If they decide to start over with a new idea, a fresh darker approach … they should really consider finding a new superman. Brandon Routh seems like a nice guy and all, but he is little cheesy and bland. Same with Spacy and Kate. Why cannot the producers, writers, and director go with an Alex Ross approach. Make our beloved character an actual superhero. Give him large broad shoulders … Hell, why not find a body builder at a random gym and see if he can act. Please do not go with another silly television heart throb for little girls to sell tickets. Get a brute, a man with a jaw, with structure. Someone that resembles strength and enables us to believe that he could actually be able to punch through a wall, to handle himself in situation involving incredible powers that could easily destroy Metropolis.

Please let us take this DC universe in the proper direction. Again, let’s have a hero that appears to be bold, powerful, and visually strong. We should really consider staying away from Brian’s flamboyant soap opera.

The Man of Steel should represent the inner strength in all of us. I feel that the next installment of Superman should be a type of hero that we all want to be, down deep inside. A figure that demonstrates self-sacrifice, reaching out to help the less fortunate and humbly does so without expecting anything in return. Do not bring back his child, do not make another love story between Lane and Kent. “Been there done that”. In fact, no Lex … maybe a cameo, but do not center the story around an stale conflict that everyone is bored of. Instead, please consider directing a movie about Superman that produces a figure that children and even older alike could look up to and be inspired by. I think Donner came close, but we need more suspense, action, and a factor consisting of FEAR. We need a threat that, perhaps touches us in reality. No simple cliches dealing with large Robots with green kryptonite. Why not introduce a new threat. Bring in an alien agenda that has thirst for aggression. Something that overwhelms Supes to the point of his demise. Not Doomsday, Darkseid … let’s get a new visitor, or should I say visitors. “Something original”.. Something the fans will be excited about.

Bring in a ‘War of the Worlds’ scenario. An alien invasion with huge ships destroying our planet. Make it so disastrous that it consumes the viewers inner fear to the point of suffocation, which in turn relies on our appreciation of The Man of Steel. Show death, show destruction, make people feel uneasy about it. Scare people … I think this will enable the viewers to seek help from a godlike figure, a higher being.

“Our Superman”

Maybe SR wasn’t absolutely everything it needed to be. But I think the next Superman film can be made where perhaps you can ignore Superman Returns if you’d like, or consider it a sequel.

But like I said, I like the idea of killing his son. Great opportunity for character development for Superman. I really want a sequel to SR, where the son dies, perhaps because of a new awesome villain, and Superman gets pissed and goes ballistic.

I understand you’re point about the sex - but you’re obviously a lot more familiar with the Donner/Lester films than most viewers.

I agree with you that doing a reboot this soon after Superman Returns is ill-considered, and that Superman Returns was far from the dramaturgical fiasco that was Ang Lee’s Hulk.

I didn’t have a problem with the plot of Lois and Superman having sex. I assumed that’s what happened in Superman II when they were at his fortress of solitude. So I didn’t need a flash back to remember everything. And as far as him leaving, it just worked for me.

As far as Spacey playing Lex, I agree they could’ve gotten another villain. However, I loved how Spacey made Lex much more sinister and evil. Hackman seemed like sort of a hack.

I don’t mind a sequel that takes what was done in the previous film and make it better for the sequel. I don’t like the idea of negating a film that came out only a couple years ago (by the release time of the sequel).

There was also a significant amount of vocal animosity on blogs (and from critics) about how the film was sorta-kinda a remake of and also a sequel to Superman II, and how misguided it was of Singer to do a quasi-sequel to a movie that was released nearly 30 years ago. I think those voices wouldn’t have traction if the movie had been a box-office bonanza, but it wasn’t.

I was hugely disappointed by Superman Returns, not simply because it tread so much ground already tread by Donner, Reeve & Co., but because it had massive plot problems. For instance, most of the dramatic tension was premised on something we didn’t SEE and which was only alluded to obliquely - Supes and Lois having sex, and then him bagging out on her. To build all your tension on an event that takes place before the film starts - WAY, WAY before - and then never flash back to it, and never even really talk about it - and to make that event the unwedded boning of a couple that produced an illegitimate child was, to put it bluntly, stupid on at least a couple of levels. Try taking a 7 year old kid to the movie and explaining what the hell was going on without getting into a sex talk. And also try to keep the 7 year old kid awake during the long turgid parts of the plot. I tried, and it wasn’t fun.

And then Singer chose to use his pal Spacey to revise Lex…instead of picking a new villain from the large array of great choices in the cannon. And didn’t make him the titan of industry Lex from the comics (the one who eventually became president of the USA) but made him much closer to the wackier criminal/con man Lex that Hackman gave us.

Millar is, first and foremost, a comics guy. He understands the interlocking relationships between plot and character and powers and psychology and identity. Getting a strong comics voice involved made Hellboy and Batman Begins not only admired by the general populace but well-respected by the fanboy base. AND those movies were actual hits.

The rest of the film was fantastic in my opinion. It was dark enough, and it brought back the magic of the first film. All it needed, maybe, was a little more action.

Revamping the franchise, particularly so soon after the making of “Superman Returns,” is a lousy idea. Keep the continuity, and if you must, write the son out of the story, giving Superman more character development. Think about it: If his son somehow dies, imagine how Superman would feel, knowing that even he, the Man of Steel, couldn’t save him.

Courtesy Wikipedia’s entry on Mark Millar and the stack of Superman Adventures I have in my collection.

BTW, can someone give me the issue numbers for Adventures of Superman that Millar was involved with?

Thanks,

Vic

Vic