My personal wish list

[Chris Wallace]

Thought I'd revisit this in the wake of having seen Man Of Steel:
Things I DON'T want:
An origin story. We don't need to see Krypton explode ever again.
Even though Snyder & Co. disagreed with me on this one, I'm glad they did. A new take on the mythology DOES require a new backstory.
ANY references whatsoever to the Donner films. NO Brando voice-overs, no Williams score, no 70's atmosphere, nothing.

Ditto on Returns. Let's forget we ever saw that kid or watched Supes go to the ER after lifting 800 million tons of kryptonite into space.

Got this and I'm SO glad for it. They were wise to make it a true reboot.
Kryptonite. We've seen it thousands of times. We know what it is, what it does. Let's find something else that can pose a threat to Supes, shall we?
No green stuff. This is one reason why I was glad the villain was Zod, because that meant no green rocks. What were they gonna do, threaten each other with it?
A nerdy Clark Kent. There are other ways to distance him from Superman.
Has yet to be seen. We did see a bit of awkwardness in Clark but we didn't really get a chance to see his personality fleshed out.

Things I do want:
Lex Luthor. But the way we've known him over the last 30 years. As a corrupt, conniving CEO. A behind-the-scenes manipulator. Not the laughable parody of a supervillain we've seen in previous films.
We kinda got this one. The existence of Lexcorp leans toward him eventually appearing and as described above.
Lois knowing full well that Clark is Superman. And let them already be in a relationship. Why go backwards?
They met me halfway on this one, too. I'm happy.
A real show of Superman's varying powers. But don't make up powers for the sake of a scene. Ugh.
I think I saw more heat vision in this movie than in all the others combined. The only ability I can think of that we DIDN'T see was super breath.
A faithful, brightly colored costume. Let's not repeat that mistake. And for God's sake no leather or rubber.
Much to the surprise of all, I loved the Man Of Steel costume and prefer it over any version I've seen to date.

 

[Jochimus]

Thought I'd revisit this in the wake of having seen Man Of Steel:
Things I DON'T want:

ANY references whatsoever to the Donner films. NO Brando voice-overs, no Williams score, no 70's atmosphere, nothing.

Eh, I could tell watching it though that there was a Donner influence cracking through - if not Jor-El's whole motivational "You Can Serve A Greater Purpose" shpiel (not to mention him wearing the S-shield again a la Brando), then the Obligatory Nefarious Plan Of The Villain was certainly familiar enough: two WMDs sent off in opposite directions to reshape the world, and Superman can only go after one of them.

 

[sf2]

I would love to see the people go against superman. tanks, planes firing tons and tons of missiles to destroy him. and they thought they have killed superman.
then the real threat comes. people defeated; crying for help. superman returns and saves the day!!! they cheer for him in the end!!! hooray!!!

MOS got mine 80%.
We didn't get the cheering in the end though.

 

[Batmannerism]

Here goes my wish list for MOS 2 (not BM v SM that's a whole
different wish list).

0) That the main character is still referred to mostly as Clark
or Kal. It was great how Lois always called him Clark, made us
think of him as a person, rather than the all-powerful Superman.
(remember, he was the guy drinking a Bud and watching football
when Zod showed up).

Even Batman doesn't get called Batman that often in Nolan's
movies.


1) continuity with the fate of Krypton and things Kryptonian,

- it's the one other planet that humans know was inhabited by
intelligent life, no need to introduce other alien species yet.

- salvaged Krypton tech should play a major role in the story, it
makes sense as it would be the only way that humans could develop
weapons powerful enough to challenge Clark.


2) continued public uncertainty about Superman

- as much as I hate borrowing from other films, the Avengers
post-battle news bulletin was a good plot device.

- yes, Clark did save the Earth, but its hard (especially for anyone
who lived in the destroyed parts of Metropolis) to forget that
Zod only came here because he was looking for Kal-El.
This needs to be addressed, even if only in a couple of lines.
(sometimes one or two well thought out lines can wrap up a
plot line neatly).

on that note part of that should be a geopolitical reaction to existence of Superman
- not a major issue, but just address it and move on.
- the rest of the world got Zod's message, so we need
some sort of reaction from the rest of the world.
(Personally, I'd like to see Vladimir PUtin **** himself, but that
wouldn't work in the movie).


