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Mark Millar Gives Up On Superman, For Now

Posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

Mark Millar Superman

Mark Millar has been talking about his pitch for an 8-hour epic trilogy of Superman films for w while now. He even claimed that he was working with an unnamed big director on a pitch for the studio. But now the comic book writer admits on his website that it likely won’t happen after all, or at very least, not anytime soon.

“Warner’s talked to us and a few other writer/ director teams, but things seem to be in stasis right now. As far as I understand, nothing is happening with Superman at the moment and so the director and I are just working on another project. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, no biggie. Kick-Ass taught me that creating your own stuff can be at least as much fun and you don’t have to answer to anyone. It’s the future, baby.”

I think Warner Bros is being very cautious and are very unsure of how they should proceed with Superman . You have to respect that they aren’t trying to rush a new movie into production in a time when it seems like comic book movies are as hot as they’re going to get.

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  • I have no interest because quite frankly, I hate Superman. Batman will kick his ass anytime and anyplace.
  • josh p
    i love batman as much as any one (hes my favorite super hero) but quite frankly, i dont see what he could do to a man who can get shot in the eye and not even get a scratch, let alone flinch.

    unless batman had kryptonite, but thats just fowl play.
  • Yes, but Mark Millar would change your mind. I understand WB's caution, but if they looked into Millar's track record I'm sure they could trust him to do something unique, new, and fantastic with the franchise. Also, Batman always beats Superman because writers think: "Man, you know what would really surprise people! If Batman, kicked Superman's ass! Yeah, what a twist!"
  • Millar to be honest is hit or miss. And mostly miss. The guy writes like an angsty 15 year old sometimes.
  • I love Batman too. But Superman has an amazing design behind him, including his mythos. The issue is that he was only captured well in film once by Richard Donner. All Singer did was fellate his love for the character and horseback-ride what Donner had already laid down.

    And this is what was the real fault with the Singer Superman. While I loved Routh as Kent and Superman. The entire film was a weak re-tread over things most people saw and new about already. At least when Nolan took up Batman he actually went into details every director before him glossed over.

    Superman is a very inspiring character. Because he battles between politics and moral grounds he faces as a super non-human being. He just hasn't been tapped correctly since Donnor got his hands on him. I want to see an epic Superman movie where he's both struggling as a non-human and wrecking shit using his powers.
  • freemachine
    This is the best appraisal of the Superman films I've ever read. I agree with you completely.
  • :(
    "It's just too heeeaaavy, for Superman, to lift . . . "
  • maybe Millar can now actually get his arse in gear and stop dicking around with Kick-Ass and get some more issues released.
  • whos this unamed director. didnt he say a while back it was a great american director or something on those lines. why is he still remaining hidden or i guess unamed. does he not want to be that associated with the film. or his ideas but then again he said they'd be working on another film while they wait so why keep him hidden.
  • I'd like to know who the director is he's working with. This is sad news Superman needs a reboot.
  • Singer really fucked this up for a lot of people didn't he?
  • Singer has no busisness being anywhere near a comic book movie franchise. But really you can push some of the blame on Lauren Shuler Donner or even Avi Arad who has never even picked up a comic book but seems to be working for a comic book company.
  • dagreenman18
    it's not a TERRIBLE idea, just not a particularly doable one. i wouldn't mind seeing a superman epic, but would the mainstream want to?
  • actually i heard it was romita that fell behind on that. supposedly there is going to be some animated montage in the movie and he worked essentially as the director for that part of the film. i vaguely recall reading something along those lines in an interview with mark. on top of that the guy has to do 3 full issues of spider-man a month, even he was bound to fall behind somewhere, of course it would be the creator owned title to take the hit.

    i agree though, it would be nice to finally have that finished. old man logan is the title that's killing me with delays. that book is sooooooooo damn good
  • i wonder if he'll ever publish his idea as a superman else world story for dc? i really doubt this idea will ever happen, i heard him talk about his concept, without getting into specific plot points, at a war heroes signing, and it sounded bad ass.

    i still really hope they do his red son book as a legit animated dvd. that and secret identity are my two favorite superman stories.
  • What I would like to see is Routh continue as Clark/ Superman and seeing a reboot from the beginning by a director who can best use the source material and stay close to it without whoring it up with their touch and thinking it makes the story move (I'm pointing at you Singer and Super-Bastard Kid).
  • gemma
    If audiences see Routh their first question is "Where is the Super-Bastard Kid?" which is why he is out in a reboot.
  • mangoshakes
    i'm actually quite happy the way WB is doing this. I'm pretty positive Supes is still way high on WB's list. even Singer's romance flick earned 400 million. he's still a draw. his movie should be epic. Millar's pitch was a bit wrong. just do it right WB. better than constantly rebooting stuff. Singer can produce i guess. just make the next movie epic.

