Reboot: Character Portrayal

[Webhead2006]

The clark side needs to be shown well off and show that he is a regular guy, going after stories, and why he choose to work at the planet and have human identity and all that. I know many didnt like lois and clark show but i throughly enjoyed how dean played his clark kent. I would like to see clark a bit like his.

 

[lespaul59]

Clark Kent needs to be a real person. Superman isn't Batman. His civilian identity isn't a mere facade that he maintains for convenience.

Let Clark be a nice, mild mannered, and polite guy. One thing that I liked about Superman Returns was that Clark's nerdy mannersims threw off any suspicions of him being Superman. Just don't go over the top with the clumsy and nerdy portrayal. Let him be the "average" guy who isn't particularly cool. However, allow him to show some personal strength as well, competing with Lois or working to expose Lex within the system.

Personaly this is what I see in the Smallville Clark. I mean Clark in SM is pretty much an average guy who is only popular when he become the quarterback of the football team. But even that doesn't last and at least by season 5 he's back to being average Clark. I'm not saying use the SV Clark in the new movie but rather make Clark something like the SV Clark.

 

[The Englishman]

The clark side needs to be shown well off and show that he is a regular guy, going after stories, and why he choose to work at the planet and have human identity and all that. I know many didnt like lois and clark show but i throughly enjoyed how dean played his clark kent. I would like to see clark a bit like his.

I liked Dean Cains Clark Kent too, it was his Superman that was weak...

 

[Webhead2006]

I agree their his show still had many good points to look back on.

 

[BestGirl]

Nope I think he was being serous and I agree with him

I was a little thrown off because I thought this board had come to a virtual consensus that Clark should be less nerdy and a little more competent at his job.

Could you tell me why you agree with him?

 

[DavidTyler]

Well I think they need to just make Clark look more like a dork. The glasses and frames need to be bigger and the way he dresses needs to be very non color coordinated and we need to see Clark wearing clothes that show that he certainly doesn't have any sort of sense of fashion. He needs to act more dopey also.

^Sarcasm?

Nope I think he was being serous and I agree with him

I was a little thrown off because I thought this board had come to a virtual consensus that Clark should be less nerdy and a little more competent at his job.

Could you tell me why you agree with him?

YEAH.... I really want to know, too..

I mean could that version of Clark draw any more attention to himself....?
Could that personna project the statement any more strongly that it's a disguise?...

Please, studio... if you're reading these posts... please do NOT do that interpretation of the character.

 

[BestGirl]

I just don't want Clark to be a total goof. I want him to be someone we can root for, someone who might actually have a chance with Lois, someone who uses his position as a reporter to expose corruption in Metropolis, especially if Luthor's behind it. A true dork won't be able to do those things.

 

[Dark Knight]

I was a little thrown off because I thought this board had come to a virtual consensus that Clark should be less nerdy and a little more competent at his job.

Could you tell me why you agree with him?

Of course Clark should be competent when it comes to doing his job, but come on....he is around journalists and reporters all day long in which one of them, Lois (and maybe Cat Grant who I think should be in the next film by the way) have the hots for Superman, and they can't figure out that the guy next to them (Clark) looks exactly like Superman? That's one thing I liked about Reeves Kent, he at least tried to act like a non personable, insecure, dope, to try and make it harder for Lois and the rest of the Daily Planet staff to figure out he is Supes.

 

[Steelsheen]

How many people really know what Clark Kent looks like? He lives in a world with a Lex Luthor, a Superman, various rampaging maniacs pretty much daily! How many people are going to to stop and look at Clark Kent, whether he's bumbling or not. I always liked how they put it in Batman/Superman when Supergirl got there and their looking at the Superman memorial statue, this majestic brilliant gold statue of this larger than life character with the most straight forward symbol of our nation and all the ideals that we hold near and hope to spread to world perched on his forearm and she looks at him and says "This is how they see you?", "no wonder they never figured it out".

Frankly there is no reason why Clark Kent needs to be anything but an average man. He should be clumsy, we all are. He should be goofy, we all are. He should be shy, most of us are. That doesn't mean he can't be sarcastic or funny or charming. It just means he should appear normal. Yeah he puts on the glasses as a distracting feature, he changes his body language, he weakens his voice. He does after all work in the bull pen at one of the top newspapers in the country, not only that but he's one of the star reporters of that paper. Those people are the professionals at sniffing out the news but even they seem him as if he were a god. He is omnipresent to them. They have no reason to suspect he is ever anyone but Superman. They trust him completely. The believe in him. To them, to everyone, Superman could never be Clark Kent.

excellent post

 

[Steelsheen]

Bingo.

Public Playboy Bruce and Daily Planet Clark are the same thing.

They are invented personas designed to throw people off.

Both invented personas are the antithesis of Batman and Superman respectively.

It's basic superhero 101.

you're right that playboy Bruce and clumsy Clark are designed to throw people off, but i also believe that these "fronts" are merely a sliver, or perhaps an over-exaggeration, of the more complete personas of the real Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent.

Bruce is a charming man, regardless of his wealth, and as he is the son of his father, has a true noble heart that any woman would be proud to have her arm on. but Bruce's psychosis keeps him from holding down any kind of lasting relationship. Clark truthfully can be incredibly clumsy, in the JL animation he once said that living on Earth amongst humans is like "living in a house of cards", always having to be mindful of the strength and consequences of even the most mundane actions. and lets be honest, Clark is an alien that has reached an advanced development only humans dream of achieving, so certain tell-tale signs of being a little too strong, aka clumsy, or a little too smart, aka geeky, is fully expected of one supra being in a world where everybody else is not quite on the same level as he is.

and to give credit where credit is due, the Nolan and Singer films have succeeded in showing the complete characterization Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent even if they were only in brief moments-- Bruce whenever he's with Alfred; Clark when he was at the farm with his mom. i'm hoping that they can continue this trend of putting out there the "totality" of a hero and not just focusing on one facet of personality or the other.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

I just don't want Clark to be a total goof. I want him to be someone we can root for, someone who might actually have a chance with Lois, someone who uses his position as a reporter to expose corruption in Metropolis, especially if Luthor's behind it. A true dork won't be able to do those things.

