Aug 22 2008'Superman' Will Get Dark Relaunch

Why is everything in italics?

Okay nevermind. Its not in italics anymore.

But seriously. I think Smallville was darker than the last few Superman movies. They could go a little grey. Oh, and stop having Katie Holmes star in it.

I think the best new Superman movie they could possibly make would be to not make another Superman movie

Use of the word "mythos": 10 points!

Guh...Really guys? Are the yahoos running the Hollywood offices of Warner Brothers REALLY that much dumber that everybody else? Okay, here's the new plan guys:
We all get together and make a movie that's shot entirely in inverse neon colors and loud, high pitched squealing noises THEN we all go see it THEN it makes millions THEN we get to see that asshats at Warner Brothers decide that their next superhero movie will be shot in inverse neon colors, featuring loud, high pitched squealing noises instead of you know, talking.

Want to make Superman dark? Have Wesley Snipes play him, he's the Goddamndest dark darky I've ever seen.

How about they work on making it not boring as opposed to "darker".

Listen all you Warner Brothers nitwits. The dark Knight works because it is good, not because it's dark! The last Superman movie did not work , because it was a lousy movie! The best thing to do with Superman is to make it dark enough so the audience can't see it!

It was a show, but there totally was a movie of the Saved by the Bell people in Hawaii....

Saved by the bell hawaii worked on many different levels and was firing on all cylinders

It does not need to be dark like TDK, it just needs to be darker than the other Superman movies have been.

Lex Luthor is not a clown, so they need to stop having him be like one. The best portrayal of him that I've seen was in Superman: TAS in the 90s. That was the perfect Lex. Dangerous, evil, intelligent, and smart.

I liked the last Superman movie.. Bryan Singer rocks. He delivered Superman & Lex Luther as they are portrayed in the comics. It was sluggish at times, but so was X-Men 1. Remember what Singer did with X2? Remember how much money it made?

That being said, as long as Singer is directing this, it will be good.

Hollywood... where originality goes to die.

and i agree with my predecessor in both name and postiness... Superman Returns was fine. but because it didn't make as much as Batman, and everyone loves Superman... let's just keep reinventing the franchise until we make a shit ton of money. i love Hollywood logic.

God I hate Film Execs. At least I'm heartened by the knowledge that they will burn in hell for all eternity for being such unfathomable cocks.

The problem with Superman is that it was essentially the same story as number 1 except for the part where Lois Lane gets raped. If she doesn't remember his identity but she realizes that the kid is his then she has to imagine that Superman raped her at superspeed. I am big comic fan and would pay money to kick Singer in the nuts for wasting the opportunity he had.

Of course they could have just used Kevin Smith's script but that would have been smart. They could only be smart on one franchise and they picked Batman.

Stop using fags to make Superman movies, maybe that might work....

Turn the suck down from 10 to about 2 and you'll have fixed the whole fuckin' thing.

Also: no gay stuff.

Making a dark Superman movie is like making a dark movie about cute & fuzzy bunnies. Oh, they did that, didn't they? It was called Night of the Lepus, and we all know what a masterpiece that was.

The only interesting thing that was ever done with a dark Superman was the campy and oh-too-brief appearance of evil Superman in Superman III. But even making a whole movie like that would be a mistake. Look at Spider-Douche 3.

Most comic franchises aren't driven into the ground until the third movie. Leave it to Warners Brothers to push the boundaries of filmmaking and pull it off in only two.

I would love to hear what Singer has to say about this new direction. He's the only person who could come close to convincing me that this might work.

Somebody needs to kick Alan Horn in the head.

@ 18, cute, fuzzy bunnies, dark movie, that would have been better then Superman Returns... check out Watership Down (the cartoon or book). Anyway for future Superman movies here's an idea, its pretty radical, have Superman (a being with vast super powers) actually fight someone else with vast superpowers! Darkseid, Bizarro, Brainiac, hell even Lobo would do at this point I know I know it sounds crazy, but just try it out! I would also ask for a decent story line that portrays Superman as a symbol for hope and justice, rather then being a creepy deadbeat dad that stalks his ex-girlfriend, but hey now I' m just talking crazy!

Prof,

Oh, I know Watership Down. The book is great, the movie is, too. But the dark movie is an adaptation of a dark and haunting story. If The Tale of Peter Rabbit
was adapted like WD, it would no longer be the Beatrix Potter story, it would be something else with the same name.