    also yeah, KEEP ROUTH!!
  • Agreed. For all the suckiness of Wanted, he still shows talent when he can write one of the best Superman stories ever, Red Son.
  • Red Son was good. I wish he would write like that more often.
  • Fuck No! Superman is an alien, Batman some poor lil rich boy...and from what we have seen in the past...Aliens > humans...
  • Batman is awesome. Both characters compliment each other since they fill the areas that each character negates or dictates from.
  • Haha, yeah but I don't think he was the only one to blame...
  • filmkid
    all WB need to do is reboot Superman and have him fight a real supervillain and have Lex Luther at the background. lets have Superman vs Darkseid
  • Superman vs. Darkseid could pose for the most epic comic movie ever. Do it in two parts. Have Brainiac Ally with Darkseid in the first and have Darkseid work in the shadows, becoming more and more involved, until once Brainiac is out of the way, there's a full scale Apokoliptian invasion. Darkseid is, I think, the best comic book villain, because his goals are so lofty and evil. He doesn't want to end life, he wants to control it at his will. Eerie and awesome, and the perfect villain to bring Superman into the limelight he deserves.
  • Anti-Life Equation look it up
  • ...Right. That's what I was implying when he 'wants to control life.' the equation takes away free will.
  • dannyboy
    NO ROUTH

    his an look-a-like WB need to find someone who built and ready to kick some ass Routh is too skinny to be Superman.
  • gah
    No, WB fucked it up for thinking that SIngers continuation of a movie series twenty years later was a good idea and paid for it. SR should have been a reboot and any sane individual could've told you that would make a better movie and proved a bigger financial success. And by reboot i dont mean change the character and make him hip and modern, just retell the origin for modern audiences like in Mark Waid's Superman Birthright graphic novel.
  • gah
    So true. Kick Ass is so god awful and Ultimates was so good. im confused on where I stand on Millar.
  • To be fair they did make a good chunk of money out of Singer's film. The issue is it was totally unsatisfying. Especially when you think about all the money that was put into it.
  • gah
    It was a 300 million dollar film with a reportedly HUGE marketing budget. So no, they barely broke even. By the way I didnt hate the film, it was redeeming in some aspects it just wasnt what we were waiting for. It was Citizen Kane compared to X3.
  • 270m for film budget and the advertising was around 41m (domestically) and made around 390 million in the box office at it's end.

    That's not including domestic DVD sales which resulted in another 81m.
  • [A]
    good, good. Millar can be good sometimes, building up a story (notice the "sometimes") but he writes the worse endings. he's got issues with endings, definitely :)
  • Well this comment thread went downhill pretty quick.
    Business wise, no I don't think WB is prudent by being cautious. If you allow ANY of the directors obviously interested in making this movie right now you are at least guaranteed your costs back, at minimum.
    Roll the fucking dice and make a movie. If it blows then make another one. So far the people have proven that they will line up for a properly marketed action film with namebrand characters attached. So stop pussy footing around.
    It's SUPERMAN, not fine chinaware.
  • get Morrison
    KEEP ROUTH OUT!!

    Reboot it, don't sequel it.
  • Also second.
  • Also second.
  • Yeah, I sometimes wonder what the hell they were thinking. They thought everyone in a modern audience would know Donner's movie and the character of Superman, but the layman doesn't know anything past the basics. They could have done a modern reboot with some of the nods to Donner that were in Superman Returns, that would have been homage enough, instead of this basic retread of old stuff. Oh, and he has a fu**ing son.
  • Solid
    Just give singer another shot.
  • That´s right: if we see Routh in a next installment we are going "Where´s his super-child?" JJ Abrams take on Supes was the way to go. You know that. It would have made zillions of dollars. Oh! and next time, please, get an actual woman tu play Lois. Not a skinny talentedless teenager out of the high school (same goes for Routh... despite he did a nice Reeve impersonation)
  • My problem with a reboot is that it guarantees that Luthor will be the main villain, again.
  • Abrams sucks. I'm also glad his version never happened.
  • Spell Check
    "...his pitch for an 8-hour epic trilogy of Superman films for w while now..."

    w while now?
  • i feel like WB is a little leery about green-lighting an 8 hour, 3 part, epic superhero movie that is so incredibly broad and supposedly dark. yes, the idea worked with Dark Knight, and they thought it would work with Watchmen (a 60%+ drop in both its second and third weeks in release is not a good thing).

    the problem here is that i think Miller wants to just shoot the whole damn thing at once, and WB doesn't want to pony up the cash for that, especially if part 1 sucks and the other two fail miserably as a result.
  • Bobby
    I'd rather see a Batman vs Superman film any day. Hopefully the Nolan-verse of Batman films ends with the 3rd film and WB takes on new directions for the series by getting new writers and directors. I think a Batman vs Superman film would be great and epic not to mention people have been talking about 1 for over a decade.

    Also to the people that say DC makes Batman beat Superman at certain times because it makes it seem cool or what ever, you do know Batman could beat everyone in the JL since he actually has every single person's weakness and has strategies on how to take them down if the time comes right? Batman is the ultimate super hero in the DC-verse except he has no powers and he's just a very good strategist and knows how to kick major ass.
  • I'm happy WB is trying very hard to find the right story to tell with Superman. I'm also happy Millar didn't get his shot at Superman either. I heard what he was trying to do and it just didn't sound that great to me. They need to sit and think about a great sequel to Superman Returns, something that could possibly change the way people view Superman.
  • helio
    Peter, do you have the full version of the "millarsuperman.jpeg" image used above? Do you know if a print is available?
  • ETN
    When the new superman was in development for a gazillion years, (remember Nick Cage's involvement anyone?) the original story was based on a "Superman Reborn" theme, so the reboot was already out there. only towards the end would it be changed to the movie we have seen Superman Returns. I believe that WB have a shot at both the sequel, and a Trilogy, however the latter would have to wait years since the average movie goer would not get it being so close to the last movie. Every one watched Singer's movie. Unfortunately it was too expensive to make financial sense.
  • gah
    Superman haters can go fuck themselves.
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