Yes, I feel that the only thing missing from Superman Returns was the action. Nevertheless, it was still a very well done movie. Great show all around really, just needed more oomph.

I, myself, loved the Superman Returns movie, and I sympathize greatly with the way Singer described the feel as it turned out. I do believe he got the point across greatly, and I have high hopes for the sequel to do just as well, if not better.

If you're a person that loves superman, then I see no reason why "Returns" was anything but an amazing installment to the ongoing legend, and yes it was not very action oriented, but the fact that it got me so caught up into rooting for a superhero I hadn't felt anything for since I was 6 years old was an accomplishment in itself.

The only thing I didn't like about SR were the effects. I really hope they get a better special effects house for the sequel. The CG lighting and model integration was horrid. I guess you expect from the studio that worked on Cats & Dogs and The Scooby-Doo films.

I want to see the kind of destruction that Miller created around Supermans "awesome" power and to have him deal with the consequences of being such a powerful being on a planet Earth. I want DC/Warners to do this right because so far I like how they have been pretty "conservative" with their franchises moreso than Marvel.

Singer can do it. And yes it made it's money but it made it on expectancy. We'll see what the writers can drop

I liked Bryan Singers direction for Superman Returns. Any complaints I see lie in the story; the lack of action, too much romance, etc. With a new writing crew I hope they will bring to superman what most people thought Returns was going to be. With Singer back does this mean they'll bring Routh back in too?

Girls went "ga ga" over Superman Returns? That is such bullshit. Singer pumps up that wreck by claiming some huge mythical fandom of "All those teenage girls". Those girls hated Weekend Dad Superman as much as anybody else. This is excuse making of the worst sort. "Yeah, YOU may have hated it, but I made it for some other group." Who also hated it.

Did me and my girlfriends want to see a drooping deadbeat Superman? No! Did we want a cold fish Lois ripping Superman's balls off? No! "Romantic" my ass. There was no damn romance in this movie.

@ Lisa

Nicely said.

@ Lisa

I on the other hand loved him! Girls went crazy for Reeves, and me and my friends went crazy for the 'new' Superman.

In my humble opinion, Singer totally dropped the ball on the last one. The complete and total promise of "CGI" is that, finally, what can be imagined can be brought to life. (It is sad how little of that we actually get, isn't it?) And Superman? My god, imagine the possibilities!!! For 200 million I expected a Superman sized EPIC, and Superman should be nothing short of EPIC! And the all caps is on purpose. Superman deserves the EPIC treatment like no other franchise on the planet. Period.

If you can't deliver that Bryan, then get someone who can. 'Nuff said.

YES!!!!!! man this is great news! i realize the issues with Returns, but i know that this time around all will be set right and even have us calling for a third. this will be the superman we have all been waiting for, and singer & routh can do it. i have 100% faith. im so glad this series wasn't scrapped for a reboot, just watch it's gonna be great.

hopefully something can be done about the horrible superkid storyline/character. send him to boarding school on mars or something, but either way im really excited about this.

Boooo!

Get Singer off this project. He's ruining another potentially great comic book movie just like he did with X-Men.

Get Faverau on this project or Guillermo Del Toro and you'll see how dope a comic book movie can be.

Studio hackery is getting hot and heavy in here. Look teenage girls is my demo. I got know this turf cold. If the moles want to make claims about any other demo, I won't say peep, because maybe it's true and I just don't know it. But these claims about teen girls are bullshit. My friends and I ARE teenage girls. We chat with others all over the net in different forums. We go to school meets all over the country and mix with other teen girls.

We respect Reeve the way we respect our grandfathers. We don't got the hots for him! We sure as hell don't got the hots for his milk bland lesser clone! That is complete bullshit. Nobody in their right mind is buying that. He looked old, skinny, and puny. That whole movie looked old and puny, straight out of the '70s. Why the hell would we "go crazy" over that? Bullshit. Teen girls hated that movie as much as everybody else, and no amount of studio spin can cover up that fact.

