TMOS Set & Official Photo Thread - Discussion Welcome - - Part 11

[DaJanksta]

Blue suit, red boots, red cape, gold belt, dark hair, big 'S' on his chest. People know it's Superman. Does he REALLY need the U.S. flag in the background to be iconic? Just sayin'.

He didn't say its needed to be iconic. It's a nod.

 

[Kane52630]

It's both honestly.

 

[Kal-El.9859]

It's there...deal with it. If the American flag being in the movie is a deal breaker for you well then that's just sad.

 

[MaceB]

Superman has and always will be an American symbol. His whole story is built around it. Look at how he is raised, who raises him. He is the ultimate immigrant, born in the time of the American dream. He grows up in middle America, with good, old fashion American values. It is a big part of what shapes him.

I loved seeing the flag in the other shot and this one makes me even more happy.

His whole story is built around the immigrant/orphan narrative; that doesn't have to be US specific. He was raised by Americans, yes... does that mean he's automatically an American icon? Most other popular super heros are also born and raised in the US.

How is this rendition of Superman born in the American dream? I hate to be the cynic, but that time has long since passed. America is not the shining city on the hill it once was (if that were ever true). The height of Americana was in the 1950s after WW2. It'd make sense that Superman would be gung ho American at that time, because that was when being American stood for something greater. Now, that's not the case... and it definitely wasn't the case in the late 70s, early 80s.. which is when this Superman would have been raised I imagine.

He was born on a farm with good, old fashioned, small town family values... you can find those kind of conditions all around the world. I don't mind the flag either, but this idea that Superman is an exclusively American icon is paper thin and out of date in my mind. It's just another example of how Americans view themselves as better than other people IMO. Maybe at one point that was true, but it's not any more. I'd prefer Superman to represent the best of mankind, not the best of Americans.

 

[elgaz]

How is superman portrayed as a Christ figure? I don't get it. Which part?

Probably the part where the father (Jor-El) sends his only son (Kal-El) to Earth and he becomes the planet's saviour. Remind you of anyone?

There's also some hints of the Moses story in Superman's history.

The religious imagery is something I've never been fond of, but there it is anyhow. I hope they don't make too many nods (if any to it) - it's actually become a bit cliched now. Singer went a bit overboard with it in SR, particularly the falling-to-earth scene after he lifted new Krypton, with his arms spread like Christ on the cross.

 

[DIRECTOR]

Probably the part where the father (Jor-El) sends his only son (Kal-El) to Earth and he becomes the planet's saviour. Remind you of anyone?

There's also some hints of the Moses story in Superman's history.

The religious imagery is something I've never been fond of, but there it is anyhow. I hope they don't make too many nods (if any to it) - it's actually become a bit cliched now. Singer went a bit overboard with it in SR, particularly the falling-to-earth scene after he lifted new Krypton, with his arms spread like Christ on the cross.

But the story about the father sending his son to earth is more related to Moses story. I see that correlation. I don't see the Jesus connection. If jor-el sent baby kal-el through ma kent's VAGINE..... than sure...

 

[Lead Cenobite]

Because it's a metaphor, not literal. It's the same reason the story isn't identical to the story of Moses, either.

 

[Sharkboy]

But the story about the father sending his son to earth is more related to Moses story. I see that correlation. I don't see the Jesus connection. If jor-el sent baby kal-el through ma kent's VAGINE..... than sure...

He's just a modern messianic figure, his presence invokes admiration and hope as well as fear and hate. The whole point of Superman (according to Jor-el) is to inspire people to be righteous and lead the way towards being a better race of people.

 

[stingerman]

I wish somebody would respond to this. After hearing a similar complaint, I posted the exact same picture and don't believe I ever heard a response. Don't know why so many people seem to overlook this photo. There's your smiling Superman right there! Unless it really is a manip, people should stop asking this question.

I think magazines and such are provided stock photos that they can manipulate so the actor doesn't have to participate in a gazillion photo shoots.

 

[stingerman]

How is superman portrayed as a Christ figure? I don't get it. Which part?

Watch trailer 2.

Cavill is in the water with his body and arms in the Christ-like pose.

 

[stingerman]

Superman < Gladiator < Hercules< Silver Surfer < Thanos < Odin < Galactus < Beyonder, but that's just me.

Superman would crush Hercules and Gladiator.

 

[GreenKToo]

Hey -- I don't want to start a political debate here but it's weird that Warner promotes Man of Steel with the same American flag on two official pictures.

We are not in the 1940s or the 1970s anymore, the Cold War ended more than two decades ago...The U.S. flag is no longer an integral part of the visual identity of the character....

