# When the hell are they going to have a decent Superman movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815 "2010-06-19T22:38:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/21 "2010-06-21T14:23:53Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I haven’t seen that movie in forever. Is it really worth a re-watch, or are you just funnin’ me. I hadn’t seen it in forever either. It was however on TNT, AMC, TBS or something like that this weekend where I caught some of it. It was actually pretty awful. As good as the story may have been the f/x are verrry dated and the acting verrry cheesey. Watching Zod and his minions tear up the white house filled with styrofoam columns, really bad green screen flying f/x, etc. IMHO it has aged really badly. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/22 "2010-06-21T14:37:13Z")
> [@](#): > > They already did. Greatest movie ever. Actually, the re-constructed Richard Donner version of **Superman II** , released a couple of years ago on DVD, is pretty darned good. Certainly better than the original studio-released movie. > **[Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_II:_The_Richard_Donner_Cut)** > > Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (titled onscreen as simply Superman II) is a 2006 re-edited director's cut of the 1980 superhero film Superman II. It is a sequel to Richard Donner's 1978 film Superman: The Movie, based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name, and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, and Marlon Brando. This alternate cut was edited by Michael Thau and was overseen and completed by Donner himself. It features a significant amount of discarded footage, alternative takes,... ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/23 "2010-06-21T15:01:48Z")
Psh. More importantly, where is my \*\*Wonder Woman \*\*movie? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/24 "2010-06-21T16:23:09Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Psh. More importantly, where is my \*\*Wonder Woman \*\*movie? Well, as they’ll never, ever be able to cast the role as [iconically (not to mention arousingly) as they did before](http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/20050611/wonder_woman.jpg)… really, why bother? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/25 "2010-06-21T16:33:13Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > Well, as they’ll never, ever be able to cast the role as [iconically (not to mention arousingly) as they did before](http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/20050611/wonder_woman.jpg)… really, why bother? Bullshit. Rose McGowan would be iconic and arousing and she kicks ass. She would be PERFECT for the role. Someone get her agent on the phone! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/26 "2010-06-21T16:41:09Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Bullshit. Rose McGowan would be iconic and arousing and she kicks ass. She would be PERFECT for the role. > > Someone get her agent on the phone! 😉 I like Ms. McGowan, don’t get me wrong. But she’s a little off in the face if you ask me, especially when compared to Lynda Carter in her prime. Also, she’d have to tan herself a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/27 "2010-06-21T16:53:59Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > Well, as they’ll never, ever be able to cast the role as [iconically (not to mention arousingly) as they did before](http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/20050611/wonder_woman.jpg)… really, why bother? Linky no worky. I could go for a pre-WW2 dialed-back retro-Superman. Get the guy who did art direction for the Peter Jackson _King Kong_ remake, and that could be one cool movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/28 "2010-06-21T17:13:36Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Linky no worky I got it to work by taking the link and capitalizing it thus: [http://www.DiggersRealm.com/mt/archives/20050611/wonder\_woman.jpg](http://www.DiggersRealm.com/mt/archives/20050611/wonder_woman.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/29 "2010-06-21T17:14:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Linky no worky. Sorry 'bout that. But it works fine for me. Too bad, really. It’s a _niiiiiice_ pic of Lynda Carter’s… assets as Wonder Woman, and let me tell you, they are **Super** (you know, to stay on topic [sort of]). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/30 "2010-06-21T17:17:17Z")
Seeing as \*\*King Kong \*\*and especially \*\*Sky Captain \*\*were major flops, there’s no way anyone will go the retro route. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/31 "2010-06-21T17:19:44Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think it could be revitalized if it really went back and rebooted it from the true source material – the original 1930’s comic books – _set_ it in the 30’s – and dialed back Supe’s powers to what they originally were before they became inflated into Godlike omnipotence. He’s really strong, but not planet-juggling strong. he’s fast, but not FTL fast. He can jump really high, but not literally fly. > > I think reducing his powers might sound counter-intuitive, but in my opinion, it would really open the character up, humanize him more, make him more relatable and vulnerable and would be a take nobody’s done yet. It also can’t be argued that it’s not canon because it’s _pure_ canon. I also think it would give the best opportunity to be able to “Nolanize” the material, and set it in some kind of at least minimally imaginable reality if instead of unlimited, god powers, Supe was basically just freakishly athletic in comparison to normal earthlings, but not unlimited or absurd in that regard. It still probably wouldn’t be strictly _realistic_, but it could at least be contained within pseudo-science explanations. > > I think setting it in the 30’s would enhance it a lot too, since it would allow Clark and Lois to interact in a 1930’s, screwball, newspaper movie comedy style that, once