There are a million great Superman stories, but I can't recall any classic dark brooding ones right now. If Superman had always been a dark character, like Batman, then making a darker, relaunched Superman would make sense.

Yes, the Superman-as-stalker thing creeped me out too. Spying on someone out of curiosity is so NOT Superman.

The way I figure things will go is they'll bring in Bizarro as the villain, leaving the potential bad of an opposite Superman wide open for exploration.

No, No, No, NO! Fuck!
Superman is supposed to be a bright character and a representation of hope and the best of humanity, hence SUPER man.
The Dark Knight, thought awesome, is the polar opposite of Supes.
For all intents and purposes, Nic Cage must not know of this project.

@#6
Fucking LOL

I think I just died a little on the inside.

Why not just let Singer "go Wrath of Khan on it" like he said he wanted to?

Any of you Junkies hear of "The Death of Superman". Or how about see the Smallville episode where Lex is standing in the rain of blood (don't use Smallville against me).

The Dark Knight proved all you need is a good villian, and Lex Luther doesn't have to be such a fag, let him loose.

I'm the last person to side with those studio c$nts but dark can be done.

"It's like playin' cards with my brother's kids"

I agree with #25, the times that the show Smallville has taken it to a really dark side, were actually the best episodes by far, and some even better than the movies.

If they base it on comics such as death of Superman, and not be so hung up on Christopher Reeve, it will be very dark, very story/character appropriate, and yes...very good if done right.

mmm? i agree the Dark knight went well... that movie is so serious ? Lets Hope for the second superman movie in next year would be Great.. even if is dark or light best part of its enjoyable to watch and worth it too ( i heard his enemy will be metalo (robot guy with kryptonite heart ? correct me if im wrong....

how's about having him fight a bad guy who's not lex luthor? the worst part of superman returns (besides all the boring stuff that didn't make sense) was lex luthor was back ... again... this time in kevin spacey form. superman can do this and that sure but who he fights that makes him interesting. bizzaro , solomon grundy, toyman, hell even mr myxlplix. change it up for once? oh and this time around try a plot that makes just a little bit of sense. give it a shot. maybe? i dunno.

May I just say that I appreciate you, Mr. 'iwatchstuff' writer.

"Hey! We should make our next Superman movie dark, too! Let's just completely ignore that the darkness of character, plot and literal appearance exhibited in The Dark Knight is completely intrinsic to the Batman mythos and inappropriately shoehorn that sensibility to a vast, well-established fictional universe!"

I think you and I are now very good friends, though possibly not to your transgression.

ALSO: Anyone interested should read LEX LUTHOR: MAN OF STEEL written by Brian Azerello and Illustrated by Lee Bermejo. That is how they should do the Lex Luthor/Superman relationship. And its really well written.

I think Dark Knight worked because of Ledger. If he wasn't in the movie it probably would not have done as well.

the problem with superman returns is that it was such a CHICK'S FLICK, it was like serendipity meets smallville, there was barely any action and it was really boring, besides superman looks like a Calvin Klein model WTF.

"'Superman' didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," says Mr. Robinov.

HA! Just because 'The Dark Knight' was such a big hit?

Just because it worked for Bruce Wayne doesn't mean it'll work for Clark Kent.

The main reason why Superman is so distant to this generation is because we've become cynical to what he stands for- Truth, Justice, and the American Way. (I'm pretty sure this'll get a few sneers.) He is pure and clean, completely unlike the ordinary person who takes more straws from the counter than he needs.

And that's why we now identify more with Batman-a spirit of vengeance, a vigilante tired of unbridled evil, taking matters into his own hands. He represents our collective aspiration right now.

'Superman Returns' worked in that it brought him back. But that's all-- unlike Batman, Superman was never developed, he's essentially the same as he was when Siegel and Shuster created him.

The main challenge for WB is to make Superman more relevant for our times. Casting him in the shadows is not in his character-- Superman has to stand in the full light of day.

The best thing for the superman franchise would be to drop Lex Luthor as the central villain...he's an evil genius billionaire....he doesn't go toe to toe with Supes. He pays other badasses to do it. Gimme someone who can swing for the fences with a telephone pole and swat superman across Metropolis. The biggest problem with Superman Returns was trying to play off of the 80's films. As great as those were, times have changed and a Modern Superman movie needs SUPERvillains.

