How would you restart the Superman movie franchise?

[mikelmcknight72]

I picked other. Here's what I'd do:

During the opening credits, Daily Planet clippings would be shown. They'd cover a few Superman events, such as: Superman's debut; a few of Superman averting disasters; Lex Luthor as president; Lex Luthor impeached, convicted and imprisoned; Death of Superman; Superman returns; Lois & Clark wedding announcement; birth announcement for Jon; and a recent one with Superman & the Superboys (Conner and Jon).

We'd open at Ma & Pa Kent's farmhouse with the whole family having dinner. Jon's about the same age he was before they aged him up recently.. Clark hears something & leaves during dessert after hearing something requiring Superman. Show the event briefly, then Lois & Clark at work at the Daily Planet. Lois is the assistant editor to Perry, but still writes. Pepper in each calling each other Smallville & Metropolis while they are mentioning President John Henry Irons. That'd set the stage. Clark would take off to investigate reports of aliens. He'd find a small, well armed group underground, switch to the red & blue, take them down, and put them in DEO custody. Have Superman on his way home when he hears reports of multiple incursions by hostile alien forces.

Second Act
We'd launch into Superman taking on the invaders in Metropolis. His hands are full with them, but he's handling it with while Jon is shown a bit rescuing endangered civilians & helping with evacuation. Name drop Conner's team & Steel fighting combating one of the groups (DC?), and some other heroes would get named dropped. Maybe the Outsiders in Gotham, Diana in Athens, the Titans on the West Coast, John Stewart & another Earth GL in the midwest, Shazam in Fawcett, Global Guardians in Europe, Rocket Reds & Great Ten in Moscow & Beijing, etc. No need to show any of them yet. Just planting seeds for ideas that catch on. He'd just about be in the mopping up stage when their backup arrives in the form of Mongul.

Act 3
Superman manages to get Mongul out of the city to minimize further collateral damage, and the big fight happens. Initially, Mongul has the upper hand, but Superman eventually prevails. Just as he's got Mongul on the ground and nearly beaten, and both of them are out of breath. Mongul says something enigmatic like "this isn't over", taps a commlink, and is teleported out. Cut to the end: Daily Planet news room discussion of the aliens. Some were willing soldiers, others were conscripted and forced to fight. Those are requesting asylum. Maybe mention public opinion being divided, but John Stewart is contacting his Corps to verify the claims of the asylum seekers & seek intel on the invaders. If verified, POTUS is expected to grant temporary asylum while awaiting their transport back to their worlds. We'd end as we started: Sunday dinner at the Kent's farmhouse. No dialogue, just music & family. Roll the credit.

Mid-credit stinger: Mongul on Warworld, insolently admitting failure to his superior. We don't see him, but he has a robotic voice.

Setups up a trilogy. I'm thinking movie two is largely Superman in the Fortress. Black Mercy on his chest, Mongul standing by & gloating, then most of the movie is the Black Mercy dream/nightmare. During it, we meet Kara. It all turns bad, Superman comes out of it in a rage, and he viciously beats down Mongul. Destroys his commlink, knocks him out, and takes him into custody. Uses his own communicator to contact John Stewart, and the movie ends with A couple of GLs seen from afar rising from the Fortress with Mongul captive, and Superman heading to Smallville. Bookend the movie with Sunday dinner at the Kent farmhouse.

Mid-credit stinger: The DEO contacts Superman to inform him of a crashed alien ship. A blond teen girl was found in it, and no one understands anything she says except she's upset & says Kal-El a lot. We see her, and it is Kara.
Post-credit stinger: Warworld from the exterior, reminiscent of a robotic head. Shift to a throne room/trophy room with what appears to be bottled models of cities. On the throne is robotic Brainiac. Little to know dialogue, just a comment about intervening personally if victory is to be achieved. Close brief shot from inside one of the bottles as its inhabitants look up in terror at Brainiac.

Spin off movie: Supergirl, she's posing as Clark's cousin who is staying with the Kents. Less cosmic, smaller story, adjusting to life on Earth, Smallville High School, and getting the hang of her powers. Some normal villain as opposed to invaders. Bookends with Kara & new friends at a local teen hangout, at the end she happily says she's heading home for Sunday dinner with the whole family!

