And the movie will no longer be called that. Just “Superman.”
Sources:
https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1763320043725586782
https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1763321456681746775
What do you think?
106 Votes in Poll
And the movie will no longer be called that. Just “Superman.”
Sources:
https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1763320043725586782
https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1763321456681746775
What do you think?
In light of James Gunn taking the helm for DC movies and my only reading Batman and Zatanna comics, I'm reaching out to hopefully receive some recommendations for comics of the following heroes (on where to start with them) as well as other characters/teams I may like! Thanks I'm advance!
- Superman
- Supergirl
- Green Lantern (preferably Hal Jordan but I'm generally open)
- John Constantine
- Justice Leage Dark
- Teen Titans
- Wonder Woman
- The Flash
According to U.S. Copyright laws, properties cannot be owned by a single entity for more than 95 years.
Superman and Lois Lane will enter the public domain in 2033-2034.
Batman will enter the public domain in 2034-2035.
The Joker will enter the public domain 2036.
And Wonder Woman will enter the public domain in 2037.
I'm sad tbh. I'm going to miss the Warner Bros. Era of DC. It was fun while it lasted. I'm kinda not ready for the new era just yet.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I'm LeaderVladimir1993 and with Superman: Legacy hitting theaters in 2025, I'm wondering whether that movie, or any Superman material for that matter, can be embraced by general audiences.
Now, before you rush to your keyboards and say "of course it can! How can you ask that? Superman is a cultural icon!", please hear me out. I know some of you will deliver a positive answer because, let's face it, we're fans of DC, but I felt inspired to write this post after watchiing videos discussing the difficulties of adapting Mickey Mouse and Star Trek into film. Much like Superman, Mickey and Star Trek are also considered icons of American culture and the owners of those IPs have faced difficulties in making movies based on those IPs.
I also felt inspired into writing this post by the smashing (see what I did there?) success of The Super Mario Bros Movie, recognized for adapting a character more popular than Mickey into the big screen. The Super Mario Bros Movie was successful with men, women, children and adults. It was a summer blockbuster in the style of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Transformers, with enormous mainstream appeal.
If Mario, a character that rivals Superman in cultural relevance, enjoys mainstream success, can Superman do the same? It's true that Superman: The Movie shot the franchise into the stratosphere, but let's face it, the tastes and interests of audiences have changed since 1978. I'm legimitely wondering what kind of chance does Superman have in hitting the mainstream.
I'm not gonna pull any punches about this: Superman is not as popular as he used to be. Yes, he is still popular, but Batman and Spider-Man sell more merchandise than Superman does. If Superman is to regain his mainstream popularity, a movie is easily the best way to do it.
Don't get me wrong. I love Superman and Lois and My Adventures with Superman, but those two shows are made for very distinct audiences. The former is a family drama and the latter is an action series with elements of romantic comedy and shonen anime. Those audiences are incompatible.
We also have to look at Superman's previous cinematic outings. Despite its positive critical reception, Superman Returns did not hit $500M worldwid. Alan F. Horn was quoted saying that the movie would have made a much higher profit if it tried to appeal to the younger male crowd, i.e. pre-teen boys, and writer Michael Dougherty wanted to add more action in the sequel.
While Superman Returns delivered a humanized, downright conservative portrayal of the titular superhero, Man of Steel went for a more action-packed direction. Superman became an action hero in the style of Captain America, Optimus Prime and even Batman. Despite the mixed reception from fans and critics, Man of Steel would go on to make $668M worldwide.
I'm not here to talk about the benefits or disadvantages of turning Superman into a generic action hero. I'm just trying to discuss what Superman needs to do so he can be embraced by general audiences again. What can you do with Superman? Superman does not have the same problem Mickey does. Unlike Disney, DC is not afraid to make a movie that runs the risk of tarnishing their beloved icon and his reputation, which is a really stupid reason to not make a movie, if you ask me.
