Note: PLEASE refrain from commenting on subjects not related to the following OP. If you think that Superman Returns was underrated, or that Singer shouldn't be allowed near the franchise again, terrific - there are dozens of other Supes-related threads in which to discuss such matters. Don't get me wrong; if you'd like to bring up a Supes film or TV show to contend with or otherwise engage the following main argument, that's terrific, but I'd rather see a narrower and smaller thread picking apart the argument than create yet another sprawling future-of-Supes thread, complete with box-office analyses and discussions over WB's access to the rights, etc.
It was argued on an IGN Movies podcast last December, I think, that one of the reasons the character of Superman doesn't seem to be in massive popular demand is that he doesn't have a core problem/vulnerability people can really relate to. The X-Men are outsiders, Batman has major grief and other issues, Spider-Man's just a regular dorky teen outside without his mask and even Iron Man has a very topical problem in that he helped arm most of his emerging enemies. So what's Superman's "problem"? For better or worse, Superman Returns painted him as an outsider and a nerd, though that was more of a plot circumstance than a permanent state, and the nerd side was at least partly an act - and who in the real world acts at being nerd-like, much less relate to that?
My personal take is that Smallville, at least in its early years, found a rather elegant solution to this problem, and also that of the difficulty of finding enemies strong enough to confront Kal-El, in establishing that his arrival on Earth was both a gift and (groan, this cliche again) a curse. Having Kryptonite create monsters was overused, but a brilliant core idea. I don't think it's any accident that Zod and his crew made for the most effective Supes movie villains yet.
I think that future Supes movies should continue this theme, but on a larger scale. Along with the meteors, perhaps a few random pieces of Kryptonian technology found their way to Earth, and baddies could use that technology to build lasers, big friggin robots, etc. Terrorists with Transformers-sized Kryptonite-powered robots? That'd give Superman something to punch and a thematic/emotional nemesis at the same time. And while angst shouldn't of course be overdone, the destruction that tech would wreak could give him something to agonize over. Heck, it could even be an effective way to refurbish the rather drab (in the movies, at least) enmity of Lex Luthor, in that only a brilliant mind could decode the alien technology and put it to use. In a sense, Superman Returns did do this, but it only made the thinnest hint at continuing Smallville's "Kryptonian stuff can be a dangerous problem" theme.
Make Kryptonian tech the central villainous MacGuffin, IMO, and you not only get relatively credible Supes enemies but also a cautionary tale about spreading weaponry, a subject very much in vogue in this age of fears over rogue nukes and other arms-related problems.
It was argued on an IGN Movies podcast last December, I think, that one of the reasons the character of Superman doesn't seem to be in massive popular demand is that he doesn't have a core problem/vulnerability people can really relate to. The X-Men are outsiders, Batman has major grief and other issues, Spider-Man's just a regular dorky teen outside without his mask and even Iron Man has a very topical problem in that he helped arm most of his emerging enemies. So what's Superman's "problem"? For better or worse, Superman Returns painted him as an outsider and a nerd, though that was more of a plot circumstance than a permanent state, and the nerd side was at least partly an act - and who in the real world acts at being nerd-like, much less relate to that?
My personal take is that Smallville, at least in its early years, found a rather elegant solution to this problem, and also that of the difficulty of finding enemies strong enough to confront Kal-El, in establishing that his arrival on Earth was both a gift and (groan, this cliche again) a curse. Having Kryptonite create monsters was overused, but a brilliant core idea. I don't think it's any accident that Zod and his crew made for the most effective Supes movie villains yet.
I think that future Supes movies should continue this theme, but on a larger scale. Along with the meteors, perhaps a few random pieces of Kryptonian technology found their way to Earth, and baddies could use that technology to build lasers, big friggin robots, etc. Terrorists with Transformers-sized Kryptonite-powered robots? That'd give Superman something to punch and a thematic/emotional nemesis at the same time. And while angst shouldn't of course be overdone, the destruction that tech would wreak could give him something to agonize over. Heck, it could even be an effective way to refurbish the rather drab (in the movies, at least) enmity of Lex Luthor, in that only a brilliant mind could decode the alien technology and put it to use. In a sense, Superman Returns did do this, but it only made the thinnest hint at continuing Smallville's "Kryptonian stuff can be a dangerous problem" theme.
Make Kryptonian tech the central villainous MacGuffin, IMO, and you not only get relatively credible Supes enemies but also a cautionary tale about spreading weaponry, a subject very much in vogue in this age of fears over rogue nukes and other arms-related problems.
