stand out in this battle...", Maka said as she goes to her room nearby and closes the door behind her as she recounted the crucial events that happened and established between her and her death weapon partner girlfriend Tsubaki prior.
Yang nevertheless outlooks the next scene, "So Zod adapts to the Earth's atmosphere, apparently half a lifetime of getting used to this can be reduced down to a couple of seconds now, and grabs the scout ship in order to start rebuilding Krypton. Meanwhile, Lois is on board the military ship about to blast the other one to hell when something seems to go wrong.", with Ruby and her watching Lois struggle to put the key to the Phantom Drive, forcing the latter to blurt, "Damn it, Lois, you had one job that we pointlessly put you in charge of and that was just to push a button, and you couldn't even do that right!", summarizing afterwards, "They do eventually get it to work, but Zod is hot on their trail. He must've been like, 'Terminate with extreme disinterest.'"
"But Superman stops the machine over the Indian Ocean and flies back to destroy Zod on his ship.", the blonde huntress states as they witness Superman prepare to use his heat vision as Zod warns that if he destroys his ship then he'll destroy Krypton; Superman replies that Krypton had its chance and proceeds to crash the ship, with Yang seeing this snippet from the film remarking, "The bridge between two worlds, everybody! If you have a chance to save a civilization, but...eehh, they were kinda jerks, just destroy any chance of them ever coming back. I guess the bridge in this movie is code for either us or them. And...honestly, even us kinda got the raw end of it.", and describing, "The ships are successfully destroyed with one of them being a kamikaze act as the ship imploded into oblivion, thus saving the world."
The red-black-haired tomboy-like girl sees the excerpt where the Daily Planet looks at the aftermath as they believe Superman had saved them, "Oh, for Gods' sakes, could you say that in a part of the city that doesn't look quite so...you know what? For crying out loud, all that's missing is the President and a banner that says Mission Accomplished.", while Superman and Lois kiss in the movie as the latter tells him that it would go all downhill after the first kiss; this prompts the two sisters to be confused as they exclaim, "Who the hell says that?!", continuing, "But it turns out Zod is still alive and angry that his future has been reduced to hot chocolate mix."
"So Zod vows to destroy Superman at any cost. Logically, seeing how he'll chase Superman anywhere, Superman leads him to a location far away from the people so that none of them will ever get hurt- Or he once again brings the most dangerous thing in the world to the people he swore to protect! Yeah, I'm sure they're really thankful.", sarcastically says the elder sister of Ruby Rose, "Superman gets him in a headlock, but Zod vows to make what he supposedly cares for most suffer."
As Ruby and her sister watch Zod in the movie try to kill an innocent family of four with his laser vision as Superman was battling him and keeping him in a headlock, the team leader of RWBY said, "Even though there's about three or four different ways those people could probably get out of there. Zod was even like, 'Uh, you have to admit, Supe, this isn't all me. These people are just kind of idiots.'", all while in the film Superman tells Zod to stop as the villain replied "NEVER!", meaning he wanted to keep killing and would never stop; Ruby then described the inevitable moment of the movie, "Thus we get our biggest controversial moment in all of the movie: Superman breaks Zod's neck.", as the scene had said character snapping Zod's neck in order to save the family, killing him and causing Superman to scream in anguish and agony.
Yang then told, "Gee, that was a lot for us to take in, don't you think, Maka?", before she and Ruby see she wasn't with them in the living room, "...really? Nothing from you on that one?", before realizing, "Oh... She's in her room."
"Maka?", Ruby asked as she and Yang walk over to the outside of Maka's room as they opened the door to it.
Maka was heard finishing her story, "...and that's how I destroyed Asura and saved the world with a fistful of bravery! Literally!", seemingly talking to a peculiar black cat in her room.
"Are you okay?", Ruby wondered.
The meister nods, "Yeah. I just finished my story about my series of events that happened prior. Did you hear it?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, we heard it. I presume you said something about you killing this kishin with a simple punch? Talk about One Punch Man.", referenced the Crescent Rose wielder.
Yang asks, "And what's that cat? Is it a stray or is it yours?"
"Yep. We're its owner. Her name is-", the taupe-haired girl was about to tell them, grabbing the black cat and petting it fondingly.