again, would be _canon_. > > My suggestion for casting would be Joseph Gorden-Levitt as Clark/Supes, and maybe somebody like Zoey Deschanel as Lois Lane (the single worst thing about the last movie was that department store mannequin they had playing LL). > > And Jonah Hill as Jimmy Olsen. They should just do a movie version of the [Gladiator by Philip Wylie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator_(novel)) which is rumored to be where the Superman charecter came from. It’s dark and tragic rather than world saving super villians over done. They could even use the Superman angle in promotion ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/32 "2010-06-21T17:24:21Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > My suggestion for casting would be Joseph Gorden-Levitt as Clark/Supes, and maybe somebody like Zoey Deschanel as Lois Lane (the single worst thing about the last movie was that department store mannequin they had playing LL). > > And Jonah Hill as Jimmy Olsen. And [J.K. Simmons](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0799777/) as Perry White. Just because it would be really funny for Simmons to have both J. Jonah Jameson _and_ Perry White on his acting resume. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/33 "2010-06-21T17:29:43Z")
> [@](#): > > They should just do a movie version of the Gladiator by Philip Wylie which is rumored to be where the Superman charecter came from. It’s dark and tragic rather than world saving super villians over done. They could even use the Superman angle in promotion Bad news: They already did this, and it was a disaster. It ended up as a comedy starring Joe E. Brown, before _Superman_ was in print: > **[The Gladiator (1938) ⭐ 6.0 | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030186/)** > > 1h 12m | Approved I suppose it could be done better, but the Superman character was already pretty removed from Wylie’s character. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/34 "2010-06-21T17:34:37Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I got it to work by taking the link and capitalizing it thus: [http://www.DiggersRealm.com/mt/archives/20050611/wonder\_woman.jpg](http://www.DiggersRealm.com/mt/archives/20050611/wonder_woman.jpg) ETA: only works if pasted into the address bar of an open window. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/35 "2010-06-21T17:37:43Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I think a pre-WW2 setting Superman would have to be set in an alternate past where all the chiches’ of pulp comics were real, ala Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow. Almost forgotten today is that originally Superman was supposed to be a specimen of a more evolved/eugenically improved human from a planet thousands of years more advanced than us. Superman was supposed to be a _futuristic_ hero, by circa 1940 futurism. So the Man of Tomorrow would be battling mad scientists with death rays, lab grown monsters of roughly Frankenstein tech level, and art-deco robots. I think this is a really good idea. It should be in the format of a 1950s disaster / monster movie. Those were rather good regarding characters and suspense, and didn’t focus anywhere near as much on special effects. We should have a villain with test tubes, and Dr Horrible style glasses. And maybe nerf Superman a little, similar to what Diogenes suggests. It should be a straight monster / disaster movie, not a lot of babble about how Superman chooses to focus. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/36 "2010-06-21T17:51:41Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I think this is a really good idea. It should be in the format of a 1950s disaster / monster movie. Those were rather good regarding characters and suspense, and didn’t focus anywhere near as much on special effects. We should have a villain with test tubes, and Dr Horrible style glasses. . That sounds hilarious. But are you sure the world is ready for a Superman comedy? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/37 "2010-06-21T17:53:08Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > I like Ms. McGowan, don’t get me wrong. But she’s a little off in the face if you ask me, especially when compared to Lynda Carter in her prime. > > Also, she’d have to tan herself a bit. I couldn’t disagree more, but I do lurve me some Rose McGowan. Mostly because she rescues Boston terriers, so we have two things in common. We’re both hot. And we both love Bostons. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/38 "2010-06-21T18:34:40Z")
Maybe there hasn’t been a decent movie because while all superheroes are absurd to some degree - Superman with his powers, that silly cape and that "“S” , is more absurd than others. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/39 "2010-06-21T18:42:29Z")
> [@Rrose\_Selavy](#): > > Maybe there hasn’t been a decent movie because while all superheroes are absurd to some degree - Superman with his powers, that silly cape and that "“S” , is more absurd than others. There’s a lot to be said for this. His costume is really hard to take seriously and make contemporary. They succeeded somewhat in Dark Knight, Spiderman, and X-men by updating the suits, muting their colors, and giving them more of a body armor purpose but what do you do for Superman? Bright blue and red? Red boots? And as you said the silly cape and big “S”. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815/40 "2010-06-21T19:50:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > ETA: only works if pasted into the address bar of an open window. Right you are - thanks. Incidentally, I took a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield a few years ago from a licensed guide. He’s led some bigshots on tours before in his 20+ years on the job, including Dick Cheney twice. I asked him which celebrity knew the most about the Civil War, and without hesitation he said Lynda Carter! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-hell-are-they-going-to-have-a-decent-superman-movie/543815.md?page=3)