David S. Goyer: ‘Man of Steel’ Being Approached ‘As If It Were Real’

Hanry Cavill Superman Man of Steel

Ever since Man of Steel was announced as being written by David S. Goyer and executive produced by Christopher Nolan, the claims of the film being a case of Superman getting ‘the Dark Knight influence’ have persisted. Even though the two men come from, literally, entirely different worlds.

But according to Goyer, this incarnation of Superman (Henry Cavill) isn’t going to be trading realism for fantasy, or hard questions for special effects. In fact, Man of Steel isn’t being approached as a comic book movie at all.

While Marvel may have found success developing comic books into movies without removing much of the humor and wonder seen in the source material, Goyer and Nolan did something different with their take on Batman. Removing or re-imagining elements in order to update an aging story or to help the material speak to modern audiences may be seen as blasphemy by some, but to Goyer, it’s all in the service of a stronger story.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine (via CBM) Goyer outlines his approach to a story familiar to nearly everyone. While staying respectful of the films that preceded Man of Steel, fans should expect something very different this summer:

“We’re approaching ‘Superman’ as if it weren’t a comic book movie, as if it were real… I adore the Donner films. Absolutely adore them. It just struck me that there was an idealist quality to them that may or may not work with today’s audience. It just struck me that if Superman really existed in the world, first of all, this story would be a story about first contact.
“He’s an alien. You can easily imagine a scenario in which we’d be doing a film like ‘E.T.,’ as opposed to him running around in tights. If the world found out he existed, it would be the biggest thing that ever happened in human history… It falls into that idea of trying to humanise the inhuman. He’s made out of steel, he’s not made out of flesh, metaphorically speaking. We are portraying him as a man, yet he’s not a man.”

The scriptwriter pulls no punches in his characterization of Superman as an alien (his suit already makes that clear), and not the simple embodiment of “truth, justice and the American way” to which he is so often reduced. However, in the process, Man of Steel seems to be as much a story about societies and how they view outsiders. Specifically, how the entire human race would view something as ‘outside’ our own experiences as a full-blown alien entity.

Superman Man of Steel Not a Comic Book Movie

It’s not hard to see the themes of immigration, belonging, and communal identity that Goyer is driving at (claiming that this is a movie he feels “the world needs right now“), but conceiving of a Superman who is so markedly removed from mankind takes this reboot into entirely different realms. As Goyer alludes to, Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) never concerned itself with showing how the government or people on the street would react to an alien revealed to have been hiding among them.

Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (2006) jumped even further into acceptance of Superman as a celebrity, not just a superhero. But Cavill’s closing lines of dialogue seen in the full Man of Steel trailer posed the question to all viewers quite plainly: “My father believed that if the world found out what I really was, they would reject me… what do you think?”

That willingness to face prejudice, fear, paranoia, and even hatred without sugarcoating humanity’s, shall we say, less flattering tendencies, promises a film that is at least new, if not universally-pleasing. The themes at work have impressed executive producer Christopher Nolan, as has director Zack Snyder’s vision for the big screen. But how do you tell such a serious, grounded story about a superhero from another world?

Russell Crowe Talks Man of Steel

That’s a question that has yet to be asked by DC superhero movies, since Nolan and Goyer’s previous work on Batman was an extremely personal story of suffering and trauma. The task is a more difficult one, but at the end of the day, the story of Superman can be reduced to one core question of identity. A question hinted at in the pair of teaser trailers, but hinging on the ability to make it feel real:

“It is obviously a much longer process with a character like Superman. It is much easier to do a realistic take on Batman. You know nothing can hurt Superman, presumably other than Kryptonite. The challenge was simply: Can we figure out a way to make those elements work, quote unquote, in the real world? It’s very much a story of a man with two fathers.”

Nobody ever accused David S. Goyer or Zack Snyder of making things easy on themselves. And as if pairing such a personal struggle alongside “massive” action and backdrops, the word out of Warner Bros. is that much of the direction and feasibility of any Justice League movie will rest on how Man of Steel is received by the public.

The report comes from Variety, with Warner Bros. President Jeff Robinov explaining that the studio is “awaiting the results” of Snyder’s Man of Steel before moving forward. That fact has been assumed to this point, but this certainly puts a damper on anyone expecting massive secret announcements at Comic-Con 2013.

What do you think of Goyer’s approach to grounding Superman, and facing the world’s reaction to his presence head on? Is this the story you’ve been waiting to see told (on film) or the wrong direction altogether?

Man of Steel hits theaters June 14th, 2013. Pick up Empire‘s March issue on newsstands this Thursday.

