Superman Reboot Writers Workshop

My take? Go for a romance film. Clark Kent is a arrogant reporter who has just joined the DP but Lane, who is assigned to essentially break the guy in, doesn’t take him serious at first, but after a nasty confrontation a sort of rivalry is begun. Now, I’m not very good at romance, but I’d leave that up to my partners in writing if I ever get the chance to do a film. While one their first assignment together (along with the ever lively Jimmy Olsen, in my adaptation I’d make him a thirteen year old who looks up to Kent) covering the grand reopening of some big what-have-you. While covering the event Metallo shows up on the scene with his Band of Merry Men and causes a ruckus, wanting all of those rich snobs’ jewels and dough. Clark, of course slips into the shadows, loosening his tie as he steps backward. Yeah, you know what happens after that: a city wide smack down.


Meh, this is hardly a final draft though, and it’s really just the first act. Still needs more depth.


EDIT:

Oops, forgot to talk about my Clark. I was raised on Superman: The Animated Series so I’m partial to Post-Crisis Superman but because I don’t want to do a complete rehash of what’s been done before I’ve changed the character to match what I think Superman should be.

•Superman is a mask for Clark to where in the public so he can use his powers without getting the press stuck over his lawn (or in this case, apartment or Ma and Pa Kent’s farm in Smallville).
•Clark, while Kryptonian in origin, very much so believes himself to be an average Joe…who can melt your head just by giving you a mean look, he’s arrogant, but he’s compassionate. He acts sort of like the title character of Naruto except he’s not a hyperactive knucklehead. He’ll give you that ‘Stop sobbing and DO something about it’ speech.
•While Clark sort of sees Jimmy, a wide-eyed thirteen year old, as a nuisance, and he won’t admit it, he adores the kid and plays mentor to him, in his own special way. At some point I’d like to have Darkseid kill of Jimmy in cold blood to enrage Clark ala Dan Turpin in Superman: TAS.
•While in the public eye in the Superman mask, he comes off as a total boy scout, but when alone and among his criminals his true persona comes out. Clark tricks himself into believing he’d rather civilize and turn his foes around with conversation, but sometimes a man just had to lay down the law and he’ll beat the poop out of them…that is, assuming they can handle it (Metallo, a giant robot, what-have-you).
•He wants to help people, but he can’t always do that, sometimes they’re just too far down the path they chose and they don’t want to change. He finds it frustrating, but that’s life.
•The true extent of his powers are unknown even to him, but he finds himself able to stop a crashing plane, but barely. Perhaps he’s holding himself back without even knowing it?
•His powers include: super speed, strength, flight, invulnerability (missiles will knock him around, but not too badly. A nuke will darn near kill him, though), voice mimicking (personally, it’s something I think would be really neat to see him use), x-ray vision, heat vision, and enhanced vision.
•I like to keep the character’s powers in check, so don’t expect to see the guy doing things without effort. And yes, he’ll need oxygen to breath in space, but this man has got some enhanced lungs so he could probably hold his breath for a few hours.
 
We open over what looks like black. As a bit of sunlight from the far distance illuminates our sight, we see six crystals against the dark black surface of the Krypton continent, drifting listlessly through space.

Jor-El: "The total accumulation of all knowledge spanning the 28 known galaxies, is embedded in the crystals which I have sent along with you. Study them well my son, and learn from them."

A silvery, metallic tentacle extends out to the crystals, sucking them in like a python. It retracts inside of a metallic ship, whose dome-like body we can only see the edges of.

Cue John Williams theme, as the dome accelerates. Building to the crashing crescendo, the dome accelerates to hyperspeed before disappearing, emerging

THE S SHIELD

followed by in red lettering :THE MAN OF STEEL

We crash through the cosmos, galaxy upon galaxy, through asteroids, and novas, gas giants and red dwarves as the credits roll on.

Finally coming to a stop at Global Space Station 1, the largest space station in the history of the world, as the Shuttle Endeavor docks with it, bringing the final piece to completing the station.

Back at mission control in Houston, Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are covering the event....
 
Actually, Clark steps out of a cab, late as usual and bumblingly makes his way to where Lois and Jimmy are standing, watching a gigantic monitor.

There, Neil Armstrong gives a speech to the press, stating the importance of the station, and that it is the effort of over 60 nations, including the first cooperation between the Chinese and U.S. space programs. It is a reality of peace that, when Armstrong first stepped on the moon, was only a dream. Clark can't help but break character and smile at this.

Lois gets a call from her son, who is only watching to see if Superman is there. Clark hears them on the phone, and excuses himself. He bumbles to the bathroom, and Jimmy realizes he has to go too.

