All of Snyder’s Films Rumored To Be Erased In The Flash; Cavill Out Also

[Ra-El]

How is DeHaven's book? I bought it years ago but still haven't gotten around to reading it.

I liked. The book is good, more of a period crime book than a Superman story. DeHaven is clearly inspired by the original Action Comics run, so Clark is more a social crusader than nowadays, but he also goes with the regular farm boy approach with Superman having a average intelligence.

My only real problem with the book, is that a lot of times it feels like the author was more interested in his original characters than in Clark, with a lot of space dedicated to them, perhaps in detriment to Clark's development. I have this theory, that Tom DeHaven used some plot and characters of some crime novel he had shelved as the bones It's Superman.

[Kirk Brent]

I liked. The book is good, more of a period crime book than a Superman story. DeHaven is clearly inspired by the original Action Comics run, so Clark is more a social crusader than nowadays, but he also goes with the regular farm boy approach with Superman having a average intelligence.

My only real problem with the book, is that a lot of times it feels like the author was more interested in his original characters than in Clark, with a lot of space dedicated to them, perhaps in detriment to Clark's development. I have this theory, that Tom DeHaven used some plot and characters of some crime novel he had shelved as the bones It's Superman.

I've read similar criticisms of DeHaven's use of Clark and his own characters; kind of kills my interest in reading it. I'll eventually give it a try, but I think my preference in novel form will remain the works of Maggin.

[Jeffrey2]

I can't help but think this is about the public domain issue. Action Comics 1 becomes public domain in little over a decade from now. As does Clark Kent and Lois Lane. DC needs a Superman that they actually own outright. Between this and the constant fights with the Seigel family, I can't say I blame them for wanting their own "in house" version. Snyder and Cavill wasted a decade fighting about "vision" instead of just making movies so I don't blame WB for throwing them overboard. Sorry, Henry, you're just not that important. And S&L proved that you can have a "classic" Superman that's also a father AND is still more realistic than anything Snyder came up with. They don't really need this. As for Supergirl, she is more recognized than Jon. I'm sure they're building towards the day he's the "official" Superman but Warners knows that day isn't here yet.

It's not a secret that Disney bought Marvel and Star Wars because their own IPs are coming up on the public domain era. The Frozen girls are all over everything because Disney owns them outright and will for the next century at least. This also bolsters the theory that the whole 5G thing, or whatever it's called now, was an edict handed down from on high. Owning new characters and pushing them makes a lot more sense than legal fights about who owns what century old character. As for mismanagement, I hate to say it but, yeah, there are a lot of people who just like Batman better at the helm of these things. Any character can be made good if you just put in the effort. The success of the Arrow-verse is proof of that. You can make a good Superman, S&L did it, you just have to have people at the helm who actually want to.

You nailed it. WB is set to let the IP go in less than a decade. In the sense that companies can fight to keep a property past the cut-off date - it's called something like maxing the mark (trademark). Disney did so with properties including Snow White which they continue to control even though it's past the date the IP went public. WB does not see enough value, presumably, to try to hold onto Supes past the go public date as did Disney with SW.

This is why WB is going to eliminate Superman from the DCEU. So far WBD has not indicated they will reverse WB's decision on this.

This has implications for the comics and TV versions and with the sons on TV and in the comic presumably WB will let the comic Superman, Lois and Clark and that of TV slip away as an IP without a fight. I don't like the Abrams revisioning of Superman with a black Kal and a widely changed premise but, WB is doing this to create a new unique character they totally own the rights to. And the new Superman WB may be developing with Coate's script has to be a lot different. About 70% of Superman will go public. Since Lois Lane and Clark Hent go into the public domain, the new Superman WB might create as through Coates may have a secret identity but not necessarily Clark Kent.

What that means in part is that WB fears Marvel will create its own Man of Steel films, TV shows and books with access to 70% of the lore and, you wait, Marvel's Superman will soar and put to shame the waste that WB made of the character these past 30 years. Sure, WB/DC can do Superman stuff too after it goes public but it's a zero-sum game. If Marvel does a gangbusters Superman any Superman product WB/DC might make won't be profitable so, why even make it.

This is why Zaslav most likely will go forward with the erasure of Superman. He is all about maximizing the bottom line and that means totally owning the rights to the characters they put in film and on TV.

[SuperX]

You nailed it. WB is set to let the IP go in less than a decade. In the sense that companies can fight to keep a property past the cut-off date - it's called something like maxing the mark (trademark). Disney did so with properties including Snow White which they continue to control even though it's past the date the IP went public. WB does not see enough value, presumably, to try to hold onto Supes past the go public date as did Disney with SW.

This is why WB is going to eliminate Superman from the DCEU. So far WBD has not indicated they will reverse WB's decision on this.

This has implications for the comics and TV versions and with the sons on TV and in the comic presumably WB will let the comic Superman, Lois and Clark and that of TV slip away as an IP without a fight. I don't like the Abrams revisioning of Superman with a black Kal and a widely changed premise but, WB is doing this to create a new unique character they totally own the rights to. And the new Superman WB may be developing with Coate's script has to be a lot different. About 70% of Superman will go public. Since Lois Lane and Clark Hent go into the public domain, the new Superman WB might create as through Coates may have a secret identity but not necessarily Clark Kent.

What that means in part is that WB fears Marvel will create its own Man of Steel films, TV shows and books with access to 70% of the lore and, you wait, Marvel's Superman will soar and put to shame the waste that WB made of the character these past 30 years. Sure, WB/DC can do Superman stuff too after it goes public but it's a zero-sum game. If Marvel does a gangbusters Superman any Superman product WB/DC might make won't be profitable so, why even make it.

