Better Be Super or DC is SCREWED!

Man of Steel opens
Friday June 14th

Once upon a time, comic book movies didn't come out every week. In fact, you wouldn't even know they existed. Then in 1978, Richard Donner made Superman: The Movie... and it was HUGE. Talk about a who's-who on the production side (Donner directing, Mario Puzzo on the story) and starring Marlon Brando? That's right. despite Marlon Brando's 20 minutes of screen time, he was the top billing over Superman himself Christopher Reeve. That didn't spawn more comic book movies (except a low budget Fantastic Four) until Warner Bros released Batman in 1989. That made more comics come out, but after awful results (like the Flash TV series) comic movies went away. It wasn't until X-Men came out in 2000 that Marvel broke through. Suddenly comic movies were everywhere and DC was second fiddle... as usual. Then DC started the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight series and broke box office records so much so that people forgot Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. This week, DC and Warner Bros releases their third incarnation of the Superman series. This time it's DC's biggest gamble and if it fails...DC will have a lot of problems.

Superman: The Movie was an enormous success in 1978.

Superman: The Movie was the lighthearted film that captured the essence of the hero that believed in Truth, Justice and the American way (still the lamest mantra). It's a film that made Christopher Reeve's career before horses were his kryptonite. Singer's Superman Returns paid an homage to the original series and inserted it as a sequel to Superman II. The results didn't work. The thought was that the story of Superman didn't needed to be covered again and that people would overlook the glaring plot hole of the kryptonite shard in Superman's side at the end. Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane was... okay and Brandon Routh certainly looked the part, but the movie lacked something and never gained momentum to a sequel. It certainly made audiences question if Superman can make a good movie.

Henry Cavill is the new Man of Steel.

The new wrinkle for DC started in 2008 from their rival Marvel Studios. When Marvel released Iron Man, the message became clear that the Marvel characters would interact- creating a Marvel Universe more than individual stories. A month after Iron Man's release, Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. made cameos in The Incredible Hulk despite different studios having rights to the characters. In 2012, Marvel's The Avengers smashed box office records and made executives at Warner Brothers/DC jealous. Now DC wants to create a Justice League movie, but they want to use the existing films and blend them into one. There's a huge problem with that idea: Green Lantern has a different tone from The Dark Knight. Nevermind that the Green Lantern FLOPPED like an NBA player, but that franchise appears mired in limbo while The Flash and Wonder Woman have been rumored to be production hell. The ridiculous idea of a Justice League movie will be covered in the future, but if Man of Steel fails or underperforms, the Justice League will be right next to Sin City 2 on the perpetual rumored list. Also what else does DC really have to make? Reboot Batman...again?

When you think of Superman villains,
you think General Zod?

Back to Man of Steel, of course it will be a box office smash as fan boys got raging boners once Christopher Nolan's name was associated, but like all recent reboots (Batman Begins & The Amazing Spider-man) Man of Steel introduces a secondary villain (General Zod) while shunning the main villain (Lex Luthor). You'd have to suspect that it will follow the same reboot formula (again will be discussed in a future article) of introducing the main villain but not focusing on him. Batman Begins showed the Joker card and Amazing Spider-man discussed Norman Osbourne at length. One reason to use this tactic: keep the focus on developing the hero and no need to FULLY develop the main villain since the secondary or little known villain will be dispatched quickly. That said, Nolan brought back the League of Shadows for The Dark Knight Rises with poor results.
The good news: Man of Steel is getting rave reviews so far, but just because critics like it doesn't mean audiences will. It's reasonable to think audiences will as they have been starved for a good Superman movie for over 30 years and waits to wash away Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. DC can only hope that this movie is truly as strong as Steel (the metal... not the Shaq movie).