Henry Cavill IS Superman: - Part 8

[Dr.]

No! I refuse to accept [no glasses] yet. He didn't have glasses on when riding a bike around Metropolis, and he didn't have glasses on when he was coming out of a building in Smallville, or when he was younger and wearing that Kansas Uni t-shirt... But that doesn't mean he doesn't have them at all!

I mean, it just doesn't make sense.

If he's riding around in Metropolis in a shirt and tie, we can assume that they aren't just doing away with the duel persona and having him be Superman all the time or something stupid like that.

I guess we're just supposed to believe that he dons the glasses after becoming Superman, and in that scene he doesn't need a disguise yet

Unless the suit has some sort of magic power to make no one recognise he is Clark... Oh God...

Months back, I saw Snyder being interviewed on Carson Daly. He pretty much ridiculed the glasses-as-disguise convention. This led me to think that, perhaps, he had some novel (and more plausible) idea. Though, short of altering Cavill’s face with cg tricks, I can’t imagine what that would be.

Well, maybe Snyder has since changed his mind. (Maybe he decided that the alternatives to the glasses were even worse.) But it’s hard to square his initial ridicule towards the traditional disguise with a complete 180: no disguise at all. Unless something “radical” is being planned, I expect to see the glasses.

 

[Prime]

Months back, I saw Snyder being interviewed on Carson Daly. He pretty much ridiculed the glasses-as-disguise convention.

Dude, now Im getting paranoid and scared too! How can he ridicule something that's as much a part of the character as his ability to fly or his costume? I can't believe it! I won't believe it until I see it! Show me proof!

 

[Prime]

http://www.nbc.com/last-call-with-carson-daly/video/zack-snyder/1317019 ... oh dear, it's true. He talks about MOS towards the end and as part of making him ´´relevant`` and making you (the viewer) care about him, he mocks the glasses, as if ´´like really, he has his glasses on and you can't regonize him?``. Right...

 

[Mindreaper21]

I always figured the glasses was a poor disguise. Superman is an alien and that can work in so many ways. I suggested that he should be able to change his eye color to brown and maybe make some other alteration to avoid suspicion.

 

[SpideyFan866]

My theory is that they are going the Smallville route and

1) Having Lois know from the bat the Clark is Supes (or he'll do the Superman 2 mind wipe)

2) He won't get his glasses, scruffy hair, and goofy demeanor until the end of the movie.

3) He will be walking around mostly without his glasses.

 

[Prime]

I always figured the glasses was a poor disguise. Superman is an alien and that can work in so many ways. I suggested that he should be able to change his eye color to brown and maybe make some other alteration to avoid suspicion.

Yeah but it's just one of those things where you have to use your suspension of disbelief. If we start dissecting comic book based/superhero movies, we'll find something just as ´´ridiculous`` as the glasses disguise. Even, for example, the Nolan Bat flicks have elements in them which just can't happen in the ´´real`` word. The glasses disguise is an essential part of the character and I don't know if I could accept that kind of a change.

Besides, a big reason why the glasses disguise seems so silly to us is because we're in on it. The viewer/reader knows the whole story already. But the disguise is much more than glasses. It's how he handles himself, his mannerisms (and no, not to the point of being a goofy idiot like the Donner CK) etc. How many people would suspect that mild mannered kid from Smallville is Superman? Why would Superman even have a day job when he's basically a god compared to us humans? Nobody in a million years would believe that (nobody but Lois...). Maybe Snyder doesn't understand this. Maybe im just misinterpreting what he meant. But I don't like where this is heading.

 

[Prime]

2) He won't get his glasses, scruffy hair, and goofy demeanor until the end of the movie.

This is very possible. But it's also very possible that the studio/Nolan/Snyder think that the glasses (and trunks) are (part of) the problem why Superman supposedly ´´doesn't work`` for today's audiences. And they are very wrong if they do. I can live with the trunk removal. Not with the other thing. It's a deal braker.