Third movie: Bigger invasion movie with Brainiac front & center. Wants to capture a few cities from Earth, starting with Metropolis. On-screen secondary appearances during the battle by Steel, Conner, & Kara. Someone in a green & purple suit of armor is seen fighting the invasion too. Jon is happily on rescue, and comments in passing about hoping he can still go hang out with Robin this weekend. Epic battles, victory, & Brainiac defeated but escapes. Warworld, however, is no longer his. Mongul is in charge. Bookend with family dinner, intersperse Daily Planet newsroom scenes during the battle, and mention Luthor escaping from jail.

Mid-Credit scene, Luthor in the armor, swearing revenge.

[Flash Gordon]

I picked other. Here's what I'd do:

During the opening credits, Daily Planet clippings would be shown. They'd cover a few Superman events, such as: Superman's debut; a few of Superman averting disasters; Lex Luthor as president; Lex Luthor impeached, convicted and imprisoned; Death of Superman; Superman returns; Lois & Clark wedding announcement; birth announcement for Jon; and a recent one with Superman & the Superboys (Conner and Jon).

Jeez, that's like the man's entire life told as a montage.

Maybe he can grab a coffee for the next 70 minutes.

[Robanker]

Full reboot. Not because the current cast is poor by any stretch, but because I don't want what is essentially a creative course-correction to be hamstrung by anything established beforehand.

If they're really going to restart the Superman movie franchise, I'd like for all the toys to be put back in the box and allow the team behind the project to go for broke.

I really don't think asking someone to fix the franchise and still produce a compelling narrative is feasable after they've had the character violate some of his core philosophies, die and be resurrected. They've essentially, regardless of the quality of narrative, completed Clark's journey. He's reached his lowest points and returned, seemingly constructed into a more classic Superman. You'd be telling the new team "we did all the really groundbreaking stuff, now break ground."

Rather, start anew and go nuts. Do something grounded or go cosmic. Anything can work, but it's significantly harder when they've got a lot of baggage saddled upon their Superman.

[Vordan]

Full reboot. Not because the current cast is poor by any stretch, but because I don't want what is essentially a creative course-correction to be hamstrung by anything established beforehand.

If they're really going to restart the Superman movie franchise, I'd like for all the toys to be put back in the box and allow the team behind the project to go for broke.

I really don't think asking someone to fix the franchise and still produce a compelling narrative is feasable after they've had the character violate some of his core philosophies, die and be resurrected. They've essentially, regardless of the quality of narrative, completed Clark's journey. He's reached his lowest points and returned, seemingly constructed into a more classic Superman. You'd be telling the new team "we did all the really groundbreaking stuff, now break ground."

Rather, start anew and go nuts. Do something grounded or go cosmic. Anything can work, but it's significantly harder when they've got a lot of baggage saddled upon their Superman.

And to add to this, who would even want to? Who would even want to keep Cavill and the Snyder movies? It’s hard enough to even get the average director to take an interest since they’d all rather go do Batman or whatever. But on top of that, mandating that they start off in a hole, having to get people to care about DCEU Superman after Snyder essentially left the character a wreck? Good freaking luck getting anyone to take that job. Any new director would rather pick a character they can start from scratch with instead. So honestly a reboot might be their only chance.

But it all feels moot anyway. It’s going to be a long time before another Superman movie gets made, 2023 at the absolute earliest imo. No one seems interested and the character has hit an awful downward slump period in outside media.

[Robanker]

And to add to this, who would even want to? Who would even want to keep Cavill and the Snyder movies? It’s hard enough to even get the average director to take an interest since they’d all rather go do Batman or whatever. But on top of that, mandating that they start off in a hole, having to get people to care about DCEU Superman after Snyder essentially left the character a wreck? Good freaking luck getting anyone to take that job. Any new director would rather pick a character they can start from scratch with instead. So honestly a reboot might be their only chance.

But it all feels moot anyway. It’s going to be a long time before another Superman movie gets made, 2023 at the absolute earliest imo. No one seems interested and the character has hit an awful downward slump period in outside media.

I mean I've heard interest expressed at least partially by Matthew Vaughn and Patty Jenkins, but the former noted Donner/Reeve as an influence and I believe the latter did as well (or at least I inferred as much). I could see the latter getting at least a producing role if not directorial once Wonder Woman wraps. They may ask her to do a Superman movie in between. Regardless of WB's misunderstanding of him, they seem to at least understand his marketability and just go with Jenkins because A) she made a lot of money and good will for them over another character they never understood and B) she actually likes the property.

At the very least, I would hope she's in discussion at this point.

[Ascended]

Everything else doesnt matter, just move the needle forward. Leave almost all of JL behind.