Following far after, Clark enters and realizes he's alone, searches with his x-ray vision. He listens to Lois' call with Jason from afar. His hearing is disturbed by a high-pitched SQUEAL that drops him to his knees in pain. So much pain that he can't recover when Jimmy walks in to see Clark without his glasses and finally, FINALLY puts one and one together.

Initially excited, then slightly terrified, he comedically asks him not to melt his face off. At that moment, alarms and klaxxons go off!

Stepping out of the bathroom (in character, with glasses) he sees that a mysterious missile of unknown origin or payload is speeding towards the station. All of the hydrogen will ignite, killing everyone and bringing it crashing to the surface.

This looks like a job for....
 
odiin said:
Most people, anyway.

Instead of a sequel, or even a reboot, the next Superman films could be prequels taking place years before Superman Returns, and Superman Returns will just be considered the tail end of the series.

The cast from SR could return, but because it would take place years prior to SR, there would be no Superkid to deal with, and they could even have Lex as a businessman, and simply explain that between the prequels and Superman Returns, he ended up losing the company and turning into a petty thief.

I think that's a pretty good compromise, but what's everyone else's opinion on something like this?
Click to expand...

thats actually a very clever idea. i was thinking along the lines of having flashbacks ala BB on krypton setting up braniac, but anything except for a reboot
 
I would use JLA as a stepping stone to the Superman Returns sequel.

I would use the same cast from Returns - but Luthor is no where to be seen in this movie.

Basically, at some point in the first half an hour, after we have been exposed to the flash, batman, wonderwoman etc we get some time on the love triangle of Richard, Lois and Clark - just to set up the situation to the audience (this next sequence probably takes up 10/15 mins). Maybe it's in the late afternoon and Richard has just left the D. Planet to pick up Jason from a neighbouring city, he's on a class field trip to a museum or something(to use metropolis would be too much of a coincidence), Lois and Clark have some banter involving superman, when news comes in of what appears to be an alien invasion in that city - Lois and Clark are sent to report.
A giant ship is hovering over the city and reports come in that a few more have done the same in other cities, similar to independance day but not as obvious.
People are in a panic, some are fleeing the city, some are staying put and some, like Richard are heading in to get relatives/loved ones.
Lois and Clark do some reporting, speaking to eye whitnesses and military men and Clark obviously considers being Superman, he uses his x ray vision but to no use. He decides to wait.
The military are there in large numbers, all lining up, taking aim, it doesn't look good. The mayor is there to calm people down and give hope.
Lois gets a call on her mobile from Richard, he has Jason, she is relieved and hurries them out (Clark is listening in - stalker mode, continuety haha).
The main super hero of that city shows up(a not so significant character), he tells City over p.a system that he will fly up to the craft and try to negotiate, he flies and as he gets nearer, the machines on the craft (space age warfare) gets ready to attack in response from the superhero flying too close.
A single beam is shot out and takes out the hero - the military respond and open fire.
The civilians underneath panic and scream, lois shouts for Richard, Clark frantically searches the distance with his vision to locate them.
Something happens with the craft, a hatch opens and an object falls out, plumiting to the streets below.
It is witnessed by Clark and may others, Clark has no time to lose, he spots Richard and Jason and at super speed rushes into the crowd towards them, weaving in and out of the masses.
The next scene is in slow motion to actually capture the moment and emotion
*BOOM* an explosion rips through the city streets as a tank and oher military machines are destroyed, taking cars and people out. Flames rip through the area and engulf the crowd. We see the searing heat rip through Richard as he runs towards Clarks direction with Jason (at this point it looks as though Richard makes eye contact with clark) in his arms.
The explosion goes through them, we then see Clarks eyes, they lose their expression, lose their life, and he stops in shock, as the flames rip through Clark, it all seems calm and tranquil as the flames and debris tear at his suit and jacket, exposing the S on his chest and blasting his glasses away, but he was too late.
The flames settle and smoke smoulders the area, Lois and by standers run in to help where she finds Clarks glasses, she realises she may have just lost the 3 things dear to her. She runs in shouting Jasons name, she turns around to see a man slumped to the ground, from behind she realises it's a crying Clark, clothes torn and smouldering. she goes over to him, he looks up and she sees Supermans face and costume appearing from under the ripperd clothes, she realises something awful has happened, she looks down to what he is holding - a bloody and charred school bag (probably with an image of superman on) bearing the name Jason White. Lois stares...
 
The Guard said:
If I was doing it, I would just make a straightforward, Earthbound Superman film with origin elements, using tech terrorist cell Intergang and their commander, John Corben, as the villains, with Lex Luthor behind the scenes (not portrayed as a villain). John Henry Irons would play a role in the first film, and have a role throughout.