 

[Dr.]

Besides, a big reason why the glasses disguise seems so silly to us is because we're in on it. The viewer/reader knows the whole story already. But the disguise is much more than glasses. It's how he handles himself, his mannerisms (and no, not to the point of being a goofy idiot like the Donner CK) etc. How many people would suspect that mild mannered kid from Smallville is Superman? Why would Superman even have a day job when he's basically a god compared to us humans?

The glasses-as-disguise is what it is. People either accept it (with a wink and smile) or they don’t. But the best way to make it “work” (imo) is to represent it as if it were entirely effective and plausible. That is - no character questions it; no one has nagging suspicions about “uncanny resemblances,” etc.

The alternative (often resorted to in the comics) is to draw explicit attention to the disguise with (for example) one of Lois’s wacky schemes to expose Supes/Clark. According to TVTropes, this is called “lampshade hanging.” As a preemptive move, you acknowledge the conceit to the audience in a breaking-the-fourth-wall kind of way. It signifies: “before you can make fun of us, we’re going to make fun of ourselves - because we know this is stupid.” Except that… this technique is almost always reserved for comedy and farce. And I don’t think Superman is supposed to be farcical.

 

[Octoberist]

The 'glasses' disguises is inherently silly, but it's inherently Superman so you can't change it too much. Either you roll with it or you don't.

Also, Clark wants to work because it keeps him grounded; it keeps him human and humble since he has to earn a living to stay in his apartment of his. Why would he sulk and fight crime 24/7. He has the powers of God, but he's not an omnipresent deity. He has the mind of a Kansas country boy.

 

[Micromind]

Most people expect Clark to use glasses as a disguise even though it will never be effective in a real world, the other options available are even more silly, such as fake beard, wig, optical illusion etc.

It is best to go with glasses route.

 

[KRIM]

Dude, now Im getting paranoid and scared too! How can he ridicule something that's as much a part of the character as his ability to fly or his costume? I can't believe it! I won't believe it until I see it! Show me proof!

Nothing wrong with being objective and calling it like it is. The disguise is widely mocked in fanboy circles, so even we know it is pretty stupid.

Doesn't mean he'll omit it though. I'm sure Nolan found many things in the Batman lore to be stupid as well. But he treated it as if it were genuine, which helped sell the concept to the audience.

 

[Micromind]

It will be interesting to see how disguise without glasses will look convincing on screen.

 

[Mindreaper21]

Yeah but it's just one of those things where you have to use your suspension of disbelief. If we start dissecting comic book based/superhero movies, we'll find something just as ´´ridiculous`` as the glasses disguise. Even, for example, the Nolan Bat flicks have elements in them which just can't happen in the ´´real`` word. The glasses disguise is an essential part of the character and I don't know if I could accept that kind of a change.

Besides, a big reason why the glasses disguise seems so silly to us is because we're in on it. The viewer/reader knows the whole story already. But the disguise is much more than glasses. It's how he handles himself, his mannerisms (and no, not to the point of being a goofy idiot like the Donner CK) etc. How many people would suspect that mild mannered kid from Smallville is Superman? Why would Superman even have a day job when he's basically a god compared to us humans? Nobody in a million years would believe that (nobody but Lois...). Maybe Snyder doesn't understand this. Maybe im just misinterpreting what he meant. But I don't like where this is heading.

I understand your point of view. Yet even though the glasses are a major part of Superman's history, they are unnecessary in my opinion. If you think about it, Superman's face is always on the news and he works for the news. If he's going to have a diguise it had better be more than just glasses and acting skills because its not hard for someone to place pictures of Clark and Superman side by side and notice the huge similarities. I'm not sure how the disguise is going to work out, but I'm pretty sure there will be a good explanation for whatever it is.

Not having glasses doesn't bother me much. What matters to me is that there is a good explanation of how this character is written compared to what we already know. It's not about changing things just to make the character seem cool, but changing things to according to the story. A big mistake would be to force things into place all because it's a part of Superman's history.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

The glasses are more than just about hiding his eyes and changing the shape of his face.