The blonde interrupted, "Never mind that. It's been a few minutes already, so you can join us again, in case you missed anything. So they destroyed the ships, Superman and Zod battled..."
"So...what scene are we at now?", Maka asked.
The red-black-haired female says, "The controversial neck-breaking scene?"
"Oh, you know, I'm not gonna lie. When I first saw that scene, I hated it. But the more you really think about it, this is a really bold choice. Because ultimately, it lets Zod win. It plays again to a young and inexperienced Clark and how he knows his actions will have huge ramifications.", taught the chain scythe master.
Ruby and Yang thought, "Yeah, because having the city nuked didn't have enough ramifications."
"Point being it's a catalyst now for why he will never ever take another life. The fact that he had to do it to one of his own people, one of the last remaining Kryptonians. At that moment, he not only chooses to be human, but he makes the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. And he also makes himself forever alone.", explains the DWMA student.
The two Beacon Academy huntresses sighed, "We have to agree, yeah. Surprisingly, the most hated scene by so many fans actually didn't bother me that much. We mean, keep in mind, we saw Superman kill Zod in the second movie and no one had a heart attack over that. And on top of that, even though it could've been illustrated better, we like the idea they were going for. That you won't always have answers to situations that are always ethically pleasing. It's actually a very difficult, very hard thing to come to grips with...", with Ruby saying, "Too bad it's forgotten in the very next scene. He just blows some more shit up because like we said, we haven't seen enough of that."
"Yeah, it's pretty rushed. I mean, he takes down a satellite and then makes a joke about how hot he is, and they never bring it up again. It's almost like the scene before it never freaking happened! It really pisses me the fuck off and they just ruined it right there!", lambasted the meister.
Yang situates, "They never established that killing people was a big thing for him. Hell, we saw so many other civilians die, we figured that he'd be used to seeing it by now."
"Um, we never actually see any of those people die as a direct result from Superman. I mean, sure we see people die when Zod's ship is like humping the earth. But I get what you're saying. You're actually saying we agree on the neck-break scene then?", reasoned Maka.
Ruby and Yang say in unison, "We think so."
"The one part most fans universally hate...we actually think is okay?"
"For the most part, yeah."
"So does that actually mean you girls like it?", Maka asked.
The two girls then hesitate on their decision, about to reveal their verdict of what they thought of it...
Both Ruby and her sister then said with regret, "I'm sorry, but...I still think the movie was still kinda awful!"
"Oh, come on, really?", disappointed Maka.
The two informed Maka with sincerity and remorse, "No, we're very sorry. We can only say it's awful...", as the two of them start their overall review of Man of Steel; "There are some things I like. All the actors to play these roles are good choices, the action scenes are awesome, and though I like the more upbeat Superman, we're open to the idea of a darker version. But these characters have no identity. Outside of their job and how they look, you wouldn't even know that this was Clark Kent or Lois Lane if they didn't call them Clark Kent or Lois Lane. The millions of subplots are not needed and get in the way of any emotional connection we want to make. The incoherent storytelling is pointless and annoying, and as a superhero, he lets way too many people die in this! Even if you took Superman's name off of this, people still wouldn't like this stupid, illogical mess."
"Could be wrong. Those characters may seem boring to you because they're not as over-the-top or single noted as the comic book ones or the Christopher Reeve versions. It's a new kind of Superman that needs a less clichéd character, okay? It needs a tougher and darker outlook, because we've seen the other Superman stories already. Those are still there. And by putting him in these morally confusing lessons that you call illogical, I see them as challenging. And there's no way to save every single body like in previous movies and always get your way. There's just a man struggling between what it means to be human and more than human, and trying to do the right thing, yet he still manages to rise above it and save us all! For my verdict, this movie is awesome!", Maka says the second part of her overall review with Man of Steel.
