Col Hardy, Dr Hamilton, and Lois board a plane to take the pod to Metropolis, while Superman flies around the world to try and stop the World Engine. However, he is assailed by a Kryptonian defense mechanism within the machine, that attempts to fend him off with long tentacles.
The situation over Metropolis grows more desperate as none of the planes sent by the Air Force are able to get close to Zod's machine. Zod's ship and the World Engine have created a gravitational vacuum that keeps the transport unable to properly launch Clark's pod.
Realizing there's no way he can fight off the tentacles, Clark goes deep under the World Engine, and punches his way through it, causing the connection to sever, and the machine to explode. With the gravitational disruption gone, Hardy flies the transport closer to Zod's ship but it is intercepted by Faora, who attempts to stop them.
As well, Zod has arrived in Metropolis with the ship. As he attempts to destroy the Air Force plane, Clark swoops in and crashes into the ship's control panel. Zod yells for Clark to once again let him complete his plan to revive Krypton. "Krypton had its chance," yells Clark, who then uses his heat-vision to tear apart the ship, causing it to crash, and the gestation chamber to fracture.
Faora's attempts fail as well as Hardy steers the plane into the ship. As Lois was on the rear of the plane as it tilted down towards the ship, she loses her balance and falls to Earth. The collision of the two Phantom Drives causes the military aircraft, and the Black Zero (along with the people on the vessels), to disappear.
Clark manages to save Lois again and puts her safely on the ground. Nearby, the sound of moving metal is heard, and Clark finds Zod, thoroughly enraged. Zod tells Clark that he was engineered to be a General of Krypton, and to protect it and its people. With nothing left to revive the planet, Zod seethes that Clark has taken his soul and promises to kill the humans one at a time in retribution for what Clark has done.
The two then battle across Metropolis, smashing through buildings. During the fight, Zod adapts further to Earth's atmosphere, spawning heat-vision and the ability for flight. The battle soon ends with them in a train station, where Zod blasts his heat vision at a nearby family. "If you love these people so much, then you can mourn for them," he shouts.
Clark begs Zod to stop but when Zod claims he will never stop, Clark snaps the General's neck, killing him. It is clear that Clark did not want to exact such a terrible judgement, and he agonizes over having not only killed another person, but one of the last of his race. Lois appears and comforts him.
The film then cuts ahead some time later, with Swanwick and Major Carrie Farris (Christina Wren) finding Superman downing an Air Force drone. Superman claims that he knows they had sent it to find his home on Earth, but he wants the search to stop and that he'll continue to fight for what is right and the security of Earth.
The General questions Superman's commitment and Clark replies that he's from Kansas and can be trusted. As he flies away, the General's adjutant smiles, clearly won over by how handsome and forthright he appears to be. Clark then returns to Smallville, where he and Martha visit Jonathan's grave. Clark claims he wishes his father could have seen what he accomplished, but Martha Kent says he did.
When she asks what Clark intends to do now, he claims he'll get a job where he can be updated on what is going on with the world, where he won't be questioned about visiting dangerous places and be able to ask questions if needed. We then see him in the Daily Planet building, being introduced to Lois Lane. Though he is now sporting a pair of black-rimmed glasses, it is apparent that Lois knows just who this new person is.
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