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MAN OF STEEL, the Superman reboot, is probably the most important comic book movie since the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man–the future of DC’s superheroes on screen rests on its caped shoulders. If the movie does well, a whole new cinematic universe could unfold. If it flops…well, let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

Luckily, the new trailer which debuted last night looks pretty awesome, even if it does kind of tell the whole origin YET AGAIN. However, director Zack Snyder’s undeniable talent for creating epic images is all over the trailer, as is producer Christopher Nolan’s penchant for a more reality-based take on superheroes. Plus, the first real look at Amy Adams‘ Lois, and it’s note perfect. AND more shirtless hobo tramp steamer hairy-chested Superman.

The previous two trailers lifted dialog from Grant Morrison’s ACTION COMICS pretty liberally, but the new trailer made another past Superman scribe very happy.


Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu came out in 2003, and was the more or less definitive Superman origin for a few years, until a Crisis rebooted everything. It’s still thought of quite highly in many circles, and I guess those circles include Christopher Nolan, David Goyer, and Zack Snyder.

Anyway, looks like there’s life in that DC superhero universe after all.

13 COMMENTS

  1. I can’t even imagine some one who is as big a fan of Superman as Mark Waid getting to hear his words being used in what will arguably be the summers biggest blockbuster. Congrats to him. It really is great.

  2. “…even if it does kind of tell the whole origin YET AGAIN.”

    How often has the origin story been told on screen?

    1948 in the movie serial

    1978 in the Christopher Reeve movie

    1996 in the animated series

    How many audience members for this film will have seen all (or for that matter, any) of these origin stories? To most of the audience this will be only the first or second time they’ve seen this story.

    This is a pet peeve of mine: when comic book fans complain about origin stories happening too often when, to the lay person who makes up most of a film’s audience, they have never seen the origin. This may bore the 40,000 or so people who read Superman comics, but those 40,000 people are only a fraction of the audience that this film is aiming for. For much of the audience it will be new to them.

  3. Still not sure how to feel about this. Looks like it has enough action, but sooooo tired of origins and I really don’t care for sepia-toned shots of Superman fishing and hitch-hiking. Score was good though.

  4. Could we cover the origin stuff in 10 minutes or less and then get into a story? A summary would be fine: Planet blows, baby in rocket, discovered and grows up American. Done. Now, the story starts:

  5. I’m with Steely Dan on this one. 60k readers a month on the comic versus hundreds of thousands of people world wide who have casual or less knowledge of the character, the hundreds of thousands are, to me, going to win out as far as telling an origin goes. if WB or Disney or anybody was making this movie only for the hardcore 60k – 100k readers a month, no movies would ever get made.

  6. I’m with Al@ in thinking Superman’s origin story can be vestigal. In general, the basics of Superman’s origin story is a “how” origin rather than a “why” origin, serving only to explain why this guy can fly and pick up cars and shoot lasers from his eyes. You can graft a whole lot of stuff onto that to make it into a “why” origin, but I think that’s a lot less necessary than the average comic book fan seems to think it is.

    Origin stories in general are highly overrated and I’m getting tired of them in a whole lot of contexts. Tyrion Lannister drops broad hints about his background in “Game of Thrones,” but we learn what kind of character he is by what he DOES, not what happened to him in the past. Same is true of James Gordon in “Batman: Year One” — we get broad hints of a past he regrets, but the extra articulation he gives to it in the animated movie adds little to nothing, at best, compared to the way he acts throughout the story itself.

  7. Then again, the ONE Superman movie that didn’t tell his origin was kinda shite, so maybe best to stick with what works.

  8. Superman Origin: Look, this isn’t for all the fanboys who have followed Superman for decades. This is for a new audience. Its for a new generation, so they can have Superman as their own. In that perspective, i welcome it.

  9. the ONE Superman movie that didn’t tell his origin was kinda shite? Which one would that be. Superman III, IV and Returns were all shite.

  10. I for one think that it’s great and about time for them to do the origin again with the new special effects tech that is now available. The origin was told in 1978, that’s 35 years ago. Most people who will go see this will not care one bit that it’s an origin tale. For them, this movie will set up the foundation of their Superman experience, much like the original Superman did for that generation way back when. I’m of the mind that people who are going to complain, will do so no matter what. I for one, think the trailer looks great, and might be the most faithful adaptation yet. Plus, I’m glad they have finally broken away from the old Superman movie (plus Smallville’s) look and feel.

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