I met Stephan Bender!

Hey everyone. I have been registered here for a while, but have been mostly lurking for a long time. I was compelled to write when I had the chance to meet Stephan Bender at the 28th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. It was a lot of fun, not only did I met Stephan, but also Michael Rosenbaum, Noel Neil (first Lois Lane), and Marv Wolfman (Superman novelization author and developer of Blade, Bullseye and Daredevil) .

I got autographs of all four people on a Superman t-shirt and on the box of a series 1 Jusitce League Superman figure. Took waiting in line for 3 hours, but I am a freak (or geek), so I stuck it out.

Anyway, I was one of the last people in line to meet with Stephan, he was the most friendly and outgoing of all the celebs there. You could tell he was new to the business, he seemed a little nervous meeting with everyone, but I was impressed that he actually took the time to shake hands, take pictures, and chat a little with everyone. I asked him if he has seen a cut of the movie yet and he said no, only his parts. One of his people with him jokingly said "only the best parts, right?". He took a few photos with me and my fiancee and I told him to have fun at the premiere. He said thank you and said that he hoped we would enjoy the movie.

Later in the evening they had Q&A with the actors, unfortunately most of them were directed to Michael Rosenbaum about Smallville. For any fans of the show, they asked if he thought we would see Tom in the suit in the last episode. Michael said he thought there was a good chance, but he wasn't sure because he doesn't even know where the show will go. He just said he thought it would be a nice ending to see him in the full suit flying away. He also joked how they said Tom would never fly, then he does, but then it really wasn't him. He mentioned they are toying with the idea, and it will be fun to see where it goes.

Also, someone asked Marv how long it took to write the Returns novel and he said they sent him a script and he read it over and wrote the book in 2 months. After which he sent them what he had and they changed some parts later to fit with script changes.

Someone asked who everyone thought was their favorite Superman. Noel said that she like George Reeves the best (obvious reasons), Stephan agreed and said he like him as one of his favorites because he was one of the first and he liked the way he portrayed the character. Marv replied that he couldn't pick one because he loves different things about each portrayal. Michael said that Christopher was his favorite not only because of the way he portrayed the character, but that he also knew him personally and he was a real Superman in many other ways. When Michael said Chris was his favorite, the crowd went nuts with thunderous applause.

A funny side note, someone asked Michael if he thought Kevin Spacey would be a better lex. Michael laughed and said that Kevin is a great person and a great actor and he felt he will do a fantastic job in the role. He then asked everyone else on the panel what they thought and Marv said he pleaded the fifth.




This is Michael Rosenbaum. Hard to recognize with the hair and goatee!


This is Stephan Bender, me, and my fiancee.


Here is Noel Neil. (if you look close, you can see she is touching my hand )


This is during the Q&A. Stephan, Marv, Noel, and Michael.


My fiancee in front of Michael. She thinks he is a hottie.


An extreme close up of Stephan signing my Supes figure.

Here are a couple of the things I got signed...



This was signed by Michael, Stephan, and Noel.


This was signed by Marv, Stephan, and Michael


This was signed by Michael, Stephan, and Noel.

[DvilDog]

That is excellent dude i am green with envy. I like MR as LEX he is my Favorite.

[Robin91939]

Good deal.

-R

[user123456789]

Awesome.

[C. Lee]

I was there too (hot wasn't it)....I'll have some pics up tomorrow on the other thread - http://superherohype.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229689

Was this your first time there? This was my 8th one.

It was my first time there. Hot doesn't even begin to describe it. Check out my face, I got super burnt. Haha, oh well, it was worth it. Who all have been the guests in previous years?

[C. Lee]

Originally Posted by Pronex

It was my first time there. Hot doesn't even begin to describe it. Check out my face, I got super burnt. Haha, oh well, it was worth it. Who all have been the guests in previous years?

Here are some of the ones who have been there since I started going:

Margot Kidder
Valerie Perrine
Sara Douglas
Jack O'Haloran
Jeff East
Noel Neill
Gerard Christopher
Lane Smith
Marc McClure
Alex Ross
Adam West
Julie Newmar
Lou Ferigno
Yvonne Craig
John Schneider

[Strange]