I don't get this Superman hype. Until now there is no Superman movie that is even remotely interesting. Even the much beloved (?) first movie with all it's time-reversing stupidity sucked in my opinion. The problem is, that regardless of the script or the director he is not such an interesting and multi-faceted character to begin with. I think the whole premise is so inferior to the Spider-Man or Batman universe. A good script can help, but his costume will still look ridiculous with that giant S, he will still be too powerful and he's emotionally shallow and uninteresting. Sure I would still be more interested in a Superman sequel than a JLA movie, but I'm not that interested at all.

Sounds like Lisa needs a wine cooler.

singer needs to amp the action up this time
also how many times do we need to
see lex luthor in these movies???
why not have a new villian...BRAINIAC or BIZARRO!!!!!!!
we still have faith in you BRIAN!!!!

I respect where Singer is coming from. I enjoyed the filmed even though it had huge mushy and Superman 1 undertones, but I think it can really set up the next film to be big. Plus you got Superboy running around now...

Despite how you feel about Returns, it sounds like we'll all be getting what we want in the second go round. And also I think we can all agree Brandon did a pretty good job for a complete newcomer. Now's the time for him to flesh out the role a little more and give it a little bit more of his own stamp on the character.

There is only one thing I'd like to see in a Superman movie.....and that is Doomsday.

YES! I'm excited about the sequel, and despite what "everyone" thought, I really enjoyed Superman Returns. Maybe it lacked action, but it was more than just a summer popcorn flick, like Xmen 3. It was a beuatiful film and I cant wait to see what Singer does with a sequel. In my opinion, X2 was far superior to Xmen, and I'm sure this sequel will be awesome.

Let's hope Singer can knock this one out of the park. I have a feeling he will. X2 was one of the top comic-book films of all time and I i think this new Superman movie will be even better.

I was all set to chime in here and stick up for SR, but based on this board, I'm glad to see I don't really need to. Superman Returns was a far better 'film' than it was a 'movie,' that being said, I have complete faith in Singer to build on his quirky, nostalgic, and well-constructed universe in an exciting and satisfying way. I think Singer knows exactly what we're all looking for in a sequel, and if the plane sequence from SR shows us anything, its that he has the chops to deliver.

An open letter to Bryan Singer

Dear Mr Singer,
Clark Kent parts his hair on the right, Superman parts his hair on the left. Get it right.

