"Superman & Lois Lane" flying to The CW

[DigificWriter]

I think they need to avoid casting someone infirm (so as to avoid the Harris/Gambon scenario from the HP films, but there's plenty of examples of older actor that are still up for regular gigs (Sir Patrick for instance is seventy-nine, but I wouldn't call him geriatric and Sly and Arnie aren't much younger and still kicking it).

Incidentally, given that the de facto age gap in the comics is about twenty years, and a sampling of past actors averages a gap of thirty to forty years between the Perry actor and the CK/Superman actor, then i'd argue that it's a disservice to the character and the history of the role to cast it as any younger than sixty for the new show.

Given that Tyler is 32 years old IRL playing a 40-year-old Superman, I'd personally rather they follow that same pattern with Perry White if he's going to be part of this show. Cast somebody in their 40s or 50s, but then write the character as being in their 50s or 60s.

That way, you're keeping things similar to the comics in spirit without hamstringing yourself from a practical standpoint.

 

[dahj]

Given that Tyler is 32 years old IRL playing a 40-year-old Superman, I'd personally rather they follow that same pattern with Perry White if he's going to be part of this show.

Perry White isn't Kryptonian.

 

[DigificWriter]

Perry White isn't Kryptonian.

Bitsie Tulloch's Lois Lane isn't either, and they also 'cast younger to play older' with her, albeit not to the same degree as they did with Tyler.

So, it's a pattern they've already established.

 

[Thestral]

By your own "logic" (which you threw out with no evidence) they've also cast older to play younger, so Michael Hogan would be just fine.

Cat Grant, who's played by a 55-year-old actress, was Perry White's assistant at the Planet when she started out, and Perry was said to have a long, successful career as an investigative journalist before then. So Perry should logically be in his 70s by now.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that, good point.

 

[DigificWriter]

By your own "logic" (which you threw out with no evidence) they've also cast older to play younger, so Michael Hogan would be just fine.

They have cast 'older to play younger'; that's a confirmed fact (see Melissa Benoist, Katie McGrath, Jenna Dewan, Mehcad Brooks, and Jeremy Jordan, for starters).

It's not a 100% confirmed definitive that the Supergirl producers were having Calista play Cat younger than her (Calista's) age IRL, but it's heavily implied and suggested by information from the series itself.

 

[Kirk Prime]

Superman is for all intents and purposes an undocumented immigrant who uses his power for the benefit of humanity in an unselfish manner, he fights crime and corruption and helps minorites both as Superman and as Clark through his reporting. Just by existing he's political, you cannot have a politically neutral Superman because that goes against everything he stands for which is basically anti republican.

Superman, under American law, as a baby found under the age of 5, would not be an undocumented immigrant. He was legally adopted and would be an American. Sorry. It's the law.

Helping humanity in an unselfish manner, fighting crime and corruption, helping minorities, that's not political. No one side can claim that. If you think that the things Superman stands for are anti-Republican, then you don't know much about Republicans, and you should try talking to them rather than thinking they are what Supergirl writers want you to believe. Superman is not a liberal by a long shot.

And he absolutely can be apolitical. He would never campaign for a candidate. He would never endorse anyone, unless maybe the other side was running Lex Luthor.

Trying to get off the politics and onto other things, I agree with those that think Perry should be in his late 50s or so. I think it works for this show. If Superman is 40, and he wouldn't be active at age 20, or maybe he wouldn't be. If he started at 25, which is reasonable, he would have been active for a good 15 years.

That is not inconsistent from what we know. He meets Kara say, 4 years in, and then about 7 or 8 years later, when Kara is in her early 20s and he is in his late 30s, Kara is active, and now they are where they are.

So if Perry is 40 when Superman starts, why couldn't he be 55 now? I wouldn't want a 70 year old, but presumably, the show will last, and I think you want Perry on it.

 

[Takeru]

What age Perry should logically be doesn't matter, there'll be a crisis before the show starts which allows the writers to make all kinds of changes.

 

[DigificWriter]

If Superman is 40, and he wouldn't be active at age 20, or maybe he wouldn't be. If he started at 25, which is reasonable, he would have been active for a good 15 years.

That is not inconsistent from what we know. He meets Kara say, 4 years in, and then about 7 or 8 years later, when Kara is in her early 20s and he is in his late 30s, Kara is active, and now they are where they are.

So if Perry is 40 when Superman starts, why couldn't he be 55 now? I wouldn't want a 70 year old, but presumably, the show will last, and I think you want Perry on it.

Kara arrived on Earth in 2003, and by that point Clark, despite only being 24 years old, was already well-established as Superman, so he's been active since at least the late 1990s or early 2000s, which, as of 2019, is close to 2 decades.

What age Perry should logically matter doesn't matter, there'll be a crisis before the show starts which allows the writers to make all kinds of changes.

I think you're overestimating what CoIE is actually going to do in terms of the 'status quo' of the Arrowverse.

 

[Christopher]

What age Perry should logically matter doesn't matter, there'll be a crisis before the show starts which allows the writers to make all kinds of changes.

But why would we want them to just copy the conventional Superman formula? We've already had several TV and movie series that did that, and a couple that approximated it. What's the point in doing another? The value of this show being later in Superman's life, after Clark and Lois have started a family and Cat and Jimmy have moved on and so forth, is that it can be something different and novel, something that offers us interesting surprises rather than just meeting old expectations. Maybe Perry won't even be in it. Maybe he's retired and someone new and different is running the paper. Heck, maybe Clark becomes editor-in-chief and has to juggle that with being a dad and a superhero.

 

[Takeru]

I think you're overestimating what CoIE is actually going to do in terms of the 'status quo' of the Arrowverse.

