893 replies to this topic

[Detour]

http://www.comicbook...s/news/?a=64359
Bootleg of the SDCC footage.

[Rust]

Now THAT was the better teaser, maddeningly out of focus or not. Looks like my friend's theory about the journey to the arctic was right on the money, and I liked a lot of the sequences I saw (Supes got knocked into a bank vault and dented the wall. YES!). But mostly, the end line of the trailer sold it for me:

"My father believed if the world found out what I really was, they'd reject me out of fear. He was convinced the world wasn't ready. What do you think?"

....GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[Kalidor]

This thread is ridiculous. Humanizing Superman as a character with things to overcome can only help him.

Whoever said "No one cares about Clark Kent" doesn't understand anything about what makes Superman cool -- it's about more than flying and heat vision.

[ultra magnus13]

In this movie Superman has no powers because the earth's yellow sun can not shine through the no-color filter. I love Zach Snyder but this looks bad.

[Cheetimus Primal]

This thread is ridiculous. Humanizing Superman as a character with things to overcome can only help him.

Whoever said "No one cares about Clark Kent" doesn't understand anything about what makes Superman cool -- it's about more than flying and heat vision.

I see what you did there

[Cheetimus Primal]

Also, damn. That just looks amazing.

[Cybersnark]

To be honest I'm just not sure how you write Superman without it becoming about Superman's friends and enemies and not him.

I don't see how anyone could make Superman or a movie about him engaging.

I've said this before and gotten pooh-poohed for it, but I'll say it again:

"Superman" isn't a character.

"Superman" is a public persona. Trying to make "Superman" into a movie star is what makes Superman movies suck. It's like making a movie about the space shuttle without mentioning the crew. If you really want two hours of Superman doing Superthings, I'm sure there'll be a video game. Watch someone playing it.

Movies need an emotional arc; they need Something Bad to happen to the protagonist. The worse the complication, the more the protagonist has to work to overcome it, the greater the hero he is. Superman has no problems except people wanting to punch him. He punches back. End of movie.

The movie should be about Clark Kent: a Kansas farm-boy who was raised to believe in Truth, Justice, and the American Way, living in a world in which all three are dead or dying. There's your character conflict; Clark goes out into the world and sees that he doesn't belong.

My advice; drop the Jor-El memory-tape (which, if this is anything like the Donner-verse, was a pre-recorded message from Krypton). Have young Clark not know who he is or why his powers exist (his only clue is the rocket ship, which his parents assume is a Russian Government experiment of some kind). He's terrified of himself, and of the Russian Government scientists that he's sure are looking to recover him and punish his family.

Contrary to what Smallville thought, journalism isn't something you can just fall into as a cover job. It's something you need to study for and build a portfolio. Clark Kent must have been working toward being a reporter since high school --maybe even earlier. He wanted to be a reporter before his powers manifested, when he thought he was normal. When he walks into the Daily Planet offices for a job interview, it's his life's dream hanging in the balance.

(And now, knowing that he has a massive secret of his own to conceal contributes to him being so "mild mannered" --Clark can't bring himself to ask the probing questions. His portfolio is full of puff pieces about pet shows and workers' rights and Civic Worker Appreciation Day. His real talent is his personality; reading one of his articles is like reading a personal message from a close friend. Lois is the exact opposite; she's the best damned investigator Perry's ever seen, but her articles read like police reports. He teams them up in the hopes that they'll complement each other.)

When Clark puts on that costume and leaps into action, he's sacrificing everything he wants. It's the most noble, heroic decision he could make (which means something truly massive needs to be at stake --so yes, we'll need a compelling supervillain, but one that could exist without Superman being around to "inspire" them. Maybe Metallo [as an Intergang hit-man, before his Kryptonite makeover], or Atomic Skull, or Bloodsport, or the Toyman, or Freaky the Snowman the Ultra-Humanite, or Barrage --hey, no one took the Scarecrow seriously before Batman Begins). He expects to be punished for it, ripped apart as a freak and/or a menace. He expects the entire army to come knocking down his door.