Sincerely,
Chris.

~~~~
But seriously, I have a feeling Man of Steel is going to be really good.

SR was definitely not perfect, but it didn't deserve the backlash it received. As beloved as the comic is, the character of Clark Kent/Superman is especially difficult to bring to the big screen. Its the reason the project was in development hell for so long. People can say all they want about SR and how much better it could have been, but its much easier said than done. Singer deserves more respect from the fans. He's as proven as a "big film" filmmaker under the age of 45 gets. Lets not forget the state of comic book films before X-Men came out (The Shadow, Schumacher's Batman movies, The Phantom) and he accomplished it WITHOUT the full support of Fox who didn't believe in the film until AFTER they saw it coming together. And X2 is a comic/film classic. Singer deserves the benefit of the doubt. If anything, he's brave to be taking on the Man of Steel...he has a lot more to lose if the film is not well received than he does to gain if it is. The project could do a LOT worse than to have Singer at the helm (Michael Bay, Brett Ratner, McG...)

i wish people would stop crying about RETURNS, if it weren't for the kid and spacey had more screentime with routh it would have been just as good as the first x-men movie...

hopefully they'll call the next movie The Man of Steel w/out supwerman in the title, it has a lot more recognition than the dark knight.

Awwww, poor multi-millionaire Brian Singer had to make a hard movie about Superman, I feel so bad for him. And he only had $200 million and access to ANY writers he wanted and the planets very best special effects teams and ANY actors he wanted and the support of the studio and billions of fans... gosh, that musta been tough and all. Poor fella.

This crap about Superman being hard is just that... tough. So what? He is one of the most iconic characters in the history of the world. These excuses were all well and good for the past efforts, technology certainly held us all back, but not now. There are no excuses.

Make the Superman movie we've all been waiting for, or get off at the next exit and let someone else do it.

The Movie was great to setup a sequel. Everyone expects perfect 120min movies these days. Yes a tad of romance was in SR, but it nicely set up a sequel to really get down to the action. patience you retards.

ID REBOOT IT TOO BUT THAT WOULD MESSUP THE LEGACY.

sequel instructions for Warner Bros that will put the "MAN" back in superman THE MAIN ISSUE OF THE SEQUEL is THE LOISLANE ROMANCE PLOTLINE IS DONE. IT IS TIME TO EXPAND KENT'S WORLD. KENT IS NOW A SINGLE PARENT WORKING AT A DIFFERENT NEWSBUILDING AND STAFF. I SAY FOXNEWS OR CNN.



SR was lame but you can transition it back to a hardcore actioner-- you just have to neatly tie up and chuck the sissy stuff in the first 15 minutes.

1. Lane concludes that Clark is a douche and weds White.we dont even show the wedding. its just a headline kent wakes up to.

2. Kent burns and spurns her by winning custody of the kid,leading to an unexpected result; he is barred by court order from working at The Planet and near Ms. Lane. From this point on the daily planet offices are never again seen in the movie. that world is finally closed off to Kent and the audience for the rest of the film which finally forces this into NEW possibilities.

3. Kent's new gig is at the FOXNEWS building, (in a new city)where he has to endure warmongering asshats and Bill Oreilly, where his new "olson" is Tucker Carlson and his new "lois" is a flirty Ann Coulter, which makes him regret his new bizzaro environment.

4. Kent's raising of the kid in a new city as well as healing his wounds will have to wait when a bigger and badder main villain ZOD returns(yes, Terrence Stamp) with a vengeance.

5. the side villain geneHackman the genius returns with posey kumar and better schemes, among them = a supersuit giving him the same powers of flight, a lethal rocket version of ripley's worksuit.

6. Throw in Sam jackson as Brainiac causing trouble in Europe. because it's time for the arena to be global and have SUPERMAN battle 3 or 4 villains in multiple cities and other planets. and FILM THE METROPOLIS IN POST 9/11 NEW YORK PLEASE.

7. female baddie somewhere, the kid turns bad, and cliffhanger ending. you have to make shyt as difficult as possible for Routh to make a sequel worthy. new music, new title sequence, old 80's costume.

8. look at a little indie called "waydowntown" that has a superhero in it played by Mike Eberly. note the swift urgency he puts in the role plays his role. that's what superman is supposed be.

I hate commenting this far down, so my apologies up front if I repeat anyone's sentiment.

I enjoyed Returns until the kid part. It was, for one, extremely predictable and two, retarded.

Other than that, as long as the sequel isn't a rehash of the Donner flicks (I've heard rumors of Zod...please no) and we get a new villain that hasn't been seen, I'll be happy.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, watch Superman 3, and then watch Superman Returns and be grateful that Singer did as good of a job as he did. You really shouldn't have to do this to appreciate SR, since it really is a great Superman movie. But for the haters who for some reason can't appreciate SR, just watch Superman 3 to understand how good we really have it with Singer.

Time to water the Plants.

Singer is one of the worst people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting.

