The Man of Steel: A Fanboy Wishlist

In case you didn't know this about me, I like comic books. Not all comic books, of course, but I do like superheroes and the interesting questions they allow me to explore. I like the greats from the 1980s, work by Frank Miller and Alan Moore. I really liked Batman Begins, and I really liked The Dark Knight.  Superman Returns, not so much. (yes, I'm more of a DC guy)

So I've been thinking recently about what kind of Superman movie I'd like to see now that Christopher Nolan is supervising the project (although he won't be directing). I wrote a partial script for a Superman movie while I was taking a sci-fi film class as an undergrad. Yes, it was my final project; yes, I got an A; and yes, I know how cool it is too game the system by getting upper-division honors credit to watch and write about Blade Runner. The script focused on the alienness and humanity of Superman in the context of a Nazi death camp; if I had to sum it up in a sentence, I'd say "the last son of Krypton finds his humanity fighting for what's right, as a brilliant German scientist (reminiscent of Mengele) loses his humanity fighting for what he thinks is right."

But that's not the movie we're going to get, and no doubt all the better for the box office hopes of The Man of Steel. No, Superman generally needs to live in a modern context for the big screen. So given that restriction, I thought I'd waste my time and yours (not much of it, don't worry) talking about what I'd like to see in the upcoming movie, even it's never going to happen.

First let me say what I don't want to see:

I was a huge fan of the first year of Smallville, although it lost a lot of its appeal for me after that. I like Tom Welling as a young Clark Kent, and I've got nothing against Erica Durance as Lois. But no. Please, please no.

Now that we've got that out of the way, I think I can best communicate what I'd be looking for with some cast and crew ideas before presenting the premise of the movies (yes, as per the modern standard, there must be three in the series). Due to length, I'll put it below the jump.

Lois Lane

I never liked Margot Kidder as Lois. She always seemed a bit too close to the old Fleischer cartoons' version, which tended to be a bit one-dimensional. To be honest, the best Lois so far was probably Teri Hatcher. Not sure how much of that had to do with her performance and how much had to do with having a clear framework for her writing, but either way I definitely liked the mix of tough-woman-in-a-man's-world and emotional fragility.  That tension sounded a lot like the comics version of Lois I remember.

So Lois needs an actress in her mid-30s who can do a bit of action, with the acting chops to portray a character who isn't quite sure what she wants (based on my very limited knowledge from Acting for Non-Majors, not an easy thing to do).  That said, in my mind Lois has never been that hard to cast. There are quite a few good actresses out there who would jump at the chance to play an intelligent, resourceful woman who also happens to have a realistic emotional range.  My wife mentioned that someone was favoring Olivia Wilde of House, MD, which wouldn't be a bad choice at all. But if I were in charge of casting, my pick would be:

Michelle Monaghan

To me, she's the obvious choice. Every time I see her in anything, I think "she'd make a great Lois Lane."  I think she can capture the parts of Teri Hatcher's version that worked, but better and in a more serious context.  She's no damsel in distress, although she can be in distress. Lois plays tough, but always collapses at the end (as most sane people would given the evil Robots and earth-destroying Aliens she deals with). Michelle Monaghan can do that and more besides.

Lex Luthor

This one is a bit tougher. Gene Hackman's Luthor-- blech. Kevin Spacey's-- phooey!  Two incredibly talented, big name actors, absolutely wasted on one-note versions of one of the most fascinating and complex characters in comics.  Clearly, the most important part for Luthor is going to be the writing, but it's still going to take someone unconventional to get him to come across.

I really liked what Michael Rosenbaum did with the character on Smallville. That version of Lex is all about the insider-outsider distinction: if you're in with him, you're family, and he will move the earth for you. If your not in, though, you're out, which means you're the enemy, and will always be the enemy. He might use you for the benefit of those on the inside, but when you cease to be useful, he'll drop you like a rag doll.  This xenophobia is a key note of the character in Mark Waid's Superman: Birthright, and I'd want to build on that.

The most interesting live version of Luthor was John Shea's approach on Lois and Clark. Again, the point here is that Luthor isn't evil for the sake of being evil, or even evil for the sake of making money (yeah, I'm looking at you, Spacey!). He enjoyed power, he enjoyed control. This is why I think whoever plays Luthor has to be fit. Not rippling muscles fit, but healthy. Lex Luthor is all about control, and that includes his physique. I'm not down with fat, self-indulgent 80s Luthor.  Lex Luthor is too important for that.

So I've heard some really good ideas for this one, too. Paul Bettany would give a weird and terrific performance. Viggo Mortensen would be very different from Bettany, but also great.  My wife likes Liev Schreiber for the role, and I can't really disagree.  But my pick is a bit off the radar:

Jeffrey Dean Morgan

He gave one of the most nuanced and memorable performances in Watchmen, and would be great at communicating the xenophobic, control freak tendencies of Luthor without coming across as plain vanilla evil. He could give the character layers, which is exactly what a supervillain who can win the American people to his side needs.

I'm thinking he should have thinning hair in the first one, but of course not admit his hair is thinning. In the second when he comes to terms with it, he shaves it off and gives us the Luthor we know and love (and hate).

Clark Kent / Superman

This is, by far, the hardest role to cast, not least because the actor needs to capture the down-home charm of Clark while making him someone who never attracts attention, and simultaneously portray the sheer awesome and intimidating alienness that is Superman.  Christopher Reeves capture the Superman half, but his Clark was a bad joke (yeah, I said it). Dean Cain really got Clark Kent, but his Superman would have been spotted for Clark a mile away. 

