This is necessary to his personality, because without this, he'd probably be inclined to just take over the world.
Hmm. Link worked when I previewed it. Doesn't work for me now either. Ok, I'll post the quotations here (found another of her posts just a bit earlier than the one I linked to) but for the benefit of plynch (if truly wants to be unspoiled), I'll put it in spoiler code. Spoiler: Interpretation of Man of Steel with which I agree (with minor quibbles) . and from Lapis Exilis on p 7 and 8 of the Man of Steel Grading and Discussion Thread (having trouble with the quotation function as well, it seems). My bolding of the parts I find most compelling in her observations. As ever, YMMV.
I don't think I've seen any onscreen (live action, at any rate) Superman where he did not believe in defending the weak, etc. Nor do it think he has to be a "man out of time", like Captain America, to make it work. Just that it's easier to do.
Maybe I'll watch Man of Steel and try not to think of it as a Superman movie, more like an alien movie all its own.
In some ways, it plays like that. It's better as a grand-scale first contact sci-fi disaster epic than it is as a Superman film.
Not sure I would rank it that high but it is in my top 10. My top 10 comic books movies ever are 1 The Dark Knight 2 Avengers 4 Logan 5 Deadpool 6 Superman-The Movie 7Guardians of the Galaxy part 2 8 Captain America Winter Solder 9 Infinity Wars 10 Endgame. heck might as well go top 20 11 Captain America:First Avenger 12 Spiderman Homecoming 13 Wonder Woman 14 Batman 89 15 Guardians of the Galaxy 16 Batman Begins 17 Iron Man 18 Super 19 Deadpool 2 20 First Spiderman movie. Should note I haven't seen "Joker" yet. Jason
Joker was terrific. Not a superhero film, as you probably know. Super sad, which I knew it would be, based on the trailer and how people treat the different, plus there's a whole nother layer/level that I quasi-spoilered but deleted just now. Highly recommended, just as a film.
You're right, Ovation, those are solid, smart posts. I can agree with many of the perspectives even if I don't agree with the conclusions. Thanks for reposting.
Modern comics such as "Earth One" have already been giving us a more dour, angsty Superman for years. Casual cinemagoers whose idea of Superman was defined by the 1978 movie simply aren't used to it because they haven't closely kept up with the comics, so to them the Snyder/Cavill portrayal seems to come out of left field. Kor
I don't think it's out of left field for me. I simply don't want to see an emo Superman. I didn't want to see it when they wanted Nick Cage to play him. I didn't want to see it in Superman Returns, and I didn't want to see it in Man of Steel.
That approach doesn't much work in the comics either, which is why the "New 52" Superman was scuttled in favor of the welcome return of the post-Crisis version in the mainstream continuity. I actually rather liked the Superman: Earth One books (in some ways, they're like a better version of Snyderman), but they're three slim out-of-continuity volumes that don't really represent any kind of trend. Current comics Superman remains much closer to Donner/Reeve in tone and spirit than he does to Snyder/Cavill.
When I saw the thread title the Christopher Reeve Superman is what came into my head. So I guess that answers for me the "who do you immediately think of?"
Last year I saw a "Superman" edition of those overpriced one-shot commemorative magazines you always see in grocery stores. Who do you think was front-and-center on the cover of this publication, designed as an impulse buy for casual shoppers? Reeve still embodies Superman in the mind of the general public these 40+ years later.
It was why I didn't like angsty-developing Kirk in the JJ movies. Kirk was the mythic hero in TOS. Good guy in the center seat. People don't value the resonance of the mythic archetypes. Superman (or Supergirl on TV, who seems to be doing pretty well as hero-ideal. Primary colors. So corny in 2020, I know, but also eternal. There's room for the brooding, convoluted chaotic-good, too, of course. His name is Batman. But the Apollonian, positive hero has eternal, significant resonance. Probably why, when they want to push magazines to a general audience, they put Reeves' version on the front.
Never got that from Kirk in TOS, maybe in the movies but not on TV. Kirk was a guy who worried and had stress. He sweated out tough situations and occasionally made the wrong call. He wasn't afraid to admit it either. Not really a guy striding the world like colossus.
Just like his notorious womanizing and sleeping with every female humanoid that wandered into his field of vision. The Kelvin Timeline movies ran with that version of Kirk even though it wasn't really who the Prime Kirk was.