The Phantom Zone: Superman 🚨SPOILER🚨 Discussion (NO TAGS)

[J.Drangal]

For my part, what I understood despite the leaker's broken syntax was that Jor El's message had been corrupted by Luthor.
But what makes me doubt is the description of the final scene, where Superman asks to see his parents and it's the Kents who appear. I can feel an idea being conveyed here, but I'm not sure what it is... Because in a way, it could sound like Clark leaving behind an “evil” Kryptonian origin.

Otherwise, I have nothing to say about what leaked.
Jimmy's story is what I've come to expect from Gunn, but I don't think it's a misstep either.
What I like most of all is this desire to really embrace the science fiction of this universe and to see Fleisher's cartoon cited as a reference is the cherry on top. Again, I'm not a huge Superman fan or specialist, but the mental image I have of it, what attracts me visually speaking, comes a lot from Fleisher and STAS (somewhat retro setting, retro robots, mad scientist, colorful villain, etc).
And while I'm still not sure yet that the film's patina will differ so much from other CBMs (technically speaking but I nitpick here), it will at least be very fresh direction for Superman to have a film with all this lore around him.

 

[Superchan]

Jor-El breaking bad isn't anything new.........



.................infact that whole Dan Jurgens storyline was excellent and one of the best things about "rebirth", which is saying a lot considering what a shot in the arm that was for Superman after the New 52's highs and lows.

On TV Jor-el was "evil" several times, like in Smallville (voiced by Zod himself Terrance Stamp) and Superboy played by a James Bond himself George Lazenby, although it wasn't *really* Jor but hey, close enough.



What really matters to me is how Superman/CK is portrayed, is he going to be charming, intelligent and likable like Reeve or STAS? Or is he going to be mopey, emo, dialogue challenged like SR and Snyder's nonsense?
CK/Superman's portrayal and his relationship with Lois will make or break this movie, much like the first Venom film, that movie wasn't particularly good plot wise, it didn't have interesting support characters and the villain was forgettable to put it mildly but the Venom/Eddie dynamic worked so well that it elevated the rest of the film.
Gunn has shown multiple times in the past that he can bring multiple interesting characters together in a tight plot, while adding a bit of silliness, fun and heart so I have hope that he can do it here even if I'm a bit nervous about the fact that he never really handled a straight laced character like Clark before (atleast not that I can remember) but I'm rooting for the man, "take him home" James.

 

[Herolee10]

Here's a list of all of the (supposed) leaks/confirmed details about the film that I could fine online.

• Supergirl appears in the film to collect Krypto from Superman by the films' conclusion.
• Lex is responsible for unleashing several kaiju monsters against Superman and creates a clone of him as well.
• Clark and Lois have been secretly dating for a few months, with the latter knowing about his secret identity.
• Using a distorted message of Jor-el, Lex is able to turn the public against Superman.
• According to Nicholas Hoult, there's reportedly a love triangle between Superman, Lois, and Lex.
• Jimmy is basically Will Ferral's character from "The Other Guys", where several gorgeous women chase after him for some reason.
• Lex is able to temporarily trap Superman in another space dimension before Lois and the other heroes rescue him.

Am I missing anything else that's important?

 

[ArmsHeldOut]

Here's a list of all of the (supposed) leaks/confirmed details about the film that I could fine online.

• Supergirl appears in the film to collect Krypto from Superman by the films' conclusion.
• Lex is responsible for unleashing several kaiju monsters against Superman and creates a clone of him as well.
• Clark and Lois have been secretly dating for a few months, with the latter knowing about his secret identity.
• Using a distorted message of Jor-el, Lex is able to turn the public against Superman.
• According to Nicholas Hoult, there's reportedly a love triangle between Superman, Lois, and Lex.
• Jimmy is basically Will Ferral's character from "The Other Guys", where several gorgeous women chase after him for some reason.
• Lex is able to temporarily trap Superman in another space dimension before Lois and the other heroes rescue him.

Am I missing anything else that's important?

I figured that Hoult was just being slightly facetious here, but maybe not.

 

[Herolee10]

I figured that Hoult was just being slightly facetious here, but maybe not.

To be honest, I can't tell whether he was being serious or just joking around. I haven't seen that tidbit mentioned on any other outlet.