This is why Zaslav most likely will go forward with the erasure of Superman. He is all about maximizing the bottom line and that means totally owning the rights to the characters they put in film and on TV.

Hopefully we all comeback to your post here in 5 years and laugh at how silly it was, cause there is more superman on film, and better than ever.

hope, compassion, sincerity

[Vakanai]

You nailed it. WB is set to let the IP go in less than a decade. In the sense that companies can fight to keep a property past the cut-off date - it's called something like maxing the mark (trademark). Disney did so with properties including Snow White which they continue to control even though it's past the date the IP went public. WB does not see enough value, presumably, to try to hold onto Supes past the go public date as did Disney with SW.

This is why WB is going to eliminate Superman from the DCEU. So far WBD has not indicated they will reverse WB's decision on this.

This has implications for the comics and TV versions and with the sons on TV and in the comic presumably WB will let the comic Superman, Lois and Clark and that of TV slip away as an IP without a fight. I don't like the Abrams revisioning of Superman with a black Kal and a widely changed premise but, WB is doing this to create a new unique character they totally own the rights to. And the new Superman WB may be developing with Coate's script has to be a lot different. About 70% of Superman will go public. Since Lois Lane and Clark Hent go into the public domain, the new Superman WB might create as through Coates may have a secret identity but not necessarily Clark Kent.

What that means in part is that WB fears Marvel will create its own Man of Steel films, TV shows and books with access to 70% of the lore and, you wait, Marvel's Superman will soar and put to shame the waste that WB made of the character these past 30 years. Sure, WB/DC can do Superman stuff too after it goes public but it's a zero-sum game. If Marvel does a gangbusters Superman any Superman product WB/DC might make won't be profitable so, why even make it.

This is why Zaslav most likely will go forward with the erasure of Superman. He is all about maximizing the bottom line and that means totally owning the rights to the characters they put in film and on TV.

You know Batman was made like, a year after Superman right? WB isn't in a mad scramble to drop him from everything just because he'll be going public, so I doubt their current mishandling of Superman is based on copyright fears either.

[kingaliencracker]

You know Batman was made like, a year after Superman right? WB isn't in a mad scramble to drop him from everything just because he'll be going public, so I doubt their current mishandling of Superman is based on copyright fears either.

The creative mess going on with Superman has nothing to do with copyright issues. The character is just too complicated creatively speaking for WB to wrap their heads around. It's easy for us to sit here and say "do this...that...or the other". But neither fans nor DC creative can figure out what we want with Superman, hence why we've had 5 (!) separate and conflicting origin stories for him since 2000 (Man of Steel, Birthright, Secret Origin, New 52, and the current).

[Vakanai]

The creative mess going on with Superman has nothing to do with copyright issues. The character is just too complicated creatively speaking for WB to wrap their heads around. It's easy for us to sit here and say "do this...that...or the other". But neither fans nor DC creative can figure out what we want with Superman, hence why we've had 5 (!) separate and conflicting origin stories for him since 2000 (Man of Steel, Birthright, Secret Origin, New 52, and the current).

Not really complicated at all. And no, the number of origin stories doesn't matter at all, and I don't get why some fans focus on it so much - as different as they are in the events that might happen in them, most of them actually do a pretty good job capturing what people like about Superman. Like Birthright, American Alien, Man of Superman are very different stories, but the guy on the page really isn't that different. The only real outlier is new 52, and even that's just adding more of the Golden Age social crusader back into the mix to most fans delight. He's just a happy guy who wants to help people and typically enjoys doing it. That's not complicated, but for some reason I don't understand they keep making him so damn mopey in film. The tv guys get it, I don't know why the movie guys can't.

[achilles]

Hopefully we all comeback to your post here in 5 years and laugh at how silly it was, cause there is more superman on film, and better than ever.

hope, compassion, sincerity

This is pretty much what I say about all of my DC predictions, that while I'm pretty sure they're right, I hope very much they are all wrong. Pity it's come to this; that DC and WB have been so bad for so long in their decision making that my default expectation is gloom and doom, rather than excitement and anticipation.

[Jeffrey2]

Not really complicated at all. And no, the number of origin stories doesn't matter at all, and I don't get why some fans focus on it so much - as different as they are in the events that might happen in them, most of them actually do a pretty good job capturing what people like about Superman. Like Birthright, American Alien, Man of Superman are very different stories, but the guy on the page really isn't that different. The only real outlier is new 52, and even that's just adding more of the Golden Age social crusader back into the mix to most fans delight. He's just a happy guy who wants to help people and typically enjoys doing it. That's not complicated, but for some reason I don't understand they keep making him so damn mopey in film. The tv guys get it, I don't know why the movie guys can't.

Bingo. Superman can be written well and can have different interpretations among writers. A significant number of Superboy TV eps could easily instead have been developed as film scripts - all superior to SR and the Snyder stuff. Scripts from the likes of Bates, O'Neill and DeMatteis.

And yes, the TV guys have a knack for getting it unlike the movie folks. Think Superboy, Lois and Clark, Smallville and Superman and Lois. All hits. Those shows were done from the early 90s to the present, so TV has been consistent in putting out good Superman stuff unlike film.

[DABellWrites]

You know Batman was made like, a year after Superman right? WB isn't in a mad scramble to drop him from everything just because he'll be going public, so I doubt their current mishandling of Superman is based on copyright fears either.

With how crazy copyright laws/public domain work, WB/DC could be keeping Superman still. WB in 2019, renewed the copyright for early Captain Marvel stories, which had been in the public domain for years already.