The Daily Planet - Superman News and Speculation Thread

[Gothamsknight]

Are they filming outside today?

 

[dhandler01]

I agree with Invader that the shot he posted probably has more significance in context. I think he was trying to avoid paying homage to any specific famous comics images, which might have been considered low-hanging fruit, so to speak. Love it or hate it, what we got was far less fan service-y, but it certainly gave us more to talk about lol.

Which we would not be at this point if it was fan service. We would have moved on drooling in anticipation for set leaks and such.

The issue is I think he probably wanted us speculating as to what the scene means, which some of us are. I don't think he thought people would be overanalyzing minute aspects of the suit as much as they are. But...I think he has shown that despite what a bunch of neckbeards and Di$ney Disciples think people do care about Superman to a very high level.

 

[Karelia]

I do kinda wish the first official image he had a bit of a smile/more optimism, just to set it apart from the last Superman a bit more.

 

[dhandler01]

F teasing. This Superman film is humongous and there is a lot riding on it. The Kingdom Come S-shield was more of a tease and it was magnificent. Loved that. I just feel introducing a new Superman needed to be bang on triumphant. But it's all good, still got an entire year of marketing and material to portray.

I remember James saying that Alex Ross has been a huge collaborator, especially designing the suit and giving notes on that. I saw Alex post on twXtter of a side by side comparison of the reveal and his famous artwork of Clark sitting in his chair from Peace on Earth. There may have been a slight homage to that as well.

I dont think they wanted it to be that way. If they wanted it to "break the internet" like Snyder liked to do they would have put more fanfare behind it leading up to it. I think they were in some ways trying to avoid that. Personally a cool reveal that went bananas would have been awesome...but Gunn seemed to feel otherwise for various reasons. (as director and head of DC Studios) He is not a dumb guy he has a reason for this.

 

[dhandler01]

Then let him hold some flowers and a box of chocolates I guess. Maybe even wink and blow a kiss to the viewer.

If a classic callback to Superman leaving a building and looking off into the distance preparing to go into battle where you get a full view his most prominent features for a “first look” isn’t enough, then idk.

I meant the artwork

 

[Gothamsknight]

One thing I simply don't agree with is those that say this image needed a bigger impact on people. No, it didn't. Look at where the comic book genre is today. Look at how many iterations there are of Batman, Superman, etc. I don't think a suit reveal really was ever gonna be that big of a deal to the general audience. Now the trailer? Absolutely. They need to make sure THAT reaches people. There's a lot riding on this, and everything will end up being an uphill battle.

 

[Boom]

Wasn't there a casting call for extras in GA scheduled for the last week of May? Or am I misremembering?

Gotta think we're a couple weeks away from outdoor shoots.

 

[agomezv3]

Wasn't there a casting call for extras in GA scheduled for the last week of May? Or am I misremembering?

Gotta think we're a couple weeks away from outdoor shoots.

Well there's a rumor that they start shooting outdoors today

 

[dhandler01]

The problem is, DC is in not in a good place with the general audience as a whole. The IP is incredibly damaged for the time being. DC has been somewhat of a lightening rod; laughing stock to the streets. We can all agree that James Gunn took over a disgruntled and borderline depressing situation from the get-go (something he openly admitted to when he took the reigns) so his Superman film has an incredible amount of weight on it to begin the process of getting the rebranded DCU into a positive light (and not without its controversy).

The reveal has been taken its punishment, and the continued divisive nature is somewhat of a stumble coming out of the gates on already a shaky studio foundation. I just worry that Gunn's Superman film has little to no room for error and will be under an incredible amount of scrutiny either way. If the general public opens up the internet and the first thing they are seeing is shade being thrown in the vein of distasteful memes and divisive reactions, to them, they will click out with the attitude of "same 'ol DC" where this failed on some level.

I'm not interested in being on pins and needles again. The prior DCEU situation aged me a good 20 years. It's not the end of the world, but first impressions do matter. I do, though, believe that once the first footage is shown, that it will be ambitious enough to turn heads and fuel excitement. I'm sure JG has a lot of packed ammunition behind his sleeve. He knows he needs it.

