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Superman: Man of Steel


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I liked SR despite what the critics say but I honestly think Superman would work best set in the 1930s/40s. Like these cartoons. Superman is a lot like Captain America. He comes from another time when there were less shades of gray. He doesn't need to be remade, updated, or made darker. Just go back to the era from which he came.

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I thought Superman Returns was ok, but I always felt a reboot would be better. What really bugs me about Superman is the fact that Lois Lane can't recognise that Superman and Clerk Kent are the same person. I mean come on, for kids 30 years ago it might have been acceptable.

 

The bad thing about a re-boot is that they would need a new score, and no one will ever be able to compose a better piece of music for that character than John Williams did, not ever.

 

A Darker Superman ? That may not imply the character will be darker, it may just be a darker scenario.

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I don't liken Superman much to Captain America. The very foundations of Captain America's origin is locked within the 40s, but that's not the case with Superman. His origin is pretty timeless. Not to say a period piece wouldn't be interesting, but hardly necessary to get fans to buy into it. If fans don't want to buy into Superman as he truly is, then it won't really matter what time period he's set in anyway. I like to think however that there can be appeal to Superman in this day and age and not all cool characters have to be all dark, dreary, and murderous to be liked.

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I undertand if you want to go in a different direction with the creative team, but Superman is the least dark superhero around. There is no grey area with him. He stands for truth, justice and the American way. If you make Supes dark then that eventually S & B movie will stink because they will be the same character.

 

Bad move.

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The basic conceit of Superman Returns was good-- the worlds has moved on without him, and he comes back. That's a fresh angle. If the WORLD is a dark and broody place, and Superman returns to sunshine that **** up-- I'd buy that.

 

If Superman is moody and downtrodden and wearing black-- eff that.

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Guest The_return_of_thanos

I agree that if they do a Superman movie, there needs to be a reboot. And no more Lex Luthor films for a while, please.

 

The basic conceit of Superman Returns was good-- the worlds has moved on without him, and he comes back. That's a fresh angle. If the WORLD is a dark and broody place, and Superman returns to sunshine that **** up-- I'd buy that.
Agreed.Had Superman Returns been a true reboot and not tried to be a semi-sequel, and dropped the kid angle, I would have liked it a lot better.

 

If Superman is moody and downtrodden and wearing black-- eff that.

Agreed, again. Superman is a symbol of hope: he's the day time to Batman's night time. To make Superman like Batman destroys what superman is supposed to be.

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Not necessarily on both counts. One, Luthor may be Superman's arch-nemesis, but that doesn't mean he has to be used first just because the franchise is being rebooted. Maybe in the past this would have seemed true, but Batman Begins shattered that notion when not only was the Joker not the villain in the first film of the reboot, the villain they chose was virtually unknown to anyone not familiar with the Batman mythos in the comics. The strategy was a success so its not at all difficult for me to imagine them taking a similar route here. To me someone with a link to Superman's past would be key in casting the villain, which case I'd go with Brainiac as many incarnations of the mythos including just recently official comics continuity ties him in with Superman's Kryptonian heritage.

 

And as far as an origin, there are many creative ways to technically tell his origin on screen, but do it quickly. In other words this is an aspect that I would imagine them not taking a cue from Nolan's Batman on and go more a route of Burton's original Batman.

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So because Superman Returns didn't generate 500 million he must be rebooted? What a load of ****.

 

And whats with all the Lex Luthor hate? The guy is critical to Supes character. Theres no reason why Luthor and Braniac/whoever can't exist in the same movie. Coexistence worked fine for Superman II.

 

This reboot idea sounds like a complete waste of time, unless it contains ASSLOADS of superaction. And if this "Dark Superman" bull**** is true, it MUST culminate in a trilogy ending Death Of Superman movie, featuring Doomsday. Supes famous death is the only way they will come close to Dark Knight box office territory.

