So, where to begin? Well, why not start at the beginning? Since the first appearance of Kal-El in Action Comics #1 of June 1938, he has become one of the most world-renowned figures of pop culture. From his name, to his costume, to his origin (wink wink, Goyer), almost everyone knows who this hero is.
In 1978, a man by the name of Richard Donner was tasked with the responsibility of bringing Clark Kent and Superman to life on the big screen. Do you remember who donned the cape? Of course you do, it was an unknown by the name of Christopher Reeve, who has since become synonymous with the character himself, due to his excellent portrayal of the duality of the Man of Steel. As Clark, he was clumsy and unassuming. As Superman, he was strong and confident. Superman of 1978 is now considered by many to be one of the greatest CBM's of all time. The sequel, appropriately titled Superman II, is also considered to be a prime example of the greatness that CBM's can achieve, and is even thought of as an improvement over the classic original.
So, what could go wrong? Well, Superman III and IV. That's what. Even though Reeve still had the suit on, he couldn't save these less-than-stellar sequels from critical and commercial disappointment. The last film, Quest for Peace, would leave the series in a dormant state for almost 20 years. Reeve suffered paralysis in 1995 which made it impossible for him to don the tights again.
For years, the franchise went from director to director, idea to idea, Tim Burton to Bret Ratner, Nicholas Cage to unknown, until, in July 2004, a man already known by CBM fans for his 2 X-Men films, was hired to take on the Man of Steel. This decision would result in one of the most controversial CBM's of recent memory: Superman Returns.
Instead of being a fresh start for this series, Singer's movie would instead continue Donner's vision and ignore the events of Superman III and IV. This Superman left Earth for years after learning of the discovery of his home planet, or what remained of it, Krypton. He returns (get it?) to a planet that is very different to what he left behind. Lex Luthor is a free man, Lois is engaged to Perry White's nephew and has a son (facepalm), and the world (along with Lois) has seemingly moved on. Similar to Reeve's casting, a new unknown by the name of Brandon Routh was cast as the Last Son of Krypton. Routh looked and acted very much like Reeve, which split fans apart. Some were disgusted at his attempt to emulate Reeve and bring nothing new to the table, while others praised his performance and said that he did what he was supposed to do, which was a Reeve impression. Superman Returns made a moderate run at the box office, exceeding its budget by less than 200 million dollars. Warner Bros. was disappointed with this, and although there were still talks of a sequel to Returns at the time, it would eventually be scrapped in favor of a reboot. Routh has consistently expressed his interest in returning (get it?) to the role since then.
And that brings us to the present. This past week, we learned that supposedly David Goyer (the Blade Trilogy, Batman Begins) has signed to write the treatment of the reboot, which will be titled Man of Steel. I'm pleased with the news personally, not so much for Goyer, but for the ball actually rolling on the Superman front. Goyer has proven to be an okay writer in the past, he's very hit and miss. There's Batman Begins, a hit, but he also had help from Christopher Nolan's brother Jonah, and then you also have something like Blade: Trinity or *shudder* Jumper. However, with the announcement from about a week ago that Geoff Johns is now an integral part of DC Entertainment, I highly doubt he won't be involved somehow in the script/story process. And we all know how good a writer Geoff Johns is, so I'm not very worried.
Now, on to my actual thoughts of what should happen in the reboot. Well, thankfully, it seems that what I wanted looks like what we're going to get. Along with the announcement of Goyer, a few points were included as to what direction the reboot will take: Brandon Routh will (unsurprisingly) not be Superman again. And Bryan Singer will (unsurprisingly) not direct again.
And then, we got this lovely bit of info: Brainiac and Lex Luthor will be the villains and the film will not be an origin story, instead it will assume the audience knows who the characters are. BOOYAH! I've been saying for MONTHS that Brainiac and Lex are the right ways to go for the reboot. Brainiac offers both a mental and physical challenge for Superman. He's one of the most intelligent foes in all the DC universe. The double threat, the whole package, unlike certain Superman villains (*cough* Doomsday *cough*). And, despite the hatred of all things Lex right now (due to him being the villain in nearly every film so far), Luthor still is one of the biggest characters in the Superman mythos and the DC universe as a whole. A reboot without Lex would feel incomplete to me.
Now, what about characterizations for these 2? Well, I feel that a mix between the Animated Universe Brainiac, where he was a total robot and was connected to the destruction of Krypton, and the Geoff Johns Brainiac, an edgier, scarier, and more powerful version of his organic alien depiction from the past comics. Give Brainiac the connection to Krypton's destruction, the motives (in that he wants to collect all possible data in the universe, destroying planets and civilizations as he travels), and the robotic aspect (you know, infecting machinery and people to create new forms, hacking abilities, etc.) from The Animated Series, and also mix it with an organic element that may allow for more interesting appearances, instead of just being a cold robot. A possible route they may want to take is to have Milton Fine discover a crashed Brainiac on Earth, and Brainiac infects him, taking over his mind and corrupting him. Perhaps they could create a prior connection between Clark and Fine that would give Clark some emotional conflict?