First, the comics at least touched on these questions from time to time, of Supes being Kryptonian and being a bit of an outsider. He was an infant when he left, and those stories never worked very well.

Second, a Superman with the full array of powers had from about 1950 on would be impossible to make “real”. He is a fantasy character. The 1938 incarnation jumped, ran, punched and “nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin”. (which doesn’t imply that he couldn’t be poisoned, starved or killed with two bursting shells.)

He didn’t fly. He didn’t have:

heat vision

freeze breath

microscopic vision

no need of food or drink

the ability to stop his heart

telescopic vision

super hearing

x-ray vision

ability to go through time

no need to breath (hence, could fly into outer space)

super ventriliquism

ability to hypnotize people to see Clark Kent diffenrently

ability to pass through walls or change features (one time
use on both from 40s, later ignored)

Super wind

ability to move around the speed of light (that’s so much
faster than a speeding bullet it constitutes a new power)

Super brains (can learn languages in few hours, comprehend things read at superspeed, make complex calculations in his head, except when hit with Fuzz-Brain [see TRS-80 comic books])

No one has gotten Superman right yet. One either must raise the powers of his enemies (or make them employ magic or Kryptonite to weaken Supes), making them fantastic as well, or go back to an early 40s version, perhaps with flight, preferably before WWII, because the war would have been over before it started with him around.

Do you think it would be hard to kill superman? His power levels are off the chart but his weakness is also. How about shooting him with a kryptonite bullet? Bang! Dead alien superhero. Has no one ever thought of this? Superman doesn't even bother to dodge bullets. A 12 year old with a zip gun could kill him. Too afraid to shoot superman? (and I can understand that) How about a kryptonite frag grenade? Krypton gas? Let's face it for all his daunting powers he is a soft target.

Bullets make noise. Between insanely fast relexes and supervision Superman could easily determine that this was no ordinary bullet, and (assuming heat vision couldn't melt it), fly out of harms way, or use super breath to change its path. That's why the preferred method has also been to entice Superman and distract him with a lead lined box. (K-rays don't penetrate lead. Heck, there was one comic where Superman tricked Luthor into thinking he won (with help of a man-made Hebrew mythology Golem) by vibrating the entire civilization into another dimension or something (with Len Wein, anything is possible). Maybe the zip gun in the hands of an innocent looking 10 year old at skin contact (or Mr. Mxyzptlk, who should be able to kill Superman at will, if it wouldn't rob him of fun,but Mxyxptlk is arbitrarily powerful). The Kryptonite gas thing has been done. Do note that Kryptonite acts pretty slowly, and apparently doesn't take away all of Superman's invulnerability, otherwise, someone would have done the Kryptonite box followed by a regular lead bullet. As it is, Lois Lane, a Superman robot, a member of the Justice League, a one-time regular human character, or even another arch-foe shows up in time to save the day. I think the grenade idea has merit if you use human bait to disguise the hidden payload.

Do note that earth-bound Kryptonite was turn to regular rock in Superman #233 (1971), and was out of the picture for years before it had to be returned.

A well-trained sorcerer could do him in if these types could avoid drawing attentionto themselves (simply attend one of the numerous charity events where Superman bends steel girders or something).

As far as Wolverine is concerned, Supes can just dust off his Phantom Zone Ray, and send ol' Wolverine into a netherworld with the likes of Jax-Ur, kru-El and General Zod, who are so vicious, they vaporized a female cohort from the zone at the first opportunity even though she was a knockout (and perfectly resembled BOTH Supergirl AND Lena Thorul). he's been known to put folks in prisons that would make them WISH they were dead. Luthor is grandfathered in to avoid such treatment.

A good fantasy doesn't need to have foes of equal power, the good guy doesn't have to struggle and barely beat the bad guy, evil doesn't need to be portrayed as omniscient and Omnipotent while good is portrayed as weak but manages to win through incredibly unlikely good fortune.

Besides good fortune (which usually saves the day for the likes of Barney Fife types), with the DC heroes, planning ahead and making what should be a simple workaround is replaced with a ridiculously complex formula, often pretending a good guy goes bad, or that someone close to the hero has died. This stems from the DC approach of making the covers first and and the story after. Or the timely arrival of a third party (Snapper Carr, Jimmy Olsen, etc.), but that could fall under incredibly good fortune.

I would say that Captain Marvel should give Superman a good fight (despite having mainly the base powers), because his power comes from magic/mysticism. Jonn Jonnz could also do well if he is in an oxygen free environment (no fire), loaded with Kryptonite, and can throw the first punch.

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