He's been using the comic book mythology as a way to make parallels and force his own agenda.

The X-Men films were terrible, and Superman Returns was as well.

I really do not know if anyone can fix the garbage of SR. Superman is supposed to be all about truth and justice but in SR he is made out to be a home wrecker, stalker, trespasser and camera whore. How do you really make a sequel to that?

Lex Luthor is the most evil genius on the planet yet does he follow through with major league evil? No! He's obsessed with real estate. Lex Luthor for president then he could be a greater villain that Dubya.

superman in a hospital...

SUPERMAN IN A HOSPITAL????!!!!!

SUUUPERMAN IN A HOOOOSPITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



singer is TERRIBLE.

Well, how else would humans try to help him live after being tormented by kryptonite?

@ Ian :Im not quite "in the loop" as far as comic book universes go as I was in high school, but I believe Luthor DID run for president in the DC universe--or was it his son? anyway...

This movie sucked and only women or gay people loved this version of Superman. Plz, Singer and Routh leave the movie and WB get a new Director and Tom Welling. Just make Smallville into a movie and that the Man of Steel the 1st year he is Superman.

Sad to Say, we Filipinos, are one of the avid follower of the Old superman especially Mr. Reeve, but unfortunately, most of the viewers in my country are so dissapointed about the story and the cast of Superman Returns. For me, my opinion is, i didnt see the chemistry between the 4 actors in the film(Routh, Marsden, Bosworth, spacey), as if the were united in one film without being introduced to each other. I think, Kevin spacey, is too Old for Brandon Routh to play as Lex, but kevin spacey was the only actor who is good in this film. I dont like Boswort as Lois Lane coz her characters doesnt resembles Lois Lane at all, from comics to old movie, nothing resembles her character. I rather would have chosen Ms. Parker POsey to reprise the Rolse of Lois Lane. and I also dont understand why do u have to put James marsden in the film, coz his character is very nuisance in the film. and i think, Brandon routh need a lot of workshop in acting.

and since the movie is Superman, the story should tell about the world that needs to be save and not only Metropolis, it sould be Global.

I dont like the Lois Lane-superman romantic plotline, coz its not even romantic. just stick to the original Lois Lane Supermanclark Kent partners in crime set up. because we dont like Lois Lane being a dramatic queen. Lois should be sassy and strong.

There are two main Superman audiences, and each audience has its Superman backstory:

The comic book Superman was a superhero tale with a crazy set of villains in which Superman is the icon of all superheroes, the superhero that all the rest look up to. In the comics Superman is often an wooden character, on whom the whole structure of the story is built, but it's all the other characters who make the story fun, interesting and exciting.

Then there's the Christopher Reeve Superman movies as a backstory. At their best these stories are a conflicted fairy tale romance. At their worst they are bad action movies. Superman in these tales is a vulnerable, very human character, trapped between his duties to the world and his love for a very special woman.

The problem with Superman Returns is that it tries to use both backstories, and fails to use either. In it Superman is a wooden character looking back on the fairy tale romance he'd been involved within, but we don't care what he thinks because he is too alien to care about. So we look for the interesting side characters to provide us with an opening into the story . . . but there's not enough interest there. Either not enough action, or not enough interaction.

I hope Man of Steel is about the action and the secondary characters. Make Superman as wooden as they'd like to, then he can hold up the plot that the other, *much* more interesting characters will provide. But if Superman is going to be made of unfeeling steel then I'd like to see the romance drop away and the action take centre stage.

Also: Brainiac should be the villain. Give him the air time he deserves!

I think all ppl have vailid points, but the original superman motion picture was a great movie for its time b/c it was never done. However, it does not hold up if it was made in 2008 b/c the lack of action, but the acting was decent. This is were SR fails the acting or maybe script was wrong, some of the actors were wrong for their parts (Routh, Bosley, Spacey). I think Singer does uses superheroes and their difference to address or have ppl endorse the gay lifestyle, and to each they own I don't care just don't make beloved characters to endorse alternative lifestyles. I guess I falling with the fans that want a reboot or have smallville movie made.

Those that say Superman Returns was a failure are WRONG. I loved it!

To tell you the truth, I absolutely hated the whole Lois Lane/new lover/Superman triangle dynamic. What was up with that anyway.

But I forgive that every time I see it just by watching Superman catch the falling airplane out of the sky!!!! That's why I go to watch Superman!!! That was the single best sequence ever filmed in any movie in history, PERIOD!!!! The detail was amazing. As he flies around the plane to try to catch it, his shadow falls over the plane. Then as the plane is slowing down coming into the stadium, the ripples along the body of the plane. And the soundtrack playing was perfect as the plane slowed down. MAN THAT WAS AWESOME!!! Then let's not forget of course the crowd going wild when the plane is set down, somewhat more roughly than I expected. But that's okay. I love it every time I watch that scene.