Superman is a highly versatile character that can be adapted into any kind of story, as we have seen in countless movies and TV shows, but considering the reluctance of people to see Superman as anything more than a generic Boy Scout, it would seem that he doesn't take to reinvention as well as Batman does. Since Superman is expected to behave in a certain way, it seems difficult to make a movie that could develop him as a character and give him a meaningful conflict to overcome.
We, as a society, are partially to blame for DC's reluctance to experiment with Superman beyond comics and, to a lesser extent, TV shows. Thanks the movies, Superman is mostly remembered either as a vanilla goody-two-shoes, an overpowered demigod and, to a lesser extent, a blank slate of an everyman. He just isn't allowed to get darker or more mature like Batman does, and this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed the DC Extended Universe.
Ever since the failure of Justice League 2017, DC has moved away from darker stories with Superman and stayed with the limits of family-friendly, light-hearted stories like Superman and Lois or My Adventures with Superman, and that obviously limits Superman's potential as an effective protagonist in a dramatic story. That's kinda disappointing because we don't allow creators to display their full potential and explore new stories with Superman.
How do you make a Superman movie? Do you focus on Superman and his journey to develop into something we haven't seen before or do you focus the movie on a secondary character, maybe Lois, who is transformed by his/her experience with Superman? Does Superman even need to evolve as a character or does he simply need to trigger another character's evolution? We could discuss these questions all day long and we wouldn't reach a definitive answer.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see till 2025 to see what James Gunn has in store for us. As a fan of Superman, I always look forward to my best to suppoert him in whatever he does, but for now, we still have a lot of content we can enjoy. It's true that Batman and Spidey are more popular than Superman these days, but if Superman didn't have dedicated fans, he wouldn't have two successful TV show or a cult following on his recent movies. Superman means a lot to those who love him, maybe now more than ever. Whether we like it or not, Superman will always be with us.
Well, that's all I have for you this time. Now, it's your turn to tell me what do you think about this. Do you think Superman: Legacy can help the Man of Steel achieve mainstream appeal again? If so, what do you think that movie should do? This is meant to be a friendly discussion, so please be polite and argue your points in a civilized manner. We are all fans of DC and, hopefully, Superman here. We just see things differently.
So leave a comment below, thanks for your time and stay safe out there!
So another omnibus finished. This is one I bought years ago around the same time I bought the Death and Return of Superman Omnibus. At this point Supes is the Trinity member I’ve read the least of. I don’t find him as interesting as Diana or Bruce but he does have a broad supporting cast. Despite this, I got through these stories pretty quick as they are well written in the sense that they continuously keep the reader engaged with well orchestrated subplots over three titles. I love an omnibus for this reason more than any. I’d hate to have to collect the individual comics for this reading order.
This collection picks up right after John Byrne’s departure from being Superman’s core writer when he revamped the character for a modern audience, that divided some Superman fans. As someone who isn’t fanatically connected to Supes or knowledgeable about his pre-Crisis history, a fresh continuity is a bit of a luxury, I’ll admit. Reading Death of Superman cold with no context to the continuity was confusing as hell, but this was more accessible. Byrne left the title on a controversial note that is constantly referred to and the catalyst to the Exile story arc, so I was never constantly questioning what was happening or who people were.
What Exile allowed was Superman to have a huge crisis of confidence, question his morality, and see himself as some humans perceive him; as dangerous. The Exile is a little anticlimactic and not existentially thoughtful as Moore’s iconic Swamp Thing who does essentially the same thing, but much better. In fact, a lot of it revolves around the new history of Krypton and the “eradicator” artefact.
The best thing to come out of The Exile, for me, is the “Hostile Takeover” subplot involving Lex Luthor. Without Superman, Luthor has a small ego crisis himself and finds distraction in a small economic war with STAR Labs. The resolution was a satisfying victory for Luthor in several ways, revealing his true need behind the financial media chaos.