Then Lois gives him a name. "Superman." His vindication --a name that means "hope," not just for the world (as per the article that wins Lois her first Pulitzer --the first time she's ever written from her gut rather than her head), but for Clark himself --hope that maybe Truth, Justice, and the American Way aren't as dead as he'd thought.

(Leave the origin-story for the second movie; now that Clark has established himself as Superman, he can start to look into where he comes from, and discover it through the movie rather than as an Act One infodump. Maybe the sequel's villain would be someone who knows more about him than he does. Hmm. Maybe there'd be a bounty out for the Last Kryptonian. Maybe a bounty big enough to attract the Last Czarnian. . .)

[skankerzero]

Comic con footage was awesome.

my theory is that the comic con footage was too raw to show nationally. so they chose comic con because they could control the experience.

Either way, looks like the type of movie that will make me want to watch it. grim dark aside, I just like characters with inner conflict.

[ZacWilliam1]

I fear this will be quite bad.

Not necissarily because of these trailers (though they are sadly pretty dull).

But because

1) all evidence points to the the creators completely missing the point of Superman: fun, bright pulp super hero adventure, wish fulfilment, and hope.

2) Zod and Company are a super-boring choice of main villians. If they were smart, they would have gone with Brainiac.


-ZacWilliam, only Terrance Stamp chewing the scenery as Zod makes them fun in SM2, but they're the last concept I'd do AGAIN, when so much more interesting options exist.

[Cheetimus Primal]

I just wanna point out very similar things were said about Spiderman, especially by me.

[ZacWilliam1]

If you want the tone and general sort of arc I'd like in a Superman film (not the same STORY, but the feel and approach) read Superman for All Seasons and All Star Superman.


-ZacWilliam, those are the best takes on the mythos in modern times IMO.

[Rust]

Blegh. It's Zod and Company again? Disappointing. But eh, I'll deal. They probably don't want to stray too far off the beaten path with the beating the Supes movies have taken at the box office.

Still, Supes has a more extensive rogue gallery then Lex Luthor, Zod, and Darkseid. Brainiac would be a good second/third movie villain with his ties to Kryton. I'd love to get a big budget Metallo. Heck, borrow from TAS and get Bizzaro into the mix as a failed clone in the Luthor-centric movie so we don't have to rely solely on Kryptonite making Luthor a threat. Parasite could be good, but I'm not sure he can carry a movie.

Edited by Rust, 23 July 2012 - 12:03 AM.

[Cheetimus Primal]

Zod's a great choice for the inaugural come back film. The biggest complaint about the last one was he didn't fight anyone. Now we have him having an all out brawl with people of his own caliber in the middle of a city except with today's effects budgets so it will look like armagedon.

[ZacWilliam1]

Zod's a great choice for the inaugural come back film. The biggest complaint about the last one was he didn't fight anyone. Now we have him having an all out brawl with people of his own caliber in the middle of a city except with today's effects budgets so it will look like armagedon.

I think Zod is great fun in SM2 because Stamp takes it so over the top.

But otherwise the Krypton criminals are SO dull to me. They don't have interesting super costumes or concepts or characters. They're just "3 more Supermans but bad." They even kind of make Superman abit less unique and interesting just by existing.

Then there's the fact that after how crappy Superman Returns was, in part (admitedly only part) because of its aping of the old films, their concept for a reboot? Let's redo something that was in the old films. Sigh.


-ZacWilliam, it's not impossible it could be a good film, but there were SO many better choices they could have made rather than just do Superman 2's villians again.

[Chris McFeely]

I just HAVE to assume they're doing Zod and co. because this time, they really want some super-powered slam-bang action. Which will be a very good thing, as opposed to the exciting visuals of lifting and carrying heavy things from Superman Returns. And I imagine that they will provide pathos to the film, as Clark struggles to understand his identity, and when he finally meets more beings from his own race, they turn out to be massive dicks and he must fight them. But given how much this looks to be divorcing itself from the Donner films - which is still the single best most any new Superman movie could make, as far as I'm concerned - the fact that they're using the villains who are ONLY famous for being in Superman 2 makes my brow wrinkle something fierce.