It's also about the CK persona. He's supposed to be trying look a little bit geeky, a little bit like a shy, nice guy that people don't really look twice at in the street. He wants to blend in.

You take all that away, your changing so much of what made him popular with audiences for so long.

That geek aspect, just like Spiderman's geek aspect, is one of the things that the audience connects too. The way people treat Clark sometimes, disregarding him or even laughing at him (like in the beginning of Birthright), is immediately relatable to an audience of probably similarly bullied people.

It symbolises the frustrations of people who feel like they are MORE than what people see (the man behind the glasses), and they wish they could show people their strength, but they are afraid too. They hide their true self. They pretend to be ordinary when in fact if you got to know them, you'd see they were extraordinary.

That works whether your just talking about people in general, or wishing a romantic partner would see 'who you really are, the man behind the glasses'.

That's a great message.

I know it helped me a lot as a kid growing up with people looking down on me because I didn't have the money for cool clothes and my mum cut my hair all frumpy and I was awkward at sports. But I knew, from Superman, that it's what's on the inside that matters. That who you are and what you can achieve has nothing to do with what you're wearing or how people treat you.

You can't just remove all of that. It would be such a waste. It'd be taking away one of the very human aspects of the character.

 

[elgaz]

I think the way the audience see the disguise, and the way it's meant to come across on film (within the confines of the storyline and the characters involved) are 2 very different things.

We know it's a movie. We know it's Henry Cavill / Christopher Reeve / Brandon Routh / whoever playing both Clark Kent and Superman. We know they put on a pair of glasses, change their posture and hair, and that's the disguise in place. And it seems laughable. It's near impossible for us to find it believable given our knowledge of the story and characters.

Within the confines of the film though, there's many other facets. You have to assess his disguise as if you're a character in the movie who doesn't know anything of any Clark Kent or Kal-El ......................... only Superman.

Superman doesn't wear a mask like Batman, and with his vast powers and globe-spanning abilities, it may simply not occur to the majority of the populace that Superman may have any disguise at all, or any need for one. They don't know about his upbringing, or what's going on his head ...................... thus, why would he want to dress and behave like a human?

Then there's the glasses. In one of the comics, I remember reading about Clark's glasses doing much more to his appearance than just looking like an average pair of spectacles. They make his eyes look bigger, they mute the bright blue colour of his eyes (which I think Martha Kent described as "unlike any eyes on Earth"), and they also alter the overall shape of his face.

We also have to consider his suit. Within the story, virtually everyone on Earth has only one image of Superman : the blue suit, the S on the chest, the red cape. They never see him in any other clothing. If they did happen to spot him walking down the street in a business suit with a waistcoat and hat on, chances are the vast majority simply wouldn't click - and they wouldn't see the wood for the trees.

The posture is an important one also. Superman's a big guy, and has always been portrayed as such in any media he's in : he stands tall, proud, noble, and looks like a tank. But Christopher Reeve showed how a change in posture (lower the shoulders, hunch a bit, drop his head, shuffle more when walking) can completely alter his appearance and also make him look much smaller and more clumsy/fragile.

And finally, there's believability. I believe it was Charlie Chaplin who entered his own lookalike contest, but failed to make it to the last round. When presented with someone famous in very different clothing, with an altered appearance, just acting normally and not surrounded by minders etc, a lot of people will simply suspect it's an ordinary person who happens to resemble the celebrity. It's often hard to believe the celebrity is actually in your midst given that they often look different in real life to how we perceive them from seeing them on TV screens or photoshoots. The fact that Superman is not just a celebrity, but a being who's totally unique and at the far end of the physical spectrum from an average human, would compound that effect.

So for the reasons above, I've always found that the glasses disguise (coupled with clothing and posture) is actually much more effective than it really sounds.

