Our "Space Princess": David Corenswet IS Clark Kent/Superman!

[DKDetective]

Henry beats him again.

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I'd take David's muscle earned naturally through an old-fashioned bodybuilding program anyday over Henry's T-Rex arms, steroid muscle, and resultant male pattern baldness.

 

[Lily Adler]

I'd take David's muscle earned naturallt through an old-fashioned bodybuilding program anyday over Henry's T-Rex arms, steroid muscle, and resultant male pattern baldness.

Are you saying Snyder bald the man?

 

[DKDetective]

Are you saying Snyder bald the man?

Well, steroids mainly just accelerate your natural genetics when it comes to hair loss. So his hairline would have receded naturally eventually.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Whatever Superman physique they were going for, they absolutely nailed it. But we better get a sexy shirtless scene next time, dammit. I saw that ad that David did a while back. Show off that bod, bro!

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Whatever Superman physique they were going for, they absolutely nailed it. But we better get a sexy shirtless scene next time, dammit. I saw that ad that David did a while back. Show off that bod, bro!

To be fair, I can't see anywhere in the story where it would have made a huge amount of sense for him to be shirtless

I guess the robots could stripped him so they could heal him in the first scene? He could have been shirtless cooking in Lois' apartment? He could have take his suit off while Lois made cocoa... just to put ut back on seconds later? Planetwatch could have stripped him before imprisoning him (ala GTG) and put him in prison clothes? Ma & Pa got him out of his clothes and into bed when Lois took him back to the farm? He could have been shirtless when eating cereal at the farm? Maybe the engineers nanites left the top half of his suit ruined so he was shirtless for the rest of the movie?

Nevermind, that all sounds very fun...

 

[Deck Rickard]

To be fair, I can't see anywhere in the story where it would have made a huge amount of sense for him to be shirtless

I guess the robots could stripped him so they could heal him in the first scene? He could have been shirtless cooking in Lois' apartment? He could have take his suit off while Lois made cocoa... just to put ut back on seconds later? Planetwatch could have stripped him before imprisoning him (ala GTG) and put him in prison clothes? Ma & Pa got him out of his clothes and into bed when Lois took him back to the farm? He could have been shirtless when eating cereal at the farm? Maybe the engineers nanites left the top half of his suit ruined so he was shirtless for the rest of the movie?

Nevermind, that all sounds very fun...

Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

 

[DKDetective]

 

[Superark]

It's amazing to think this guy was sitting out there for so long just waiting to be Superman

 

[Deck Rickard]

Not sure if you all are familiar with Secret Galaxy, but it’s a great YouTube channel that delves into a lot of (kinda) forgotten pop culture items from the 80s and 90s. I just watched an episode on the Choose Your Own Adventure books, which were originally created by Edward Packard, David Corenswet’s grandfather. Several years back, David represented his grandpa proudly and did an audio recording of one of the books.

Sadly, if you were also hoping that Black Mirror might eventually attempt to do another Choose Your Own Adventure film like they did a while back, unfortunately it turned into a big legal battle because Black Mirror and Netflix apparently didn’t actually have the rights to the term (even though I’m not sure they actually used it in the episode). It would be cool if that all got worked out somehow and maybe we could get another Bandersnatch or something similar (maybe starring David!), but alas.

 

[Lily Adler]

@DKDetective is attacking poor David's natural brown hair.

 

[DKDetective]

@DKDetective is attacking poor David's natural brown hair.

I only said that given how bright it can appear when it catches the light certain ways, I understand why they felt the need to dye it for the movie. I'm more critical of the dyejob they did, especially given the film's colour grading.

 

[Lily Adler]

I only said that given how bright it can appear when it catches the light certain ways, I understand why they felt the need to dye it for the movie. I'm more critical of the dyejob they did, especially given the film's colour grading.

I would rather let a Supeman actor keep their brown locks. I hated that they made Rachel dye her hair, too.

 

[DKDetective]

I would rather let a Supeman actor keep their brown locks. I hated that they made Rachel dye her hair, too.

