Superman Projects That Almost Were

[Robanker]

In a recent podcast appearance, Geoff Johns discussed his and Gary Frank's original intentions following their Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes arc... Which was a book starring exactly that. Generally, I know Johns on Superman isn't the most popular on this board, but the consensus seems that this arc in particular was his strongest. I know I certainly quite enjoyed it at the time and I still do today.

What twists that knife more is that when that fell through, they decided to do Superman: Secret Origin. So, we lost a possible Superman & the Legion book (which would be his first time having ongoing adventures with them as an adult, which all of them were now as well) for another origin. Hurray.

They really wanted to do a Lois Lane book after Secret Origin, but apparently that didn't materialize either and given the time I would assume it had to do with the New 52.

For reference, the podcast: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1606344836


This got me thinking of how often we hear about Superman-related books we almost got, but ultimately fell through. Sometimes it's a bullet dodged, but others it's a wound that stings. I actually enjoy Secret Origin, but I'd trade it in a heartbeat for another Lois Lane book and we've all complained about the bullshit that is Superman being removed from the Legion's history.

There are recent examples of books that could have been with the stillborn 5G initiative, but what are some other examples of Superman-related projects that didn't get produced? Long-time fans have likely heard many of them, but certainly not all. From Peter David's Supergirls pitch teaming up Supergirl and Power Girl to the Superman Family animated series that would have brought Kong Kenan to the small screen and the well-known Superman 2000 pitch, what are some projects or pitches that you feel we were robbed of, or perhaps mercifully spared from (as was likely the case with the infamous Superman Lives film)?

[Vordan]

Thanks for sharing! Guess Johns might be getting his second chance at that with his upcoming Legion stuff. Well the really big ones are apparently Frank Miller and Steve Gerber wanted to team up and reboot Superman for Post Crisis:



Apparently Alan Moore also is rumored to have pitched for the job. If any of those guys had gotten the gig instead of Byrne we might be in a totally different situation.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

There are so many missed opportunities with Superman, particularly outside the comics.

I'd have loved to have seen what Miles & Gough's original 5 season arc for Smallville would have been before studio meddling threw that all away.

I don't think there's many who wouldn't have loved to have seen what Donner's Superman II (and III) would have looked like if it hadn't been for the Salkins firing him.

There was also supposed to be George Reeves directed Superman movie that would have introduced Supergirl and Kandor, but his death scuttled those plans.

And, of course, George Miller's Justice League Mortal, which would have featured a big Superman vs Wonder Woman fight, the various incarnations of JJ Abrams' Superman: Flyby movie, as well as the fascinating Burton & Cage Superman Lives project.

As for the comics, I'd love to see what Johns & Busiek's original New Krypton story would have looked like, along with Waid's original Birthright ending with a malfunctioning Jor-El AI as the main threat rather than a fake Kryptonian invasion.

But, the real Holy Grail of Superman stories that almost were has got to be Seigel & Shuster's original K-Metal story, which would have not only introduced Kryptonite years earlier, but also letting Lois in on Clark's secret identity decades ahead of time. I cannot fathom how different the comics would have been had Seigel & Shuster been allowed to control their creation's destiny, rather than the company that owned the character.

[marhawkman]

One thing I've always wondered about... Supermen of America. A new version was created just before New 52... and then erased by the continuity mangling that was New 52... what would it have been if not for that?

[Jeffrey2]

The Adventures of Superboy TV series was set for a 6-year run. It reached its 4th year still a top 10 syndicated show. The final 2 seasons would supposedly see Clark moving to Metropolis and becoming Superman while introducing Lois Lane to the show. Season 4 had Clark and Lana newly graduated from college and interning at the Bureau for Extra Normal Matters. The season was set to end with an episode called RIP Superboy where Luthor seemingly succeeds in killing the young hero. To be resolved in the first eps of season 5.

Unfortumately, in comes WB, Deborah Joy Levine and 'Lois and Clark'. That series got a greenlight and WB axed Superboy. The Superboy producers came back wanting to do a TV movie in which Superboy's death from the series finale would be resolved. WB said no. The producers then scrambled, changed up RIP Superboy to be a mid-season ep where Superboy survives Luthor's trap. The 'Rites of Passage' ep was made as the finale which sets the stage for Clark becoming Superman and includes Lana discovering Superboy's secret identity in a hilarious way. The final scene of the series.

