All It Would Have Taken...

...to give the aforementioned superheroes some kind of transformation was one good scene.

A scene in which our superhero is allowed to be vulnerable (remember this?). Or a scene in which they are allowed to acknowledge they’re not 100% sure they’re doing the right thing, and maybe even feel regret (just don’t pull one of these).

If it had been clear at any point what Superman’s biggest vulnerability was (and please, no K word) it would have greatly informed his choices in the end. For example, if it had been clear that his biggest emotional struggle was not knowing his own father, then maybe, in the end, we’d think “He’s realized that there are sacrifices a father must make—his father sacrified all for his own son, and now Superman must do so, too.”

If G-Girl (the Super Ex-Girlfriend) had to at some point acknowledge her regret for abandoning the young Eddie Izzard, then her choice to be with him in the end (and relax her meany ways) would have made so much more sense. Without that scene, it feels like she's settling for the guy who'll have her.

One scene wouldn’t have made them perfect movies. But these crucial scenes sure would have helped.