Rachel rocked the black hair. The slight Goth of it all rather matched the punk rock vibe they went for with this Lois Lane.

 

[MAN O STEEL]

I would rather let a Supeman actor keep their brown locks. I hated that they made Rachel dye her hair, too.

Never want to see a Superman with brown hair. It's as integral to the character to me as his suit. That's what he looks like, period. In SR it was more brown and I hated it. Looks less Superman to me. David's dyed hair looks great in the film.

 

[NotToday]

Never want to see a Superman with brown hair. It's as integral to the character to me as his suit. That's what he looks like, period. In SR it was more brown and I hated it. Looks less Superman to me. David's dyed hair looks great in the film.

Eh -- I feel that a bit too nitpicky, especially when dealing with a real person's hair. Dark brown is close enough. And Corenswet's hair was plenty dark enough (just look at any pre-Superman photos), but it seems someone really wanted that blue-black tone. Wasn't necessary, though.

... I hated that they made Rachel dye her hair, too.

I'm surprised at that; if anything, they could have lightened her shade a tad to contrast Corenswet.

 

[elgaz]

In the comics Superman has pretty consistently been presented with black hair. But I think part of the reason for that was that it was just easier to colourise, and then they could add that blue sheen for shading.

In live action, personally, I have no issues with dark brown hair. In fact, when they have a poor dye job, it is counter-effective as the hair looks more silly and draws attention. I see photos of David Corenswet in real life and his hair definitely looks more natural than the obviously dyed shiny black they went with for the movie.

As well as Routh, Smallville's Tom Welling had dark brown hair also - at no point did I ever think the show would be so much better if he dyed it black.

 

[DKDetective]

I would rather let a Supeman actor keep their brown locks. I hated that they made Rachel dye her hair, too.

Looking into this more, I'm actually not sure they did and it might just be the film's colour grading. In BTS photos, her hair is actually dark brown:

Looks about the same as her usual hair colour, such as at the 2023 Met Gala:

 

[DKDetective]

Never want to see a Superman with brown hair. It's as integral to the character to me as his suit. That's what he looks like, period. In SR it was more brown and I hated it. Looks less Superman to me. David's dyed hair looks great in the film.

There is no such thing as natural black hair. Natural black hair is actually a dark, dark brown. Unless you believe Superman dyes his hair artificially black, the "black" hair in the comics in live action should be closer to what we saw on Routh or Brosnahan as above.

 

[flickchick85]

Looking into this more, I'm actually not sure they did and it might just be the film's colour grading. In BTS photos, her hair is actually dark brown:

Looks about the same as her usual hair colour, such as at the 2023 Met Gala:

Rachel is a natural blonde so it was being dyed regardless.

I agree they should’ve done David’s hair the color they did hers, though. That shoe polish black always looks fake, and looks worse when the eyebrows don’t always match.

David looks more like Supes in a lot of this BTS footage before the hair dye than he does in the film imo.

 

[MAN O STEEL]

There is no such thing as natural black hair. Natural black hair is actually a dark, dark brown. Unless you believe Superman dyes his hair artificially black, the "black" hair in the comics in live action should be closer to what we saw on Routh or Brosnahan as above.

He's an alien. Kryptonians can have naturally black hair. That's all the answer you need. You put a human explanation for hair color on a character who's not human and fictional. Superman has black hair, it's part of his aesthetic, just as his suit is blue, red and yellow.

I didn't hear a single complaint about Cavill with his black hair, wishing it was brown in MOS.

 

[chintai80]

i'm fine w/ the dyed black hair. it makes clark sort of stand out.

how often do caucasian people have natural black hair?

 

[NotToday]

In the comics Superman has pretty consistently been presented with black hair. But I think part of the reason for that was that it was just easier to colourise, and then they could add that blue sheen for shading.

Exactly. His hair is like that in the comics because of the limitations of the medium. I mean, there'd only be like, six colors for hair for any comic book characters, if you only go by how things look on the printed page.