As I mentioned, there are a lot of subplots—a LOT—but they are spread out quite masterfully. Unfortunately, with a series spanning a magnitude as big as Superman, Adventures, and Action Comics, many of these are still ongoing by the end of the omnibus. There is Jose Delgado recovering from his injuries sustained as Gangbuster and his attempted romance with Lois Lane. Morgan Edge juggling his relationship with Cat Grant and Intergang. Luthor trying to harness the power and knowledge of the disturbingly powerful Brainiac. Ma and Pa Kent trying to care for the childlike Matrix. Jimmy Olsen trying to bang Cat Grant before being infected by the eradicator and having teenage-like saltiness towards Supes. There’s even a subplot raised at the end of the omnibus where Perry White’s son has a black girlfriend.
For the most part, it was a good sample of Superman’s world. There are some classic villains reintroduced, such as Brainiac and Mongul, as well as some new ones, like Maxima. Project Cadmus makes an appearance implying the original Kirby stories with Jimmy and the Newsboy clones never happened, and it’s revealed that every tine Edge was talking to Darkseid it was really DeSaad in disguise orchestrating Intergang on Earth. Kind of a nice touch seeing as unlikely it seemed for Darkseid to handle that kind of thing personally.
In short, The Exile storyline wasn’t that impressive itself, but a necessary progression from how Byrne left the series. It’s the world building provided by the subplots that make it diverse and engaging, helping Metropolis feel like a busy, bustling city, not just another generic location for aliens to break stuff. 7/10.
29 Votes in Poll
What comes first, Superman: Brainiac or Superman: Last son? and are they both in the same continuity?
111 Votes in Poll
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David Corenswet has been bulking up for the role of Superman, and this is one of the biggest transformations I’ve ever seen! I’ve seen a lot of people online complaining that he looks too much like a generic Henry Cavill, but let me say, he does look kind of like Cavill, but that’s just because they both look like Superman! Can we all stop hating on David Corenswet just because we miss Cavill!?! I miss him too, but we need to move on and accept we are getting a new Superman, who looks like he’ll be AMAZING! Just remember what everyone said about Robert Pattinson when he was cast as Batman. Everyone hated that idea, but now his film is considered one of the best DC films, and my favorite film of all time! So PLEASE, don’t hate on his version of Superman without even seeing it yet!
As the title of the thread says, has there ever been a point in comics where Superman as straight up killed Nazis? Or is the idea of his chats he doesn’t kill humans in general including Nazis?
I know a lot of people have been worried about the size of the supporting cast in Superman: Legacy. This has caused many to go back to Black Adam and Batman v Superman (a film I like, but is flawed). However, one superhero film released this year proves that a film can focus on one hero (or hero team) while having a big supporting cast that adds to the story. That film being… Teenage mutant ninja turtles: mutant mayhem. TMNT is a film I love! It’s a reboot of the series and features a HUGE supporting cast of characters, many voiced by big actors (like John Cena, Ice Cube, Jackie Chan, and Paul Rudd) and each of them adding to the story and getting their time to shine. However, the film’s main focus was the turtles and them being accepted into society as teens. The story was beautiful! Plus, the film was only around 90 minutes. SL will probably at least be 140 minutes. The film sets up a larger universe, which SL is planning to do. I think it’s the perfect example of what James Gunn is planning for SL. Go watch the film and see if you agree with me. Also, James Gunn has made some great Superhero films (like GotG 3 recently), so let’s stop hating on a film that hasn’t even started filming yet!
Extracted from a CBR interview:
JB: DC hired me to revamp Superman, and then immediately chickened out. They backed off at the first whiff of fan disapproval, which came months before anyone had actually seen the work. During the whole two years I was on the project, although nothing happened that was not approved by DC editorial, there was no conscious support. They even continued to license the "previous" Superman. At one point, Dick Giordano said "You have to realize there are now two Supermen - the one you do and the one we license." Seemed counter-productive, to say the least, since far more people saw the licensed material. After two years of this nonsense, I was just worn down. The fun was gone.
It's really sad how things haven't changed at DC after 35 years, e.g. The New 52.
95 Votes in Poll
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