Mark Millar's Many Thoughts On Superman

[Crook]

Gotta admire Millar, everything he says shows how much of a Superman fan he is. He wants to make the Godfather of superhero films, that's as ambitious as you can get. I'm really liking his ideas too from what little we've heard.

His ending is bleak, but probably would serve better as an epilogue. Either way, I really like it. The trilogy sounds ballsy and that's what we need for this franchise. Narratives that takes chances and elevates the genre. Not just a simple blockbuster.

 

[Superpowers]

I too like Millar's ideas for Superman. Originally I didn't give it much of a thought because I'm sick of the "We didn't get the reaction we wanted. Let's reboot." attitude. One thing I'll admit about Superman Returns though, even though I thought it was a "cool" film, is that it takes no risks. It clings to a movie that was popular 30 years ago. But times have changed - special effects have come along way, storytelling has become more complex. For such a huge character like Superman, it seems like a shame not to do something epic.

The older films probably did the best they could at the time given what they had to work with, but Superman Returns definitely did not. If they're insistant on doing a reboot, might as well do it right this time.

 

[M.O.Steel]

You need to rewatch Godfather Pt. III Michael Corleone grows old and dies of natural causes another of the many parallels between him and his pop. Might be the reason Millar wants Supes to die a simple death too and he'd probably have parallels between Jor-El and Kal-El if given a shot at a trilogy if he's being inspired by The Godfather.

yeah, you're right, my mistake. that's why i edited it out. i was hoping no one would respond to it.

i definitely think the whole trilogy warrants a rewatch. it's been a while.

 

[Da Games Elite]

Just posting this, but I think that this trilogy idea could end in a similar way to (using a completely outside source here) the anime The End of Evangelion.

Spoiler

At the end, after everything is ruined and devastated, everything is brought back to life, the Evangelion Unit-01 is standing guard over the universe for perhaps the rest of eternity as a sign that the planet was and is alive, and you are almost left with a happy, uplifting feeling. And then they cut to an epilogue where the entire world is devastated, and only the main character is left and his love interest, who he's strangling on a beach. For Supes, you could have him, say, save the people of Earth, and show everyone celebrating him and saying how he is a hero, and you would start to feel pretty good. However, they cut to an epilogue where the world is devastated and he's all alone on the world, still guarding existence.

The End of Evangelion ending left most fans feeling at first almost raped and devastated, as they had stuck it out with these characters for many episodes only to see everything go to Hell. However, as time passed, many fans felt the ending was satisfactory and perfect, leaving precious few questions left over from the story while bringing many things to the table to interpret. The same would probably go with Superman. Most fans would probably feel devastated watching that on screen, but later feel the need to interpret and imagine what could have happened. I can think of no greater ending than that for any saga.

 

[The Sage]

yeah, you're right, my mistake. that's why i edited it out. i was hoping no one would respond to it.

i definitely think the whole trilogy warrants a rewatch. it's been a while.

Just made me realize it's been awhile since I've seen it too.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I like ~Millar's ideas of how to end it, but surely that would mean no more than 3 Superman movies after that ending.

 

[Crook]

Just made me realize it's been awhile for me too.

Oooh goodie, maybe you two can set-up a playdate.

I like ~Millar's ideas of how to end it, but surely that would mean no more than 3 Superman movies after that ending.

I don't see how. It depicts the very far future of Earth. There's plenty of stories before that ever happens.

 

[Double Down]

Oooh goodie, maybe you two can set-up a playdate.


I don't see how. It depicts the very far future of Earth. There's plenty of stories before that ever happens.

Millar obviously intends the finale of the trilogy to be the end of the series.

 

[Crook]

The end of his series. I'm talking about future films that may continue on the same timeline. Just because Millar intends to depict a beginning and end of the character, doesn't mean future stories cannot be set anywhere in the middle.

 

[arachnid-guy]

Yeah. That's pretty epic!

 

[Mike_D202]

If this is like an elseworlds thing like KINGDOM COME, I wouldnt mind it.

 

[terry78]

If this is like an elseworlds thing like KINGDOM COME, I wouldnt mind it.

It's going to be interpreted by the mainstream as THE definitive Supes story though. If he's putting all this effort into it that he claims.