 

[Micromind]

The posture is an important one also. Superman's a big guy, and has always been portrayed as such in any media he's in : he stands tall, proud, noble, and looks like a tank. But Christopher Reeve showed how a change in posture (lower the shoulders, hunch a bit, drop his head, shuffle more when walking) can completely alter his appearance and also make him look much smaller and more clumsy/fragile.

And finally, there's believability. I believe it was Charlie Chaplin who entered his own lookalike contest, but failed to make it to the last round. When presented with someone famous in very different clothing, with an altered appearance, just acting normally and not surrounded by minders etc, a lot of people will simply suspect it's an ordinary person who happens to resemble the celebrity. It's often hard to believe the celebrity is actually in your midst given that they often look different in real life to how we perceive them from seeing them on TV screens or photoshoots. The fact that Superman is not just a celebrity, but a being who's totally unique and at the far end of the physical spectrum from an average human, would compound that effect.

So for the reasons above, I've always found that the glasses disguise (coupled with clothing and posture) is actually much more effective than it really sounds.

Good example. Chaplin was not considered as a good look alike of himself as others were looking more like him !

This shows that people would simply dismiss the resemblance between Superman and Clark Kent as it were not a big deal.

Why would a Super being who is invulnerable wear Glasses, look and act nerdy and work as a reporter ??

Since Superman does not wear a mask, most would consider that he is not hiding anywhere but works a Superman full time ( 24 X 7 X 365) .

 

[Micromind]

So Zack Snyder has taken away Superman's briefs and Clark Kent's glasses, I wonder what's next ?

 

[Mr. Thing]

We don't technically know that the glasses won't be part of the Clark Kent disguise.

This is an origin, remember.

 

[BH/HHH]

I really think he'll wear the glasses at the end I can see this been like Superman Earth One in that he doesn't create the disguise until the end.

 

[Mindreaper21]

The glasses are more than just about hiding his eyes and changing the shape of his face.

It's also about the CK persona. He's supposed to be trying look a little bit geeky, a little bit like a shy, nice guy that people don't really look twice at in the street. He wants to blend in.

You take all that away, your changing so much of what made him popular with audiences for so long.

That geek aspect, just like Spiderman's geek aspect, is one of the things that the audience connects too. The way people treat Clark sometimes, disregarding him or even laughing at him (like in the beginning of Birthright), is immediately relatable to an audience of probably similarly bullied people.

It symbolises the frustrations of people who feel like they are MORE than what people see (the man behind the glasses), and they wish they could show people their strength, but they are afraid too. They hide their true self. They pretend to be ordinary when in fact if you got to know them, you'd see they were extraordinary.

That works whether your just talking about people in general, or wishing a romantic partner would see 'who you really are, the man behind the glasses'.

That's a great message.

I know it helped me a lot as a kid growing up with people looking down on me because I didn't have the money for cool clothes and my mum cut my hair all frumpy and I was awkward at sports. But I knew, from Superman, that it's what's on the inside that matters. That who you are and what you can achieve has nothing to do with what you're wearing or how people treat you.

You can't just remove all of that. It would be such a waste. It'd be taking away one of the very human aspects of the character.

I can honestly say I never felt that way about Superman, but I have definitely felt that way about Spiderman. The difference is that Superman puts on an act as a geek, but Spiderman truely is one. I'm all for anti-bullying messages, though it doesn't really work with Superman (at least to me). However I would love to see Clark as the an "average joe" that stands up for those that get bullied. Like a sort of big brother role. Clark wasn't always geeky and he doesn't have to be. If he's geeky, then he would bring too much attention to himself. If he acts more like "the regular joe", then no one would pay any atention to him. This works best for him because no one would think that there is anything special about him.

I understand how much Superman means to you after reading this and I would not want to sour that for you. I really do appreciate you for sharing that.

 

[SuperMike335!!]

The glasses are more than just about hiding his eyes and changing the shape of his face.