Ah, Lexxy Lexxy, Lex. Mr. Luthor needs a relatively simple characterization to me: anything but a real estate tycoon. I didn't mind Superman Returns, but turning Lex Luthor, one of the most renowned villains of DC, into a petty criminal who wants land is laughable, and facepalmable. For the reboot, Lex needs to be the billionaire. The antithesis of Bruce Wayne, who uses his money for his own gain, and not for justice. The owner of Lexcorp, one of the wealthiest and most powerful companies in the world (did you catch that TDK reference), a designer of weapons and technology. The corrupt businessman who abuses his wealth and power behind the public's eye. The political figure to tie into the president thread later on. The "hero" who believes that Superman is a threat to the world and that he himself is the savior, even though he is blinded by greed, lust, jealousy, and anger. THAT'S the Lex I want to see. How about you?
And hell yes to no origin, which is also something I've been saying for a long time. Everyone knows who Superman is, and we've seen his origin done so many times, it's the wrong move to spend the first half of the movie explaining the origin, and telling us how Clark got there. Personally, I'd like to actually see a short montage beginning with Kal-El's arrival on Earth in Smallville, transitioning to him as a young boy going through "power puberty", to Clark in his teens helping out around the town (saving people from car crashes, fires, all that jazz), Clark as a young man bidding farewell to Ma and Pa Kent and the farm, and finally, Clark walking into the Daily Planet offices for maybe the first time (I don't know, I haven't decided if I want it to be the first time or if he's been there a while, I think I'd prefer if it was his first). Remember in Spider-Man 1, where Peter was drawing up so many variations of his costume? Think of that style, just replace the drawings with Clark's pre-Superman days, and replace the Spidey music with the John Williams theme, and that's essentially the gist of what I'm getting at.
As for story, I do have an outline of my ideal plot-line for the reboot, and here it is:
The film kicks off in space. As a large, dark ship passes by the camera, and on the ship there is a symbol that looks like a very alien-looking "A", the camera enters into the command deck of the vessel. The deck looks out into space, and in the back of the room, a screen rests on the wall. An alien by the name of Kalibak walks around the room, giving orders to the crew to patch him in to Apokolips. The screen in the back of the room lights up and a dark throne with an obviously large humanoid resting on it. His face is concealed by shadows and the lack of high definition of the screen (hehe). In Michael Ironside's voice (my eye might explode from so much winking right now), the figure asks Kalibak if they have detected any anomalies yet. Kalibak responds, telling the figure "Yes, we've detected some seismic activities on the planet nearby, my Lord, but nothing particularly-" until he is cut off by an enormous and violent explosion of the planet. Kalibak, after recovering from the rocking of the ship in response to the explosion, is frustrated at his crew for not being aware of the imminent explosion, but the figure on the throne orders them to silence their tongues, for there is some object shooting rapidly into space away from the planet. The figure commands them to capture the object, and when they do, the object is revealed to be some sort of pod, with 3 electrical diodes on the front. Meanwhile, after the ship departs from the area, nearby, a small, crystalline object is floating in space, where the cries of a small child can be heard, and under the object is the classic Superman S (or in this case, the symbol for Kal-El's family). It stops floating, turns to a very specific direction, and shoots off into space. Roll opening credits.
So basically that's the opening scene, and I won't go into that much detail, or this article would never end. This is the basic outline for the whole story:
Introduce Brainiac as being connected to Krypton and its destruction, have Darkseid discover Brainiac partially destroyed after the destruction and rebuild him to be his technological resource and weapon for Apokolips, Brainiac rebels against Darkseid and destroys half of Apokolips in his wake after learning about the Anti-Life Equation, Brainiac travels the galaxy while gathering more information and data about the universe as he goes, he finds Earth and recognizes Supes as the Last Son of Krypton, they eventually duke it out, Brainiac is defeated (but not completely destroyed), ending leaves a cliffhanger foreshadowing Darkseid's invasion of Earth because he is looking for Brainiac since he supposedly has secrets pertaining to the Equation, boom, set up for Justice League right there.
I'd like to give a personal "thank you" to CBM user nerosday for helping me create these ideas during a conversation we had on an article about James McTeague and his Superman vision. It's a tad light on the details between Brainiac's arrival and the final fight, but if they include some of Lex's schemes in there, and have Brainiac take over Milton Fine, possibly teaming with Lex to create Metallo, I think that's enough action and story to fill out the rest of the movie. Along the way there would be little cuts to Apokolips and Darkseid, but not too many, just a few in order to flesh out the story a bit more and provide some allusions to the extraterrestrial elements of the DC Universe (for example, a reference to Oa). With this story, I feel that the reboot would have enough action to satisfy us fans who are desperate to see an ass-kicking Superman, a story that ties various elements of the Superman mythos together, and great villains who are faithful adaptations of the previous versions of the characters we've seen for years.
