Superman Returns: Should not be Rebooted

Domestic Gross: $200,081,192
Foreign Gross: $191,000,000
Grade: B

News sparked in late 2005 of the triumphant return of The Man of Steel to the big screen. Fans were in a frenzy because after many story re-writes, failed scripts, and almost have Nicholas Cage play Superman, there was finally a story and a worthy actor to wear the S shield (Brandon Routh). In 2006, movie goers flocked to the movies to see the latest chapter in the saga of Kal-El (Superman). The movie took place 5 years after the events of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Clark returned home from space and found no remnants of a new Krypton or anything else. In the time that has passed, everyone on Earth had learned to live without Superman, especially Lois Lane, who was now married with a 5 year old son Conner. Superman spends alot of the movie re-introducing himself back into the world as their hero, and showing Lois that the world still needs a Superman. Lex Luthor has discovered the arctic fortress of solitude, and took the crystals that were stored there in a plan to recreate Krypton on Earth, which would mean a world of Kryptonite, which would indeed kill Superman. When Lois and Conner are kidnapped by Lex, Superman rushes to save them while trying to keep Metropolis from being destroyed by the quakes and destruction the "New Krypton" is causing. Superman and Lex fight it out on the Kryptonite island with Lex winning, until Superman lifts the whole island from Earth and throws it into outer space. The radiation nearly kills our hero but he makes a speedy recovery. Then finds out that Conner is actually his.

Now, with all of that said, many people thought that the movie was terrible. I have to disagree. The main reason most fans thought it wasn't great was because there was not enough action. Superman was supposed to come straight out of the gate fighting Bizarro and Metallo and blowing stuff up. Others thought that it was too much of a stretch of reality for Superman to lift an entire island of Kryptonite, and not get killed in the process. Well, all I have to say is, if you were looking for an epic movie of death and fire, THIS WAS NOT THAT MOVIE!!! I mean jeez, Clark left the planet for 5 years. There is no way realistically that he can return and right away face a number of Earth's greatest foes. If it were written that he returns in order to protect the Earth from looming danger than so be it, but it wasn't. Instead, it was written from the standpoint that a hero lost his place in the world, and he had to take the time to regain the trust of human kind, and the trust of his love, Lois. Look at the very first Superman with Christopher Reeves as an example. Superman was introduced into the world and he took the time then to build his reputation and gain the trust of the Earth. He didn't fight super powered freaks until the next three movies. It was the same feel for Superman Returns. I thought that because director Bryan Singer wanted to build more story than action this go around made it such a great movie. Superman hasn't been on screen since the 1980's so there has been a disconnect. There needed to be a connection made again, but i guess that didn't go so well.

There are a few inconsistencies from the comics that I saw that need addressing. First, since Clark is not human and in other Superman stories gets married to Lois, it is discovered that he can not have children. It's genetically impossible. Conner is indeed in the Superman legacy as the new Superboy, but he is not Lois and Clark's son. In fact, he is supposed to be a clone born from the DNA of Superman and Lex, and is released during the period that Superman is killed by Doomsday. Lois never marries anyone else besides Clark. Superman can NOT lift an island of Kryptonite to save his life, ever. But, they tried to keep consistancies by having Lois get pregnant because Clark and Lois did have sex in the fourth movie before he left the Earth.

Next year, there will be a new Superman movie, where they will be re-telling the entire story of Clark's growing up and transformation into Superman, and fights Zod somewhere in the process. More than likely there will be heavy action and alot of the things that fans want. I just think that going back to retell the entire story is a waste of time. There are so many events that happen in the Superman world, and so many villains that have yet to appear on screen. Why not just keep the story going, why not just explore deeper into the world of Superman? If there would have been a new chapter after Superman returned, it would have been action filled and great, with new villains the world has yet to see in movies such as Lobo, Bizarro, Brainiac and Doomsday. The main goal for DC films is that they want to make a Justice league film. They have been talking about it for years, but have never approved a script and keeps rebooting the stories of the heroes. Marvel has kept a consistent flow for more than 5 years now, and because of that, there will be an Avengers movie next year with set characters that live in the same non-rebooted world. If DC keeps rebooting its characters, they will never make it to their goal, ever.