The Daily Planet - Superman News and Speculation Thread (🚨TAG SPOILERS🚨)

[Invader Joker]

I think Gunn has ****ed himself a little bit by denying rumours so often and so specifically that it's now relatively easy to get a read on how he goes about it.

He has a method to his madness too. I don't think it goes as far as to say that when he directly shuts down a story by saying "100% false" or anything that means it's actually true (like say, the Boyd Holbrook Harvey thing was absolutely bull****) but there are very specific ways he goes around answering certain questions and he does play around a lot with technicalities. And even then there's also cases where maybe something was true at some point but isn't anymore (the middle east thing) so he feels comfortable just doing a blanket denial, which is technically true, but doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

If Ultraman is kind of a tragic Frankenstein's monster figure that plays incredibly well to Gunn's strengths as a writer and will be an awesome showcase for Corenswet.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

He has a method to his madness too. I don't think it goes as far as to say that when he directly shuts down a story by saying "100% false" or anything that means it's actually true (like say, the Boyd Holbrook Harvey thing was absolutely bull****) but there are very specific ways he goes around answering certain questions and he does play around a lot with technicalities. And even then there's also cases where maybe something was true at some point but isn't anymore (the middle east thing)

Oh for sure, but I also do think in a case like this it makes it easy for him to accidentally borderline confirm things when he isn't specific in his denials.

 

[Invader Joker]

Oh for sure, but I also do think in a case like this it makes it easy for him to accidentally borderline confirm things when he isn't specific in his denials.

It also says a lot when he doesn't deny or comment on something (like when the Muschietti being out of Brave and the Bold rumor came out and he never even addressed it, despite being asked constantly. Hell he's still being asked.)

 

[Deck Rickard]

If Ultraman is kind of a tragic Frankenstein's monster figure that plays incredibly well to Gunn's strengths as a writer and will be an awesome showcase for Corenswet.

Yeah, I meant to do a pros and cons thing with my previous post on Ultraman but forgot to talk about the pros and one of them is the opportunity for Corenswet to play two distinct characters. As much as I loathe Superman 3, one thing that the movie does really well is the evil portrayal of Superman. It makes me wish Chris Reeve had played a few more villainous roles back then because he did very well (BTW, I highly recommend Deathtrap and Above Suspicion for some great examples of Reeve breaking bad).

Anyway, it could be a great opportunity for Corenswet to show his range.

 

[Frodo]

I have no issue with Lex being the main villain, which we've known for months anyway, and is not what underwhelms ,me about the latest rumors.

But Lex as a main villain for me is not a dealbreaker for me at least .

I've always assumed Lex wouldn't be the only antagonist of the film anyway.



It's the clone , Ultraman ,stuff i'm not all that jazzed for , if true .

As I've said previously , I appreciate there are other fans who may like it , or are willing to go with it .

If so, fair enough . You feel how you feel.


I actually don't see Gunn's statement as a denial of the clone stuff , unless he comes out later and explicitly addresses it .

So, it's possible it's false, but he hasn't explicitly debunked it either.

 

[Babillygunn]

I don’t know if the Ultraman rumor is true or false (Gunn worded that response in such a way that UM could still be the secondary villain and he’s just not confirming it). But at least his latest post does confirm that Lex will be the central bad guy here and not a villain off to the side like some have speculated.

Anyway, if Ultraman is in this and is a clone, I feel like that takes away some of what makes Ultraman interesting. While yes, at his core, he’s just an evil version of Superman, I think what makes that character (and the Crime Syndicate) appealing is the evil universe he comes from. Justice League: Earth 2 portrayed this brilliantly by showing how Ultraman’s world is inherently evil to the point that even characters who try to do good in it ultimately turn into full-on fascists when they achieve their goals. Additionally, I like how Ultraman and the others aren’t just evil copies of their JL counterparts; they are often different people or have wildly different origins. Ultraman was Clark Kent, but this version was a human astronaut who gained powers by exposure to kryptonite. Owlman is Thomas Wayne Jr.; Bruce is dead. Superwoman is actually Lois Lane. Those twisted origins make those characters more fun. I’m personally sick of multiverse shenanigans but I would rather see the Crime Syndicate than have Ultraman essentially be a handsome version of Bizarro.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I am a sucker for Crime Syndicate stories. I absolutely LOVE Forever Evil and I think that it is one of the most underrated comics stories of the past 20 years. I also loved their inclusion in Darkseid War and in Robinson’s Justice League run (which is itself criminally underrated.)