The way to break that cycle is to go away from what you did before. They need to build on a new foundation. You don't stop divisiveness with one big action...American Politics has been showing that the last 4 years ya know. You start small and build. It might not seem to work on the micro level, but it does on the macro level. If you go for the big win you risk the "oh look another big reveal that goes nowhere" reaction overshadowing everything. The end of the DCEU was like that. They need to slowly get the audience there.

And first impressions don't matter if what comes next works. The first impressions of plenty of characters have been fumbled and the movies were still very successful and vice versa. First impressions are just boilerplate water cooler style talk. If the film works then the trailers and the next reveals will make this obsolete. (or put it in better context which will be my guess)

We need to get past the PTSD of the DCEU. I am not big James Gunn super fan (no pun intended) but he is better at this than anyone else WB put in charge previously. That doesnt mean it will work, but the previous regimes would have gone into "spin" mode already over this and he isn't. That tells me there is something behind this worth waiting for. The general audience will come along for the ride if Gunn gives them a reason to.

 

[dhandler01]

It doesn't help that it looks like next year will have A LOT of competition at the box office. Heck, the cast for Fantastic Four is beginning to gain some much-needed momentum.

We will see. The cast is great but I have my doubts it gets released July 25th and the story they are telling sounds like it could either be totally epic or fail hard like much of the recent Marvel stuff and previous Fantastic Four films. I hope it does well as that is one of the few Marvel properties I actually liked in my comic days .

 

[Boom]

Well there's a rumor that they start shooting outdoors today

Where?

 

[dhandler01]

One thing I simply don't agree with is those that say this image needed a bigger impact on people. No, it didn't. Look at where the comic book genre is today. Look at how many iterations there are of Batman, Superman, etc. I don't think a suit reveal really was ever gonna be that big of a deal to the general audience. Now the trailer? Absolutely. They need to make sure THAT reaches people. There's a lot riding on this, and everything will end up being an uphill battle.

Yeah. While I don't buy the "fatigue" excuse being used to justify certain films underperforming I think if fatigue does exist it is with the big reveals and trying to make every piece of news some world breaking event. I am not on SM as much as I used to be but it seems when casting decisions or suit reveals or teasers of teasers happen now they don't get the same response they used to even if it is highly anticipated. I think people have been desensitized to it. I think that has been played out which is why the negatives seem to be more pervasive...they aren't we just see them more because the rest of us are like "ok cool see ya after the trailer".

Now the thing is in many cases that tends to drag down the BO for the films a bit since the hype is not growing exponentially...but the studios are still spending so much money on these films that if they don't reach well over half a billion they aren't even truly profitable. That isn't fatigue, that is just the stupidity of studios finally catching up with them. In 2015 hype was enough for films to at least make a profit but that was never sustainable. Now, because every two weeks a new big budget action adventure film is out, the audience needs justification to go see the film. Hell I love films and I don't see most of what comes out anymore. I think things work better measured.

 

[SupermansPal]

And I hope that Gunn is not thinking that “no press is bad press”, because this movie really can’t afford that.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Really uncomfortable with the idea that this movie should be constantly playing it safe and operating from a place of fundamental cowardice. What is the benefit of that? You're going to get a worse, less creative movie. Are we really so desperate for multiple movies and a cinematic universe that we want Gunn to come right out the gate with an attitude of "NOT IN THE FACE!! NOT IN THE FACE!!"? I just want the movie to be something good and special, personally, and the last thing I want to watch is another tired, cloying, safe Big IP Thing.

I've been a huge Debbie Downer in this thread about (among other things) how I suspect this movie is DOA. But how it avoids that potentially is simply by being great. Greatness requires swings that not everyone will appreciate.

 

[Lily Adler]

"Call Me Maybe"

🎶Before you flew into my life, I missed you sooo, so bad🎶!

No Careless Whisper!

 

[Mindreaper21]

I genuinely want for you all to have a Superman film that you can fall completely in love with. There are so many elements to his story that has never made it to film. There are many of you that have a vast knowledge about the character and have and idea of what makes the ultimate version of Superman.