Remember, two years ago Superman renounced his U.S. citizenship in 'Action Comics #900.' written by David S. Goyer (who wrote MOS). Superman appeared in Tehran to non-violently support the protesters demonstrating against the Iranian regime. Superman renounced his American citizenship at the United Nations to continue working as a superhero from a more global than national perspective. "I'm tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy".

I know it's a fictional character created by Americans, for Americans. But the image of Superman has changed during over the years. He's not the symbolic concept of "the American Dream" anymore, but a symbol of hope for the entire world.

People complained about Spider-Man 3 and the fleeting shot of a waving U.S. flag. I hope Man of Steel will not have this kind of unnecessary scene

Spoiler

My opinion. Singer chose to leave out the patriotic stuff in SR. ''The truth, justice, all that stuff'', line really bothered me, but being a superman fan I ignored it. It didnt help the B.O. by leaving it out, and it sure didnt hurt spider-man's BO by having patriotic things in it.

If having superman give a little nod to the country he grew up in offends anyone, then oh well is all I can say. I would also expect such a nod from him toward france or germany if had had grown up there. But he didnt.

Dont get me wrong, I dont want to see him marching down the street with an American flag in each hand singing god bless America or anything, but if he says ''I stand for Truth, justice, and the American way'', or something similar, or poses in front of a flag like above for a second, I would be ok with that.

 

[Lead Cenobite]

I actually don't mind Superman being patriotic as a character trait, but if it's propaganda by the publisher or writer then it gets irritating.

 

[Kal-El.9859]

Haters gonna hate...I knew they woukd find something to nitpick and complain about eventually after they got exhausted by complaining about the suit, his hair, his height, his build...people just wanna *****

 

[DarthSkywalker]

His whole story is built around the immigrant/orphan narrative; that doesn't have to be US specific. He was raised by Americans, yes... does that mean he's automatically an American icon? Most other popular super heros are also born and raised in the US.

How is this rendition of Superman born in the American dream? I hate to be the cynic, but that time has long since passed. America is not the shining city on the hill it once was (if that were ever true). The height of Americana was in the 1950s after WW2. It'd make sense that Superman would be gung ho American at that time, because that was when being American stood for something greater. Now, that's not the case... and it definitely wasn't the case in the late 70s, early 80s.. which is when this Superman would have been raised I imagine.

He was born on a farm with good, old fashioned, small town family values... you can find those kind of conditions all around the world. I don't mind the flag either, but this idea that Superman is an exclusively American icon is paper thin and out of date in my mind. It's just another example of how Americans view themselves as better than other people IMO. Maybe at one point that was true, but it's not any more. I'd prefer Superman to represent the best of mankind, not the best of Americans.

You do realize Christopher Nolan is one of the major people behind this film right?

How much Superman have you read? His growing up American is every bit a part of Clark as is him being Kryptonian. He is the big ole farm boy. The boy scout. All American iconography. Clark Kent didn't grow up playing cricket or association football. He is the kind of boy that grew up throwing around the pigskin.

This just feels like you need to complain about America.

 

[Super Kal]

Truth, justice and the American way....

Superman has and always will be an American symbol. His whole story is built around it. Look at how he is raised, who raises him. He is the ultimate immigrant, born in the time of the American dream. He grows up in middle America, with good, old fashion American values. It is a big part of what shapes him.

I loved seeing the flag in the other shot and this one makes me even more happy.

i loved seeing it too

 

[BatLobster]

You cannot fight the Americana in Superman, it's way too engrained in the character. Embracing it tastefully is much more natural than attempting to reject it, which takes a conscious effort and is therefore distracting (ala Superman Returns).

 

[GreenKToo]

You cannot fight the Americana in Superman, it's way too engrained in the character. Embracing it tastefully is much more natural than attempting to reject it, which takes a conscious effort and is therefore distracting (ala Superman Returns).

This.

 

[~.:/|T-MaN|\:.~]

Didn't he renounce his US citizenship in the comics recently? lol

 

[TheFlamingCoco]

^ That guy's writing MOS

 

[GreenKToo]

indeed. here is a nice little article about it.....

So by now, unless you&#8217;re embarrassingly behind on your incredibly important pop culture news, you&#8217;ve probably already heard: Superman&#8217;s not an American anymore! Stop the presses! Call the fire department! Or &#8211; or &#8211; or something! However, the truth, as with most everything, is far murkier.
This whole ordeal arose from the nearly 100-page issue of Action Comics #900 that was released on Wednesday. Being a celebratory issue &#8211; indeed, 900 comics are a whole lot of comics &#8211; in addition to the main storyline by Paul Cornell, there are several back-up stories by various writers and even a storyboarded screenplay by Superman: The Movie director, Richard Donner.



