World Superman Lives!

[Kevin Roegele]

Official logo design

What might have been.....

Intention here is to provide all possible information on Tim Burton's never made Superman movie.

The 'history of the production thread' -
http://www.superherohype.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125321

Costume design by Bradford Richardson

Interview with lead graphic designer Bradford Richardson at
http://www.superman-v.com/interviews/bradfordrichardson.php

Concept design for Superman's battle with an alien creature at the climax, possibly by Harald Belker

Designs for Braniac's skull ship, also maybe by Harald Belker

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Nicolas cage as Superman by cagefactor.com

What sold Warner Bros on Cage was his ability to play comedy nerds like Stanley Godspeed in The Rock (1995) and also badass action heroes like Cameron Poe in Con Air (1997).

 

[Metropolis_Man]

Thanks for the info and the pics. How do you think this movie would've set with general audiences? I always wish they would've made this but never released it, so we could at least see what might've been.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Cage as Superman would've sucked, I liked him in Face/Off but that hill-billy accent he used in Con Air was distracting.

 

[idahoprime]

i have some art for this up at
http://www.kal-el.org/SL

and some flyby art too
http://www.kal-el.org/flyby

 

[HUMAN]

Summary of Dan Gilroy script:

The film starts on Krypton, where Jor-El is working on a computer called Brainiac. However, once Kal-El is born, Jor-El abandons his work to spend time with his son. Brainiac is jealous of Kal-El, so he destroys Krypton...but not before Kal-El escapes. Brainiac vows to hunt down Kal-El and kill him.

Flash forward 30 years. Lex Luthor's LexCorp company discovers that a UFO crash-landed in Smallville. Lois investigates the story and discovers that the shuttlecraft landed on the Kent farm, forcing Superman--who she's been having a full-blown affair with--to reveal his secret identity to her. (And since he has no clue to his origins, this whole spaceship thing comes as a shock to Superman.) Brainiac comes to Earth with Doomsday in tow, merges with Luthor to become "Lexiac," and takes over LexCorp. Luring Superman to the LexCorp tower, Lexiac sics Doomsday on the Man of Steel, and the two kill each other in battle. Lexiac then confiscates the world's nukes and tries to seduce Lois. Meanwhile, Superman is revived by "K," the still-living, combined essence of Jor-El and Lara. Initially powerless upon his rebirth, Superman uses sheer willpower to regain his lost powers. A final fight ensues, in which Superman separates Luthor and Brainiac with one second left on the nuclear clock. In the end, Superman becomes fully aware of his alien origins, saves the world...and finds out that Lois is pregnant with his kid!

 

[Darth Nata]

It will never happen but because Tim Burton wanted to direct Superman with Nicholas Cage and already directed Batman with Michael Keaton, how cool would the Batman vs Superman script written by Andrew Kevin Walker be with Burton, Keaton and Cage on board...

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I must be the only person who can see cage as Superman. I think he would have been great. He would have played Superman, not Nicolas Cage.

 

[Morg]

having Cage as Superman would had bombed the movie just like Berry did with CINO

 

[Kevin Roegele]

i have some art for this up at
http://www.kal-el.org/SL

and some flyby art too
http://www.kal-el.org/flyby

I've never been to kal-el.org before, it's very good.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

having Cage as Superman would had bombed the movie just like Berry did with CINO

I doubt it. It may have sucked, but it wouldn't have bombed.

 

[Morg]

yes it would

 

[Kevin Roegele]

yes it would

Tim 'Batman' Burton?
Directing Superman?
Nic Cage at the height of his action hero stage?

People would have seen it for curiousity alone.

Don't confuse quality with popularity.

 

[Showtime]

This movie would have been awful. I never wanted Tim Burton to touch Superman and Batmanize it. The Gilroy script was awful, Kevin Smith's version was much better. Batman vs Superman wouldn't have been as good as everyone thought. There were great moments in the script that were ruined by horrible scenes. Scene after Scene of Clark home in Smallville after Lois breaks up with him. He pours his heart out to Lana Lang. Then there are some great moments but Batman and Superman are not together enough in the script.

 

[Morg]

Tim 'Batman' Burton?
Directing Superman?
Nic Cage at the height of his action hero stage?

People would have seen it for curiousity alone.

Don't confuse quality with popularity.

the dead people of the people went to see it would stop them, I hated Cage a sSuperman and would had him shoot on sight

 

[cabel]

That is one scary looking S

 

[Cosmic]

I shudder to think of what this movie would've been like.

 

[boywonder13]

http://www.superman-v.com/reviews/gilroy.php

Heres a full scrip review from superman v.

 

[PSU442]

what was Superman Flyby? Was that Abrams' script? This is a great thread by the way. Great stuff posted here.

 

[PSU442]

ahh... i read the FlyBy reveiw. It sounds interesting, like Superman Lives but I'd hate for that to be the official cinematic representation of Superman. I like reading alternate storyline graphic novels too but I wouldn't want them to become offical.

 

[Showtime]

I am a huge Superman Lives fan. I would have loved to see that script made. I think the action was fantastic and the dialogue between Superman and Lois was classic. It would have worked at the time but I wouldn't want to see it developed now. It wouldn't work against Batman Begins or Spiderman 1&2.

 

[Metropolis_Man]

I am a huge Superman Lives fan. I would have loved to see that script made. I think the action was fantastic and the dialogue between Superman and Lois was classic. It would have worked at the time but I wouldn't want to see it developed now. It wouldn't work against Batman Begins or Spiderman 1&2.

Nicely put sir. I think for the date when it was first planned to be released, the story would've been really well, but now, we needed something better, and something that took a step up.

 

[Showtime]

Nicely put sir. I think for the date when it was first planned to be released, the story would've been really well, but now, we needed something better, and something that took a step up.

I think Kevin Smith included everything that needed to be covered. He had incredible battle scenes with Doomsday and Superman. He gave us a Superman that was without powers and to use other means to save earth. He also gave us the love story between Lois and Clark/Superman in a different way. In this version Lois knows about the alter ego.

 

[Whack Arnolds]

having Cage as Superman would had bombed the movie just like Berry did with CINO

Don't believe the bullsh1t you just said...Halle could have EASILY played Catwoman well, but she didn't have quality material to work from.

 

[mad-sci]

Abram's 1st draft (the much-derided one) can be found here

It's dated 2002, so it's the Ty-Zor / non-exploding Krypton one and I can see why Moriaty from AICN hated it. There's is just so much that is bad here, and not that much good.

There's far too much story all rushed (in the space of 15 minutes, you go from Superman's interview with Lois, to a battle with a robot in Washington, to Superman the outcast, and the death).

You've also got some REALLY REALLY bad characterisation. Jonathon Kent's hardly in it, and his death is meaningless, Ma Kent is wasted, Jimmy is written like a 15 year old wimp, Perry is a complete caricature of J Jonah Jamseon with NO redeeming qualities, Lois is completely schizo (one minute a strong, independant woman, and less than 1 minute later a complete victim), but the worst character is Clark Kent / Superman. From the beginning of the film, Clark's portrayed as isolated, with little human contact. He grows up afraid of his abilities, forced to help because he has to, not because he wants to. Then, after his 'death', he does a complete 180 and is now a true hero???!!!

I can see this film would have had some decent action, but would have been a terrible story, because there's not a single person to care about here.