 

But you know what really pisses me off? Rumor is that Singers 'Superman: The Man Of Steel' was supposed to feature Braniac AND Bizarro together! My favorite Superman villain, Bizarro, gets screwed AGAIN! I'm sick of it man! :thumbsdown::no:

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That's not really a fair assessment of the situation, though. The judgment on SR had been fairly bad from the get-go, not to mention questions were swirling about the franchise's fate well before TDK even hit theaters to begin with. I mean, sure the massive success of the film probably nudged execs even further to this decision, but they were obviously leaning that way beforehand anyway. Its easy to point the finger at Batman and its tearing up of the box office, but the reality is that the disappointing performance of Superman Returns on its own is what caused this. You can't tell me they'd be even thinking of rebooting the franchise right now had Superman Returns been a box office blockbuster in its own right, and I'm not talking about the ridiculous numbers TDK is making. I'm just talking your "run of the mill" hit.

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I didn't like Superman Returns either. The story was ok, my beef was mainly with the terrible cast. But Superman Returns was hardly the worst superhero movie, in terms of quality or box office revenue, of this decade. Batman obviously needed rebooting after the insulting Schumacher travesties, but Donners original Supes is still the best comic-book movie ever (IM-and manys-O ;) ). 21st century Warner Brothers was hoping it would be the basis for a James Bond-style continuing franchise, which is the reason why they greenlit Singers sequel in the first place. The only improvement a reboot could make on the 1978 original would be the super-effects.

 

But I willing to sell out and give it a cinema viewing anyway.

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There's some new info on the next Superman and the other DC properties. Full article is here:

 

http://www.latinoreview.com/news/superman-...e-rebooted-5262

 

Most relevant bits:

Like the recent Batman sequel -- which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far -- Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

So in classic herd mentality, what worked for one specific character will now be copied and imitated for every property, without regard to whether the tone is actually appropriate to the material. What could possibly go wrong? :rolleyes:

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

The implication being that Superman will be rebooted. Again.

 

What's with the again part? They ****ed up in not doing a clean reboot last time.

 

Singer and WB just couldn't get past Donner and that stupid Superman Lives nonsense. Hence a forgettable film with nothing new to recommend it.

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Not necessarily on both counts. One, Luthor may be Superman's arch-nemesis, but that doesn't mean he has to be used first just because the franchise is being rebooted. Maybe in the past this would have seemed true, but Batman Begins shattered that notion when not only was the Joker not the villain in the first film of the reboot, the villain they chose was virtually unknown to anyone not familiar with the Batman mythos in the comics. The strategy was a success so its not at all difficult for me to imagine them taking a similar route here. To me someone with a link to Superman's past would be key in casting the villain, which case I'd go with Brainiac as many incarnations of the mythos including just recently official comics continuity ties him in with Superman's Kryptonian heritage.

 

And as far as an origin, there are many creative ways to technically tell his origin on screen, but do it quickly. In other words this is an aspect that I would imagine them not taking a cue from Nolan's Batman on and go more a route of Burton's original Batman.

Was it a success? Look at how much better The Dark Knight did and say that again. Could well be that the lack of a West-recognizable villain hurt the BO take.

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I really don't think measuring Dark Knights success against Superman Returns is really fair. The only reason TDK has dones so well is because of Ledgers hyped death, not because The Joker is some sort of Osama Bin Laden reminder. The Joker will always remain "cool" in the publics mind, simply because of his unlimited acting posibilities, whereas Lex Luthor will always be a bald nerd, no matter how deep they try to make his character.

 

I still think that the reasons they've dumped Singers super-sequel for an all-or-nothing reboot are all wrong and will reflect this at the box office. But on the plus side, hopefully Warner Brothers can get over thier Christopher Reeve obsession, which is really what hurts Superman Returns, and accept somebody different in the role.

 

Superman is NOT Christopher Reeve. Vice versa maybe...

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Ledgers death helped-- but at its core TDK was simply just a better movie than Returns. It can't be attributed to one simple aspect or formula, which is something execs never seem to get. It's like Star Trek-- it set a benchmark that they foolishly tried to emulate to try and cash in and it never worked.

 

As for a news Sues direction-- I'd love to see All Star Superman adapted, or maybe the pitch Millar has been pushing i in.

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Even though I liked Superman Returns for the most part, I'm not really all that opposed to a reboot. I agree that it seems like a tired retread instead or continuation instead of anything actually new. But I certainly don't like the idea of going "dark", mostly for the reasons Jason already mentioned.