The 9-page back-up story that set off the controversy in question, &#8220;The Incident,&#8221; was written by Man of Steel screenwriter David S. Goyer (who has also had at least some involvement with films like Nick Fury: Agent of Shield starring David Hasselhoff, Blade, Blade 2, Blade 3 (bleck), Batman Begins, Jumper, Ghost Rider, and so forth) and drawn by Miguel Sepulveda.


Here&#8217;s what you need to know about Goyer&#8217;s story before you decide whether or not to be livid about it:

• Superman, not Clark Kent, stated his plans to renounce his American citizenship
• Superman, not Clark Kent, stated his plans to renounce his citizenship because he doesn&#8217;t want his world-saving/interfering ways to be used against America anymore.
• This was a back-up story written by David S. Goyer &#8211; not a typical comic book writer.
• This will probably never again be referenced, by Paul Cornell or anyone else at DC.
• This back-up story might not even be in continuity.

If DC Comics wanted to actually change Superman&#8217;s citizenship in a serious, line-wide fashion, they wouldn&#8217;t have let David Goyer write it and it wouldn&#8217;t have been nine pages in the back of a milestone issue. They would&#8217;ve had one of their go-to writers do the job &#8211; maybe Paul Cornell, maybe Geoff Johns. It would&#8217;ve been its own storyline with every single major character (Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and so on) making an appearance to say something about, I don&#8217;t know &#8212; America.
Now, in my opinion, Superman is unequivocally an American icon. It doesn&#8217;t make you conservative or right-wing to believe this, because I&#8217;m about as liberal as they come and I believe it. By the same token, I don&#8217;t believe this was some leftwing conspiracy for Superman to reject America and all of its values; it would be hard for you to thoroughly examine the issue, the story, what was said by Superman, and come to that conclusion.
That said, the story in and of itself &#8211; &#8220;The Incident&#8221; &#8211; is pretty flawed. Controversy notwithstanding, it&#8217;s one of the more insignificant and arbitrary Superman comics I&#8217;ve read in a long while, and that&#8217;s saying something if you&#8217;ve read JMS&#8217; short-lived Superman run from late last year about the man of tomorrow walking across America. David Goyer&#8217;s story references the Iranian protests from 2009 as if they happened yesterday (implying to me that it was written by Goyer back then and has been sitting around his apartment ever since). And yes, I&#8217;m aware that there have been Iranian protests since then, as early as two weeks ago even, but this comic seems to explicitly reference the 2009 protests.
Apparently, Superman reads the news, and he can&#8217;t stand seeing the Iranian leaders treat their people so deplorably. Fair enough. So, as an act of solidarity, he flies to Tehran and stands between the soldiers and the protestors for an entire 24 hours, letting them throw whatever they want at him in the process.

Long story short, the U.S. gets a lot of crap for this move. It&#8217;s perceived as an American-sponsored act, because obviously Superman represents &#8220;Truth, justice, the American way,&#8221; and so forth. Superman tells the President&#8217;s National Security Advisor that he plans to go to the U.N. and renounce his citizenship post-haste &#8211; this, he hopes, will free him up to do whatever he feels is necessary in the future, and in the process not have his actions reflect poorly upon the good, old U.S. of A.

 

[Lead Cenobite]

That's not going to matter to the people who complained because they're always suspicious of the motives of the media due to its perceived liberal bias.

 

[MaceB]

I'm not saying that I don't like Superman living in America. Nor do I mind Clark being an American citizen. Nor do I mind a US flag being in the background from time to time (due to his locality, of course that makes sense) But do I want to see Superman flying around with an American Flag as a bald eagle rests on his arm while the national anthem is playing? No. We're not talking content as much as style here. As for myself, I sincerely hope this movie doesn't turn into a candy-filled metaphor about the American way of life - that would be weak weak sauce.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I'm not saying that I don't like Superman living in America. Nor do I mind Clark being an American citizen. Nor do I mind a US flag being in the background from time to time (due to his locality, of course that makes sense) But do I want to see Superman flying around with an American Flag as a bald eagle rests on his arm while the national anthem is playing? No. We're not talking content as much as style here. As for myself, I sincerely hope this movie doesn't turn into a candy-filled metaphor about the American way of life - that would be weak weak sauce.

Straw man. Embarrassing really. Who in their right mind thinks that is going to happen? Your bitterness is showing.

 

[Glassjaw]

But do I want to see Superman flying around with an American Flag as a bald eagle rests on his arm while the national anthem is playing? No. We're not talking content as much as style here.

I really don't think you have to worry.