Ruby realizes something, "Actually, I think I understand now. We may never like this movie. I think it's an insult to everything Superman stands for and I will never understand how you can actually like it. But just because I can't see how doesn't mean I can't understand why.", explaining the film's climax, "When we see this movie, we see people dying for the sake of getting violent-craving teens in the seats. But that's not what you see. You see one of your favorite superheroes being tested and put through a greater challenge than ever before, and by having him witness and go through so much intensity, it makes his challenges seem greater and his struggle all the more interesting. For you, and probably a lot of people that enjoyed this movie, you're seeing the Man of Steel go up against some of the greatest evil that he's ever gone up against, because of how much damage he does. So when he rises up, you can feel all the more proud of what a terrible thing he's stopped. It's not craving dark, horrible things like a maniac. It's seeing someone fight against those dark, horrible things. And not just by him holding heavy stuff, but by standing up for what he feels is important.", finishing her verdict with Yang on the movie, "We don't see the same thing. But at the very least, that's what you see. So, as long as you're viewing it because you want to see the best of strength and kindness rise up against the worst of oppression and force... All we can say is...go ahead and enjoy it. No matter what postive or negative response it leans upon."
Maka couldn't help but smile as some tears fall from their eyes. Her heart warmed to hearing this response.
"Thanks for understanding me...guys.", Maka smiled as she proceeds to hug both Ruby and Yang as a sign of friendship.
Surprised, the two RWBY characters couldn't help either but embrace their fellow Soul Eater character back deeply.
"Thank you for the hug. After all, you and me are both scythe wielders.", Ruby compassionately says to Maka as they hugged.
Maka says, "Indeed. And we do understand that Man of Steel does have some divided diversity around their views on the film. Including ours.", happily during their hug.
A doorbell was heard as the three heard this.
"They're back already?", presumes Maka, Ruby and Yang as they all went to the entranceway of the apartment complex, opening the door.
It was Blake, Weiss and Tsubaki once again, who had a few bags of goodies, and were wearing some beautiful accessories (and souvenirs for team RWBY) from their shopping spree.
"Hey, guys!", Ruby said, "How was the shopping spree going?"
Blake said, "You wouldn't believe what we've found! The shopping district had a mall, a marketplace, and even an ice cream shoppe!"
"We also found some new clothing and accessories here that we thought would look cool on the way back to Remnant.", the Faunus' girlfriend Weiss said.
Tsubaki put her hands together whilst holding her shopping bags, "So how did the review go?"
"I liked it.", Maka rose her hand to her girlfriend death weapon partner.
Ruby and Yang regretted and sighed, "We both hated it, but the effects were cool.", raising her hand too.
"We thought so.", Blake, Weiss and Tsubaki figured, "50/50 for critical reviews, huh?"
Ruby, Yang and Maka simply said, "Pretty much."
"So, since you're finished, are you girls going to leave soon?", Tsubaki questions politely since the review had been done.
The chain scythe meister replied, "Actually, about that...I decided...maybe we could watch another film before you guys go. It's almost 5PM, so we can have some food while we watch."
"Oh, nice! You're thinking of a watch party? That'a an amazing idea," both team RWBY and Tsubaki excite, as Ruby and Yang suddenly add, "But if the movie is bad enough, we'll review it. What movie are you suggesting this time?"
Maka smoothly reveals, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."
"Oh, is that the Man of Steel sequel we've heard about?", Ruby and Yang said.
"Yep. And it's also the kickstarter to the ever-expansive DC Extended Universe. I think it'll be worth a watch since it's also by Zack Snyder."
"We'll give it a go. We might have saw it in IMAX some time ago, but we'll give it a rewatch."
"So, you think things in this film can't get worse than the awesome Man of Steel, girls?"
"Let's find out.", insists Ruby, smiling and agreeing.
The six of them then promptly began to watch Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice together as Tsubaki goes to make some food in the apartment's kitchen for all of them as a dinner meal, in which they manage to eat and finish the delicacy during the film. Even Ruby got a chance to take some pictures with her teammates and their new friends Maka and Tsubaki with Ruby's scroll device.
For about two and a half hours from 5PM to 7:30 PM, they watched it together, especially with Ruby, Yang and Maka having the belief that this film might be better than Man of Steel.
They were wrong.
After the end of the movie, Ruby groaned in disappointment, "Man, this movie's terrible!"
"This was worse than before!", Yang angered.
Maka was heard saying, "Now you tell me.", as both girls turn to see her.
The red-black-haired huntress asked, "So what do you think? Was it good?"
"Well, despite how good I think Man of Steel was...THIS IS HORRIBLE!", the taupe-haired meister raged.
"Now you're talking! It's a complete disappointment!"
"Exactly what I had in mind!"
"This..."
"...is a total..."