 

Also, there's a reason that works well for the Nolan movies. Batman doesn't have any super powers, and with enough suspension of disbelief you can envision Begins and Dark Knight actually happening in the world that we occupy. The dark and gritty feel is appropriate there. An alien in human form that can fly and shoot laser beams out of his eyes is not something that you can realistically envision in our same world.

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**** a reboot. That's Hollywood's solution to everything in this ADD microwave world. They think we're all morons who can't follow a franchise for longer than three movies without rebooting it. Or they just want to **** over the fans for the hell of it (BSG). Whatever the reasons, reboots are necessary in some cases like Batman and James Bond but they shouldn't be the first and only card Hollywood plays. Singer did something special and rare in that he actually took the hard path and tried to match what had come before and he's gotten nothing but hammered for it. "How dare you work your ass off to respect what came before?!? You should have just lazily rebooted and made us sit through ANOTHER origin story!"

 

If you count cartoon series and movies, Superman has been told in various ways a dozen ****ing times now since the 50s. Enough already! How about ****ing sticking with something for once? If they reboot to yet ANOTHER new story of Superman I'm out. Enough is enough.

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Ledgers death helped-- but at its core TDK was simply just a better movie than Returns. It can't be attributed to one simple aspect or formula, which is something execs never seem to get. It's like Star Trek-- it set a benchmark that they foolishly tried to emulate to try and cash in and it never worked

 

Oh absolultely! The Dark Knight ****s all over Superman Returns and engages the full flush! That doesn't make it a bad movie...

 

And yet Iron Man, a "standard" lighthearted comic movie continues to rake in the dollars for Marvel. What happens when a "serious" Superman fails? A ranking Warner exec decides to go back to making campy movies? It seems like DC Comics don't even know what the **** they're writing if they are seriously considering "dark movies" for their characters.

 

At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with continuing action-filled Supes movies (which is what most people want) using Donners original story as the "Dr No" origin tale. Everyones familiar with Supes origin anyways. Even your grandmother. Ask her! She ****ing knows!

 

A reboot will generate 200 million... barely. Even less is Superman is a teenage 90210 drop-out. Which he probably will be.

 

They'd be better off sticking with Singer.

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Ledgers death helped-- but at its core TDK was simply just a better movie than Returns. It can't be attributed to one simple aspect or formula, which is something execs never seem to get. It's like Star Trek-- it set a benchmark that they foolishly tried to emulate to try and cash in and it never worked.

 

As for a news Sues direction-- I'd love to see All Star Superman adapted, or maybe the pitch Millar has been pushing i in.

 

I'd disagree on the Star Trek point. That franchise reached its peak at the end if the TNG era. And it certainly worked from a cash flow perspective.

 

As for my suggestion for a Superman reboot...I'd play with the style and give it a feel from the 50s (actors and dialogue included). Get some giant monsters or robots in the first act. Lois in distress from an over-the-top villain (Ultra-Humanite in his ape version) perhaps in the climax.

 

Sure it'd suck. But in an awesome way.

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I'm really torn. A lot of Returns made it work solely as a stand-alone film. Super-kid, Luthor continuing as a crackpot, etc.

 

On the other hand, it was very recent and the actors were all good. I'd love to see Routh again, Spacey giving a non-Hackman attempt at Luthor, etc. I enjoyed Returns, but Singer really f'd it up in terms of creating a continuing storyline.

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I think this is an excellent idea. Superman Returns was unbelievably bad, and if they dare do another Superman film the definitely need to start over from scratch.

 

Having said that, though, I'm just not sure that there's really all that much interest in Superman. I'm confident that a reboot will produce a better film, but I think the casual fan is just tired of the character (I know I am).

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I think Returns kinda ruined it, but from what I've read it doesn't seem like the film is going to be an immediate release. By 2011 or 2012 they could potentially relaunch with a whole new concept.

 

I don't think that casual fans are tired of the character so much as they're tired of poor attempts at the character. Reeve was great, but those films are very dated by this point. Heck, they were dated and funny when I was growing up, just a small step up from the Batman TV series in terms of camp.

 

A serious attempt at Superman could be very cool and very popular.

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