With a film adaption using actors, there's should be some room for nuance, creative license, and flexibility.

(At least it's not like with the Flash, where we've still never had a blonde Barry Allen in live-action.)

 

[DKDetective]

He's an alien. Kryptonians can have naturally black hair. That's all the answer you need. You put a human explanation for hair color on a character who's not human and fictional. Superman has black hair, it's part of his aesthetic, just as his suit is blue, red and yellow.

I didn't hear a single complaint about Cavill with his black hair, wishing it was brown in MOS.

Cavill and that movie had so many problems that his dyejob was way down the list. The horrible hairstyles they gave Cavill were a bigger issue.

Also, you can't directly compare two films and actors with such different aesthetics, cinematography, and colour grading. As well, the artifice of Cavill's dyejob was less noticeable given the cinematography and colour grading of those films.

Bruce Wayne also canonically has black hair in the comics, but it didn't stop Keaton, Bale, or Pattinson from being great Batman with brown hair.

Also, why are you fighting this? It is clearly not necessary for Corenswet to have "true black" hair to look like he has black hair in these films. Because of Gunn's cinematography and lighting choices, Rachel's dark brown hair as Lois Lane read as black and Corenswet's would too.

 

[MAN O STEEL]

Cavill and that movie had so many problems that his dyejob was way down the list. The horrible hairstyles they gave Cavill were a bigger issue.

Also, you can't directly compare two films and actors with such different aesthetics, cinematography, and colour grading. As well, the artifice of Cavill's dyejob was less noticeable given the cinematography and colour grading of those films.

Bruce Wayne also canonically has black hair in the comics, but it didn't stop Keaton, Bale, or Pattinson from being great Batman with brown hair.

Also, why are you fighting this? It is clearly not necessary for Corenswet to have "true black" hair to look like he has black hair in these films. Because of Gunn's cinematography and lighting choices, Rachel's dark brown hair as Lois Lane read as black and Corenswet's would too.

Why am I fighting this? Thought I was just having a discussion with differing view points. You make it sound like I should have conceded on an idea I don't agree with just because. That's not how opinions work.

Also your analogy to Batmans hair color doesn't make the same point. As Batman you don't see his hair, he wears a mask, so even if bruce was blonde, under the mask he still looks like comic Batman.

It'd be better to ask from you, would you be ok if Batmans costume was brown instead of black?, since you like brown so much and the appearance of heroes doesn't seem to be as ironclad for you in live action.

 

[ArmsHeldOut]

He's an alien. Kryptonians can have naturally black hair. That's all the answer you need. You put a human explanation for hair color on a character who's not human and fictional. Superman has black hair, it's part of his aesthetic, just as his suit is blue, red and yellow.

I didn't hear a single complaint about Cavill with his black hair, wishing it was brown in MOS.

My general thinking is that you can forego the hair dye if a Superman actor's natural hair color is already so dark that it can appear black in certain lighting conditions. For some reason, I've always been fine with Welling, but Routh's hair color [on film] always looked a shade too light to me. Tyler Hoechlin's ultra dark brown hair is the ideal shade for Superman, in my opinion, as it's as close to natural black hair as you can get (unless your name is Krysten Ritter).

Of all the Superman actors, the late Christopher Reeve probably had the lightest natural hair color, with light to medium brown hair. David has more of a medium to dark brown hair color, which is still a couple of shades too light for Supes, IMO. However, that jet black hair color he sports in the film looks a little too severe. If the hair department had chosen a hue closer to the shade they used for Rachel's hair, it would've appeared more natural and still looked fairly black on screen.

I do hear what you're saying about Clark being an alien, though. It's not terribly dissimilar from the viewpoint that went into the popular line from Mark Waid's Birthright, which reads, "That blue, Clark, is unlike anything else on this Earth …" regarding the character's otherworldly blue eye color [at least as it's described in the story]. I can't say for sure if that's the approach Gunn was looking for here beyond just wanting to give David the blue-black hair of the comics, but who knows?