Superman Movie Franchise To Reboot

[Darth Kenshin]

IGN: Reintroducing Superman

apparently, because of the "failure" of Superman Returns (am I the only person who didn't think that movie was terrible?) Warner Bros. has decided to kill plans for a sequel to Superman Returns and reboot the franchise, a la Batman Begins. They also want to take the franchise in a darker direction.

Personally, this sounds awful. Everyone and their mother (and grandmother, and greatgrandmother... you get the idea) knows the origin of Superman. An origin of that character right now seems pretty unnecessary. Also, a darker Superman? That doesn't seem to fit. It made sense with Batman, since his story is deep and depressing. But Superman doesn't have a lot of tragedy in his life. He never knew the parents he lost (can't go the Batman route) and he's lived his life like a boyscout (can't go the Wolverine route) so I'm not exactly sure what they mean by darker.

[Vergil the Fallen]

I think they are in the same path as Batman movies. There were a shitload of them and then suddenly they found a talented actor who could represent Batman and also applied more darker feeling to the franchise. And it was majority because of Christopher Nolan. Unless the Superman guys find a director like Nolan and a good Superman actor, introducing new Superman movies will mean crap. Nolan worked hard on the last two movies and he reaped the fruit for his troubles. I should say that not all directors get recognition as Nolan did. I'd say say someone has to have guts and talent to step in the challenge against Batman movies. And please no underwear over skin tight costume anymore. Thats just plain wrong >.>

[CommanderCody88]

Originally Posted by Vergil the Fallen

I think they are in the same path as Batman movies. There were a shitload of them and then suddenly they found a talented actor who could represent Batman and also applied more darker feeling to the franchise. And it was majority because of Christopher Nolan. Unless the Superman guys find a director like Nolan and a good Superman actor, introducing new Superman movies will mean crap. Nolan worked hard on the last two movies and he reaped the fruit for his troubles. I should say that not all directors get recognition as Nolan did. I'd say say someone has to have guts and talent to step in the challenge against Batman movies. And please no underwear over skin tight costume anymore. Thats just plain wrong >.>

yea that costume is wrong...but it is superman..they should just stop making superman movies...and getting him 'darker' isnt that hard...push him in a corner with some tough choices that are all bad and he can ezily get that way...as long as it doesnt go like Spiderman 3 ( that was some awkward shit...) it will be alright ..I guess..:P

[Darth Kenshin]

I think I have 2 problems with this. First off, I think they're oversimplifying the success of Dark Knight. It's not great because it's dark... it's great because it's well acted, well written, well directed, deep, and complicated (deep and complicated aren't the same as dark... Spiderman 2 was deep, but certainly not dark). Like Vergil said, Dark Knight succeeded because of Nolan's vision. The most important thing with comic book movies is having a director who understands the character. It worked with Nolan, it worked with Raimi for 2 Spiderman movies, and it worked with Favreau for Iron Man.

Also, if they want a darker story, why do they have to reboot the franchise? There have been 70 years of Superman comics. You can have a darker feel to it if you introduce a villain other than the over the top ham called Luthor. Darkseid or Braniac can give us a much darker movie. If they're really ballsy, they can just do the Death of Superman (doesn't get much darker than that). But we really don't need to see his origin again.

[blackmamba]

^ just what I was about to say. Just do the Death of Superman, that would hit the charts... if properly directed and acted. I think that would be nice to see.

But... if they make a 'darker' Superman movie, then I just don't know how the hell they would show that. Choose a good director first, before thinking of a theme for the freaking movie. o.o

[brentis17]

I love the idea of trying a darker storyline. It has to be the right story though. I agree that they cant take the Superman Returns and make it dark and think it will be worth a shit. I like certain things in the latest movie but there were huge holes in it. Im a Supes freak and I was kinda putoff with some of the things they did. I also agree they need a director that truely understands Superman but he must also understand Clark as well. There are tons of darker tales in his life and any of them could work. I love the idea of Darkseid not so much of Brainiac, while they had great battles Brainiac cant push him to the limits like Darkseid could. The Doomsday story would be friggin awesome but very hard to do in just one movie, but that would definitely take Superman to new levels of Darkness that would surely rival the Bat. As far as the comment about Luthor, I have to disagree with you. Luthor has taken Superman places no other villain has been able to. If darker is what you want Luthor can be as dark as any villain out there. Hes not the cheesy bad guy you have seen in the movies over the years.

[ken13]

me personally, ithink all the superman movies was terrible. they should just leave this comic alone.

[Federal_Dragon]

rofl, i personally like Batman better than any other superhero. so, yes just leave superman alone and concentrate on batman D:

[Darth Kenshin]

Originally Posted by brentis17

As far as the comment about Luthor, I have to disagree with you. Luthor has taken Superman places no other villain has been able to. If darker is what you want Luthor can be as dark as any villain out there. Hes not the cheesy bad guy you have seen in the movies over the years.

I just think he's dated. He goes through various interpretations based on world conditions. During the Cold War, Luthor was a mad scientist, because every one was afraid of nuclear weapons. Once Reganomics ruined our country (I know, a topic in itself that isn't for message boards on BN) Luthor became a corrupt businessman. I just don't think he has a real identity. He is whatever the consensus is afraid of, and that just isn't interesting to me. Plus, to make him alone a threat is where we get ridiculous concepts like breaking off the West Coast so he can have beachfront land to sell in Arizona. Luthor is a great villain when he's manipulating things, but just having him against Superman doesn't work, as the plot gets too contrived (absurd schemes, conveniently place kryptonite, etc.) for him to be a legitimate threat. Darkseid, Braniac, or Doomsday would be much better threats.

But I think we all agree with the central idea of my first post: another origin movie is completely unnecessary. Just get on with it already.