Build to Braniac in the second film and then Zod and Evil Kryptonians and Supergirl in the third film.

Clark wouldn't know where he was from, and certainly wouldn't know about Krypton. He'd just know what he could do. No Kryptonite in the first film. Superman and Luthor wouldn't even be at odds for the most part. Decent roles for Jimmy and Perry White, not just comic relief, but would have meaningful roles.
Click to expand...


It's liked you went straight into my brain and grabbed my idea:wow:
 
My restart idea is a origin flick featuring Superman v. Braniac, with Lex and LexCorp operating in the background! You would have to be careful with who you cast as Lex though. He wouldn't have the biggest role in the first flick, maybe announce his candidacy for President.

My "established" Superman idea, that I had before McG, Ratner, and Singer came on board was to have our hero face off against President Lex Luthor and Metallo. I would opened the movie with Kal-El's ship coming to Earth through the stars, with Jor-El as a narrator, not just for the opening scene in space, but the movie in general, acting as sort of a guardian angel, watching over his son. The ship would have crashed by the red truck, the Kents take in Clark and wonder what will become of there son, and I would have cut to a red boot, about to save the day. Basically, President Luthor would, through an already established LexCorp and a well paid set up Morgan Edge, be funding and supplying terrorist groups to attack the United States, so Lex can in turn create his army of Metallo's to destory his enemies and strike fear in to the heart of the world, because my Lex would have been very ethno-centric and hateful of other cultures, thinking he is doing the right thing, and in the process is hurting Americans and other nations. President Luthor also would have been very outspoken about how America could not trust other nations. I had just finished reading Mein Kempf when I came up with this idea, and I drew alot of inspirations from Hitler for my Lex Luthor. I wanted to make Lex Luthor the sickest, darkest to ever grace the screen, up against the greatest hero of all time. Of course there would already be a prototype Metallo, made to wipe out Superman and anyone who might try to rat him out on his plan. I wrote a scene that pays homage to the Terminator, where Metallo destroys a group of terrorists who are on to Lex's plan. Of course, Superman, and Lois, would be the only one's who see what is happening and believe Lex is setting this all up, but after Superman cannot prove it, he retreats to the farm after learning that MARTHA KENT has been stricken with cancer, and has a short time to live. Martha has never been the Kent to die before, and I wanted to explore that. It is here I would show flashback scene's to Clark's youth, intertwined with him not only grieving for his mother, but wondering if his life's purpose was a waste, seeing that Lex was now President and brainwashing people. Clark would question himself, his faith in humanity, and try to embrace his own immortality in the face of his mothers death, realizing he will always someday be alone, which, in my story, would be what keeps him away from Lois. Kal-El would also wonder who he really is, Superman or Clark Kent, and I would turn that debate into a storyline. Of course, Superman would have an epiphany and remember that he is what stands between good and evil, that the fight will never stop and it is up to him to protect the innocent, helped by his mother's memory and the flashbacks to his childhood were he discovered who he wanted to be, and would reinforce the ideals of the character for new viewers without being an origin story. Lois, on the other hand, finds herself missing Clark Kent and knowing that she loves him more than a friend, and after being tipped of by one Lana Lang, goes to the farm for a dramatic confrontation. Followed by one of Lex's goons, Metallo attacks the Kent farm and basically destroys everything, and gets away due to Superman needing to save his dad and Lois, and this also leads to a tender moment with the three of them rebuilding the farm at the end of the film.

After talking with Dr. Hamiliton, who has worked on the Metallo project in it's infant stages and quit, Superman knows he can prove what Lex's is doing by removing a memory chip from Metallo, although he might risk killing it/him. This creates a moral dilemma, but I had Superman, after a brutal fight in downtown Metropolis, remove the chip while not "killing" Metallo, show up in Washington, D.C., to show the man Lex really is before Congress and the Vice President, who I would show to be a good, moral man who often disagree's with Lex and was only picked to be the running mate because of his popularity, and after proven to be the bastard that he is, Lex would attempt to ecscape via his henchman from LexCorp, and after Superman tried to stop him, Lex would have the Kryptonite ring, and brutally beat the wholy hell out of Superman, who is both weakened and not willing to strike a fatal blow in any way, shape, or form. Lois would save Superman, however, with a gun shot to the back of Lex Luthor, doing what Superman could not do and returning the favor of being saved so many times.

I really wanted to create a dark, mean world with Superman being the light, the silver lining of hope. Again, I wanted to create the darkest villian of all time. And I wanted to present the Man of Steel overcoming his own "human" doubts and feelings to reign supreme as the champion of all heroes. The Martha Kent angle would have represented his inability to save everyone because everyone dies, but that shouldn't stop you from making the world a better place.