Yeah I really dont see the *need* for a reboot. Just take the characters in a new direction with a new tone. No need to try to reset the narrative, and audiences don't give a damn about continuity like we do. You lose nothing worth keeping; Zod's been overdone and no one is going to want to see another Death-Return story again anytime soon so your options aren't limited by MoS-BvS-JL.

Just to provide a real-world example, look at Thor. Two movies that were serviceable but not among Marvel's best efforts and then comes Ragnarok, which completely changed direction and tone. For all intent and purpose, it could've been a reboot it was so different from what had come before but it kept the original foundation. And audiences loved it. Superman doesn't need a reboot he just needs a new movie that goes in a new direction.

I'd still love to see a 40's era Superman movie but everyone is so quick to jump on the reboot bandwagon when there's no gods damn need for it. Come on people, we've seen enough reboots in comics to know that they don't ever actually work. A movie reboot in the middle of a shared continuity is just as needless.

[Doctor Know]

Full reboot. Not because the current cast is poor by any stretch, but because I don't want what is essentially a creative course-correction to be hamstrung by anything established beforehand.

If they're really going to restart the Superman movie franchise, I'd like for all the toys to be put back in the box and allow the team behind the project to go for broke.

I really don't think asking someone to fix the franchise and still produce a compelling narrative is feasible after they've had the character violate some of his core philosophies, die and be resurrected. They've essentially, regardless of the quality of narrative, completed Clark's journey. He's reached his lowest points and returned, seemingly constructed into a more classic Superman. You'd be telling the new team "we did all the really groundbreaking stuff, now break ground."

Rather, start anew and go nuts. Do something grounded or go cosmic. Anything can work, but it's significantly harder when they've got a lot of baggage saddled upon their Superman.

Isn't that always the way though? What are the 4 Superman stories people are stuck telling?
Origin
Superman Evil
Superman Dying
Superman Donner

I've lost count how many times stories like these have been produced in the last 20-30 years. It's a lot like Jean Grey and Raven, the only stories anyone seems interested in telling with them are callbacks to their famous 80s stories (Phoenix and Trigon). Look at Star Trek.

Stop me if you've heard this one before... "Guy wants revenge in a Star Trek movie". Am I talking about:
Beyond - 2016
Into Darkness - 2013
Star Trek - 2009
Nemesis -2002
Insurrection - 1999
First Contact -1996
Wrath of Khan - 1982

There are 13 Trek films and 7 of them are about guys wanting revenge. The most recent films (First Contact to Beyond) have all been about guy's wanting revenge. Six in a row. Six in an effing ROW! Count the big, evil ships, count the hostile nebulas (Mutara, Briar Patch, Bassen Rift, Death Cloud), doomsday weapons, etc. And you see the people managing Trek have had no ideas except riff Wrath of Khan for decades.

The current trajectory of the Star Wars films is the same. Riff the Original Trilogy, for lack of better ideas. I think JJ Abrams even said he went out of his way to avoid mirroring ROTJ to closely when making ROSW.

Star Wars is going to continue, with an admitted slow down by Bob Iger. By hook or by crook, Disney is going to exploit a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Trek is dead in the water. It had certified fresh ratings from critics, bigger success at the BO than previous films in it's franchise and is on indefinite hiatus. Because it failed the change. You can only tell the same story so many times before people lose interest.


What Supes needs is forward moving direction. A new story where he starts accomplishing those lofty goals fans and detractors ascribe to him.
Making the world a better place, inspiring people, fighting evil and having out of this world adventures.


If that's seems daunting, make it simple. Start with the characters you KNOW Supes has inspired. I know most detractors of MOS and Superman in general can't name any, so I'll list some. Non-partisan examples. No relatives, no love interests.
Justice League International - Booster, Blue Beetle, Guy, Fire, Ice and Bloodwynd
Legion of Superheroes - The Oft Forgotten Legions...
Dr. John Henry Irons - Reign of the Supermen
Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi - Crisis on Infinite Earths
Dr. Raymond Palmer - JLA and other stories
Dr. Kent Nelson - The Hand of Fate
General Swanwick and Colonel Hardy- MOS
Batman and WW - BVS and JL


Moving forward, you can add King Faraday, Dr. Kitty Faulkner and others you think of. Moving Supes out of the newsroom would be my idea. There's a reason modern Supes, and modern Spider-Man have steadily phased out the news angle. The same reason why people were disenchanted with the final season of The Wire and the Newsroom. Nobody cares about printed media or the dying industry that it's become. Marv Wolfman called Supes' adventures with the Daily Planet crew innocuous and boring. In reference to how stale 50s and 60 comics were.

