I'm not sure how you'll stop him in a way that doesn't involve killing. As the original post states, they don't yet know about Kryptonite or using red sun rays to weaken him, so there's no jail that can keep him. Unless you think he can be reasoned with, what's your plan here?

He's the only one who has a chance at stopping Zod (and that chance drops over time).

Blame the people who made the movie if you want,

Your reasoning as to why Superman shouldn't kill — because he's supposed to be better than everyone and magically come up with the best option — is true, but it's also why I don't like the traditional depiction of Superman sometimes. It's boring.

To be honest I think the reason we see villains dieing in movies is because screen writers have gotten lazy and unimaginative. Sure you could hammer out for days a creative way for the hero to stop the villain in a non-lethal way that still produces a satisfying ending or you could say oh the heck with it kill him or…

I think part of the issue though is the filmmakers were going out of their way to put Superman into a position where he absolutely HAD to kill.

Not true. The writers had stated that Superman (and therefore Zod) isn't able to fly to the moon. It stands to reason that if Superman put Zod on the moon (somehow, be creative) he couldn't fly back.

Yes, and I believe that is exactly the sort of trickle down global interventionism that Man of Steel attempts to justify. Just look at the film's cross promotion with the U.S. Armed Service, not to mention Warner Bros. trying to get Christian pastors to preach about the film. This movie was pro-war, pro-violence…

One thing (of many) I particularly didn't like in MoS is that when the Kryptonians show up Superman, for all intents and purposes, does not exist. He is sort of starting to be exposed, but he's just an unknown, alien other. So it's just one alien vs. another alien to save the Earth (except us humans on this…

I think my central issue with Superman the Murderer, is that Superman is inherently a children's character.

Not only did Superman kill Zod in the Christopher Reeve version,