Now, what about casting? Well, Superman is one of the hardest CBM characters to cast. The actor needs to have the right presence, range, and look/physique to be the Man of Steel. Personally, I'd opt for another unknown, if only because I can't think of anyone who fits all that that I know of. But, I don't want to leave you hangin' with another Question Mark as in my Invaders cast, so I'll just give out a possibility:
Ryan McPartlin. He even tested for the role way back when. Yes, I have criticized him in regards to Captain America, and I still stand by that, because the only way I would want McPartlin is if he takes more acting lessons (which I found out he actually does do) or shows more range and dramatic talent in his performances. So far on Chuck, he's been decent with his expanded, more leader-like role, but not something I feel is particularly exemplary. So, if he improved his acting or showed me that he actually does have a lot of potential in him, he’d have my support. He also has a great look for the role. Superman’s look is a classic aspect of his character: the square jaw, jet-black hair, and imposing height/figure. McPartlin has the jaw, most definitely, his hair can be dyed, and he has a good frame to pack some good muscle on. He also has the ideal Superman height, at 6’3”. So, McPartlin, show me you’ve got the chops, and I’m behind you for this McPart.
Of course, what would a good Superman film be without his legendary love, Lois Lane (that’s a lot of L’s)? For this role, you need an actress who has spunk, personality, beauty, etc. and while I have been campaigning for Michelle Monaghan as Lois for a while, there is this one choice which has been creeping into my brain as of late, and I absolutely love it. Now, this actress is also on Chuck, which McPartlin is on as well. Not only that, but she plays his love interest. Obviously, if McPartlin was cast as Superman, this actress would be out of the question for Lois, and vice versa. She portrays Chuck’s sister Ellie,
Sarah Lancaster. On Chuck, Lancaster has spunk and a very fun personality, two absolutely necessary for Lois. I love the warm presence and aura she brings to the scenes that she is in, unlike Bosworth who was a cold bitch 24/7. Her relationship with the character Morgan reminds me of Lois’s relationship with Clark, in that Lois is often putting him down, but sometimes she does display genuine affection for him (example: Ellie helps out Morgan from getting fired by saying he assisted her in buying a bunch of items at his store, even though he did nothing). So, Lancaster is excellent at giving her usually strong-willed character a sensitive and caring side. I feel that Lois should have a certain beauty to her that isn’t your typical Megan Fox “hotnezz”, I mean, Superman could have almost ANY girl he wants, and he picks Lois. Lancaster really doesn’t take the best pictures, but they don’t do her justice. On Chuck, and in motion, I find Lancaster to be enchanting and gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. She’s not “hot,” but she is beautiful.
That brings us to Superman’s arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor. There are a lot of actors I can see as great LL’s. Eric Bana, Ralph Fiennes, Viggo Mortensen, Colm Feore, Jason Isaacs, even Daniel Day-Lewis (even though he’d never take the role). But, there can only be one, and I’d personally go for
Paul Bettany. Yes, Paul Bettany. I believe that he is a very underrated actor, and has shown range and dramatic talent with several of his great performances. Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World, Gangster No. 1, Wimbledon, A Beautiful Mind, and Creation all show his ability to be emotionally engaging and to play various characters of very different personalities. He has an air of intelligence and high-class about him that makes him perfect for the depiction of Lex I described: a brilliant man who thinks very highly of himself. Bettany would flesh out the duality between the “public Lex,” a man who is humble and well-mannered, and his personality that is hidden from the eyes of the people, a mastermind who stops at nothing and no one to accomplish what he sees needs to be done. If you want to gauge his villainy, check out Firewall. The movie itself isn’t that good, but Bettany shows a great villainy that is cunning, calm, and cold (three C’s in a row, weird), just like how Lex should be. I also feel that Lex should be a bit older than Superman, but not too old. Late 30’s to early 40’s would be ideal IMO. Bettany is 38, so that’s just about right. He’s also 6’3”, matching him with Superman, who is also 6’3”.
Last will be Brainiac, and I think most should know who I want for this role, and if not, I’ll say it again:
Hugo Weaving. Hellz yeah, Hugo Weaving. He’s absolutely perfect for this part. Phenomenal actor, and looks like an actual alien. His voice is a real selling point for me. It’s commanding, intelligent, and very robotic. Perfect for Brainiac. If you’ve seen the Matrix films, you’d know that Weaving can be a damn good villain, hell, Agent Smith as a character is similar to Brainiac anyway. They have a dislike for humans, can control other bodies, and can be viewed as a sort of computer virus that infects everything (as seen in Matrix Revolutions). Brainiac doesn’t give a shit about human life, he’d eradicate it in an instant for all he cares, and Smith has a similar philosophy, viewing humanity as a disease. Weaving portrayed all of this excellently with a great villainous touch. He was born to play Brainiac.
So yeah, I think that about wraps up my editorial on Goyer’s involvement with the reboot, what direction I think it should go in, and who I think should or could play a few main characters. I hope you enjoyed my first editorial :)
Also, JJ Abrams FTW ;)