It's also about the CK persona. He's supposed to be trying look a little bit geeky, a little bit like a shy, nice guy that people don't really look twice at in the street. He wants to blend in.

You take all that away, your changing so much of what made him popular with audiences for so long.

That geek aspect, just like Spiderman's geek aspect, is one of the things that the audience connects too. The way people treat Clark sometimes, disregarding him or even laughing at him (like in the beginning of Birthright), is immediately relatable to an audience of probably similarly bullied people.

It symbolises the frustrations of people who feel like they are MORE than what people see (the man behind the glasses), and they wish they could show people their strength, but they are afraid too. They hide their true self. They pretend to be ordinary when in fact if you got to know them, you'd see they were extraordinary.

That works whether your just talking about people in general, or wishing a romantic partner would see 'who you really are, the man behind the glasses'.

That's a great message.

I know it helped me a lot as a kid growing up with people looking down on me because I didn't have the money for cool clothes and my mum cut my hair all frumpy and I was awkward at sports. But I knew, from Superman, that it's what's on the inside that matters. That who you are and what you can achieve has nothing to do with what you're wearing or how people treat you.

You can't just remove all of that. It would be such a waste. It'd be taking away one of the very human aspects of the character.

Just want to point something out here. You will at least think twice about him needing the glasses for the "geek appeal".

Back when the glasses were first put on Clark, and for many decades after, glasses were very much associated with geeks and nerds. It was a very long standing paradigm, but it is virtually gone now. People do not judge those they meet as nerds or geeks due to glasses anymore.

Add to that things like laser eye correction surgery, higher quality contacts etc... you have some people wearing glasses still as part of a snob appeal, a status symbol, or just something to complete a sophisticated "look", but they often forgo the surgery or contacts because they actually like they way glasses make them look.

Just like people who wear nice wrist watches even though they all have cell phones they can check the time on.

Fact is you can have perfect 20/20 vision, and still be a nerd. You can be tall and muscular and still be a socially awkward geek too.

Is it possible that Clark has outgrown the need for glasses to be perceived as mild mannered?

If glasses alone never were a disguise, and it was always the hiding in plain sight, with people not seeing what they are not looking for situation, then is the only reason we prefer the glasses look really just because that is what we are accustomed to?

I prefer the look of Clark with Glasses for the classic feel, but I don’t see them as essential to his secret identity, or needed for the nerd or geek social stigma people put on him.

 

[Dr.]

Good example. Chaplin was not considered as a good look alike of himself as others were looking more like him !

This shows that people would simply dismiss the resemblance between Superman and Clark Kent as it were not a big deal.

Why would a Super being who is invulnerable wear Glasses, look and act nerdy and work as a reporter ??

Since Superman does not wear a mask, most would consider that he is not hiding anywhere but works a Superman full time ( 24 X 7 X 365) .

If Clark were, say, working as an auto mechanic in Arizona (far from Metropolis and the DP) then he could probably rest easy with no disguise. The “resemblance” (if it was noticed at all) would be chalked up to a humorous coincidence and the “hiding in plain sight” strategy would seem entirely plausible.

But by long tradition, both Clark and Superman regularly interact with the same cast of characters – Perry, Jimmy and (especially) Lois – with no one the wiser. It’s this particular aspect of the mythos that is, I think, problematic for critics and non-fans. It’s less “hiding in plain sight” and more “in your face.”

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

Considering it looks like Clark grew up on a poor farm he can just say he is used to his glasses and likes them.

 

[Rockstar]

The disguise is the hardest part of the Superman mythology to pull off onscreen, and Bryan Singer actually did it right.

He improved on Donner. Donner made Clark as bumbling slapstick comedy that drew attention to himself.

Singer made Clark has a quiet guy who faded into the background, with poor posture and a different voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4zSonFnJro

IMO that is the most plausible the CK disguise can ever hope to be.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Yeah, for all it's faults SR doesnt really get the credit for the things it did well; such as that ^^^^.