Sayeth I - First movie. Don't do the origin. Start with Superman as established. Villain is Brainiac. Make it appear that he was responsible for the destruction of Krypton and is here to do the same to Earth. Allows for plenty of Krypton-based flashbacks that can reiterate the origin without having to make it the plot of the film, making the flick a good starting place all the same. Turns out he didn't do it. Maybe he has Doomsday as a genetically engineered beast-monster that Supes fights in as the huge big action scene.

Then put Lex Luthor in a hugging battlesuit in the second one.

Edited by Chris McFeely, 23 July 2012 - 06:08 AM.

[ZacWilliam1]

Brainiac really would have been perfect.

In him you have: Supes biggest classic foe after Luthor, actually interesting visuals, something thats never been done on screen before, links to Krypton, and someone who can go toe to toe with Clark physically for big fights.


-ZacWilliam, Zod and co, again, are just so much less awesome an idea than that.

[The Predaking]

Saw the teaser before Dark Knight Rises, and I really wasn't impressed at all. Unfortunately, the comic-con footage was already removed.

[Ursa Magnus]

Brainiac really would have been perfect.

In him you have: Supes biggest classic foe after Luthor, actually interesting visuals, something thats never been done on screen before, links to Krypton, and someone who can go toe to toe with Clark physically for big fights.


-ZacWilliam, Zod and co, again, are just so much less awesome an idea than that.

Testify. I am sick to death of Zod and crew. I was hoping beyond hope that Brainiac and/or Metallo would be the bad/s in this movie. Brainiac moreso, because he's so awesome.

[Rust]

I'd rather they hold off and build up to Brainiac for a third movie then just fire and forget him in the opening act.

How I could see a Brainiac trilogy going down:

Movie 1: Zod and Company arrive on Earth, their ship's computer is Brainiac. While Supes is having his scuffle with them (Likely using/discovering Kryptonite is a weakness and using it against them), LexCorp secrets the ship away/strip it of the tech they can before Supes comes back. Brainiac ends up at LexCorp.

Movie 2: Luthor-centric, Battle Suit + Metallo, with Brainiac providing design specs for both. End of movie features Brainiac "escaping" LexCorp, possibly by downloading itself into Metallo, overwriting Metallo's base personality in the process, possibly by just downloading itself to its own server, built in secret.

Movie 3: Brainiac showdown. Possible Metallo-base Body allows Brainiac access to Kryptonite, lending some weight to combat. Maybe uses hijacked LexCorp facilities to create robot minions. Insane visuals as Brainiac sets out to consume all information about Earth.

[Cheetimus Primal]

I just HAVE to assume they're doing Zod and co. because this time, they really want some super-powered slam-bang action. Which will be a very good thing, as opposed to the exciting visuals of lifting and carrying heavy things from Superman Returns. And I imagine that they will provide pathos to the film, as Clark struggles to understand his identity, and when he finally meets more beings from his own race, they turn out to be massive dicks and he must fight them. But given how much this looks to be divorcing itself from the Donner films - which is still the single best most any new Superman movie could make, as far as I'm concerned - the fact that they're using the villains who are ONLY famous for being in Superman 2 makes my brow wrinkle something fierce.

Sayeth I - First movie. Don't do the origin. Start with Superman as established. Villain is Brainiac. Make it appear that he was responsible for the destruction of Krypton and is here to do the same to Earth. Allows for plenty of Krypton-based flashbacks that can reiterate the origin without having to make it the plot of the film, making the flick a good starting place all the same. Turns out he didn't do it. Maybe he has Doomsday as a genetically engineered beast-monster that Supes fights in as the huge big action scene.

Then put Lex Luthor in a hugging battlesuit in the second one.

Doomsday in the first movie? I personally don't want him in any movie but the first? Really?
The very reason I don't want him around is I don't trust WB to make him out to be the proper threat he should be and using him the first movie would most certainly enhance that problem.