I’d hate for Ultraman to be a clone.

Seeing it laid out like this really hits home.

We've been repeating the same type of villains for Superman since his first movie beside Superman 3.

Granted none of it has been done badly per day except maybe Superman Returns Superman IV but still Superman has plenty other foes that haven't been done yet on the big screen.


Really surprised James Gunn is repeating this pattern so far.

Not sure it's the best choice in the middle of superhero fatigue.

I don’t think that we have any information to conclude that Gunn is “repeating the pattern.”

I think that it’s also unfair to deem any physical foe as simply an “evil Superman.” The fact that people see Shannon’s Zod and the BvS Doomsday as Superman equivalents says more about Snyder’s butchering of the characters than anything about the characters themselves. By that logic, Mongul could be an “evil Superman” which if he were portrayed in that way would be a grave disservice to a fascinating character.

I’ve seen tons of people on this board complain that Braniac would be just “another alien invasion story” that would be a repeat of MoS. At this point, I no idea what people are wanting. People seem to have disrespect for Superman and his villains. They paint with the broadest brushes just to boil them to their basest levels with no regard for what actually makes them great. Or at the very least, I am wondering if people are completely ignorant of Superman and his mythos.

 

[Lily Adler]

Well, so much for Brainiac being in this film. Now I'm curious on why they even showed a panel from that storyline when it's becoming clear that Brainiac isn't involved.

We'll get Brainiac... just not that one:

 

[Invader Joker]

You took the words right out of my mouth. I am a sucker for Crime Syndicate stories. I absolutely LOVE Forever Evil and I think that it is one of the most underrated comics stories of the past 20 years. I also loved their inclusion in Darkseid War and in Robinson’s Justice League run (which is itself criminally underrated.)

I’d hate for Ultraman to be a clone.

Technically this Ultraman being a clone doesn't really rule out the idea that an alternate universe Ultraman exists either. The point of the multiverse is that anything is possible on it, so they can just say it's an alternate universe where Ultraman is the real guy and not a clone, and have Clark recognize him when he sees him in an hypothetical JL 2 or whatever.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

A crime syndicate movie would be awesome but Ultraman is for sure in the ‘So obscure that it’s okay to do whatever you want with him’ category.

 

[flickchick85]

I don’t know what that statement from Gunn was, but it was NOT a debunking.

Kinda getting hyped for the possibility of David getting to play two roles in his first outing lol.

 

[Lily Adler]

I don’t know what that statement from Gunn was, but it was NOT a debunking.

Kinda getting hyped for the possibility of David getting to play two roles in his first outing lol.

 

[emielaen]

People are just jumping to major conclusions over the whole situation really. If its a clone that deteriorates over time from the traits of Ultraman to the traits of Bizarro, or not, it doesn't mean the Crime Syndicate can't be used in the future (assuming they even wanna use em). Just change the name of the Superman from another Earth. I don't see the big deal there.

On another note, if the character is only called Ultraman in this film, or any other name, but the character clearly holds the traits of both Ultraman and BIzarro across the deteroration process, would that really make it plain, outright bad? I get that fans would like to see characters they know portrayed a certain way, but some of the takes I've seen on a few sites feel very superficial and overblown.

And I think Gunn was just addressing it bc his **** was probably blowing up over it. He said what we already know. He didn't really declare it a debunking. He just said don't believe everything you read. Absolutely harmless.

 

[flickchick85]

I hereby dub this phase of production, The Ira Era:

 

[DKDetective]

You took the words right out of my mouth. I am a sucker for Crime Syndicate stories. I absolutely LOVE Forever Evil and I think that it is one of the most underrated comics stories of the past 20 years. I also loved their inclusion in Darkseid War and in Robinson’s Justice League run (which is itself criminally underrated.)