On top of this, there are many immensely talented actors out there today who, through no fault of their own, simply cannot play Superman. Christian Bale is already Batman, and thus cannot play another WB / DC property (I'd say any other superhero, period, Chris Evans notwithstanding). Johnny Depp is 47 years old, 5'10", and doesn't need to be in every movie no matter how good he is. I like Brandon Routh, but not for this role; and in any case he had his shot.

So that leaves a host of speculative ideas that are interesting, but not outstanding. Fans on the Internet have been clamoring for Matt Bomer (Bryce Larkin of Chuck semi-fame), but I just can't see him bulking up enough to seem truly super. There's also a big push online for Jon Hamm of Madmen, which I don't watch so can't comment on much. My wife suggested Sean Maher of Joss Whedon's cult classic series Firefly, which I think is interesting although I'm wary of his height and the fact that he hasn't landed a solid role in anything since. And I've seen a few votes for Joe Manganiello from True Blood, but I haven't seen him in action so I can't really comment.

So aside from being a good actor, Superman's gotta be a big dude. As in I want to be able to know just by glancing at him that he could beat Batman up. This makes Clark harder to do, since the bigger Clark is, the more attention he'll draw; somebody's bound to notice that he looks a lot like Superman with glasses. Unless, of course, Clark looks like he eats too many donuts to be Superman. Why nobody's considered a chubby-looking Clark Kent I have no idea.  So we need someone who is seriously bulked up and trim, but with the right clothes and posture looks overweight.

Now, I don't have a knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark pick for Superman. This is a hard role to cast. My best shot is someone who looks the part:

Daniel Cudmore

He's 6'8". He played Colossus. He's 28, which makes him younger than I'd like, and I haven't seen him in a prominent enough role to know if he can really do the job. But if that guy doesn't look like Clark Kent / Superman, I don't know who does.

So that's pretty much it on casting. I have other thoughts, like a stuffy British version of Perry White played by Hugh Laurie, and I'd be happy with Jimmy Olson played by Donald Glover, but I don't have strong preferences on that. I'm also not quite sure about a director. Alfonso Cuaron is probably my top pick based on what he did with Children of Men, but I'm flexible here too. Either David Fincher or Danny Boyle could make a bizarre and awesome Superman. Beyond that, I've no clue.

Here's my very basic pitch for a three movie series:

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton

Superman has been saving Metropolis for a year or two, but nobody knows much about him yet. Lex Luthor moves the center of his business, Lexcorp, from Star City to Metropolis at the beginning, and is very interested in meeting Superman. It turns out that his entire business is built on cheap energy, which Lex derives from technology stolen from a crashed spaceship he found hidden in a barn in Kansas (at the Kent farm) when he was younger. He has used a few fragments of kryptonite as a power source and has spent 20 years translating the kryptonian computer library on board. His kryptonite is now almost depleted and he wants to get more from Superman (whom he knows is Kryptonian because Superman's symbol is derived from the symbol of the house of Jor-El). The usual Superman-Luthor intrigue starts to build, but doesn't get far because of the arrival of a Kryptonian ship in earth orbit.

Yeah, kinda like this.

The ship turns out to be a damaged terraforming ship run by a computer that is similar to Brainiac or Eradicator.  Superman learns about the fate of Krypton and many things about where he comes from, including the death of his entire race, but the ship decides it should recreate Krypton using the earth as raw materials. The ship begins creating flawed clones of Superman (Bizarro) in an attempt to rebuild Kryptonian civilization. In the end, Superman has to make a deal with Luthor to give him part of the ship's power source in exchange for knowledge of Kryptonian technology that allows Superman to shut down the terraforming program.  Superman deposits the ship in Antarctica, where it becomes his Fortress of Solitude.

This movie would need to set up the universe and highlight how Superman and Luthor are both somewhat alone among humanity, but for very different reasons. It would also explore how Superman's black and white morality deals with the shades of gray that Luthor likes to occupy.

Superman: The Man of Steel

This one is less fleshed out, but it involves Mongul coming to earth in search of the Kryptonian terraforming ship. He is stronger and more clever than Superman, and so drives him out of the Fortress of Solitude rather easily.  Superman again goes to Luthor, who informs him that the terraforming ship can be reconfigured to turn any planet into the Warworld, a massive warship capable of destroying whole interstellar civilizations, the last of which was finally defeated by the Kryptonians centuries before it exploded. Superman and Luthor again work together to defeat Mongul, but in the process Luthor discovers that Superman can be hurt be exposure to the Fortress's power source, kryptonite. He betrays Superman and steals the kryptonite, leaving Superman to finish off Mongul.  Well, of course in the end Superman wins, but Luthor is now more powerful than ever and wins the US presidency on the promise of unlimited free energy for the whole world.

Superman: The Man of Tomorrow

This is the one that's finally about Superman vs. Luthor. Luthor's offers power at the price of xenophobia, while Superman symbolizes the struggle and triumph of an immigrant just as he did early on for Seigel and Schuster. Maybe having Kryptonite in every home will slowly poison the populace, but Superman and the folks at the Daily Planet have to convince everyone it's true. Of course, this one needs to see the downfall of Luthor.

This is already far too long, so I'll just stop there.  I've probably thought about this too much, but I think this is the kind of direction we need to go to make a Superman movie that's both successful and intelligent.