I toyed with the idea of Lex discovering Supermans identity of Clark Kent, and Lex actually, via a will, giving LexCorp to Clark for the sequel, which would have been Darkseid, because if Lex failed in his plan to make the world a better place with his methods, he would know Superman was right all along. I never made a decision.

I'm still working on my origin restart, like I said, it's Superman vs. Braniac with Lex operating in the background, while being a straightforward restart. I'll get back when I have more! A origin film was not my first choice....
 
I would reinvent the superman concept to make it more plausible and timeless.
Powers like heatvision, fly, superbreath, etc. are just fun.
The suit, today, is just weird. It doesn't even look alien in any Superman work.
 
Further thinking, I have done. To be honest, I'd go with a more Post-Crisis character. Clark is the true face while Superman is just a mask he can where to fulfill his need to use his powers to protect those weaker then he, thost that are defenseless. There's not real reason to make a 'timeless movie' because comics change to match the times, they always have and they always will. My film would have to match the times that it was being released in, it has to be relevent to today, not tommorrow or yesterday.
 
Here what I would do in Superman: Man of Steel...

Superman would throw a PUNCH!!


The Treasure Troll has spoken
 
The Guard said:
If I was doing it, I would just make a straightforward, Earthbound Superman film with origin elements, using tech terrorist cell Intergang and their commander, John Corben, as the villains, with Lex Luthor behind the scenes (not portrayed as a villain). John Henry Irons would play a role in the first film, and have a role throughout.

Build to Braniac in the second film and then Zod and Evil Kryptonians and Supergirl in the third film.

Clark wouldn't know where he was from, and certainly wouldn't know about Krypton. He'd just know what he could do. No Kryptonite in the first film. Superman and Luthor wouldn't even be at odds for the most part. Decent roles for Jimmy and Perry White, not just comic relief, but would have meaningful roles.
Click to expand...

This is a hard plot to argue with, though I would hint at Krypton heavily in the first film, revealing it in the second.

My main goals in making a superman film would be to:
A) Give the audience a chance to fall in love with a heroic-styled hero
B) Give the mainstream audience a fight scene and a feat of power that they've never seen anything like before
C) Build a livable universe for the Man of Steel, not so unlike our own, including supporting characters not so unlike the people all around us.

What more could one want from a superman film?
 
Man, Im really in love with All-star superman, so if im going to make a supes movie, it'll be as fun, as weird, as lighthearted, and as epic as the morrisson-quitely comics. (and i'll still have routh as supes, but i'll ask him to go as big as he wants with his muscles, and to be more warm and friendly and happier than in SR, and ill give him a real superman suit, bright and all)
 
Translate the Fleischer cartoon into a theatrical version with live action actors and green screen like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow with a retro 1930's or 40's look and feel. . You can keep the cost down because sets and practical effects would be replaced with the green screen.

It wouldn't make a dime, but that's what I'd do.
 
There's something in my head about a very grassroots approach to Superman, which involves a lot of people's lives intertangling with Superman on his path to defeat the big bad, which would be extremely poinient in the Corben-Intergang version of things.
 
luca_frontino said:
The suit, today, is just weird. It doesn't even look alien in any Superman work.
Click to expand...

The suit is not supposed to look alien. It's simply his birth blankets turned into a suit. He's supposed to look like a hero people can identify with on earth. Even though there are other origins of the suit, the general accepted one is that Martha stitched it together. Why would it look alien if it's made by an earthling?
 
luca_frontino said:
The suit, today, is just weird. It doesn't even look alien in any Superman work.
Click to expand...

The approach I took in my story idea was a bit of both Pre- and Post-Crisis: he's wrapped in his dad's cape when he comes to Earth, but when he gets to the Fortress for the first time as a young man, the clothes he has on him are "reformatted" (molecularly re-arranged) into his Super-suit, which is patterned after the one Jor-El wore (family crest, belt, boots) only using the colors of the materials that Clark had on (red coat, yellow T-shirt, blue jeans).
 
No matter which approach you take for the suit, you don't want it to look alien, just cool. Even though Supes is alien, even in costume he looks human. People can identify with that and feel comfortable. An alien looking suit is not for Superman.

To be honest, other than the washed out colors in post production (Singervision), I didn't hate the SR suit. Take away the horrible 'S' on the belt and boots and make the chest 'S' bigger and I'd be fine with that. The actual suit's colors were fine until he ruined it in post.
 
I'd really just like to see fresh villains and a real threat. A villain who strikes home and gets a little more personal with Supes/Clark.
 
I just saw the trailer for Hancock...why does will smith look badass flying and superman doesnt.....wth??
 
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