NOTE (11/17/05): If you're looking for the Superman Returns trailer that premiered during Smallville on November 17, 2005 and will be attached to Harry Potter, click here.

SupermanImagery put up a teaser trailer this weekend showcasing Singer's Magnum Opus "Superman Returns." Should you be disappointed that you didn't catch it?

Man, I don't know. The footage itself looks kind of cool -- a hot summer day finds young Clark, exploring a barn on the Kent farm, discovering that he's not so normal; Kal-El encased in his deep-space pod; and a few seconds worth of footage showing Superman and Lois together all threaded together with close-ups of our new Big Blue Boy Scout, Brandon Routh.

It's a teaser. It gets the job done. I don't know...it just seemed a little simple. Maybe I'm just expecting lots of hype and bang and flash, but the teaser didn't really even hint at anything big and epic like Superman should be.

What really jumped out at me, especially considering that it's only really noticeable for a tiny portion of the whole trailer, is Metropolis. Seen up-close from the sidewalk in front of the Daily Planet, and from afar in the Lois/Superman rooftop scene, it has the sort of heightened Rocketeer/Dick Tracy 1930s look that Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow wasn't quite able to capture with any sort of memorable style.



I've always loved Singer for treating the X-Men source material with respect and reverence, but the films always seemed to be too "neat" and "square," too tightly pieced together.

For me, Superman is at his MOST interesting when he's equal parts "Super" and "Man" wrestling for dominance over his life. My fear is that the film is going to be more like Unbreakable -- character-driven drama which just happens to involve superheroics. Maybe it's just meant to underscore Singer's own penchant for understatement.

My hope is that, since the material for Superman is SO inherently "Super" and Singer's directorial style focuses so intensely on "Man," the marriage of the two will be nearly as perfect as that of Lois & Clark.

Or the marriage of Luthor and Brainiac, for your JLU fans. ;-)

You can see the full teaser trailer at RopeOfSilicon.com.

09/06/05 Update: Superman Teaser isn't so Super