Brandon Routh does an excellent job of portraying that quiet humility that Chris Reeves so expertly wove into the character. That "aw shucks country boy" attitude coming from a man who has the power to make time move backwards and can fly into suns and take point blank bullets in the eyeball and not even wince. The man who can still take a few minutes to rescue a young girl's cat out of the tree. That's what I love about Superman.

So Keep that in the next movie and ditch the bozo Lois Lane lover. No offense meant whatsoever to James Marsden of course. Good actor, good performance. Just a badly written aspect to an otherwise good movie.

Here's the basic idea I would use to write a story for the next movie: Start with a HUGE natural catastrophe that Superman has to contend with, something that's nearly his match. Say, a supervolcano. Yosemite would do. For those who don't know, supervolcanoes are big-ass volcanoes that have happened in the past on earth and each time have covered the world with ash, killing off most plant and animal life over months. Yosemite is an example of one just waiting to happen again.
While he's occupied with that, there could be fleets of alien warships headed toward Earth. Which aliens, you ask? I don't know. Who cares? Make it something from the Superman mythology from the comic books. Maybe they're here because they're following some kind of trail that Superman's ship left behind. Maybe they were on their way to somewhere else but detected some odd readings because of Superman's zipping around while saving us from what would otherwise be our species' doom.
Luthor has established a base of operations underwater. He captures one of the aliens and a massive amount of their information and technology, and immediately comes up with plans to utilize it to rid the world of Superman. Something for the next movie perhaps, or maybe a grand finale of this one.
And the rest is pretty self evident. The fleet of alien ships lands craft and armored troops that are altogether more than a match for Superman and our military combined. Maybe cut to Batman, the Flash, and Wonderwoman in various parts of the movie individually helping to the best of their abilities, but unable to keep up with the onslaught as the aliens use more extreme tactics against us, infiltrating computer systems etc., shutting down defenses.
In the end, I would have Superman seemingly defeated, exhausted, and captured by the bad guys. But in the process of capturing him, their attention was diverted away from the humans, who, with Bruce Wayne's help, have created a custom stealth nuke missile that destroys the command ship and frees Superman, who is blown out to space by the blast, knocked temporarily unconcious in his weakened state. We hear his heartbeat slowing and he is drifting to space apparently frozen, but we still hear the faintest heartbeat, nearly gone. Then the camera changes angles and we see the sun as it shines on him as he drifts beyond Earth's shadow. We hear his heartbeat return. He slowly opens his eyes, remembers where he is and what happened, and proceeds to thoroughly kick some alien ass. Maybe their boss escapes. It could be Brainiac maybe. Maybe Superman destroys Brainiac in the ultimate action sequence but not before Brainiac transmits most of himself to a kind of escape pod that launches and cloaks itself immediately, headed away into the depths of space, unbeknownst to Superman.
And at the end, we get a hint of Luthor's next atrocity on humankind as a teaser for the next movie.

Superman Returns was the best and finest action adventure summer blockbuster of 2006. I saw it an Edwards Imax Theaters and the film was spectacular Superman looked, really realistic flying, crashing through the airplanes wing and flying into the Clouds to energize from the sun at the end. Then, crashing into the under ocean ground to cast the continent into outer space where Lex Luthor won't be able to use it for World Domination. But, there is a problem Brainiac the organic computer life form could find the continent and bring it back on earth to use it to rule with Kal-El or use it to destroy him. Kal-El will have tow choose between Krypton and his new home Earth.

I like the Superman from the comics. There's plenty of room for depth in that character. You just can't go too far with it. Here are my thoughts presented isorganizedly. Lois's new husband must go. Superman does not have a kid. Let me clarify: SUPERMAN DOES NOT HAVE A KID, so his kid must go. I don't understand why these directors always feel they have to go in bizarre directions with characters that we the fans know the characters are not meant to go in. I mean, there's a lot you can do in making unique storylines without changing everything the character is. For instance, SUPERMAN DOES NOT HAVE A KID!!!! I'm disgusted with Singer's "take" on Superman.

Kill off her husband in some honorable way, send the son to some alternate dimension or something, put Lois back in her place as Superman's potential love interest.
Spend a little time on the love story, but primarily, give us things that pose serious huge-scale threats to Earth and Superman, so largescale and fast that he doesn't have time to adequately control the force of his punches, causing destructive concussions that cause massive damage in nearby cities.