I’d hate for Ultraman to be a clone.


I don’t think that we have any information to conclude that Gunn is “repeating the pattern.”

I think that it’s also unfair to deem any physical foe as simply an “evil Superman.” The fact that people see Shannon’s Zod and the BvS Doomsday as Superman equivalents says more about Snyder’s butchering of the characters than anything about the characters themselves. By that logic, Mongul could be an “evil Superman” which if he were portrayed in that way would be a grave disservice to a fascinating character.

I’ve seen tons of people on this board complain that Braniac would be just “another alien invasion story” that would be a repeat of MoS. At this point, I no idea what people are wanting. People seem to have disrespect for Superman and his villains. They paint with the broadest brushes just to boil them to their basest levels with no regard for what actually makes them great. Or at the very least, I am wondering if people are completely ignorant of Superman and his mythos.

I think the concern is not just the same type of villains but using them in the same way. Returns gave Luthor the same exact scheme as STM, except bigger. Having Lex create an evil Superman clone here would be a repeat of Superman IV. Similarly, the previous rumours about Lex framing Superman so as to put him in conflict with other heroes would be treading the same ground as BvS.

To be fair to the general audience, past Superman films haven't don't a very good job of portraying the depth and complexity of his rogues' gallery, so I can understand why casual fans would be dismayed about rumours suggesting that Gunn would be approaching this film in a very similar way to past Superman films.

I really hope that while we know Lex's scheme is doomed to fail, Gunn has Lex get off scot-free with the heroes being unable to prove that he was connected. While it was driven by the serial nature of comics, I always loved that approach to the corporate titan Post-Crisis version of the Lex. Superman being hamstrung by imperfect human institutions has a lot of rich thematic subtext and play perfectly into a conflict where the heroes are investigative journalists.

 

[dhandler01]

I don’t know what that statement from Gunn was, but it was NOT a debunking.

Kinda getting hyped for the possibility of David getting to play two roles in his first outing lol.

Agree to disagree. (On point 1)

Non clone Ultraman DC is pretty hype inducing though...my gf agrees

 

[dhandler01]

And if they do clone Ultraman now they aren't doing Earth 3 later...they could but no way they would. That is why Earth 3 makes more sense anyways.

 

[Lily Adler]

They couldnt even recast her with another dark haired brunette?

 

[SwordOfMorning]

And if they do clone Ultraman now they aren't doing Earth 3 later...they could but no way they would. That is why Earth 3 makes more sense anyways.

Also like Earth 3 is cool but it feels like something it’s pretty unlikely they’d get to anyway lol. It’s not any different than having Owlman in Court of Owls (which was dumb but for different reasons).

 

[solidsnake86]

Lex is arguably superman's best villain and hasn't really been done well on the big screen. All they have to do is give us the animated series lex or Rosenbaum's lex and I think the general audience will be receptive to it.

Regarding the clone, it's all about execution. The movie needs to nail superman and if this clone is how they can make the character of superman and Clark Kent shine I'm all for it. I think I recall early on there was talk about the focus being on Clark as a journalist. You would need to have some sort of conspiracy going on to highlight that. So if you have lex making a clone it gives a good reason for Clark to be a journalist and do some investigative reporting. World ending threats don't lend itself to that story.

 

[emielaen]

And if they do clone Ultraman now they aren't doing Earth 3 later...they could but no way they would. That is why Earth 3 makes more sense anyways.

It makes more sense to go full on multiverse rather than using a clone because they may borrow the traits of a character for this story? Idk bout that lol

If they truly wanted to do a Two-Earths story down the line they could just change the name of the Superman doppleganger.

 

[flickchick85]

Posting Superman pages/panels I love every day until we get our first official look at David Corenswet as Superman, Day 4:

 

[Lily Adler]

Ugh I ugly cried at this scene.

 

[Babillygunn]

Posting Superman pages/panels I love every day until we get our first official look at David Corenswet as Superman, Day 4:

View attachment 86193
View attachment 86194

Space Age?

 

[Babillygunn]

Ugh I ugly cried at this scene.

Seriously. All the people who rip on this show as being CW cheesiness can kiss my grits.