 

[J.Drangal]

So like I said in the main thread, I really enjoyed the sneak peek.
But one detail got me thinking about the leak's most controversial points...

When Superman arrives in the Fortress of Solitude, we hear a message playing in the background on a loop in an unknown language. I think it's Jor-El's message. And when the leaker said Luthor would “uncorrupt” the message, maybe he didn't make the mistake we thought: maybe Luthor does, in fact, decipher the message, revealing it would indeed be some kind of order to dominate humans.

But here's the twist: I can imagine Superman himself may have never understood this message.
Maybe that's Luthor's real weapon, using Superman's origin to make him doubt his destiny. It's a subject that many will find topical, but it's also the perfect contrast to the precedent iteration. Whereas in MOS, Jor El wanted his son to be free, while burdening him with the destiny of being nothing less than a bridge between two worlds, here we have a Superman who will truly choose his own destiny. It was often said that Snyder had treated the character more like Kal El, the mourning last son of Krypton, so now let's make room here for Clark Kent, that brave farmer boy from Kansas.

And I think I now better understand the final scene with the appearance of the Kent...

Any thought?

 

[GreenKToo]

I've pretty much thought from the beginning that Lex would turn the world against superman. The only question was always on the how.

I still think he uses the clone to frame superman, and now, the message would only enforce that.

Lex can point to the message after the clone does something horrible, and says see see, superman is evil, etc etc.

 

[WayneMB]

i hate jor-el being evil. superman should be sent to earth with only ulterior motive of jor-el, being for his son to live

 

[Stringer]

Sounds similar to what The Batman did with Thomas Wayne and tied it well into Bruce's character in the end.

 

[WayneMB]

Sounds similar to what The Batman did with Thomas Wayne and tied it well into Bruce's character in the end.

not at all lol

 

[J.Drangal]

Sounds similar to what The Batman did with Thomas Wayne and tied it well into Bruce's character in the end.

I've thought about it, the portrait of Thomas Wayne being slightly tainted or at least not as idealistic as Bruce imagines, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they've really done something with it in the film.

 

[Gu3ree]

I wonder how Lex will get clearance at the Fortress of Solitude. Obviously it has a passcode.

I found seeing Krypto ragging Superman to be a bit jarring. He seems way too aggressive. I would worry for humans. Sure the dog might just want to play but it looks more like he wants to attack than play. Most dogs can tell when their owner is injured, and I don’t think they would be aggressive. I’d rather Krypto be a little nicer. My version anyways.

I always wanted to see a Fortress of Solitude more like this even though I still prefer the Donner version design. I still prefer the Fortress looking more advanced and have labs and other facilities, and not just 100% all crystals and ice. I actually don’t know much about the Fortress from the comics. Was the idea of behind the creation of the growing crystals colliding from Superman: The Movie?

The suit might grow on me. I get the feeling this movie might have more humor than Superman: The Movie, which I don’t necessarily see as a good thing. The Krypto biting bits seemed a little excessive and Gunn is known for his extended amounts of jokes in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. Hope it finds ground, because the Donner movie certainly did. I want Superman taken seriously with some humor, but not treated as a joke.

And I don’t want it to be Snyder level serious either. Not only were Snyder’s films too serious, moreover, Superman didn’t have enough development. Didn’t seem to me like Snyder cared enough. That’s at least one major difference I see between Snyder and Gunn’s Superman. For the first time in ages, it looks like Superman is actually getting the major spotlight in his own movie.

Was the last test screening confirmed that the runtime was just under two hours? If so, I hope not. I want it to be longish. Hope it’s epic. I hope it can be at least fulfilling within that time length.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Reminds me of one of my past dogs when she was young. She tried to treat my forearms as a chew toy, even to the point of running towards me, using a platform to get air and leaped at me with her jaws wide open. Some dogs are just rowdy and excitable.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I wonder how Lex will get clearance at the Fortress of Solitude. Obviously it has a passcode.

I found seeing Krypto ragging Superman to be a bit jarring. He seems way too aggressive. I would worry for humans. Sure the dog might just want to play but it looks more like he wants to attack than play. Most dogs can tell when their owner is injured, and I don’t think they would be aggressive. I’d rather Krypto be a little nicer. My version anyways.

