News Superman & Lois Ordered to Series at The CW

[Ovation]

Emmanuelle Chriqui cast as Lana Lang-Cushing:

https://deadline.com/2020/04/superm...-cw-series-based-on-dc-characters-1202902550/

Rao only knows when this thing will actually be able to start shooting, but it's nice to see the cast coming together for whenever that day may be.

What?!!! This is horrible. How can they ruin the show with such an outrageous casting choice. She looks nothing like the real Lana Lang. Some third-rate actress from a dumb shitshow. She'll be a disaster of EPIC proportions. That's it. I refuse to watch this garbage. Of course, what did I expect, after the "in name only" casting of so many of my favorite characters. It's like DC TV shows want to piss me off.

(c'mon--y'all know it's coming...I just thought I'd save someone the trouble).

 

[theenglish]

Because Superman is the hero of heroes--the inspiration, and yes, the most powerful. That's who he is. But, part of his appeal is that despite that, he's an exception to the rule that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He is a mortal that can handle it due to his amazing upbringing.

Sometimes he will be challenged with issues that all his power can't fix and he needs another solution. Sometimes there will be issues that only he can handle. It's not just about his power--it's about his good nature and how much he cares about truth, justice and the American way. That's Superman.

Sometimes there can be a story that is just heartwarming and heartbreaking, like For The Man Who Has Everything, which Supergirl ripped off and didn't do as well.

Maybe the Seventies Superman was that way--He hasn't been like that for 35 years.

 

[The Realist]

Maybe the Seventies Superman was that way--He hasn't been like that for 35 years.

Um ... sure he has. Aside from a few isolated attempts to fix what doesn't need fixing -- the "New 52" in the comics, Snyderman in the movies -- Superman has remained the heroic and moral exemplar he should be.

 

[Christopher]

And the "redhead genocide" of tv and film continues... (or the casting director's a Smallville fan).

Just because Chriqui is a brunette in real life doesn't mean she won't be a redhead in the show. Cf. Dina Meyer in Birds of Prey, Famke Janssen in X-Men, or KJ Apa in Riverdale.

 

[Tosk]

And the "redhead genocide" of tv and film continues... (or the casting director's a Smallville fan).

The non-redheaded Lana's easily outnumber the redheaded ones at this point. In live action, at least. She has red hair only half the time.

 

[Kirk Prime]

Maybe the Seventies Superman was that way--He hasn't been like that for 35 years.

Some modern writers have ruined the character in many ways, especially in the movies, but even recently, there was a comic book crossover with Watchmen that really put an exclamation point on the importance of Superman.

And yes, sometimes even the comics go astray, but there are examples of Superman being done right. I know this has been awhile now, but have you ever read the comic version of the Death of Superman? It wasn't just Superman and Doomsday fighting to the death, we saw Superman's inner thoughts, bravery and heroism. It put an exclamation point on why Superman is so important.

 

[Christopher]

The non-redheaded Lana's easily outnumber the redheaded ones at this point. In live action, at least. She has red hair only half the time.

In live action, we have only once had a redheaded Jimmy Olsen (Tommy Bond in the black-and-white Kirk Alyn serials) and have never had a redheaded Matt Murdock or a blond Barry Allen. For some reason, male actors are far less likely to dye their hair to match comics characters than female ones; the main exceptions I can think of are KJ Apa as Archie and Chris Evans as Captain America.

The simple fact is, red hair is significantly more common in comics than in real life, because it was easier to depict than brown hair in the days of four-color printing. So it shouldn't be surprising that the ratio of redheads in live action is lower.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Erik Valdez cast as Kyle Cushing Lana Lang’s husband -

https://deadline.com/2020/04/superm...g-husband-cw-series-dc-characters-1202903154/

 

[Christopher]

So with at least two Smallville residents being regulars, and the rumor about Clark being laid off from the Planet, is it possible this series is set in Smallville rather than Metropolis? That would be an odd choice, because the last live-action show about Clark Kent already did that.

 

[DigificWriter]

I think they may be going the same route as Smallville the TV Series and putting both the town of Smallville and the city of Metropolis in the same state and within driving (or flying) distance of one another.

 

[The Realist]

Erik Valdez cast as Kyle Cushing Lana Lang’s husband -

https://deadline.com/2020/04/superm...g-husband-cw-series-dc-characters-1202903154/

Dammit, you beat me to it.

So with at least two Smallville residents being regulars, and the rumor about Clark being laid off from the Planet, is it possible this series is set in Smallville rather than Metropolis?

From everything I've heard (including vague spoilers from people who've read the leaked pilot script), I gather that's largely the case, though DigificWriter may be right that it will share some time with Metropolis.

Indications are the show may be looking to grapple with the social and economic ills afflicting Middle America, which is a more serious topic than I would have anticipated. But Superman, with his deep roots in an idealized Norman Rockwell vision of small-town Americana, could be a very interesting lens through which to examine such a theme -- with the inevitable if-it's-done-well caveat. This (slightly spoilery) character breakdown report gives a few more hints about that, particularly regarding the state of Lana's family.

