The Man of Steel

I really want the new Superman movie to be great, so I’m hoping this is just a bad photo and not an indication that the movie’s going to suck :




Though I’ve got some nitpicky fanboy problems with the costume design1, I’m going to withhold judgment for now. After all, it’s nearly impossible to wear a Superman costume without looking like a dork. Even the late, great Christopher Reeve looked goofy in some of the early publicity stills. Compared with some of the awful changes that have been made to the costumes in other superhero movies2, this one isn’t that big a deal.

The bigger concern for me is whether or not Bryan Singer is able to pull off a Superman movie. He did a great job with the X-Men movies, but that’s easy compared to the difficulties that a new Superman movie would pose. Superman doesn’t have the angst of Batman or the complicated relationships of Spider-Man, he’s just an all-American boy scout in tights. In the hands of the right screenwriter and director, there are plenty of interesting ways to approach the character, but unfortunately most people think Superman is bland and uninteresting. I won’t bore you with my ideas on how to make a good Superman movie, but lemme just say that if they fall into the trap of trying to make Superman “cool”, this movie will suck.

1 : The “S” insignia is a little too “badass” for my tastes, the darker cape looks kinda dumb, the shorts seem like they’re deliberately cut low to show off this dude’s six-pack, and the curl in his hair looks like it was glued in place.

2 : When George Clooney played Batman, the suit was made of rubber, tinted purple, and had nipples.


posted by greg on April 22, 2005 @ 10:49 am

8 comments

  1. I worked for Elliot Graham on another film. He cut X2 with John Ottman, and he’s cutting the new Superman. They’re both amazing talents; so, at least the editing will be good.

    Comment by shabaas — April 22, 2005 @ 11:11 am

  2. I think this could be good because it doesn’t seem to be another origin story. The gist, according to Newsarama.com, is that Superman is returning to Earth after an absence of years.

    Actually, it sounds kind of like the Supreme stories Alan Moore wrote. Watching him reacclimate could be fun, but I wonder how that’ll play for Clark Kent suddenly coming back to town.

    Comment by Dr. Pants — April 22, 2005 @ 11:35 am

  3. i like the costume. i could nit-pick (i don’t know why the cape needs to be leathery, or the shield needs to be a 3-D plasticy thing) but mostly i’m just glad that it’s red and blue and there’s no fake muscle definition. the boots are nice too- kinda remind me of the really early superman comics where they actually looked more like boots instead of the usual sock-like super-hero boots.

    on a related note- i’m excited about the new batman movie, but i don’t like that the costume looks almost the same as the 90s batman movie costumes. i wish they had avoided the all-black-leather/plastic look of those movies. batman would seem much more bad-ass if he was running around in tights with no armour. oh well.

    Comment by tomN! — April 22, 2005 @ 1:35 pm

  4. I won’t bore you with my ideas on how to make a good Superman movie,

    i think you should “bore” us… i like your ideas about superman. you seem to understand the character better than just about anyone.

    Comment by tomN! — April 22, 2005 @ 1:37 pm

  5. Since it’s so early in the process, I would guess that this is a costume test of some sort; lots can change between those and the final cut. We can hope so, at least… :)

    Comment by Poetdoc — April 22, 2005 @ 2:08 pm

  6. I won’t bore you with my ideas on how to make a good Superman movie

    I’m with Tom on this one – Bore away, you had a ton of great ideas and it might be fun to talk about here on the site.

    Back OT, has anyone seen Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane? I saw some pics on AICN and she looks ridiculous. You can’t tell if it’s a wig, or a bad dye Job but you can most definitely tell she doesn’t wear her hair that way.

    Comment by Ross A Lincoln — April 22, 2005 @ 2:34 pm

  7. ince it’s so early in the process, I would guess that this is a costume test of some sort

    it’s not that early… they’re already shooting it.

    Comment by tomN! — April 22, 2005 @ 3:10 pm

  8. Re: showing off his six-pack
    What, Supe’s not allowed a little vanity? He does have the original abs of steel you know.

    But, as someone who’s never been a big Superfan, I think you should tell us about your ideas, because I’m interested to see how they’re going to approach this film.

    Comment by Samir — April 22, 2005 @ 3:59 pm

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