Add in the villains people haven't seen yet but there is a hunger for (Brainiac, Darkseid, Lobo), the inevitable 3-Ring Circus of mass destruction in urban areas is a given. Now you can temper things, but to suggest Supes can just Battlefield Remove all his enemies would be a mistake. People already think Supes is too powerful. Giving heroes fights they have no control of, is part of the drama. No Kryptonite handicap to give the villains the edge.


Like I said earlier, the most important thing for the character is a goal post. A tangible accomplishment to prop the character up and shush detractors. Casual reminder, Supes didn't inspire anyone or make the world a better place in Superman 1, 2 or the remake Superman Returns. And no one cared. All certified fresh from critics. Superman did inspire Lana Lang in Superman III but that's a partisan example. Since she was his love interest for that film. Most of the criticisms of DCEU Supes are cudgels to attack the interpretation. They don't actually care if he inspires people or if he doesn't. Second casual reminder, Supes didn't inspire anyone in the "not-too-distant-futures of the formerly teen, now adult members of the TT and or YJ. Or the futuristic dystopia of Batman Beyond. Which will be 20 years old come this August. Let that sink in. Or any of the future incarnations of the JL we see.


That's the uncomfortable truth. When Supes does inspire (see my above examples) people don't notice. And we he doesn't inspire anyone (Donner, Returns, Batman Beyond etc) people don't care.

Imagine being at the crossroads and having no idea that you're there. Imagine the people working on the Super IP trying to get their message out and people are not seeing it.


Since a vocal section of the fanbase, critics and media journalist singled out Supes inspiring people and making people feel hopeful as the most important and influential effect he could ever have. EVER. Just include something serviceable to quiet them. I am confident that they wouldn't notice. Just like they failed to notice all the other aforementioned examples.

It can be done, with the right leadership. And attitude reflects leadership. You lead by example.

[stargazer01]

I think some people notice when Superman is inspirational. What he needs is new adventures and yes, to actually accomplish things and look happier to be who he is. To be more proactive not just reactive. To act with more confidence like during all this scenes with the military in Man of Steel. I had goosebumps to see my fave hero so commanding and confident showing what a badass he really is.

Show more scenes with him helping people and being nice and kind, but to be a powerhouse against his enemies. Give him great dialogue and moments to show his charisma and charm. Give us incredible action like the Smallville scene in MOS and dynamic flying and take offs. There is a video with a baby watching Kal's first flight. He's excited beyond words. That's the magic of Superman, his powers and his heart. The Snyder films had strong things, but the tone was too serious and somber. It lacked more joyful moments like First Flight. BvS... was too bleak. JL was rushed and undercooked and lacked epicness.




Here is the video. If this isn't pure bliss for a kid, I don't know what is. This is joy and is not cartoony, it's meaningful. He can have more scenes like that to make kids of all ages cry with joy to see their fave superhero doing great things and ending evil. Sure, he needs obstacles and moments of doubt not knowing exactly how to do it, but stop with showing him so constantly depressed like BvS. We need a balance of dark and light. Make the villains dark and evil, Superman is the light and hope and love we need.

[manofsteel1979]

My preference is new director,same cast,loosly in continuity with MOS and BvS.MOS is a fine origin story. Everyone knows the origin by now anyway. Just tell a new story.

[Vakanai]

I voted for full reboot as a knee-jerk reaction, but let's go soft reboot. Basically ignore mostly everything set up in Man of Steel but don't revisit the origin, people know it damn it, ignore everything Snyder ever did except the real sticklers (Zod dead, Supes death and return), and recast and move on. All you really need to establish is Justice League happened in the movies going forward for it to fit in with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but just have a normal Superman with his normal cast of characters and setting, doing something Superman-y. Maybe keep the costume because that looks great, and we don't want some ninny trying to bring trunks back on the silver screen, but yeah, new cast, new direction, new stories moving forward, but can still team up for the next Justice League.

Of course keeping that version of the Death of Superman in might make it difficult for Clark to explain him being alive again, since everyone in the Daily Planet knows that there was a body buried in Smallville. Eh, handwave it away.

You know what? Expand the mythos a bit. Bring in the Superman of China and have the two meet and take on Brainiac. Have him investigate rumors of another "Man of Steel" that popped up while he was dead and introduce Steel. Just no superbaby Jon! We're never going to get to the point where he's old enough to be interesting in the movie-verse, and Supersons ain't happening, so no. They could maybe take in a young teen Superboy, with the clone origin.