So you basically want Clark Kent to act just like Superman?

 

[BestGirl]

So you basically want Clark Kent to act just like Superman?

No. I want Clark to be mild-mannered and shy. Supes should be assertive. Plus, Superman wouldn't really expose corruption. He'd just take on the jobs that the police can't, like fighting aliens.

 

[Dark Knight]

Of course Clark should be competent when it comes to doing his job, but come on....he is around journalists and reporters all day long in which one of them, Lois (and maybe Cat Grant who I think should be in the next film by the way) have the hots for Superman, and they can't figure out that the guy next to them (Clark) looks exactly like Superman? That's one thing I liked about Reeves Kent, he at least tried to act like a non personable, insecure, dope, to try and make it harder for Lois and the rest of the Daily Planet staff to figure out he is Supes.

 

[El Payaso]

I just don't want Clark to be a total goof. I want him to be someone we can root for, someone who might actually have a chance with Lois, someone who uses his position as a reporter to expose corruption in Metropolis, especially if Luthor's behind it. A true dork won't be able to do those things.

I'm not ruling out that vision but I'd say the lower profile Clark gets, the better.

 

[stargazer]

Arguably the most mocked aspect of the Superman mythos is the fact that Clark is exactly the same height, build and facial structure as Superman and they're never in the same place, but nobody really makes the connection. His only real disguise is a pair of glasses and, as a Myopiac, I can say safely that the vast majority of people can tell it's you whether you're wearing your glasses or not. So what should be done to throw people off more? Let's get some ideas flowing!

He should be pretty much like Brandon Routh's Clark in Superman Returns.

Originally posted by Superark,

"I think Routh's Clark was the best that has ever been on screen or tv. It was in the same vein as Reeve's, but it wasn't as campy or goofy. Routh's Kent wasn't falling all over-himself. He was a bit clumsy, but not over the top. Instead he played a more shy type who stayed in the background. He was mild-mannered and nerdy and kind of looked down upon and dismissed, just like Siegel and Shuster originally intended."

 

[The Guard]

Of course Clark should be competent when it comes to doing his job, but come on....he is around journalists and reporters all day long in which one of them, Lois (and maybe Cat Grant who I think should be in the next film by the way) have the hots for Superman, and they can't figure out that the guy next to them (Clark) looks exactly like Superman?

That. Is. The. Point.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

No. I want Clark to be mild-mannered and shy. Supes should be assertive.

Ah, okay. That's my preference as well, it's just your previous description of Clark made him sound like the assertive type.

Plus, Superman wouldn't really expose corruption. He'd just take on the jobs that the police can't, like fighting aliens.

A lot of stuff that Superman does are things that the police can handle. He helps and saves people all the time but even a character like Superman with all of his powers can't do everything and be everywhere. It's what he can do that matters.

 

[Angeloz]

you're right that playboy Bruce and clumsy Clark are designed to throw people off, but i also believe that these "fronts" are merely a sliver, or perhaps an over-exaggeration, of the more complete personas of the real Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent.

Bruce is a charming man, regardless of his wealth, and as he is the son of his father, has a true noble heart that any woman would be proud to have her arm on. but Bruce's psychosis keeps him from holding down any kind of lasting relationship. Clark truthfully can be incredibly clumsy, in the JL animation he once said that living on Earth amongst humans is like "living in a house of cards", always having to be mindful of the strength and consequences of even the most mundane actions. and lets be honest, Clark is an alien that has reached an advanced development only humans dream of achieving, so certain tell-tale signs of being a little too strong, aka clumsy, or a little too smart, aka geeky, is fully expected of one supra being in a world where everybody else is not quite on the same level as he is.

and to give credit where credit is due, the Nolan and Singer films have succeeded in showing the complete characterization Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent even if they were only in brief moments-- Bruce whenever he's with Alfred; Clark when he was at the farm with his mom. i'm hoping that they can continue this trend of putting out there the "totality" of a hero and not just focusing on one facet of personality or the other.

Nice post. I don't disagree with it.

Angeloz

 

[JamalYIgle]

I just don't want Clark to be a total goof. I want him to be someone we can root for, someone who might actually have a chance with Lois, someone who uses his position as a reporter to expose corruption in Metropolis, especially if Luthor's behind it. A true dork won't be able to do those things.

Allow me to present Woodward and Bernstien

Greg Palast

and Seymour Hersh

 

[Webhead2006]

what is that for?

 

[Webhead2006]

what is that for?

 

[BestGirl]

Would Woodward and Bernstein, Palast, and Hersh have a shot with Lois?

 

[Scarlet Spider]

Would Woodward and Bernstein, Palast, and Hersh have a shot with Lois?

If Clark is also mild-mannered and shy, why would you think Lois would go for him either?

 

[GreenKToo]

What about Sheperd Smith or Anderson Cooper? Most of the ladies I know really like those two.
I wouldn't really call them the kind of journalist we're discussing, but they are in the business.

 

[BestGirl]

If Clark is also mild-mannered and shy, why would you think Lois would go for him either?

Any girl can fall for a mild-mannered, shy guy, but most girls won't fall for dorks. You could even say that Lois and Clark would be a case of opposites attracting. I can't imagine Lois giving Clark the time of day under any circumstances if he were a clumsy fool with oversized glasses and no sense of color coordination.