The age of the superhero in Hollywood continues with no end in sight. While Marvel seems to have the momentum and the plan at the moment, and films from lesser known comics such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Kick-Ass and the Sin City continue to garner the cult buzz, DC is doing everything it can to ensure that it is not left on the outside looking in.
The Batman franchise is in capable hands, the Green Lantern movie wowed crowds at Comic-Con, and a planned Superman movie has been given over to the capable care of the man that revived Batman, Christopher Nolan. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the search for a director to breathe life back into Superman has ended, and negotiations with Zack Snyder have begun.
Snyder is no stranger to comic book adaptations, having gained fame for his 300, then going on to direct Watchmen, a movie many felt was impossible to properly adapt for the big screen. Names have been circulating for possible directors for weeks, and Nolan and execs from Warner Bros. spoke to Darren Aronofsky, Ben Affleck, Matt Reeves and Tony Scott, among others before deciding on Snyder.
The script is still being written by David Goyer, who also wrote the story for Nolan’s Batman movies, all three Blade films and was chosen to write and direct a movie version of the Flash before the project died.
While it isn’t entirely clear if this will be a reboot of the Superman franchise or a loose sequel to the previous movies, as Bryan Singer’s 2006 Superman Returns was. Although this is still unconfirmed, the report does suggest that the film’s villain will be General Zod, the villain from Richard Donner’s Superman II.
Warner Bros. is currently hoping for a Christmas 2012 release.
Those ideas are far too good to actually be used. It would be nice though.
Actually, the half machine Superman you're thinking of would come to be known as Cyborg Superman, and was the creation of a disembodied human named Hank Henshaw. Brainiac actually had nothing to do with the return of Superman series.
So, my suggestion would be such:
If you're really going to go all-in on a new Superman movie series, DO IT RIGHT Warner Bros.!!!
1. Establish Doomsday's origins in a meaningful way right off the bat. (This could even be done after the fact in a prequel to the Superman series involving Darkseid, General Zod, and ancient Krypton if you wanted! There's another spin off movie that would take in billions!!!) Never the less, though, make sure you establish who Doomsday is and where he came from!
2. Superman is not a skinny neck, young, high voiced dork! Superman is a early-middle-aged, hard-ass, thick-necked, broad-shouldered man that has been through more than any other man, seen more than any other man, and is better than any other man! Yes, he does portray Truth, Justice, and the American Way; but he also has seen enough and is lonely enough to have his own demons himself. After all, he's SuperMAN, not SuperGOD. USE THAT!!! Make Superman take on some of the human characteristics in which he is surrounded by. Doomsday, if nothing else, makes Superman finally accept what he has never had – a sense of death, and therefore mortality – a distinctly human quality.
3. The whole first movie should consist of nothing but a cross country chase and path of destruction. Superman trying to stop Doomsday, the military trying to stop Doomsday, maybe a few superhero cameo appearances (mainly characters that in no way have a chance in DC hell to get their own movie such as Blue Beetle or such) that end with them in a bloody mess. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try to establish a love story with Lois Lane!!! At this point, the movie audience knows full well that Lois and Superman love each other, so don't re-invent the wheel. That is basically calling the audience stupid, and we DO NOT appreciate it. Get to what we came to see. DESTRUCTION!
4. The Second movie should consist of the rise of the Four Supermen, end with the Half-machine superman turning against the other three, and then the resurrection of Superman himself. (Here, again, Warner Bros. has the opportunity to spin off three other character movies if they want). End the movie with Doomsday somehow returning to life as well.
5. The Final of the three movies should Superman finally defeating Doomsday, and then fast forward into the distant future where the Sun eventually goes super-nova, Superman is all alone, and decided to die of his own free will rather than live on for ever.
So . . . Enough screwing around trying to figure out how to honor the memory of Christopher Reeves Superman character. He did a great job for his time, but now we need to get down to brass taxes and create a Superman who makes sense.
I'd give anything to be able to be part of this project, and I'm sure about a billion others would as well. Unfortunately, just like books, usually what is in our mind ends up being infinitly better than what ends up on screen. Let's hope for the best.
Keep Luthor as he was in the Comic, and just follow the story! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bottom line is this:
Doomsday is the only character to kill Superman, and that in and of itself is worthy of being put onto the big screen. Ramanan suggests Darkseid as well. I think it would be possible to have both in a movie, but Darkseid would have to be given a small roll in the beginning of the movie only. Why?
In order to properly make an on-screen adaptation of the Death of Superman, Doomsday's origins have to be explained. Doomsday was a project of a Kryptonian scientist that went terribly wrong. If you get a chance to read about the origins of Doomsday, it is a VERY good story!!! In a nutshell, after hundreds of years of torturous and inhuman genetic experimentation, Doomsday destroyed the scientist and the entire testing planet that he was created on. He went on to destroy civilization after civilization, growing stronger each time he was defeated. And each time he was defeated, he would return stronger to destroy what had defeated him prior to (kinda like Jason Vorhes).
Eventually, he did battle on the War Planet that Darkseid inhabits. Even Darkseid had a difficult time with him. Darkseid eventually trapped Doomsday, somehow "chained" him to a boulder, and launched him into space in order to save the planet from total destruction.
After many years, he ended up on Earth. From there, you get the Death of Superman series.
Rumor has it that the new Superman movie is going to be a trilogy. Guest and Ramanan are just a few of the many people who are asking the same question (including myself): WHY NOT DO A FILM VERSION OF THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN!?!?!?
The simple fact is that that comic book series was a major milestone event in the comic book industry that resurrected the Superman Character from fading into nothingness. (Odd how killing a character can resurrect them??? :) )
The golden aspect of a Death of Superman series is that it inevitably leads into a trilogy of movies, if not more! It also give Warner Bros. the additional money making capability to sell toys and video-games like no-one's business!
The story didn't end with Superman dieing. There was an entire years worth of comics that brought new and interesting characters into the story, which eventually lead up to Superman coming back to life. Characters such as Steel, The Eradicator, The Half Machine Superman (which turned out to be Brainiac in disguise if I remember right), and so forth (i.e. The "Reign of the Supermen" series).
I accept the comments by guest.. why go ahead with the same old story line.. come up with a new one such has Doomsday or much better enter the Darkseid.. Now there is a potential blockbuster where money will flow.. I applaud Small ville for making this a reality.. Please dont create another general zod movie go with darkseid,…..
Why does Hollywood insist of revisiting the same crap over and over. General Zod? Please. I can't figure out why the movie industry hasn't churned out a "Death of Superman" movie with Superman against Doomsday. That comic series in the 1990s was absolutely HUGE. You'd have to expect that a movie would be equally as big.
Enough with Batman and Superman just make Wonder Woman already… Marvel does a grrreat job of having appearances by other heroes DC/Warner Brothers should learn… Too many male directors/producers afraid of a strong woman as the main role- pshaw!
Lara Croft, Resident Evil, Aliens…