[Pinsir]

Its time for Supergirl.

[Doctor Know]

Its time for Supergirl.

Picture this: Opening scene is the last days of Krypton's War against Brainiac. Kara is member of the military or cleric, and fights in the defense of Argo or Kandor (take your pick which). In the comics (Post Crisis, New 52), animated movies (Unbound) and games (Injustice II), Kara is a damsel and one of the civilians evacuating. Making her a combatant against Brainiac, makes her apart of the action. As well as, fast tracks her combat skills and abilities. After a desperate gambit (which I have yet to determine), Brainiac and his armada are sealed in the Phantom Zone. Kara is sealed with him. The PZ is a perfect prison. Like a safe, it can only be opened from the outside. Years pass, and Krypton is destroyed. Kara is spared the holocaust but "the terror" remains. Brainiac escapes, intent on continuing his designs for domination, and annihilation. Kara is freed alongside him and uses her ship to find any sign of Krypton left. The planet had FTL travel. Perhaps they led an exodus. Kara speeds to Earth, pursued by Brainiac. Where she meets her estranged cousin and regales to him the terror his planet now faces.

[Robotman]

At this point I really don’t want to see a reboot because I am so tired of origin stories. Not very excited about Reeves Batman because it’s rumored to feature a fairly young version of the character. we’ve seen Bruce become Batman countless times. Jeezus how many times do we need to see the Wayne’s murder on screen?!? I don’t want to see him struggle to become Batman because we just saw that in Batman Begins. So I wouldn’t want to see Krypton blow up yet again and Clark learning how to use his powers yet again. I would love to see an established Superman fight Brainiac and possibly discover Supergirl’s escape pod. They should use Cavill but just recast the supporting actors. Jimmy Olsen is alive and Lex is a bald egomaniacal business man played by another actor.

[Superlad93]

I picked the 3rd option. Like others have said, basically a reboot like Ragnarok was for Thor, and Avengers was for Hulk. Sure that stuff totally happened, I guess, but we're doing this thing now, so don't worry much about it.....like at all.

There's a few idea as far as story and direction go that I'd go for with this in mind:

* A good ol' fashion Superman story. A palate cleanser designed to be a crowd pleaser, and an establishment of equilibrium that says pretty loudly "Superman still works, y'all!" Maybe shut everyone up and just finally go Brainiac? Mix of Milton Fine meets classic space alien Brainiac, so it's not all just aliens again. Plus, the very easy to understand at first glance brawn vs mental powers thing would lend itself to visuals that are more versatile than punching an army of identical gray things, one big big robot, or "Independence Day: Now with added Superman." That said, some of those things could totally be there by way of our new merged Brainiac creating them with telekinesis and illusions. Add in a neat "who was Milton Fine" investigative subplot to supplemental the main one. The mental powers being used on Clark is also a way to casually retcon or add whatever you like, and also sow seeds for future films.

Pre note: I'd actually rather the second film be the very next Superman movie we get, but since the Snyder films were what they were, I think this first film is required on some level. Then again, similar to MOS and BVS, the first two Thor movies didn't really set our main character or his supporting cast in the best way possible, so 3 just said screw it, and that turned out to be among Marvel's biggest successes/come from behind victories in their whole decade of life. So, you can probably read this post starting at just the second film if you like.

Notes: already married Lois and Clark with a baby/toddler Jon Kent in there. Depending on when this film comes out, enough real world time would've passed for the marriage and the a baby/toddler (it's already been two years and counting). But, no worries. It's not really a big deal. More so just accentuate Clark's ever growing responsibility as a guy and a super-guy. Going more for a Superman: Secret Identity issue 3 vibe, than "boy, wait till you see Super Sons" deal. I need Jon as a thing, so Superman can make a specific choice next film in a quick and relatable way. Jon's basically just an idea in this. Also put Lex in jail and cue up some Hannibal Lecter style visits between either he and Superman or he and Lois. More slight retcons and allusions or very slight nods to unseen adventures. Maybe book end with them play chess? That's a thing that could be cool, if a little pretentious. Also Jimmy Olsen can stay a CIA agent, but with...well...less death. Recast him. He's our link back to the government presence in MOS and BVS without having to directly call back to it, and he's fun and kind of funny. He's Superman's unofficial handler, and friends with Lois.

