Why would anyone not write such a story when dealing with superpowered villains and other uncompromising threats? You know, the way the Avengers actively tried to kill Thanos and his minions, instead of arrest or slap them on the wrist...
Situations dictate response.
Oh, they not only
tried to kill Thanos and his minions. They
did exactly that. And it was much deserved and gave the genocidal business-economist, that is Thanos, a taste of his own medicine.
The difference between Thanos and Zod is simple:
Thanos could not have been bested another way. Zod OTOH - there would've been different options, rather than just kill the dude. And no matter how much you want to say "hahaha, yeah, put hands before his eyes, eh?!" - yeah, that would've been an option. Or just knock him out, throw him into space - after all, Zod's fighting frakking Superman. And you want to tell me, that he had no other chance, than just snapping Zods neck? Nope, not buying it.
Same with Steppenwolf in the Snyder Cut - the supposed "better" version has Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman beating the crap out of the dude, punching him, stab him and beheading him. The solution in the Whedon cut - "showing his minions, that he is afraid, too" - is the better, more elegant option.
Plus - and that's just me: If a movie tends to take itself seriously, at least
I tend to take everything about the flick seriously. And then I ask myself: Why don't the people of Smallville give a rats ass about the fact, that Clark - the man, they
buried at the end of BVS - suddenly walks around again. And why doesn't no one put one and one together, noticing that Clark is alive again and Superman is alive again and therefore figuring out, that Superman is Clark?
In films, that don't take themselves seriously, I shrug the shoulders and say "Meh, who cares." - but if a flick is supposed to be a masterpiece, I think "Someone forgot about that plot-point, eh?"
Or Lucas could have just written that destroying the reactor simply leaves the Death Star powerless and will force all its occupants to abandon ship.
Would've been an option, too.