3) Lex Luthor: Not Gene Hackman's con man, or Spacey's
shouty Lex, but a cold, cunning, manipulative Luthor without
bumbling sidekicks or bimbos. In the comics the guy is the
smartest human alive.
- also, Luthor has to be believable and have valid motivations.
he's not crazy like the JOker, so mayhem for mayhem's sake won't
cut it. He's more Gordon Gecko (Wall Street) meets Walter Bishop
(Fringe)

- He has to hate Superman for a reason. Maybe someone he cared about
was killed during the battle with Zod ? Anyway, we have to be interested
in the character, and what made Zod work as a character was that he
had a motivation (that he pursued thorough terrible means) but we
understand why he does what he does. A similar approach should
flavour Luthor's character.


5) Bizarro or Doomsday: hear me out on this one.
- Now Luthor cannot contend with Clark Physically.
So, he's going to need a henchman who can.
Since he's a genius unmatched on Earth, he salvages the damaged
genesis chamber, and obtains some of Clark's cells. Because the genesis
chamber was badly damaged in the crash he can't grow a proper kryptonian, but manages to create either Bizarro or Doomsday. Maybe he sells it
as a "super solider" program for the govt, who knows.

Personally, I prefer Bizarro (save Doomsday for later).
if it's Bizarro, then maybe a Bizarro a bit like John Byrne's from '86. An
imperfect clone of Superman (none of that backwards talking crap) and
not that he's Superman with Down's syndrome. No, Bizarro thinks he's
Clark, has his memories and powers but he's messed up, both physically
and mentally -and carnage results. Would make a great scene with him
confronting Ma Kent, being very confused -we'd feel sorry for him.

He and Clark battle to a standstill,and maybe Bizarro eventually ends up sacrificing himself to save Earth (which would fit in with having Clark's
memories and aspects of his personality)


6) None of that awkward Clark Kent's the nerd and butt of office jokes crap.
( speaks for itself). He's just a guy doing a job (and taking a little time off to
save the Earth, every other week).


7) Clark having to deal with the guilt of killing Zod. A great justification
for Clark not wanting to kill again.


8) the next stage in Lois and Clark's relationship, it should be
****ing confusing, because while you shouldn't date co-workers,
it's not like their relationship can just stay where it is.


9) Not Super-breath. Sorry folks, I think it's Supes' lamest and most
ridiculous power.

10) maybe some hints that address the open stasis pod from the scoutship

11) more Easter eggs, hinting at the existence of other super-heroes and villains.

12) the nice little touches, like those up close shots of the butterfly, and the swing, the house in the rain with the clothesline, stuff that fools us into to thinking we're actually in the real world. It worked brilliantly in MOS.

Okay, I'm running out of stuff here anyway, I've said far too much already.


Peace !

 

[Chris Wallace]

Eh, I could tell watching it though that there was a Donner influence cracking through - if not Jor-El's whole motivational "You Can Serve A Greater Purpose" shpiel (not to mention him wearing the S-shield again a la Brando), then the Obligatory Nefarious Plan Of The Villain was certainly familiar enough: two WMDs sent off in opposite directions to reshape the world, and Superman can only go after one of them.

What I meant by no references was that it was not a "sequel" to the Donner films like Returns was. And there's a HUGE difference between Zod's Worldengine and Lex's missiles. Supes went after the Worldengine because it was the biggest threat. He left Zod's command ship to the military. And Lex only intended one missile to reshape the world. The other was a throwaway. I didn't see Crowe wearing the shield as any kind of a nod to Brando, as it's the symbol of the house of El, as it has been for quite some time. Jor-El's speech-come on. What was he supposed to say? It wasn't like he quoted Brando. You could find just as many similarities between Burton and Nolan's Batman films if you try hard enough; Bruce and Selina dancing together at a masquerade ball, first movie involves a plot to gas the city, Bruce learning as an adult that his nemesis had a hand in his parents' deaths, Joker televising his threats. None of this means that Nolan was driven by Burton.