Favorite modern Superman movie

[9th.]

MOS, its my favorite Superman movie.

[Jim Kelly]

Given all the difficulties they had working with Brando (and then he turned around and sued them so they couln't use any of the footage he filmed for SUPERMAN II), they were lucky to get whatever exposition they did get out of him for the first movie. He could have been a green suitcase or a bagel.

[Charlus]

Can't believe i just voted for Superman Returns.

Says a lot about how awful Superman movies have been.

Same here.

[Starter Set]

If you want a decent Superman movie there is that new Death of Superman animated one.

Visually it's good, the pacing is correct, the characters are more or less well handed (Supes comes out as somewhat robotic here and there), the main names from the League are there and overall it's quite pleasant to watch.

Weird way to close the movie but beside that, it's worth it.

[superduperman]

I'm not sure Returns should be on this list since it's not technically canon. That having been said, I prefer it over the others (which doesn't speak well for this entire list). Not because it was a particularly good movie but because at least he acted like Superman in those movies. Again, given the choices, is a pretty low bar. He acted a lot closer to it in JL than the others but he also only got ten minutes of screen time so what they do with him in the next movie will determine how close they get to the "real" Superman.

[Powerboy]

I'm not sure Returns should be on this list since it's not technically canon. That having been said, I prefer it over the others (which doesn't speak well for this entire list). Not because it was a particularly good movie but because at least he acted like Superman in those movies. Again, given the choices, is a pretty low bar. He acted a lot closer to it in JL than the others but he also only got ten minutes of screen time so what they do with him in the next movie will determine how close they get to the "real" Superman.

I think it's just meant to be "modern" (translation: made in the 21st century), not whether it's part of a continuity with the others.

I wonder what would happen if the vote was among all Superman movies.

[Adekis]

Anyone would become a clumsy nerd after 12 years of isolation talking to a computer.

He's not a clumsy nerd though, he's pretending to be a clumsy nerd, that's my point. When he talks to people as Superman, he's personable and charming - and yeah, a little bit cheesy and goofy with the aw-shucks stuff; that part of Clark's not fictitious, but the bumbling, slouch and pitched-up voice certainly is.

I've really enjoyed your posts and am sharing excerpts with some friends offline. I love both versions of Superman being discussed here like you, for different reasons, so I appreciate what you have to say about them.

Aw, thank you!

Thank you, I guess I'm just more tolerant and open-minded than most when it comes to Superman. I like different takes and stories, but when I feel like something is not right I say it too. I like to see the character explored in different ways, but I also think that there are limits that should not be crossed.

Superman fans always kind of contrast the Superman in their heads to the Superman on the page or the screen, in my experience, and if the external Superman doesn't match up well enough with the internal Superman, the external one either gets dismissed and argued against, or assimilated into the internal one. In some ways, I think I'm open to more varied interpretations of Superman because my "platonic ideal Superman" is pretty different from the norm at this point (I'm a big Golden Age fan), so I'm used to accepting things without entirely assimilating them into "my" Superman. There's still stories that I'll dismiss, like Injustice or Kingdom Come, but for the most part I try to be pretty understanding of variances in Superman media.

I think it's just meant to be "modern" (translation: made in the 21st century), not whether it's part of a continuity with the others.

I wonder what would happen if the vote was among all Superman movies.

Yeah, I think that's pretty clear for sure - "modern" just meaning "since the year 2000" or something here.

As for all the Superman movies, I'm kind of curious too. On the other hand for my part I've done a decent amount of writing about the Reeve films in this thread already. I think my vote would remain for the underdog "Batman v. Superman" and its crusading Clark Kent.

My third or fourth favorite would probably be Superman and the Mole Men. Seriously underrated movie. In the end though, I only really think Superman IV and Superman II have elements bad enough that they make me dismiss the entire film.

[Jim Kelly]

There are some side benefits from SUPERMAN RETURNS that I'm thankful for. Such as the Donner Cut of SUPERMAN II; the animated series that came out in the same year; and lots of other Superman related swag and bonus material. Rightfully, the big year for Superman should have been 2008, as it was the 70th anniversary, but the prizes came two years ealry. And Brandon Routh who is such a decent person and always has good things to say about Superman and the values he stands for. He's been a wonderful ambassador for the franchise.

[Tony]

Superman Returns was a terrible movie but the best of the options.

[stargazer01]

Yeah, I think that's pretty clear for sure - "modern" just meaning "since the year 2000" or something here.

As for all the Superman movies, I'm kind of curious too. On the other hand for my part I've done a decent amount of writing about the Reeve films in this thread already. I think my vote would remain for the underdog "Batman v. Superman" and its crusading Clark Kent.

My third or fourth favorite would probably be Superman and the Mole Men. Seriously underrated movie. In the end though, I only really think Superman IV and Superman II have elements bad enough that they make me dismiss the entire film.

Very interesting that you don't like Superman 2 since many fans seem to think high on it.

I like it, but it has big flaws, IMO. And it's very interesting to see how many fans give those flaws a big pass but they can't give it to other movies like MOS or BvS or SR.. it's funny but also annoying how selective fans can be. I guess it's part of their childhood and they see it with rose-colored glasses.

[Jim Kelly]

It's kind of sad to me that Richard Lester made such a bad job of Donner's Superman, as I love Richard Lester and I love Richard Donner both, as movie makers--so to have one hero interfering with the work of another hero is dispiriting. But if you live long enough, all your heroes become villains. I hated THE GOONIES (I'm probably the only one).

The good thing about SUPERMAN II is that it still has so much good stuff in it and so many actors I appreciate. Also on a meta level, you can now enjoy the movie for all of that behind the scenes stuff going on while it was being made. I think that's what actually makes it fun to watch the modern movies, too. Especially with something like BATMAN V SUPERMAN or JUSTICE LEAGUE--we know the story behind the story on those movies so it's a better movie in our heads. Much better than HOLLYWOODLAND.

[Sacred Knight]

Man of Steel by a fairly wide margin. Sadly its been derailed by the two "sequels" on this list, but it had promise, something SR never had.

[stargazer01]

Man of Steel by a fairly wide margin. Sadly its been derailed by the two "sequels" on this list, but it had promise, something SR never had.

Very true. SR had nowhere to go. It really put the characters on a corner. Unlike MOS. MOS left everything open for great sequels and a more confident Superman... They could even bring Faora back in another Supes or JL movie.

[SiegePerilous02]

Faora and Zod alone make MOS the best one.

[Jim Kelly]

Didn't they all die?

I think SUPERMAN RETURNS left out something. He goes back to Krypton and finds nothing and then comes back--which takes a lot of time, apparently. It's underwhelming to have him go there and then nothing. I think they planned to have something there but cut it from the film. The Return to Krypton story is the one I wanted to see. And I think they could have still doubled back on that for the sequel.

If Superman goes back in time and arrives on Krypton before it explodes--well, there's your movie. They would have had to recast Jor-El, but I wouldn't mind that. And throw Brainiac into the mix as the big bad. Maybe the timeline is changed in the end, so that Superman doesn't have a kid or if he does, it's because he married Lois and never left the Earth.