I always wanted to see a Fortress of Solitude more like this even though I still prefer the Donner version design. I still prefer the Fortress looking more advanced and have labs and other facilities, and not just 100% all crystals and ice. I actually don’t know much about the Fortress from the comics. Was the idea of behind the creation of the growing crystals colliding from Superman: The Movie?

The suit might grow on me. I get the feeling this movie might have more humor than Superman: The Movie, which I don’t necessarily see as a good thing. The Krypto biting bits seemed a little excessive and Gunn is known for his extended amounts of jokes in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. Hope it finds ground, because the Donner movie certainly did. I want Superman taken seriously with some humor, but not treated as a joke.

And I don’t want it to be Snyder level serious either. Not only were Snyder’s films too serious, moreover, Superman didn’t have enough development. Didn’t seem to me like Snyder cared enough. That’s at least one major difference I see between Snyder and Gunn’s Superman. For the first time in ages, it looks like Superman is actually getting the major spotlight in his own movie.

Was the last test screening confirmed that the runtime was just under two hours? If so, I hope not. I want it to be longish. Hope it’s epic. I hope it can be at least fulfilling within that time length.

He has a Superman clone.

 

[flickchick85]

So the DCU_Updates page just went back a dug up an old scooper from the DCUleaks Reddit comments section who had correctly leaked the Supes logo before it came out and one of the number shields we’ve now seen is on the Fortress robots. That leaker seemed to work on the design side of things and also said we get Lex troopers in green and purple armored suits (which are what we see on the beach I think). What caught my interest is that the only other thing this scooper said which hasn’t made itself known yet is that Lex is running for President. And apparently they also posted a cryptic comment that said “ask James about Mongul.”

 

[Herolee10]

 

[hopefuldreamer]

So the DCU_Updates page just went back a dug up an old scooper from the DCUleaks Reddit comments section who had correctly leaked the Supes logo before it came out and one of the number shields we’ve now seen is on the Fortress robots. That leaker seemed to work on the design side of things and also said we get Lex troopers in green and purple armored suits (which are what we see on the beach I think). What caught my interest is that the only other thing this scooper said which hasn’t made itself known yet is that Lex is running for President. And apparently they also posted a cryptic comment that said “ask James about Mongul.”

Yeah I saw that and my curiosity was peaked. Him running for president would maybe contradict him going to prison... although I guess we know both is possible.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

i hate jor-el being evil. superman should be sent to earth with only ulterior motive of jor-el, being for his son to live

The messaging is thoughtlessly terrible. I’m sorry, I know there’s a precedent but those versions are terrible too. Hopefully it’s more nuanced in the movie.

A modern Superman movie should be laser focused on the immigrant/refugee allegory. Everything should be built around it. I’m not really interested in a Superman movie that has a bad take on that. Honestly, a lot of my disinterest in the movie stems from Gunn seeming to not really be focused on that - which is absolutely a little unfair on my part, but it is the thematic undercurrent of Superman that matters most to me.

Again, obviously, our recap of the movie is from a hilariously dumb and vitriolic viewer half paying attention. So who knows.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Two of these are not like the others. And just so happen to include the worst live action Supes and Lois.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I agree. That suit on Tyler looks awful and the blue on her is meh.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Tyler’s costume (the suit in that pic is fine lol) is pretty bad but he’s the only Superman after Reeve whose look I like. Routh/Cavill/Corenswet don’t pop on screen at all to me.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I finally hear Cooper’s voice in the footage.

 

[GreenKToo]

So the DCU_Updates page just went back a dug up an old scooper from the DCUleaks Reddit comments section who had correctly leaked the Supes logo before it came out and one of the number shields we’ve now seen is on the Fortress robots. That leaker seemed to work on the design side of things and also said we get Lex troopers in green and purple armored suits (which are what we see on the beach I think). What caught my interest is that the only other thing this scooper said which hasn’t made itself known yet is that Lex is running for President. And apparently they also posted a cryptic comment that said “ask James about Mongul.”

I think we probably only know the tip of the iceberg. I hear huge surprises are in store that hardly no one knows about yet.
I love not knowing, but I also love being spoiled.

 

[BarryLyndon]

 

[GreenKToo]

That's gotta be Lobo.