It's a shame WB ended the show. Superboy was a top ten series in seasons 2, 3, 4. Lois and Clark was never a top 10 series and struggled against competition like SeaQuest and Murder She Wrote with its ratings collapsing in the 4th and final season.

On top of this, the Superboy producers were planning a Superman film starring Gerard Christopehr to hit theatres after Superboy ended its planned 6 season run. The film would have featured Brainiac as the villain with a script written by comic book legend Cary Bates. That was DOA as far as WB was concerned.

The long slow decline of the Superman IP began about this time. A Superman film was in development hell for over a decade. Superman Returns was a big disappointment as was MOS. The Superman titles went astray after the boost they got from the Doomsday Death of Superman saga. Today Action does not even rank in the top 100 titles.

[Thor-Ul]

I think the most know lost stories or projects had already been mentioned.

Superman 2000, New Krypton original idea(with Linda "Earth Angel" Danvers as Flamebird and Kon-El as Nightwing), the Tim Burton Superman movie,

The only projects I think about it are the giant size zombie Krypto from a parallel reality versus Superman (Jeph Loeb, don't ask) and the Twilight of the Superheroes story, where Superman had a main role.

The biggest idea I has just remember was the idea proposal by Chris Claremont, where he suggested than should had been the Superman of earth one the one who died fighting the Anti-monitor instead Supergirl and then the Superman of earth two takes his place.

There was also a lost story by Alan Davis (The Nail, Superboy's Legion), but I don't know what is was about. I only saw a page with a old Superman flying in the skies of Krypton.

[superduperman]

I would probably add the Smallville animated series to this list since with the new management in charge, it's probably not going to happen. And, of course, making S&L take place in the actual Arrow-verse. Which I'm not sure too many people are broken up about. One that no one seems to talk about, but I remember quite vividly, is the change out of "killing" the New 52 Superman and replacing him with the "old" one. I'm still convinced that this was a last minute decision because one of the solicits around that time had the two meeting and then it changed. As in, the solicit itself changed. I'm not sure what they had in mind, but my guess is, it would have involved keeping the New 52 Superman. They had just finished the whole Truth storyline where he got his powers back and then to turn around and kill him off after meeting his counterpart for five seconds? That sounds like editorial meddling to me. I don't have any proof of this but just the way it was handled at the time was very sus.

[Last Son of Krypton]

Superman is the king of missed opportunities in both comics and live-action.

[K7P5V]

Hopefully this counts, but a personal fave would be...

"Letitia Lerner, Superman's Baby-Sitter"

[OBrianTallent]

Thanks for sharing! Guess Johns might be getting his second chance at that with his upcoming Legion stuff. Well the really big ones are apparently Frank Miller and Steve Gerber wanted to team up and reboot Superman for Post Crisis:



Apparently Alan Moore also is rumored to have pitched for the job. If any of those guys had gotten the gig instead of Byrne we might be in a totally different situation.

One has to wonder (no pun intended) if this was the Wonder Woman project that convinced George to take on the book. He was adamantly against the proposal so much so that Karen Berger basically said well it's you or this and he chose to do the book (fortunately for us all I think.)

[superduperman]

Hopefully this counts, but a personal fave would be...

"Letitia Lerner, Superman's Baby-Sitter"

That one was eventually published. In the Bizzarro Comics collection, I believe. I still contend that it was killed because it portrayed him having powers before puberty. Which was av big no-no in the nineties.

[marhawkman]

Hopefully this counts, but a personal fave would be...

"Letitia Lerner, Superman's Baby-Sitter"

What is Ivy doing to Harley? Why is Batman naked? O-o'

[JackDaw]

Didn’t Mark Millar do a pitch to tell a 60 issue-ish relaunch taking over both Action and Superman?

Given how good his Superman Adventures run was, think that was a big missed opportunity.

[Vordan]

Didn’t Mark Millar do a pitch to tell a 60 issue-ish relaunch taking over both Action and Superman?

Given how good his Superman Adventures run was, think that was a big missed opportunity.

Millar was part of the Superman 2000 pitch and he also wrote up what he would do if he got the Superbooks in a Wizard article long ago.

[K7P5V]

That one was eventually published. In the Bizzarro Comics collection, I believe. I still contend that it was killed because it portrayed him having powers before puberty. Which was av big no-no in the nineties.

Thanks! I only recently purchased it for my collection awhile ago (LOL):