What if superman is driven to evil only to do good again. That might work.. Like if lex pushes him over the edge, or if he is poisoned by red kryptonite. Also he does need to fight someone powerful to make it interesting. They should show him as hated by the people or just anything besides him being this all powerful being. And yah, lex should be more evil and have a deep hatred for superman and want nothing more than to destroy superman and make him suffer. but dark, supes just not that kind of character

Why doesnt WB just kill off a main star of every film after princible shooting is complete. That's what made this film.

Seriously though a good script, good cast, a good director and a good villian. That's what's been missing from many of these films. Iron Man wasnt dark at all and it not only kicked ass but also made a bucket of money too. Hey I even liked King Fu Fucking Panda and that wasn't dark and that made a killing too.

WB showed they have no idea and will run themselves into the Dark Period and then come out wondering why they fucked up.

Another brilliant idea brought to you by the studio that damnded near killed off the Batman franchise in the 90's by making Batman gay and stiff nippled (not sure that's a word, but I didn't want to type anything bad about how Joel Schumacher fucking fucked the fucking fucked up shit out of the Batman movies or how the only thing worse he could've done would have been to dress up as Batgirl and ass rape Batman on screen).

Sorry, needed to get that out of my system.

The best Dark Superman story I can think of ( and I'm not an expert mind you) was a fictional story about the future inspired by the last Christpher Reeve movie, where superman takes it upon himself to forcibly rid the world of all nukes, and Batman has to come in and kill him. I don't think that would translate well into a new superman franchise movie :)

If you really want to see Dark Superman, you need to hop universes over to Marvel's "Supreme Power" comic. It's basicaly a dark version of the DC universe and it's very well done.

The problem is that Superman is a boring ass character. What's so exciting about a guy who can never get hurt or lose and has no weakness exept for a green rock found on a planet that dosen't exist anymore. You aren't gona make him any more exciting by making it dark.

Superman Returns = FAIL. The actress that played Lois Lane sucked, we saw most of this in Superman 1, and man was this movie BORING!!!!

Superman doesn't carry the same mental baggage as batman. A well adjusted man with a normal childhood DOESN'T FLY in the figurative sense.

This Superman "failed" (for a very loose definition of fail: wasn't a gigantic blockbuster like "it was supposed to be") becaust the characters were too young.

We're supposed to believe Lois (Kate Bosworth, age 23 and looking every baby-faced month of it) was a well-established, top world-class reporter at the major paper in the major city in America, 5-10 years earlier?!!?!?

And that she had a kid then, too? So by age 17, she was the top reporter and Superman's lover and had a kid by him.

Now there's precocious genius, and there's precocious genius.

Sorry, bzzzt!

No, they should have hired Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita on TV chick, played the NASA plane hostess) as Lois. Throw a long, black-haired wig on her, done. Far prettier than Kate, tall, with a deep, sultry, powerful voice, just like Lois should have. And even though she's 5' 10", Brandon at 6' 4" would still tower over her.

Nah, having baby-faced Lois open up her squeeky little mouth and squeek things at Superman as if she were some kind of wizened genius was just too much.

the key for a successful superman movie is to actually kill the actor during or after the production, so that the media explodes in orbituaries and how great the actor was, and all the money it's going to make, and how this movie is the best of all time according to imdb (for about 2 months)

Kate Bosworth was never a believable Lois. I know for a fact that Superman is a tit man, second only to wanting some girls with a little junk in the trunk. Banging chicks who look like 12 year old boys ain't his thang.

PUT BANE IN IT!!!!! RRWWWWAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!! HE'S THE MOST X-TRMEE VILLIAN EVER!!!!!! HE BROKE BATMAN'S BACK WHICH WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!1

Although this article's comments are kinda done, let me just add that I think Kevin Spacey was a FANTASTIC Lex Luthor. I was a child when I first saw the 1978 Superman, and for me Gene Hackman is THE cinematic Lex Luthor, regardless of how he is portrayed in the comics. Spacey did a great job of keeping the snobbish, preening, power-hungry and vengeful Luthor alive. Just sayin'.

So now there's two Brandons? I was #19. But not #33.

What are these guys smoking that makes them think that Superman, could/should/would ever be 'dark'. I think they got a bad batch and should be thrown into a rehab facility real quick. A real rehab facility, not the Club Britney.

I think that idea with dark superman isnt bad.But only for comics.NOT a hollywood movie.But superman will never turn dark,so this idea will stay only in fan-arts or something like that