LogFAQs > #910355697

scarletspeed7 posted...

I take it you've never read the most well-regarded Superman story of all time, Kingdom Come. Or Must There Be A Superman. Or Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow. Or What's So Funny About Truth Justice and the American Way. Or Red Son. Or The Dark Knight Returns.

KanzarisKelshen posted...

That's not the tack a Superman movie should be taken - you shouldn't darken Superman, not because it's impossible, but because it's precisely why the DCCU movies turned out so poorly.

Let's also not forget that I'm taking this tack after three lighthearted Superman movies so that I can close out the tenures of Reeve and Hackman. Both are done after this movie, and I won't get Superman again until 2006. To me, this is the right way to set up the hiatus. I'm also letting him bow out before I start a Batman series, which will go in that darker direction.

None of those are All-Star Superman, which IS the best regarded Superman story (much as I love Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow in particular).

But seriously though...there's a fundamental difference between the comics you cited and this angle and I think it can be summed up with one quote:

"Why don't you just put the whole world in a bottle, Superman?"

I think giving 'classic' Supes a sendoff is good. I think a resolution that involves more than being punchy-kicky at a bad guy is also good. I think maturity in Superman is good. But I don't think 'murder hundreds of thousands to scare people straight' is the right tack for this sendoff, because it implies that a certain number of lives is an acceptable sacrifice on the path to becoming a more noble species. I think what I'd do is have both Superman and Luthor help humanity become better by example. For example, if the Nuclear Man went crazy because he was an unstable clone, set up a nuclear apocalypse, and Luthor hadn't planned it (beyond wanting to outshine Superman by 'buying himself' a new one he could control and showing how much more he could do than him) but died saving the world when Supes and the Nuclear Man double-KO'd each other, and this inspired people to put an end to nuclear proliferation, that'd feel 'in theme' for a Superman story, proving that even in the worst of men, there's a spark of goodness. I think that'd preserve what you wanted to do here, while providing a more thematically resonant sendoff.
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Shine on, you crazy diamond.