Though, I do have to ask:

Does anyone have any concerns about just how many heroes that are involved in the film? Does this feel like a Superman film or more of a Justice league 2.0?

 

[Bran The Man]

The addition of other heroes bugged me at first. The LAST thing I want are heroes once again being shoehorned into a Superman story solely for the sake of rushing to a team movie.

 

[WatchProtect]

If the film included all those other heroes but not Superman's cast like Jimmy or the Kent's or The Planet I'd be a little irked about it, but I don't think the characters are going to appear all that much outside of a action piece or two.

 

[Lily Adler]

If the film included all those other heroes but not Superman's cast like Jimmy or the Kent's or The Planet I'd be a little irked about it, but I don't think the characters are going to appear all that much outside of a action piece or two.

You mean a Zack Snyder Superman.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I dont think they wanted it to be that way. If they wanted it to "break the internet" like Snyder liked to do they would have put more fanfare behind it leading up to it. I think they were in some ways trying to avoid that. Personally a cool reveal that went bananas would have been awesome...but Gunn seemed to feel otherwise for various reasons. (as director and head of DC Studios) He is not a dumb guy he has a reason for this.

LOL, I would argue he still broke the internet, only in a bad way. I know some fans like the suit, while others (like myself) hope that we’ll eventually warm up to it. But the backlash against that photo has been pretty overwhelming, from what I’ve seen. If it was just the Snyder diehards, I wouldn’t worry about it but it seems to have, at best, been divisive, which is JUST WHAT SUPERMAN NEEDS AGAIN.

Now, to be fair, it’s just a photo. And even if the suit looks as bad in live action as it does here (IMO) that doesn’t mean that the movie won’t be good or hopeful or whatever. But as a fan of Superman for over 40 years, I just wish we would get a win once in a while when it comes to seeing the character on film. Something that pleases mostly everyone except for those on the fringes. It just feels like it never happens.

 

[jetage]

The backlash to the suit has not been "Overwhelming." The reaction has been large, but divided at best

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I genuinely want for you all to have a Superman film that you can fall completely in love with. There are so many elements to his story that has never made it to film. There are many of you that have a vast knowledge about the character and have and idea of what makes the ultimate version of Superman.

Though, I do have to ask:

Does anyone have any concerns about just how many heroes that are involved in the film? Does this feel like a Superman film or more of a Justice league 2.0?

Nah, a huge chunk of great Superman stories have other DC characters in them and Gunn is adept at juggling big casts. Other heroes is only an issue if they’re solely there to set up spin offs and the only character who we have any indication will feature in one is The Engineer.

Superhero stories have almost always taken place in worlds filled with other superheroes. It’s only viewed negatively because of the structure utilized by the MCU.

 

[Lily Adler]

The backlash to the suit has not been "Overwhelming." The reaction has been large, but divided at best

 

[DKDetective]

I can picture a context in which this photo was taken from when they were filming a scene on the third act or something with Clark already at his "lowest" for whatever stuff Luthor is pulling but still goes out to fight and it's like this really epic sequence that's supposed to showcase what Superman is all about. In which case if the scene itself has a special meaning to the movie like that it'd make sense for Gunn to want this to be the first image, as I guess in his head this may be one of his favorite scenes in the script.

Yup, as I've mentioned to FC, if he is slowly suiting up, I suspect it is possibly because he is weak or de-powered or something at his lowest point due to Luthor's scheme.

If he has been captured by Luthor after using the clone or something to discredit him, it would explain the penthouse like setting, that is more representative of Bruce Wayne or Lex Luthor in style than what we would normally think of as Clark's apartment.

 

[Invader Joker]

Yup, as I've mentioned to FC, if he is slowly suiting up, I suspect it is possibly because he is weak or de-powered or something at his lowest point due to Luthor's scheme.

If he has been captured by Luthor after using the clone or something to discredit him, it would explain the penthouse like setting, that is more representative of Bruce Wayne or Lex Luthor in style than what we would normally think of as Clark's apartment.

I can also picture it being Lois apartment and he's recovering on her apartment.