* The second film you get to go a little ham, I think. It's the story of the nascent days of the United Planets. You want a more proactive Superman? Well, so does Clark. He's pretty over all these space aliens coming to take Earth, and he acknowledges that it has to be partly on him because he's being him very loudly. He doesn't see why there can't be more situations similar to himself if Earth were part of the galactic conversation. Plus, he's got this little half alien baby that he's just brought into this world, and he'll damn if it's a world in worse shape than before. So, it's off to space with Lois, CIA rep Jimmy, and a science person (take your pick. Doesn't matter) to see about setting something up. We all know that the new Star Trek and Star Wars are things, and we know know that two Guardian movies and a space Thor movie happened. A space Superman movie is that is straight faced is totally possible. Secret space cabals consisting of big galactic players, space assassination attempts, and imax 'holy crap!' wide shots. Plus, fun fish out of water stuff.

Note: introduce the Legion here! It makes an astonishing amount of sense. They're there to either make sure the formation of the UP happens, or they're basically to be in awe at the whole thing, or they're prepping to ask for Clark's help. However, don't give away that it's the Legion till the post credits, so that the audience doesn't have to also think about time travel along with how space bathrooms work. I say use stuff like a few alien Green Lanterns the same way Shazam used being in a world with Batman and Superman. Antagonist would be the space cabal, and our physical antagonist aka hired hitman would be Lobo.

* Slide in a Superman/Legion team up movie before we hit the third Superman film. Basically Johns Superman and The Legion of Superheroes. The first film now gives us a cool "gasp, it's Brainiac!" moment for Clark.

* A Third film could go a number of ways. For one, we could do something with some real finality to it, or with option two, we could just end that character arc. Depends on how shared things will be going forward. Might even be cool to keep Lex in jail, and make it so Superman's visits kind of eventually chipped away at his armor, and even though he's going to be executed for crimes against humanity, he's sort of at peace. Or give him some illness. Or make him the main badguy. Doesn't matter too much. Just wrap up his whole deal with Superman this film. Obviously continue the United Planets stuff. Some "heavy hangs the head that wears the crown" stuff in regards to that. Keep this on Earth, and in part center it around how Earth's dealing with the idea.

Note: Jon's not a thing that HAS to happen for these to work, but I think he's something that should happen because the choices and ideas get kind of big, and you could do much worse with a character than give them an easily identifiable point to relate to that cuts down exposition and eats up less time. But still, he's optional. With time travel being a thing, DC/WB would also have the option of giving us a teenage Jon like Marvel/Disney is MOST ASSUREDLY going to do eventually.

[Jim Kelly]

Just tell a good Superman story. Don't rehash his origin or tell about his younger days. If Cavill can't come back then get another good actor. Don't worry about whether it fits with the other movies or not. If the movie is successful, they can elaborate in the next movie. If it's not successful, it doesn't matter.

Personally, I'd like it if they adapted one of the pre-Crisis stories, as those were self-contained. Many stories open in a typical day in the life of Clark Kent/Superman then something happens.

The story I always wanted to see expanded upon in some form is "The Immortal Superman" from ACTION COMICS 385 - 387. You just need an actor to play Superman--the rest of the cast of the characters don't appear (unless in flashbacks or as museum artifacts). One day Superman is asked to the Oval Office where the POTUS directs him not to break through the time barrier on his own for the next 24 hours, because the US government is conducting some hush-hush experiment. However, Superman gets a call from the future to assist on a case, so he elects to use a defective Legion Time Bubble he has in the Fortress of Solitude and he travels into the far future. However when he exits the Time Bubble, he has super-aged and now has grey hair and wrinkles.

When the Man of Steel attempts to return to his own time, he's blocked by the Time Tapper's Iron Curtain of Time and must instead keep journeying further into the future. Along the way he meets many different advanced civilizations that gift him with more and more powers and he can't die. For awhile he stays at an old folks home for super-heroes. A Superman museum reveals what became of his friends and foes after his disappearance in 1970. The Man of Tomorrow returns to a far-future Earth that has suffered enviromnental collapse, used up by the humans that once lived there--and he splits the planet open like an apple to create a new Earth, to which he brings animals and primitive humanoids to procreate and establish a new world.

After his many adventures, the Immortal Superman is weary of living and wants to die but can't. He speeds forward through time until he reaches the very end of everything. Then he discovers that time is a circle and having come to the end of the cosmos he has circled back to the beginning. As he flashes forward through the eons as a disembodied consciousness, he finally arrives at the moment of his birth as baby Kal-El. Various other scenes from Kal-El's life are shown until he is standing in the Fortress at the very moment after he had left in the Time Bubble.