Discuss: What Sort of Superman Reboot Do You Want to See?

I would like to see Smallville end after this coming season and then spin off into a feature film. I think the hesitancy of Welling (to wear the costume) and Rosenbaum (to shave his head) would evaporate if given the opportunity to headline in a big budget summer blockbuster. As long as the creative team eliminates the annoying teenybopper angst/love triangles, this cast and the "'verse" (as you kids call such things) they have established would translate to the big screen, minus the 90210-style antics.

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Well if they want to go "Dark" with superman the best way is to introduce Bizarro cause Luthor still has the kryptonite dagger with supermans blood on it, but anyway to reboot the entire thing is pointless cause the only story better known than superman is Jesus the best thing to do is just keep going with the re-introduction and deal with it.

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how about none. Superman is a boring story because he's got to many powers, no legitimate weakness, and a lack of a true purpose

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Maybe what they mean by `darkness' is a sense of reality. The new Batman movies are stylistically more in our world than they are a comic book world. I love Superman Returns but I'm glad they're rebooting it.

For Director, I reckon it should be Steven Spielberg. Where he's at career wise at the moment, I think he'd be perfect. He'd know how to balance the drama with the exhilaration and he's a grittier director now than he's ever been.

In Superman Returns, apart from the space shuttle/jet rescue scene, why were his flying sequences so damned boring? Where was the joy and exhilaration in him flying? Sam Raimi did this magnificently with dynamic and exhilarating sequences of Spiderman swinging through the canyons of New York. Raimi shot them just how I pictured them in my head reading the comics as a kid. And it was the same with Superman. Didn't David Singer ever, when he was a kid, imagine what it would be like to fly like Superman when he swam underwater in a swimming pool?

And when ordinary people saw Superman, like the kid in the crowd with the mobile phone, they just stared at him, but not in a `wow' kind of way, it was like they were looking at a homeless guy covered in vomit. For Godsake! It's Superman!

I have to agree with the emerging Anne Hathaway movement to cast her as Lois Lane. I think she'd be perfect and much more believable than...um, whatever that girls name was. I think she was cast because she looked like the Fleisher cartoon Lois Lane. As much as I like Brandon Routh as Supes, I reckon his moment has gone. I can't see WB casting him again. I think casting a `Man' as Superman instead of a kid would be good too. Using Alex Ross's images as a basis would be a great place to start.

Supes in the comics at the moment is kind of interesting.
There's this whole reinvention of Kryptons history thing happening. How they were aware that they had powers under different coloured suns and used it to their advantage. Brainiac being responsible for the destruction of Krypton and the abduction of Kandor City. (which WB can then use for Supergirl) If they are going to have Lex Luthor again, which I hope they don't...maybe the sequel, he should be much darker. I think they've got him down right in Smallville.

I think in the reboot, the villain should be Metropolis itself. It should be a city that's cynical and hostile to someone like Superman. Superman should fight for and win not just Lois Lanes heart but Metropolis's as well. Thematically, there's still the old `Truth, Justice and the American Way'. It's the very heart of what Superman stands for and why we love him. He stands up for the downtrodden and those that have been hard done by. In the old comics, Clark Kent would investigate and write about people who were being targeted by criminals or solving a mystery of some sort while the mysterious Superman would fly in, sort the problem out with a bit of Super Biff and bring the bad guys to justice.
That's what I reckon.

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Eric, please link one review establishing TDK as the greatest, most important film of all time. Try to establish one firm piece of evidence in your favor. This TDK bashing amazes me, really. All the Superman fan-boys are royally pissed. I'm an unabashed Batman fan, but even I recognize the limitations of the movie, as did most critics.

So WB screwed up your favorite hero? Don't take it out on the Batman. Its TDK's success that will make your reboot possible. Send your thank-you cards to Chris and Jonathan Nolan.

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How about the kind where they just drop the geek stuff entirely and make a movie for people older than 12?

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Superman Returns was not a reboot, it was a half-assed sequel to the Richard Donner movies. Same Jor-El voice, same style, etc.

It needs to be done right. I'd like to see another origin story, Brainiac, Darkseid... if done right it can be good.

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Don't reboot, just make a better sequel and disregard the mistakes of the first one. (eg Superman not punching anything.)

Warner Bros. doesn't get it. What works for Batman won't necessarily work for Superman. They've got to stop w/ the "go w/ what works right now" mentality.

When BATMAN became a hit THE SHADOW and THE PHANTOM movies tried to follow suit w/ the same look and feel... and failed.

A "darker direction" is the antithesis of the Superman mythos. Superman symbolizes something humanity strives for --if not ultimately reaching-- in terms of potential. He's the bright shining figure of hope. He's not cynical.

And lest we forget Tim Burton tried that "darker direction" w/ his ideas for Superman (didn't Kevin Smith mention before that the producer back then wanted SEAN PENN for the role because his "crazed serial killer" looks and thought that was a quality The Man of Steel embodied?)

Also, a "realistic" direction a la "The Dark Knight" is difficult when your main character is an ALIEN that can FLY, has SUPER-STRENGTH and more vision-based powers than you can count. That said, fantastic superhero powers demands fantastic villains to use them against (BRAINIAC, duh).

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I agree that Superman is just too powerful. Wears a silly costume with his red underwear above the tights. His alter ego is him! Only with glasses, are the people of Metropolis idiots? You can freakin tell Clark is Superman, come on! Always politically correct, slightly semi dies but never just completely from cryptonite but always bounces back, totally predictable. What is the use, really, why try again and again. Christopher Reeve was the one and only Superman, still a good movie, so let it go.

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The only way a Superman movie would work now, and really the only Superman movie I would want to see would be The Death of Superman. It was maybe one of the best graphic novels/comic books ever done, and it would be amazing to see Superman face off against Doomsday. Its dark but dark without changing the character of Superman and his tone. By doing so, they could keep Brandon Routh cause he wasnt that bad, but just kill him off. It would be a major hit with alot of potential. But fuck Bryan Singer. The guy hasnt made a decent movie since Xmen and he totally blew it with Superman Returns. Plus I hear hes a dueschbag

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As someone who liked Superman Returns I always get a little annoyed that it's considered a great failure. Was it perfect? No, but I liked both Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey in their respective roles; Kate Bosworth, not so much. Director Bryan Singer has been talking about going "all Wrath of Khan" on the sequel with the possible introduction of Brainiac to the feature films for the firs time. I like that idea. One, it lends itself to being a little darker than most Superman films because Brainiac is such an evil character. Two, it's a different villain from Lex Luthor.

People my disagree with me here, but Superman II is example of how a Superman film could go a little darker than normal. If Warner Brothers hadn't been so scared of Richard Donner's more dark version and decided to go campy it would have been a much better film (and it still remains a great sequel). Singer, or any good director for that matter, could do the same thing with a Brainiac storyline.

However, if Warner Brothers wants to go Dark Knight on Superman I don't think that can work. The guy who stands for truth, justice, and the American way (whatever that may mean in the 21st century) just cannot go as dark as Batman, I just don't think it work. But I could be wrong.

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