How am I overestimating when I'm primarily talking about the age of an unseen character when they already destroyed a regularly seen earth?

 

[DigificWriter]

But why would we want them to just copy the conventional Superman formula? We've already had several TV and movie series that did that, and a couple that approximated it. What's the point in doing another? The value of this show being later in Superman's life, after Clark and Lois have started a family and Cat and Jimmy have moved on and so forth, is that it can be something different and novel, something that offers us interesting surprises rather than just meeting old expectations. Maybe Perry won't even be in it. Maybe he's retired and someone new and different is running the paper. Heck, maybe Clark becomes editor-in-chief and has to juggle that with being a dad and a superhero.

Without some kind of time shenanigans, which I don't really see as being likely right now, this series is most likely going to take place less than a year after the birth of Clark and Lois' son and within the first year of their marriage (depending on whether or not they went ahead and 'rushed the wedding' so that he wasn't born out-of-wedlock), and I don't really see Perry being retired.

How am I overestimating when I'm primarily talking about the age of an unseen character when they already destroyed a regularly seen earth?

It seems as if you're assuming that CoIE is going to make significant changes to the Arrowverse's 'status quo' and its internal chronology, which just isn't warranted based on what we know.

 

[Kirk Prime]

What age Perry should logically matter doesn't matter, there'll be a crisis before the show starts which allows the writers to make all kinds of changes.

That's actually a fair point. The COIE could change everything in continuity--INCLUDING making Perry younger and Jon older.

Kara arrived on Earth in 2003, and by that point Clark, despite only being 24 years old, was already well-established as Superman, so he's been active since at least the late 1990s or early 2000s, which, as of 2019, is close to 2 decades.

How do we know that Clark was 24? And in what episode did they say Kara arrived in 2003? Very curious because it sounds like you have an episode to cite.

I think you're overestimating what CoIE is actually going to do in terms of the 'status quo' of the Arrowverse.

It would defeat the purpose if they didn't do some major changes. Barry time traveled and we have no clue, but he changed Sarah Diggle into John Diggle Jr. If that could happen, one would think a major event could do more.

But at the same time, no one knows. You could be right and nothing could change.

But why would we want them to just copy the conventional Superman formula? We've already had several TV and movie series that did that, and a couple that approximated it. What's the point in doing another? The value of this show being later in Superman's life, after Clark and Lois have started a family and Cat and Jimmy have moved on and so forth, is that it can be something different and novel, something that offers us interesting surprises rather than just meeting old expectations. Maybe Perry won't even be in it. Maybe he's retired and someone new and different is running the paper. Heck, maybe Clark becomes editor-in-chief and has to juggle that with being a dad and a superhero.

Well, again, we really haven't had a true conventional Superman series since George Reeves, so it wouldn't be the worst thing, but you make an interesting point about Clark becoming Editor In Chief. It happened with Kal-L on Earth 2, pre Crisis. I like the idea, but maybe in later seasons.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Trying to get off the politics and onto other things, I agree with those that think Perry should be in his late 50s or so. I think it works for this show. If Superman is 40, and he wouldn't be active at age 20, or maybe he wouldn't be. If he started at 25, which is reasonable, he would have been active for a good 15 years.

So if Perry is 40 when Superman starts, why couldn't he be 55 now? I wouldn't want a 70 year old, but presumably, the show will last, and I think you want Perry on it.

Lane Smith was late 50s to early 60s playing against Dean Cain's "rookie" Superman (certainly no more than DC's 27 to 31), Chris and Brandon's Superman was in similar range with Jackie Cooper (56+) and Frank Langella (68+) and Adventures of Superman's John Hamilton was 66 when he took on the role.

Kara arrived on Earth in 2003, and by that point Clark, despite only being 24 years old, was already well-established as Superman, so he's been active since at least the late 1990s or early 2000s, which, as of 2019, is close to 2 decades.

So following the trend above, if anything Perry should have been at least 50 when Kara arrived (though I'd accept late 40s based on the comics), and in his seventies now. Though that's perhaps pushing it for a series regular. I'd accept a middle ground of a "well-aged" sixty-ish actor.

 

[DigificWriter]

How do we know that Clark was 24? And in what episode did they say Kara arrived in 2003? Very curious because it sounds like you have an episode to cite.

It was never outright stated when Kara arrived, but we can figure it out based on her age when Krypton was destroyed and how long she spent trapped in the Phantom Zone.

We can also figure out Clark's age at the time she arrived using the same metric since their pods left Krypton at the same time.

 

[Christopher]

and in his seventies now. Though that's perhaps pushing it for a series regular.

Sir Patrick Stewart would disagree...

Of course, Perry doesn't have to be a series regular. Again, the show is bound to be different from the standard Superman ensemble. We're late enough in the story for Clark and Lois to be parents, Cat Grant to be a presidential advisor, and Jimmy Olsen to be the former head of a multimedia conglomerate. We know Perry was still running the Planet as of a year or two ago, but he may well retire by the time of the new series.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ As I noted earlier, this show is likely to take place within a year to two years of both Clark and Lois' marriage and their son's birth since they spent the bulk of their relationship as a co-habitating unwed couple.

 

[Mudd]

White should be cast as no older than in his forties in this series.

 

[The Realist]

By default, I would cast White in his fifties at the very least, and that's even without the added factor of this series being set later in the character's life than the traditional Superman show.

No idea where the demand for pubescent Perry is coming from.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ I'm not saying that Perry as a character can't or shouldn't be in his 60s or 70s; I'm saying that I think the actor playing the character shouldn't be.

 

[The Realist]

I'm not sure how old most of you lot are, but not everybody on the high side of 50 is infirm or on their way out the door.