"...letdown!", Ruby and Maka said in unison about their and Yang's disappointment of the movie.
After a moment of silence, Blake, Weiss and Tsubaki all said, "We don't think it was a letdown."
"That's what some people think.", Yang said, "But this...this just got everything wrong that we've anticipated!"
Maka agreed and nodded, "Yeah. Now we're definitely gonna have to review this..."
Ruby thought of something for a second before she then gets an idea for the BvS review.
"Maka...", the dark-haired tomboy asked her, "Have you ever come to Remnant before?"
The meister and her partner nodded, "No, we haven't."
"Then this is your lucky day.", the leader of team RWBY said as she, Yang, Blake and Weiss gathered, "We're going to go now, and I was thinking that maybe you two could come and review Batman v Superman while we're there."
Maka ponders, "Well...I don't know if we have classes tomorrow or if we're free tomorrow, but as soon as the two of us return to Death City before the next day, we won't mind."
"Come.", said Ruby as Maka and Tsubaki decide to follow team RWBY as they left and locked up the apartment complex when they left.
Outside, the six of them strolled across the city as Maka asked, "So...which part of Remnant are you thinking of going when we review this thing? Is it Beacon, the academy you go to?"
"Actually, I was thinking of Mistral for now before the four of us go back to Remnant and you two go back here. I know someone who could help explain what's wrong with this flick.", suggests the red-black-haired huntress.
The blonde elder sister of Ruby says, "This is going to be interesting."
"We know it will.", Blake, Weiss, Maka and Tsubaki all said as they continued on their way to the hovercraft shuttle outside the city that took them to Death City.
Once there, the six of them settled inside the hovercraft shuttle as Ruby then said, "Back to Remnant. Mistral, please. After we're done there, take us back to Beacon, and send these two friends back to Death City here, please. I'll send you a tip.", as the pilot hears this and, without a word, starts up the ship and departs the city on its way back to RWBY's world.
"So what do you think we could learn from this next review? What do you think the movie should get?", Maka questioned as they were on the way back to Remnant.
Ruby and Yang simply answered in epicness and hope, "Justice."
The ship then was seen leaving Earth and blasting off on its way to Remnant...
Present day...
BEACON
5:35 PM
Team RWBY, after remembering these events from the day they first met Maka Albarn and her partner Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, and how Ruby and Yang did their first collaborated review with Maka together on the DC film Man of Steel.
"Girls?"
The four team members turn to see Maka and Tsubaki outside the room, the door open as the two smiled compassionately at them.
"What are you guys doing?", Maka curiously queried.
Ruby blushed, "Oh! Nothing. Just thinking."
"What was it?", Tsubaki asks, as she and Maka look at the photo Ruby was holding.
The meister smiled, "We remember. That was the day we first met and did that Man of Steel review...and that Batman v Superman review thereafter."
"Thinking about it...we've been through a lot together. Didn't even know back then that the black cat at your home was the same as the one we met and had fun with during that Sanderson Witches' Hocus Pocus review fiasco...Blair.", truthfully said Ruby.
The ninja-like death weapon partner states, "You mean her? Yeah, she was pretty nice after the first time we met her. She became both our pet and our acquaintance."
"And I remember I told you and Yang the story about me and my friends' events back home...it was nice.", Maka mellowed.
Yang adds, "We can imagine it."
"But still, that Batman v Superman movie was pretty disappointing."
"We can imagine it too."
"Most importantly," the taupe-haired girl says, "It's nice to have you guys as our friends."
The red-black-haired huntress smiled and soon enough proceeds to embrace Maka once again, in which she hugs back. Yang, Blake, Weiss and Tsubaki watch them hug and were delighted by the sight.
Then, the six of them then heard one of their friends say, "Guys! Dinner!"
"Coming!", Ruby yelled out, saying to her friends, "Come on, guys. Let's go."
Maka also said, "I can't believe you've got a replica of the Super Bowl LII trophy.", as they left.
Then as they leave the room, we then see the displays on the wall as we see the picture of Ruby, her teammates, Maka and Tsubaki back on that beloved day they first met.
It was indeed a day to remember.
End of Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long and Maka Albarn's Commentary of Man of Steel
Up Next: Team RWBY, Faye Valentine, Fuu Kasami and Iki Hiyori's Commentary of Spy Kids 3D: Game Over
