What is your ideal direction for the next Superman movie?

[Yoda]

As for the journalism angle. You think Kevin Feige wouldn't be able to make a billion dollars by grafting All the President's Men onto President Lex with Lois & Clark in the Woodward and Bernstein roles and some crazy selling earth to Brainiac scheme ala Morrison in place of Nixon & Watergate? Of course they would. That's the Marvel formula. Take their properties and fit them into existing movie genres outside of your standard superhero movies. Winter Soldier already did the '70's political thriller.

[Ra-El]

Just don't do:
- A origin story
- A evil Superman story
- A Elseworld Superman (Superman from Russia, Superman from Gotham, Superman on the midle ages, Superman son of Zod, Krypton didn't explode, etc.)
- A Death of Superman story

Any of those could be made into a good movie, but it would have a uphill battle to gain at least my goodwill.
Just do a Superman story, reboot it or not, they should just do a Superman story.

[Sacred Knight]

Just don't do:
- A origin story
- A evil Superman story
- A Elseworld Superman (Superman from Russia, Superman from Gotham, Superman on the midle ages, Superman son of Zod, Krypton didn't explode, etc.)
- A Death of Superman story

Any of those could be made into a good movie, but it would have a uphill battle to gain at least my goodwill.
Just do a Superman story, reboot it or not, they should just do a Superman story.

I'd add don't do Superdad to that list, and beyond that I'm down for pretty much anything. I really don't have an ideal beyond that, because the character is very malleable. In all mediums, there is no one right way to do Superman. That's actually one of the appeals to me. So its not so much about an ideal, just about tired concepts that have been done ad nauseum, and just getting the core of the character. That's all. Beyond that (and those preferential ideas to avoid listed), go nuts.

[DochaDocha]

As for the journalism angle. You think Kevin Feige wouldn't be able to make a billion dollars by grafting All the President's Men onto President Lex with Lois & Clark in the Woodward and Bernstein roles and some crazy selling earth to Brainiac scheme ala Morrison in place of Nixon & Watergate? Of course they would. That's the Marvel formula. Take their properties and fit them into existing movie genres outside of your standard superhero movies. Winter Soldier already did the '70's political thriller.

Does Feige get to work with Disney, or does he get to work with Warner Bros? Disney's marketing machine works wonders...

[Ra-El]

A idea I have for a Superman movie is, right a the begining Brainiac stoles Metropolis, Superman is busy doing something else, stoping a earthquake, off planet, or whatever. Then for the rest of the movie we have him on space chasing after Brainiac.
Or they could go smaller and adapt the concept of King's Up in the Sky, wich would be a really good way to show Superman's humanity, a space chase not to save a city, but just a single girl. Just remove the Batman parts.
I think any would work well, since even if Superman is in outer space, you could still use his supporting characters. On the first, the Daily Planet staff could still be awaken on the the bottled Metropolis, like in Morrison's Action Comics. In the second, they could change from Batman taking the case to Superman, to Clark or Lois discovering it while investigating a story.

[Doctor Know]

As for the journalism angle. You think Kevin Feige wouldn't be able to make a billion dollars by grafting All the President's Men onto President Lex with Lois & Clark in the Woodward and Bernstein roles and some crazy selling earth to Brainiac scheme ala Morrison in place of Nixon & Watergate? Of course they would. That's the Marvel formula. Take their properties and fit them into existing movie genres outside of your standard superhero movies. Winter Soldier already did the '70's political thriller.

More like WS was a Mission Impossible/James Bond movie, featuring Captain America. Just play the IM theme or Bond theme during any of the movie’s action scenes. Besides, HYDRA, SPECTRE, The Rogue Nation all fit the same bill of international terrorists. Like octopi, with tentacles everywhere.

A idea I have for a Superman movie is, right a the begining Brainiac stoles Metropolis, Superman is busy doing something else, stoping a earthquake, off planet, or whatever. Then for the rest of the movie we have him on space chasing after Brainiac.
Or they could go even smaller and adapt the concept of King's Up in the Sky, wich would be a really good way to show Superman's humanity, a space chase not to save a city, but just a single girl. Just remove the Batman parts.

A new rocket from Star Labs would really assist with that.

[Ra-El]

More like WS was a Mission Impossible/James Bond movie, featuring Captain America. Just play the IM theme or Bond theme during any of the movie’s action scenes. Besides, HYDRA, SPECTRE, The Rogue Nation all fit the same bill of international terrorists. Like octopi, with tentacles everywhere.


A new rocket from Star Labs would really assist with that.

Girl is abducted, Clark and Lois investigating the attack find about what happened, Superman go to Star Labs for the tech support. All of these in the first 20-30 minutes, then we have Superman on Space! Maybe even a Green Lantern cameo.

[Ra-El]

I'd add don't do Superdad to that list, and beyond that I'm down for pretty much anything. I really don't have an ideal beyond that, because the character is very malleable. In all mediums, there is no one right way to do Superman. That's actually one of the appeals to me. So its not so much about an ideal, just about tired concepts that have been done ad nauseum, and just getting the core of the character. That's all. Beyond that (and those preferential ideas to avoid listed), go nuts.

