The new movie should begin with Superman flying around the world to get its rotation (and thus time) going forward again ... then we CAN pretend none of it happened ... or has that been done?

I liked Superman Returns. I hope Routh is back, but I bet they don't bring anyone back from SR. Not only did he do well as Supes, but also did a great Clark Kent.

I was just thinking of a nice simple thing a reboot can bring, Ma and Pa Kent. Some great scenes in the comics are Clark sitting with them and talking.

Returns had very few Clark scenes, and those that were shown weren't as effective as say Bruce Wayne's scenes in BB, TDK.

Polar bears, brainiac should fight polar bears, or maybe the people that keep superman company at his fortress of solitude...

Well, that's a matter of opinion.

What I meant was that they followed up Superman 1 & 2 with Returns, and starting over again (with the new movie), rather than continuing on is just stupid this soon after that movie.

Marvel got away with it with The Incredible Hulk because Ang Lee's movie was considered a minor flop, and they didn't have the film history that Superman did. Singer went with a continuation of that history just a couple years ago, and rebooting now just seems like a cheat.

And get rid of the suit. We don't want to see the suit and cape.

I would love to see a reboot too.

The Donner movies (and by extension Singer's movie) are based on the antiquated pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman which hasn't existed in the comic book industry since 1986.

They need to reboot the movies and use the modern post-Crisis Superman.

Someone posted earlier that they need to use Ma and Pa Kent more. I second this. In pre-Crisis Superman, Ma and Pa Kent died shortly after Clark graduated high school. In post-Crisis Superman, they are still alive and very much active in Clark's social life. I would love to see the movies do more with the Kents. Another huge improvement is in Lex Luthor. Pre-Crisis Luthor was a mad scientist, but post-Crisis Luthor was handled much better and made into a power hungry billionaire. I would rather see billionaire Luthor in the movies.

Batman Begins rebooted the Batman movies by using Frank Miller's Batman:Year One storyline as its basis. The next Superman movie should do something similar and use John Byrne's Man of Steel miniseries as its basis.

But Byrnes mini-series, which I like, isn't even in continuity now and probably out of favor with the powers that be. DC comics is just a big mess these days. Hasn't seemed like they had much of a plan for a few years now.

Hollywood is a copycat business, so I'm not surprised with the "let's make more dark superhero films" trend that Warners wants to take. HOWEVER, it's NOT going to work. The reason THE DARK KNIGHT made a gazillion dollars is NOT because it's dark, but because it's FAITHFUL to the character.

Trying to make SUPERMAN "dark" will be a huge mistake. As many (including myself) have already pointed out in this thread, one of the biggest issues with SUPERMAN RETURNS was that it was already too "dark". Now if you want Superman dealing with a "dark and dangerous" world, that's just fine. But if you try and make Superman himself "dark," that's going to be a forumla for disaster.

Get rid of Routh. He's not a bad actor and he did a good job in Returns but no more slim, slender, Superman.

Superman needs to be absolutely ripped like he is in the comics.

Like this:




Unfortunately, it kind of limits you in the casting process unless someone wants to seriously bulk up for the part.

Yeah, you're stuck with someone that looks like Michael O' Hearn, Titan on American Gladiator (he did play Superman in a low-budget fan created trailer for a proposed short film "World's Finest").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HshFoAkHppo

Um, look at Michael Keaton as Batman. All it takes is a suit. In fact, other than Bale, none of the Batman's have been "buff". Routh put on quite a few pounds and muscle for the part. I say stick with him and have him put on more. He's got the right look. Let's not repeat the different actor playing Superman like we had in the Batman franchise.

Routh and Singer are fine.

new superman just needs a different lex, more action, and get rid of superboy. pretty easy.

That don't make sense.

Ha!

I like Routh and I think he did a great job as Superman. In fact, I'd be cool with him returning to the franchise. However, I've been saying the Superman needs be physically larger and with more muscles since 1977.

Welling could pull it off. He's not huge, but he is leagues above Routh in terms of physique, and bulking up even more for the film would work.

The modern post-Crisis Superman is at least partly based on the Donner Superman. Pick up Action Comics sometime - Gary Frank is clearly drawing Chris Reeve as Superman. Heck, Donner recently co-wrote an arc with his former assistant and current Action Comics writer Geoff Johns.

Yeah, Geoff Johns is amazing with DC characters. He made a lot of them very fresh while strongly developed.

Johns has this insidiously genius talent of taking stupid, outdated or forgotten elements from bigone storylines, re-introducing them in a new light, making them TOTALLY badass while at the same time entirely faithful.

He single-handedly redeemed Hal Jordan, for Chrissake.

Johns totally owns DC.


-Doc

Frank himself has said that he is drawing Supes like Reeves, and slimmer since his powers comes from the sun, and not tons of huge muscles. Its an interesting take.

And I wish Johns could write everything DC has. It amazing how he can take a bad reboot, or muddled continuity and make it work, rather than starting over.

Is Clark that ripped too?

It's hilarious when artists who overdue Clark's musculature then do their take on Clark. Look at the cartoon for example (The Timm DCU which I LOVE, for the record). such a fantastic take on the character and example of how to do Supes right... but when you see him in "Clark" mode standing next to Lois, the dude looks like brick shit-house.




-Doc

I say give Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson a shot.

He is a farm boy from Smallville. That's kinda the joke of what Clark is...you know? Dopish small town kind of guy.

Yeah growing up and working on a farm, gives Clark a good alibi for his thick, stocky frame. He just doesnt stand up straight, and hunches his shoulders.