 

[Eros]

Can we focus on one damn film, can we focus on a superman movie everybody likes, and makes alot of money first. If the next movie is good, and makes like Dark Knight money, then I will be more open to a millar trilogy. Focus on getting one movie perfect, and then focus on the next one.

 

[Closerframe]

I like the idea of having the first film focus on the origins of Kal-El on Krypton than coming to Earth. And the ending that everyone is complaining about sounds great, it would be really interesting to see how Superman gets to that point where everyone is dead and he still lives on, but will utterly accept death. That could be such an emotional and artistic looking scene. Which would close the book on that chapter of Superman, with a reboot that could come out 4-6 years later. And WB wants dark and apparently judging from the box-office numbers for The Dark Knight so does the rest of America.

 

[deathshead2]

If I hear supermans origin one more time I'm going to barf.
They should just pull a Batman, and start a movie with superman fighting the bad guys.

No origin. Again.

 

[Crook]

If this is like an elseworlds thing like KINGDOM COME, I wouldnt mind it.

In comparison to the comics, when is any interpretation outside of it....NOT an elseworlds?

 

[I Am The Knight]

The end of his series. I'm talking about future films that may continue on the same timeline. Just because Millar intends to depict a beginning and end of the character, doesn't mean future stories cannot be set anywhere in the middle.

Correct. Or they can just give it a rest and reboot 10 years after the third movie...Or they might expand the series to more than 3 movies. If this Millar fan dream were to happen, of course....Which I don't think it will, as much as I actually think it could work.

 

[Captain Planet!]

The idea is great, but the end would just be depressing. A Superman with nothing to love, nothing to live for.

 

[MonBeeb]

Superman dying at the end of the series isn't necessarily bleak. For all we know he could die perfectly happy, knowing that he's inspired hope and determination in billions of people.

That being said, it seems unlikely that Millar's "vision" will be made a reality. At the most he might be brought on as a creative consultant. But I think it's pretty obvious right now that this is nothing official and probably won't be. Sadly. If nothing else, it would be fresh and interesting.

 

[Sub-Zero]

this whole story sounds like it could be better as a televised mini-series. i don't think people care about superman. they've seen it before. as much as i would love to see a superman movie that's as good as good as the donner movies, i really doubt its going to please us.

also i don't think millar is a great writer. i kinda liked how he re-imagined the avengers with the ultimates, and red son was decent, but i really doubt he can tackle this and keep it faithful and exciting.

 

[Reek]

i think a superman in millars world, with some adjustments like the first movie being all krypton, and maybe the wierd ending ( but i kinda like it), would be absolutely bad ass as long as he fougt some real villain and threw some ****ing punches! it would be a perfect follow up franchise to batman especially if its a mature tone like batman.

but wait til the summer after batman 3...which is inevitable.

 

[kalelkilla]

I just wish Millar did some more Superman work other than Red Son...he claims to be such a fan, but he doesn't do much work on Superman...I'm not saying he doesn't love Superman, I just wish we had more stories to see his ideas for Superman...from what he said, it sounds really cool and could be GREAT if done seriously...I say let him do it, and hopefully get a passionate director whose knowledge of Superman is greater than the Donner movies...

 

[Robin91939]

I like that ending, if handled properly.

If they go the route and have him alone and depressed, thinking about all the people he misses and how alone he is, than that's terribly depressing. But if you have him alone, but proud that he took humanity as far as it could go, that he protected them to their complete end- then that's really something. That his life's work is now done and he can rest knowing that he protected the world throughout it's entire existence.

-R

 

[Robin91939]

In any case, if this film is ultimately not made, and WB makes it clear to him that it will NEVER be made- I hope that Millar decides to make it an epic graphic novel and depict his story of Superman that way- so we could see his vision. Maybe that would get WB to go ahead with it in the future if we end up loving this story.

I'm really interested to see it in some medium.

-R

 

[Double Down]

This is really the Superman movie people want to see? I can see it now: Superman, all alone, talking to a blood-smeared volleyball.
If WB wants its solo movies to lead up to a Justice League movie, I think they have more members in mind than Superman and Wilson.