Nothing against Superdad, but if it ever happen on movie it should not be the focus. Maybe Lois tell him a the end of the movie she is pregnant, they have a baby on another movie and the baby stay a baby for as long as possible.

[Nelliebly]

Well you brought the stats so maybe I WAS wrong. Curious to think about romance being such a key part of superhero movies though. But that could explain why the DCEU Superman suffered given that one of the main criticisms was always that Cavill and Adams had no chemistry together. And the Nolan Batman movies romances were all terrible, the villains and Bale carried those movies. So I can buy that maybe the romance is a stronger component to a Superheroes movie success than I initially thought but I still don’t think it’s the main factor, nor do I think women would be up in arms if Clark dated someone else before ending up with Lois.

(Do people really care about Pepper and Tony?)

1. Cavill and Adams had great chemistry when they were allowed to talk to each other. The problem with those films was never the actors who were lovely together when the story actually let them have a conversation. The closing scene of Man of Steel is adorable. “Welcome to the planet.” The problem was never them. The problem was a story more obsessed with CGI, blowing crap up and Batman than it was in actually letting them talk.

2. Ask the Smallville producers how it worked out for them when they tried to play fast and loose with the Lois and Clark relationship. It did not go well and the audience was not here for it. You are underestimating the amount of women who specifically like Superman because of the relationship. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey literally have talked about this. Revolving door love interests go over like a lead balloon with female viewers. Women know he’s married. They aren’t here for Clark Kent “player” and we literally KNOW this because Smallville showed exactly how the female demo reacts when the story gets careless with Lois.


3. Yes, people are huge fans of Pepper and Tony. But even they aren’t as popular or reliant on women as a demo as Superman is. The Iron Man movies had an estimated 70/30 split with men/women. The Superman media is almost always a closer 50/50 split.

[Yoda]

More like WS was a Mission Impossible/James Bond movie, featuring Captain America. Just play the IM theme or Bond theme during any of the movie’s action scenes. Besides, HYDRA, SPECTRE, The Rogue Nation all fit the same bill of international terrorists. Like octopi, with tentacles everywhere.

No, it was specifically built on the bones of 70's political thrillers, not James Bond or Mission Impossible. The casting of Robert Redford is kinda a wink at that direction. It had a lot of little references to those movies as well, like the jogging scene was a wink at Marathon Man. The writers actually cited that and All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, etx. as inspiration for the storyline. It's a theme and tone thing. It doesn't really take any inspiration from James Bond or Mission Impossible other than action sequences and terrorist angles. Cap isn't a James Bond or Ethan Hunt figure in those movies. You're looking at all the flash and surface level CGI stuff.

[Nelliebly]

The audience scores and numbers for Aquaman would be solid evidence that not including those elements would be a good way to cut off a significant avenue for success.

https://deadline.com/2018/12/aquaman...er-1202525963/



And look at Wonder Woman. The general consensus was that the movie's weakest portion was the end - the generic action set piece. While the first two thirds - which focus on Diana and Steve (an inverted romantic subplot) as it's strongest. Marvels movies also don't shy away from the romantic subplots - Peggy & Steve and Tony & Pepper are two the better received ones. While the GotG romance angle actually was a major plot point in Infinity War. Ant-Man & Wasp are heist movies, but they have a really central romantic subplot as well.

CGI action scifi movies are a dime a dozen. Superman, particularly mass media Superman, has always had a strong women fanbase. The Donner movies were very much romantic in nature and are considered the gold standard for Superman movies. There's 14 years of Superman live action TV shows that also kinda support that idea. And the CW shows all have soap elements and pretty strong women fanbases as well. I think there's more evidence for the romantic elements of Superman being integral to the formula for a successful Superman movie than turning it into some CGI scifi fest. It has this stuff built into the mythos so much so that it's part of the general public consciousness associated with the character.

Use Morrison's Action run as a loose template, but amp up the romance subplot with Clark & Lois being rivals and cast some young actors and actresses that have ridiculous chemistry and just print the money. Or honestly, get Henry Golding and Constance Wu as Lois & Clark.

Thank you. This.

Honestly, it’s kind of baffling to me (but not surprising) to see some guys here honestly saying that we don’t have any “proof” that romance ( and with Lois specifically) is a draw for Superman. Literally EVERYTHING we know about what succeeds and clicks suggests that. LOL

The Reeve movies are still held up as the gold standard superhero romance. You can argue they are dated now and we need to move beyond them (and I would agree) but it doesn’t change that a large part of their long lasting appeal has to do with the love story.

“Lois and Clark” in its time was very popular. If the show aired today, it would have run much longer than 4 seasons. It was much harder 20 years ago to keep that kind of show on the air. The ratings pressure was insane on them. They had 20 million viewers in the 3rd season. Those are unheard of numbers now. That show would have run 6-7 seasons today. It’s a different landscape now. Smallville was sustained by female viewers and love it or hate it, it is still one of the most profitable DVD releases that WB has ever had.