Superman is interesting because of his extreme powers and his commitment to protect life, his love of humanity despite its flaws.

Also, Superman is not supposed to be so naive. He does not so easily walk right into Lex Luthor's traps like he did in SR. I realize he was also that dumb in the earlier Superman movies as well, but can we put an end to that? He is wise to some extent. He has access to and has taken in more information on all subjects than most human scholars ever will. So at least make him look before he leaps?

Oh yeah, and kryptonite is being waaaaaaaaay overused in the movies. I realize it's one of the only ways to hurt him. But focus on the other ways. He is insanely powerful, which is why he needs insanely powerful and fast enemies. Okay, it's hard to avoid kryptonite, but give us enemies who don't really need it to defeat him.

And really, don't forget the super-speed in the enemies. The Flash has superspeed as his singular power, but can you imagine trying to win in a fight even if you had twice his muscles? He could punch you 100 times faster than you could punch once. Superman is nearly or exactly as fast as the Flash, plus he is nearly indestructible, planet-moving strong with heat vision, x-ray vision, and hurricane breath. Can we get some enemies that present him a challenge for a change?

Turpin I agree with you man, Superman needs to be done the way the comics have him portrayed. Superman Returns was actually pretty good not counting Jason White the film felt and looked realisric with the plane scene, Metropolis, Kryptonian Continent, Clouds scene and space were all CGi real.

This, material is what gave Superman Returns Golden Globe nominations it even deserves Academy and Oscar Awards as the first two films received with the late Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman and now we have Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey as Superman vs. Lex Luthor. I surely, would go with Braniac he looked really scary in Smallville with James Marsters playing him. Metallo is also , scary play Superman Returns the video game you'll see what I mean. Turpin great answer buddy I vote Brainiac and Metallo for Superman Man of Steel. There is a rumour of William Fichtner possibly playing him he will be in The Dark Knight this summer. Metallo, I would go with Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp.

superman returns was just the right balance of heart and steel. routh and spacey were perfection, but was bosworth the right lois lane? i think she's too soft around the edges to be a hard-hitting reporter. maybe it was the hair.

my only problem with the movie was that superman's only super-trick appeared to be lifting heavy things. that was it! he just lifted a lot of heavy things: a car, the daily globe, the island. each time the music would swell and the pacing would slow way down. after the 2nd or 3rd time, it just felt contrived. and we all know superman has more superpowers than simply lifting heavy things.

there definitely needed to be more action, but don't touch the romance!

SUPERMAN RETURNS WAS ACE..
BUT........

CHRISTOPHER REEVE IS A REAL LIFE SUPERMAN, SPENDING THE REST OF HIS LIFE FIGHTING FOR BETTER SPINAL CARE AND RESERCH.. HE IS A GOD!!!!!!

i think they did a good job in the new movie they made superman as much like Christopher Reeve as they could..and as far as the story goes..so what if he has a kid? big deal!!! its another part of the story and the story has progressed since Reeve. im excited to see the next step in supermans life.
THIS WAS DEF ANOTHER SUPERMAN MOVIE...BUT AS THE CASE IS WITH ALL LEGENDARY FILMS.. YOU WILL NEVER EVER BEAT THE TIMELESS ORIGINALS THAT BROUGHT SO MUCH EXCITEMENT AND LIFE TO OUR HEARTS.

all i can say is..... CHRISTOPHER REEVE........YOU ARE A SUPERMAN WHEREVER YOU ARE.

I dont even really know where to begin besides, not everyone will be pleased in fact through the years of superhero movies someone always has an issue with either they did the character wrong or the special effects are wrong something is always wrong to much love not enough fighting ect ect ect....but in my opinion theyve always done a good job not everyone knows all the facts to the hero so therefore you get the first movie to establish his reasons how, when, why. and love come on every boy wants his girl even if there super powered so i give my prompts to all of those who has truly kept my emotions in a whirlwind just like a good movie should! and i for one cant wait for man of steel!!! and for all of you that are so not satisfied with these movies let me suggest GO OUT AND BUY THE COMIC BOOK! it doesnt get any more to the answers than that.

There was nothing good about, "Returns". Singer either doesn't know or knows and doesn't care. It makes no sense. The casting was all wrong. The sets were way too refined/mahogany/fine dining experience. The story was worse than something a greasy fanboy would dream up. Brandon Routh seems like an actor that would have been cast to play Superboy in the 80s. The whole point of Superman is that he is extroverted, out going and in charge. He's like your dad coming to your rescue after you screw up and crash the car. John Williams theme music matches the screen presence of Christopher Reeve more than it's just a "superman theme". That's why it seemed so out of place to hear it in parts of "Returns". Didn't Singer tell Brandon, "when you're Superman, stop playing Clark Kent"? And the most advanced effects tech. and the flying in the 78 "motion picture" looked better.