 

[JD]

In live action, we have only once had a redheaded Jimmy Olsen (Tommy Bond in the black-and-white Kirk Alyn serials) and have never had a redheaded Matt Murdock or a blond Barry Allen. For some reason, male actors are far less likely to dye their hair to match comics characters than female ones; the main exceptions I can think of are KJ Apa as Archie and Chris Evans as Captain America.

The simple fact is, red hair is significantly more common in comics than in real life, because it was easier to depict than brown hair in the days of four-color printing. So it shouldn't be surprising that the ratio of redheads in live action is lower.

I think it's probably just because people, guys especially, tend to make a bigger deal of women's hair color than they do guys.
Archie and Captain America's hair color is a pretty iconic part of their characters, so I why can see the actors who play them dyed their hair.

 

[DigificWriter]

Dammit, you beat me to it.

From everything I've heard (including vague spoilers from people who've read the leaked pilot script), I gather that's largely the case, though DigificWriter may be right that it will share some time with Metropolis.

Indications are the show may be looking to grapple with the social and economic ills afflicting Middle America, which is a more serious topic than I would have anticipated. But Superman, with his deep roots in an idealized Norman Rockwell vision of small-town Americana, could be a very interesting lens through which to examine such a theme -- with the inevitable if-it's-done-well caveat. This (slightly spoilery) character breakdown report gives a few more hints about that, particularly regarding the state of Lana's family.

The details outlined in what you linked to very much support the idea that Earth-Prime's Smallville and Metropolis are super-close in proximity to one another and that we will see both locations quite frequently throughout the series.

 

[Christopher]

I think it's probably just because people, guys especially, tend to make a bigger deal of women's hair color than they do guys.

Undoubtedly.

Although in addition to Kristin Kreuk's Lana, I'd say that the Arrowverse's Black Canaries, Laurel Lance and Dinah Drake, are exceptions, since Katie Cassidy and Juliana Harkavy both kept their brown hair (though Cassidy eventually went blonde once she became BC and later Black Siren).

Archie and Captain America's hair color is a pretty iconic part of their characters, so I why can see the actors who play them dyed their hair.

Except that Jimmy Olsen's red hair is just as iconic in the comics. And I'd say Captain America's hair color is less iconic, because his iconic image is in costume with his head covered.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I thought Evans was a natural blonde.

 

[Christopher]

I thought Evans was a natural blonde.

No, his hair is naturally light brown, as can be seen in his other roles and in behind-the-scenes photos.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

It's more than "power levels" too.

It's also HOW they get beat when they do get beat. Supergirl should not succumb to one simple punch. Too often the show depicts her as still being terribly untrained when it comes to fighting and she gets beat in the most unsatisfying ways. It's one thing if she gets beat by a stronger villain or gets outsmarted by a smarter villain, or if she engages in a longer, fairly even battle before getting beat. It's another when she gets beat because the writers purposely make her overly clumsy or overly unprepared.

The writers should be able to create drama without making their heroes look underpowered AND untrained.

..but that's the problem with low-rent writers who do not understand the source at all. One would assume that she--after years on the job, would not be so clumsy with fighting skills (which is a separate mater from raw power), but so often she is, and that's not for the purpose of drama, but a misunderstanding of who the character is.

I think the Kryptonians are already at a perfect level for the kind of stuff we are getting in the Arrowverse. They have all of their abilities, but aren't so overpowered that they have to come up with ridiculous ways to challenge them.

There's no such thing as "ridiculous ways" when the source is used, as seen in the DCAU. All of Superman's adversaries requiring the top of his power demanded it, and the audience not only accepted it, but expected it, as it is a well-known part of his history. Not using that history and knowing how to write it is just another failing of the adaptation in question.

While they have managed to pull of some relatively impressive stuff, it's still worth keeping in mind that these shows are on The CW and it doesn't really have the kind of money to put into it's budget that the movie studios or even the bigger networks like ABC, or Syfy, or HBO are going to have to put into these shows. So they are going to be rather limited with just how far they can take the characters' powers.

Then it begs the question: if you cannot use the characters as they had been in the comics for generations, what was the point of adapting them in the first place, when Kryptonian's overwhelming power is as much a hallmark of those characters as Batman's detective skills. In other words necessary and inseparable.

 

[DEWLine]

That breakdown of the premise re: who's where now...looks interesting.

 

[Ovation]

Are they going to use the Kent farm from Elseworlds?

 

[The Realist]

Are they going to use the Kent farm from Elseworlds?

I've wondered the same thing. Since apparently the pilot setup involves

Spoiler

Martha's funeral,

it certainly seems possible they would, maybe with Clark and Lois's family

Spoiler

moving in.

It would be even cooler if they duplicated the interior set of the house from Smallville.