Man of Steel: A Nerdseye (pre)View

I've been in love with comic books for nearly 25 years but I've never been an avid Superman reader. In fact, my favourite storyline featuring that last son of Krypton is still the groundbreaking "Death of Superman" epic from way back in 1992 and I've bought relatively few Superman books in the two decades since its publication. On the other hand, I loved Richard Donner's 1978 movie as a kid (still do, in fact) and I cannot help but have a genuine fondness and respect for the only comic book superhero to have stayed in continuous publication for almost 75 years. So when I heard that a new movie was in the works, with 300/Watchmen director Zack Snyder at the helm, I did get a little excited. But having just read the "exclusive" Man of Steel preview in this month's Empire magazine that excitement has begun turning to apprehension because, according to Empire, Superman is about to get "the Dark Knight treatment". And I for one cannot see how that is a good thing.

 

Contrary to popular opinion Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy was not all that. The final chapter in particular was a dull, convoluted and hugely pretentious mess of epic proportions and trying to understand its critical acclaim is like trying to figure out how the hell Lil Wayne became the recipient of four Grammy awards. By far the most infuriating aspect of the Dark Knight Rises is its overemphasis on supposed "gritty realism" and its seeming embarrassment at its own status as a comic book movie. Hell, Batman—actually as Batman and not Bruce Wayne—only appears in about 25 minutes of his own damn film. And as for Selina Kyle, well you just better not get all silly and start calling her "Catwoman" because, dammit, this is serious stuff.

 

Unfortunately, it sounds as if Kal-El is set to follow in Bruce Wayne's footsteps and what we'll be getting is being called a "new take" on the classic character. According to writer David S. Goyer, "We're approaching Superman as if it weren't a comic book movie, as if it were real". Because that's the best way to treat your source material, right? As if it doesn't work. As I see it, this is why Marvel's movies are ultimately superior to those based on DC characters. With Marvel, they don't shy away from the original comics. They take their superheroes and put them right there on the screen pretty much as they were always intended to be—tonally anyway. With DC, it's always gotta be "cooler, darker, and more realistic". As a result we have stuff like Nolan's Batman trilogy and the recent Arrow TV show in which the characters only vaguely resemble their comic book counterparts, have questionable morals, and do virtually nothing super heroic.

 

For three quarters of a century, Superman has been popular enough to appear in cartoons, TV shows, movies, radio dramas, books, computer games and thousands of comics (not to mention the toys, posters, lunchboxes, and millions of other collectibles adorned with that familiar red S) and yet according to the makers of Man of Steel the Superman known and loved by many, the one who stood for truth, Justice and the American way, just can't cut it on the big screen anymore. Henry Cavill, the new guy in the tights, explains that "Past representations of the character have been quite light...this is a more realistic view on the character". So what does this "more realistic" Superman story entail? According to Snyder, whom Empire writes had "never really taken Superman seriously", it's a story about "first contact...He's an alien. You can easily imagine a scenario in which we'd be doing a film like E.T., as opposed to him running around in tights. If the world found out he existed, it would be the biggest thing that ever happened in human history." Admittedly this sounds like an intriguing concept but the question remains, is it really a Superman story? Indeed, do you really need Superman to tell it? I guess if you wanna cash in on the well-deserved popularity of a classic character you've "never really taken seriously" then you do.

I'm still looking forward to Man of Steel but it looks as if I'll be going to watch it with a more critical eye than I would have liked. I already know that I don't like the new, darker (more realistic?) costume and I can't help thinking that Walt Flannagan is right that you have to have the spit curl or it ain't Superman. I'll do my best to keep an open mind but I think they're really gonna have to knock one out of the park to get me on board.