Superman (casting, rumors, pix till release)

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Obiwanshinobi, Jan 30, 2011.

  1. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    I didn't mind the Returns suit. They used a modified version of it during Geoff Johns early Action Comics run. Adam Kubert did the design of it. Then when Gary Frank came aboard during the later arcs he based his design on the Reeves costume. Given how Snyder stated that his favorite artists were Jim Lee and Curt Swan I'd say we are going to get a costume design inspired by those two.
     
  2. Broccoli

    Broccoli Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 3, 2001
    Location:
    Broccoli
    I can see what they meant by "dated". While nothing is inherently wrong with the design of the costume, the color scheme can be a little too 70s pastel (particularly the blue) for a modern audience.

    Then again, perhaps Snyder was using the term "dated" colloquially.

    It is funny the things fans get their panties in a bunch over.
     
  3. Out Of My Vulcan Mind

    Out Of My Vulcan Mind Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2002
    Location:
    Wherever you go, there you are.
    I think we're going to get a much bigger S shield this time around in particular.
     
  4. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    Agreed. That was my main problem with the Returns suit. The House of El crest needs to be prominent on the chest. I liked it on the belt buckle. It was also all over the suit, and boots.

    Broc...it wasn't Snyder who used the term "dated" it was the writer of the article.
     
  5. Broccoli

    Broccoli Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 3, 2001
    Location:
    Broccoli
    You keep your "facts" to yourself, sir!
     
  6. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    Okay!! I just might (shakes fist!) :)
     
  7. Obiwanshinobi

    Obiwanshinobi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 1, 2003
    Location:
    ObiWanShinobi
    Hey just so long he wears his red undies over his blue tights and has some quip explaining why, I'll be a happy camper.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2011
  8. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 26, 2001
    Location:
    Ireland
    I actually didn't know what you meant Admiral. I had the same confusion Christopher did. But as you say, it's the writer of the piece's fault.
     
  9. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2001
    Location:
    Sac, Ca
    Well if it was a halfway decent replica, it would be made out of the same thin material, with the same 70s colors, the same large shorts, the same stripper boots, etc. Hence, "dated."

    Ha ha, agreed.
     
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    I really don't get fashion. I don't understand how something can look good in one decade yet look bad in a later one. Surely quality or beauty is timeless. Would anyone criticize a rainbow or a sunflower for using last year's colors? If something is deemed inferior just because it isn't current, that's got nothing to do with aesthetics or quality, merely with conformity.

    That said, I decided to compare photos of Reeve's costume and Dean Cain's costume from Lois & Clark. I don't see any material differences in design aside from the shape of the belt buckle and the shape of the boots. Maybe Cain's shorts are a tiny bit smaller, but not so you'd notice. As for the colors, the Cain costume's hues do appear to be richer, which I do consider nicer because I like richer colors, but that's got nothing to do with decades or fashions; I liked them just as much 30 years ago. Then again, one can't always trust the colors in photographs, particularly clips from old films. The processes used to transfer film onto video in the '70s and '80s tended to wash out the colors, so that audiences have grown up thinking those films had blander colors than they actually did. I know this is the case with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and therefore it stands to reason that the same would be true of its near-contemporary Superman films. So the apparent difference in colors should be taken with a grain of salt.

    I will grant that the construction of the Reeve costume seems simpler, the materials and stitching and so forth. I suppose that might be called "dated" if it represents an actual improvement in technique and materials, rather than merely a difference in the degree of care or workmanship involved.

    As for Routh's costume, it looks to me as if his shorts are actually bigger than Reeve's (and no, not in that sense, just in that the cut of the leg holes is lower). The boots are smaller, but I don't know or care enough about fashion to understand what, if anything, that has to do with the date on which the costume was designed. The belt buckle is replaced with an additional S shield, which merely seems redundant rather than "modern." And the colors are too subdued, maroon replacing red. I understand the value of using darker colors on the big screen, but this goes too far at the cost of aesthetics. The colors aren't richer, just duller. Well, the blue's not bad, but the maroon isn't good at all -- and if anything, seems even more "dated," like the kind of color they might've used in the '40s or '50s. As for the chest shield, its small size evokes the Superman comics and cartoons of the early '40s, and its faceted look suggests Art Deco more than modernity. (And it doesn't make a lot of sense. How does Clark hide a protruding, textured chest shield under his shirt? It's implausible enough with just the bright colors and the cape.) So I don't see how this represents a fundamentally more "modern" design than the Reeve costume, except perhaps in the construction techniques and materials.


