Which scrapped Superman film would you have been most interested in?

[Dispenser Of Truth]

However, I'm guessing it would have been unintentionally hilarious to see Cage as Super...uh, dude? A receding hairline Superman...wow.

For any who haven't seen it:



And a more finalized take:

[Xon-Ur]

No offense to the thread author, but Superman V (Superman Reborn) has been TERRIBLY shortchanged in the description in the opening post.

Superman V would have been the first Superman film (and superhero film, really) to involve a comic book veteran in the screenwriting process. Had this film been made and been successful, the track that the WB's superhero films took might have been vastly different. It would have ignored Superman III and IV like Superman Returns did, and would have featured a faithful adaptation of Brainiac's comic book origin to film.

Cary Bates, who did great work on the much-loved Superboy series of the same time of this film, would have been a screenwriter on the film. Here's his synopsis from an interview he did with Newsarama in 2010.

It was this history in comics that gave Bates the idea for his original spec script for a fifth Superman film, because it was a retelling of the first classic Brainiac story from the comics. He and Jones expanded upon the concept with contributions from Salkind.

"[Brainiac] comes to Earth for the first time and shrinks Metropolis, adding it to his interplanetary collection of miniaturized cities," Bates explained. "But because he becomes aware of the unique super-powered being in his latest acquisition, Brainiac miniaturizes himself and ventures into the bottled Metropolis in person. This leads to a knock-down drag-out battle that ends in what appears to be Superman’s death."

This was before Superman died in the comics and would have been a hell of a story, with more action (and like the Goyer/Snyder fanboys want, punching!) than was seen in any Superman film before.

Click here to read the full interview with Bates on what might have been the best Superman film after Superman: The Movie.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Thanks for the info, added the major stuff to the initial post.

[Xon-Ur]

All of these sound just awful. What is wrong with WB that they can't just do a straight up adaptation of Superman? Why not do an adaptation of Morrison's first Action arc? Superman's a mysterious vigilante that runs around Metropolis stopping crimes and then Brainiac attacks Earth and takes half the city and Superman has to save it and that's how he learns he can fly. Or an adaptation of Birthright. Birthright to me is the definitive Superman movie. That Abrams version makes me a little worried about Star Wars now.

You need to read this article. It took non-WB folks to get a comic book writer's idea for a Superman movie into consideration.

[dishpan]

Thanks for the info, added the major stuff to the initial post.

this was a great idea for a poll, good on you!

was superman flyby the one that was going to be directed michael bay (coming off of armageddon) after the McG you mentioned (coming off of charlies angels) fell through? because both of those prospects were exciting to me compared to burton and cage. i hadnt heard of jja at the time but obviously like him now. also iirc i thought will smith was up for superman after independence day right?

and lets not forget, it had by far the best superman costume. they are the only ones to get the colors right. http://www.supermansupersite.com/supflyby/4.jpg

[Zero Hunter]

Man when you bunch them all together you see just how poorly Superman was treated all those years. All of these ideas sound like hot garbage and I thank god none of them ever got made.

It always brings to mind hearing Kevin Smith talking about when he was working on a Superman script and all they wanted was Superman fighting a giant mechanical spider. If you have never heard it just go to Youtube and look for Kevin Smith Superman. It shows you how screwed up WB's thinking on how to do Superman was for so many years.

[Götterdämmerung]

I would love an animated "Superman For Tomorrow". I loved that run.

[Mister BoMan]

I would have been very interested in seeing Superman V. Although the Salkinds dropped the ball with Superman III and Cannon with Superman IV, the Salkinds did a great job with the Superboy tv series and reading about their plans with Cary Bates scripting a Brainiac story (a long time Superman villain that I wanted to see on the screen) I was excited. I truly think this film would have turned around the Superman franchise around. There were reports in the magazines at that time, Reeve might not have come back,even Reeve seemed kinda hesitant to come back, but The Salkinds also looked at Gerard Christopher from Superboy to take over the role if Reeve was not involved.This was a few years before Reeve had his accident that paralyzed him.Too bad this film wasn't made.