What does a Superman movie need now?

[Superlad93]

So, I feel like it's pretty official that, in terms of movies, Superman is yet again on ice for maybe the next half decade or so.

With that unfortunate likely situation in mind: what do you think the next movie(s) need to be? What would you like to see? If you think it'd be fun for you, cast it too.

I kinda just wanna take the pulse of our fandom for a moment, and have a bit of fun too.

[The World]

It needs to be everything that Into the Spiderverse was. Including being animated.

[RudHao]

It can skip the origin for the most part..... everybody knows already.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Having seen and loved the likes of Aquaman and Thor Ragnarok, I wanna see a Superman movie that embraces the weirdness of his world. Enough of him twarting Luthor’s real estate schemes or fighting alien invasions, let’s see him on an adventure that takes him from the bottle city of kandor to Bizzaro world. Hell make Mister Mxyzptlk the villain. It’s almost 2019, audiences love weirdness in their cbms.

[JAK]

I'd say a few things:

1: it needs to lose the "Superman-as-god" complex that's been happening since the 70's

2: The feel needs to be a lot less "greek gods"/modern myth and a lot more "Paul Bunyon"/folklore. (you could also read that as "embracing the weird" if you wanted to)

3: We need to spend A LOT more time focused on character and the character has to drive the plot at least most of the time, especially in the most key moments.

4: Better use of color all around - notice I didn't just say brighter. Use of color for tone and feel for the scenes as they change needs to really be a feature here, especially with Superman.

There's probably more, but that's all I could think of at the moment. I'd personally be for a Golden Age tale or something "Pixar-ish" as well, but those aren't set in stone by any means.

[Kuwagaton]

I don't have the first response so is it too late to posit, "love sweet love"?

Seriously though, I'll fight the Marvelization of Superman to the very end. I watched Infinity War last night and to balance out a rather grim ending, they drowned the first two hours in quirky bro banter. It was really distracting even though I enjoyed the film overall and the fact that many of us have been onboard for two dozen films now means it is the highest level of success imaginable... but I find it revolting to think Superman should be a follower. Superman was first, what made him great before all of them? That's the question I hope the next project lives and dies on.

I never stop going back to then-impending Fantastic Four writer Matt Fraction calling Incredibles the best FF story, because that's exactly the common mindset I want gone. How can a follower lead a leader, and if we know the answer to that, how can it be answered in turn?

[RudHao]

No more Jesus like symbolism, if they wanna do religious overtones the Moses stuff is enough.

[Jim Kelly]

If a big name producer with all the financing came to Warner Bros. and said "I wanna make a picture," the movie would go into production tomorrow.

[DragonPiece]

1.Not be a origin movie/ it can be a young superman, but we don't need to see his origin anymore.

2. No more Zod, try a different villain.

Those would be my only limitations, let whoever writes/directs it, go wild.

[Vordan]

1. Anyone who wants to compare Supes to Jesus or to any god figure should be immediately fired. He’s Moses or Samson at best, not Jesus or Zeus
2. No Lex, Doomsday, or Zod as the villains, use ANYONE else
3. Don’t make him so damn strong at the start, have him be slightly above Spider-Man, I’d prefer we start at Golden Age power levels
4. Actually USE his damn job as a journalist to move the plot along
5. USE HIS SUPPORTING CAST BESIDES LOIS, where’s Maggie Sawyer and the MSCU? Frankly if he has to have a love interest he should start off with Lana

[Sacred Knight]

Stick with year one Superman, but just detail his origin as some Smallville and Daily Planet newspaper clippings in the opening. Move on from there.
A completely different villain than what we've gotten before. Due to Lex's role in Metropolis, he can still be in the movie if one so chooses, but not the main villain. Choose anyone but Zod. That's still leaves a cavalcade of pickens.
Put forth an effort to differentiate between Superman and Clark. No, you're probably never going to do it as good as Christopher Reeve did it. But, you can put forth more effort than anyone else ever has.
No immediate Lois romance. It just doesn't work in a 2 hour film. Its rushed. Set up the rivalry, set up the romantic tension, all that is great. But the two madly in love by the second act makes no sense at all.
Punch the guy in the face who first suggests setting up another Death.

Or to make things easier, they could just save themselves the time and use Action vol. 2 as a heavy outline.

[KurtW95]

Brainiac. It needs Brainiac.

[superduperman]

A hard reboot. I know this is an unpopular view given that movies like Aquaman and WW are finally doing well but if we have to wait yet another five years for another Superman movie they may as well just start from scratch at that point. By then it will be a whole decade since MOS and I highly doubt Cavill or Adams will be interested in picking up where they left off by then. Unless they're planning another JL movie sometime between now and then, I don't see any point in trying to keep that train going.

The trunks! Most people associate him with them anyway! Ditto the S on the cape! In fact, I'd like to see something like the Earth One version of the suit.

Brainiac. It's time. Seriously. I'm surprised he wasn't the main villain in MOS. The guy steals cities. Tell me that isn't prime blockbuster material right there.

A short origin. Maybe spend ten minutes on it at the most. He walks into the barn where his ship is as an adult and flashback to him learning about Krypton as a teenager or something. Maybe skip the whole discovery of his powers altogether. Let the audience decide what age he discovers his powers or just imply he's always had them. MOS kind of does that.

One thing they can do that would skip over a lot of the backstory is loosely base it on the Morrison Action run. We start off seeing him as working as a reporter early in his career. Maybe he hasn't started as Superman yet but at least we see him as a reporter first. He could be working as a freelance writer or a ringer at the Daily Star or something but by the end of the movie with him getting a job at the Planet. Homecoming seems to be a good template here. He was something like six months into his career as Spiderman. He uses his powers in secret to help people and only after he's spotted publicly does he decide to become Superman.

Keep both Kents alive. I know this isn't a big deal but I would just prefer it. And I think most people are familiar with that version by now anyway. Whether it be L&C or Smallville or ever just TAS.

Keep Synder and anyone who thinks "grim and gritty" works for Superman as far away from this version as possible.

[The Overlord]

I don't have the first response so is it too late to posit, "love sweet love"?

Seriously though, I'll fight the Marvelization of Superman to the very end. I watched Infinity War last night and to balance out a rather grim ending, they drowned the first two hours in quirky bro banter. It was really distracting even though I enjoyed the film overall and the fact that many of us have been onboard for two dozen films now means it is the highest level of success imaginable... but I find it revolting to think Superman should be a follower. Superman was first, what made him great before all of them? That's the question I hope the next project lives and dies on.

I never stop going back to then-impending Fantastic Four writer Matt Fraction calling Incredibles the best FF story, because that's exactly the common mindset I want gone. How can a follower lead a leader, and if we know the answer to that, how can it be answered in turn?

Being first does not matter if you do not do not innovate, then you just become stagnant.

I think there has to be real balance, between drama and comedy, between action and character building. I do not want something that is dull as dirt, but I do not want a mindless action fest either. Its tricky, but it can be done.

[Jim Kelly]

Hopefully, if the Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie is succssful, they'll make some more lower budget movies. Not every DC movie has to be a big tentpole movie. And I can think of some Superman stories that could be done on a smaller budget. At one time, just making Superman fly was a costly effect, but this is the kind of thing that you routinely see in smaller movies and TV shows. If they make a modest movie as proof of concept, that could give them the confidence to do more ambitious projects. I think I'd rather see four Superman movies made on 50 million dollars each than one Superman movie for 200 million dollars.