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

Screen Rant ^ | January 29, 2013 | Andrew Dyce

[Bratch]

[Chipper]

Emo-Supes is my impression from the trailer. Nolan’s batman trilogy had one great movie, one okay movie and one terrible movie. Thankfully Marvel knows how to do comic book movies.

[lbryce]

Thanks for posting this. I’m a big Superman fan and despite my misgivings about the new direction taken by ‘Man of Steel’ I appreciate the insight provided by the article.

[Dr. Sivana]

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.

[SJSAMPLE]

Nolan did pretty well with all three, particularly the last two and ESPECIALLY the last one.

I’m a Marvel guy, but the Marvel movies haven’t all been that great, either;

Spider-Man (great)
Spider-Man II (excellent)
Spider-Man III (trash)

X-Men didn’t nearly live up, especially the casting.
Wolverine was just OK.

Both HULK movies sucked donkey balls.

Iron Man really brought it out but Avengers just wasn’t that good, bordering on the sucky.

[CatherineofAragon]

I wondered where Charles Brandon got off to....

[SJSAMPLE]

Good list.
That’s why Superman doesn’t resonate with anybody over 12.

After twelve, everybody wants to be Batman (money, cars, women, mad phat ass-kicking skeelz).

[Sirius Lee]

How does he shave? Wouldn’t Superman beard be impervious to a mach 3 razor?

[Dr. Sivana]

How does he shave?

AFAIK, He is only shown with a beard in one comic book where he is dosed with Red Kryptonite (ransom, temporary effects). Supergirl and Krypto combine heat vision to smooth him out. I suppose he could use a piece of mirror from his Kryptonian craft and his own heat vision to groom himself. Supergirl might have more problems with her hair styling.

[Bratch]

How does he shave? Wouldn’t Superman beard be impervious to a mach 3 razor?

[Bratch]

Supergirl might have more problems with her hair styling.

[Boogieman]

They would have to make him fly, because that is the one power that everyone associates with Superman, so the audience would reject any non-flying Supes out of hand nowadays. I do think getting rid of the heat rays/x-rays/superlungs/invincibility is a good idea though. Otherwise, you know that every criminal will be walking around with a pocket full o’ kryptonite, and that is just lame.

[Durus]

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.

It's far too simplistic to make it about power levels. 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.

Wolverine can't fly, he doesn't have heat vision, x-ray vision etc. etc. but he is way harder to kill than superman. He is way meaner too. You try to kill wolverine you are in for a world of hurt, superman will just take you to jail, but wolverine would make you scream before he killed you.

[Dr. Sivana]

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.

[Dr. Sivana]

They would have to make him fly, because that is the one power that everyone associates with Superman,

Agreed. Besides the changes in powers, another reason why I'd like to keep Superman in the pre-War 40s is because his excuse for becomeing a reporter was to know what was happening first, in order to fight crime more effectively. Also, he wasn't expected to be in the office all of the time. Today, the reporters are the LAST to know. Even as far back as the 70s the idea of being a newspaper reporter was stale enough that he was promoted to network anchorman (?! What do you expect from a male boss who uses a cigarette holder?) However, in the early 40s, teh Daily Star/Planet was a reasonable place to be.

[discostu]

I’m really torn on this one. On one hand I’ve always found Superman (and most of the DC not-Batman pantheon) to be painfully boring as a character. On the other hand, Nolan and Snyder.

[Durus]

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.

Sure bullets make noise but a piece of kryptonite encased in a normal lead bullet doesn't make a strange noise or act in anyway like an abnormal bullet. How many time has superman let bullets bounce off of him? He seems to take great pleasure in it for some odd reason. As an aside could you even be charged for shooting superman with a normal bullet?

I was never suggesting a Superman vs. Wolverine fight but but if I had to choose a Nemesis I would choose Superman. Sure if he ever got me alone without Kryptonite he could kill me easily, but he wouldn't. He would probably give me a patronizing look and a stern talking too while either waiting for the police to show up or flying me to them. Wolverine...not so much.

[Chipper]

Marvel didn't do the Spider-Man, X-Men or Wolverine movies. They have only produced Ironman 1&2, Thor, Incredible Hulk (Ed Norton version) Captain America and the Avengers movies. I thought they were also responsible for First Class, which is excellent, but they were not. I think The Avengers was the best of the lot, right up there with Dark Knight. Then again I am a Hulk fan and that movie was owned by the Hulk.

I thought this last Batman movie was the worst of the lot. I doubt I will even buy it. I own the first two, but Dark Knight is the only one I would watch multiple times, and that is not because of Batman.

[a fool in paradise]

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.

Considering the nuSuperman no longer stands for Truth, Justice, and the "American" way, who give a crap about Time-Lies-Warner-Turner's latest crudfest?

[Dr. Sivana]

but a piece of kryptonite encased in a normal lead bullet doesn't make a strange noise or act in anyway like an abnormal bullet.

Lead shields Superman from the effects of Kryptonite.