    On the subject of Spider-Man's costume, I wouldn't have minded seeing Peter get an intermediate costume with a "homemade" look but the same basic design, and then use the winnings from his wrestling career to get the fancy one made. But since they truncated the origin so that Uncle Ben's death came after his first and only wrestling bout, that wasn't really an option. I'm hoping the new film will do something like that, but I still don't like that rubbery costume they're using.
     
  11. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    I don't get fashion either. Although I will say that fashion is a societal thing...generated by popularity and all that good stuff. I guess it's the same for comic book fashion and Rao knows if there's one thing that fans absolutely can't agree on it's the look of a costume!! LOL.
     
  12. Out Of My Vulcan Mind

    Out Of My Vulcan Mind Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2002
    Location:
    Wherever you go, there you are.
    I think the Reeves costume still looks great, but it fits within a certain tone and a certain type of cinematography. To update it to suit what Snyder is likely to deliver it's not so much changing the basic design that's needed, but just some tweaking of the colors and experimenting with different fabrics to see what looks best.
     
  13. Shazam!

    Shazam! Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2006
    Yeah, it is pretty hilarious that you don't understand it.

    How someone can read "wearing a replica of Christopher Reeveā€™s once impressive now dated costume" as anything other than a comment on how dated the costume looks relative to more modern costume design is actually amazing.
     
  14. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2001
    Location:
    Sac, Ca
    The material of both Cain's suit and the cape looks a lot thicker to me. It may not be the best choice of material, but it still feels a bit more sophisticated to me than the what Reeve's got on (which basically looks like the same super thin, cheap-looking material Adam West wore in the Batman series).

    Yeah no question about that. I've seen Reeve's costume in the Smithsonian, and the colors are MUCH richer than how they appeared in the movies.

    Actually, being a big fan of retro scifi, the muted colors and 40s, art deco design is what I really LIKED about the SR suit. I'm not saying it's the most ideal update of the costume ever (I wasn't crazy about the tight neck or weird boots myself), but overall I thought it fit within the somber, poetic style of Singer's movie just about perfectly.
     
  15. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2001
    Henry worried unnecessarily - if you look at about 2:28 in this video, Reeve didn't exactly "fill out the suit" when he auditioned:

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFehtWBV99o[/yt]
     
  16. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 26, 2001
    Location:
    Ireland
    ^ Not to mention that he had to dye his blond hair black with shoe polish!
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Okay, that makes sense to me. The Superman costume is iconic, and has not undergone a major, permanent design change in the comics (beyond a little tweaking of detals) for over 60 years. Adjusting the interpretation of that design is perfectly understandable. I think what bothers me most about the Routh costume is that it's too great a departure from the standard design.


    Don't get me wrong, I love Art Deco. I just don't think this particular design works for me as a Superman costume.
     
  18. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 26, 2001
    Location:
    Ireland
    As long as they avoid that silly blue & white costume from the mid-1990s...
     
  19. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    ^ Are you referring to "Electric" Superman? LOL. I think it's a safe bet we won't be seeing that suit.
     
  20. Obiwanshinobi

    Obiwanshinobi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 1, 2003
    Location:
    ObiWanShinobi
    Oh yeah, I posted a pic of that somewhere earlier in the thread. Seeing Snyder's superhero suits in Watchmen, it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe Supes suit will be made of similar material to Night Owl or Spectre II but a little more subdued and understated.

    This is a little unrelated (more to do with Watchmen) but I wonder if this video with Watchmen's costume designer will somewhat give a little insight. Not saying Snyder will use the same costume designer though.

    http://vimeo.com/3260774