Obviously we want the stories to evolve with the times and a modern journalism angle is needed in 2019 but it’s not a stretch to say that an action adventure romance that is marketed equally to women is the way to approach the next film.

[Osiris-Rex]

Girl is abducted, Clark and Lois investigating the attack find about what happened, Superman go to Star Labs for the tech support. All of these in the first 20-30 minutes, then we have Superman on Space! Maybe even a Green Lantern cameo.

Sounds like the Supergirl season 2 episode "Supergirl Lives" Girl is abducted. Kara and Mon-El investigate. Kara and Mon-El end up on another planet and find the girl. Winn in DEO tech support finds how to get to them and bring everyone back.

[EsotericFailures]

Start over in, I don't know, ten years? WB and Zack Snyder messed this up so badly that it feels like having a both GOOD Superman and a solid overarching DCU universe are not compatible at this point.

This is a big problem. Cavill is a great choice for Superman but too tarnished at this point so best to get rid of everyone involved and move on.

I'm scared the failed Snyder movies will lead to Warner Bros wanting to make the next Superman movie as safe as possible and I'd hate for that to happen. We have so many superhero movies these days that a by the numbers one is not going to stick out and most importantly I wouldn't care that much about it. The next Superman movie needs to be helmed by a weirdo with a unique vision of the character willing to do interesting things with the material. But unlike Man of Steel have it be directed by a good director.

If you look at the best received MCU movies, they're all informed by the personal experiences of the directors rather than studio notes. Guardians of the Galaxy is about people from broken families directed by someone who very openly did not have a great family. Thor Ragnorak is about colonialism and its directed by a Maori man starring a white Australian. So if you want the next Superman movie to stand out allow a director the freedom to make it unique and stand out, even if that involves deviating and reinterpreting the source material. Superman has not had a huge blockbuster movie in the modern era other than BvS so go the extra mile to make it work this time.

If I had a choice I'd go with something like the Morrison run, as Superman begins relatively weak in power and gets stronger whilst the movie get weirder and more silver-agey. Plus I'd focus on the radicalism of Golden Age Superman. We've rarely seen Superman act as a Champion of the Oppressed in recent movies (we sort of see it in BvS but Superman ends up deciding that Batman is in fact a good guy because he saved his mom by the end of the movie).

[Sacred Knight]

As far as a love story element, I definitely think cutting it off entirely would be a mistake, as it does cut out potential revenue from a certain section. Is it the most important element though? No, its not. Its a part of a whole. And there are many ways to do it too. It can be subtle just as easily as it can be full-blown. And in fact that would be my preference (hey I said I didn't have a singular ideal, not necessarily no preferences ). A MUCH slower burn. Not even the original Donner films did this. It was pretty immediate there too. So why not try slower. I like the rivalry idea. Something that develops into friendship, then go further (considering the series goes far enough of course). But you don't absolutely have to dive right in to sucessfully utilize a romantic angle. If the chemistry is there, if the likability of the characters is there, there would still be an investment.

And I'm not convinced Vordan's idea of using Lana for a while would crash and burn either. Like with anything it would depend on the execution. It would be no different questions; is the character liked (I was never a strong follower but even I know of Smallville Lana's negative rep), do the majority feel there's strong chemistry? If so, I think general fans would have no problem buying in.

[Clark_Kent]

What do I want to see? Cavill back, continuing on from Justice League. The Superman we got by the end of JL is the one all of the MoS/BvS critics wanted...smiling, humorous, heroic, and they even squeezed in the Williams theme for him. Isn't that what you guys wanted out of Superman?

Myself, I LOVE Man of Steel. And I think BvS is a superhero "epic" not matched by anything but the last 45 minutes of Endgame. But, I got exactly what I wanted out of it...I got a 3-film character arc of Clark starting out, trying to become Superman, and fully achieving it after returning from death. So for me, I was excited to see what Cavill's fully formed Superman would look like post-JL. Cavill has charisma and charm for days, and I still think he is perfect for a brighter, more hopeful Superman. Based on anecdotal evidence (which doesn't mean much, but still) it appears that most of the complaints about his Superman that I have seen revolve around how his Superman was written, but not about Cavill himself. It appears, again just to me, that most people are fine with him in the role...why WB doesn't capitalize on this is beyond me. I know they are worried about a solo Superman film right now after the critical backlashes of the previous entries, but if they made a fun movie then it will come through in the marketing. You can still get people in to watch these movies if you play your cards right.

Perhaps the best route is to place him in someone else's film, ala Iron Man in Homecoming, to get people excited again. But I want to see Cavill back, and perhaps end it with the wedding they have set up. I'd like to see a villain we haven't seen yet, but I'd also like to see a movie where the whole planet isn't at stake. So perhaps Metallo or Parasite. If you want to go the humor route of something like Thor: Ragnarok, then bring in Mxy.