itt: consternation and wailing about Zach Snyder's upcoming SUPERMAN/BATMAN film/sequel to MAN OF STEEL -- official title: BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

Supes Upside Ya Head

All I remember about nuclear man is that he looks like a pro wrestler.

just like Superman!

lol the guy who played him is named Mark Pillow

For years I kept thinking he was Dolph Lundgren, or the ex-Chippendales guy from "Bachelor Party"

The doc "Electric Boogaloo" has an entertaining bit about Superman IV. Reeve didn't want to do it so they offered to do a plot he'd be interested in. His idea: Superman creates world peace. Which is an idea way above what Cannon was capable of.

coming out this november: it's going to be a beautiful wall, charlie brown

lol the guy who played him is named Mark Pillow

And to pile on the indignities (text via Cracked.com)

Bizarrely, the movie premiered in London as a charity event, with special guests Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Cannon inexplicably requested that the film's superheroes attend in costume, which may have been fun treat for the newly-wedded royal couple, were it not for one thing: Christopher Reeve did not come to the premiere in his Superman costume. In point of fact, he didn't come at all. Probably because even he thought that the movie was an "absolute mess."

This wouldn't have been a huge deal (Reeve's family attended in his absence), except for the fact that the poor schmuck who played Nuclear Man was now the only person at a highly-publicized event featuring the royal family dressed like a stupid asshole.

Nuclear Man isn't a recognizable character from the comics. Without someone else standing directly next to you in a Superman costume, no one is going to know who the hell you're supposed to be. So actor Mark Pillow was stuck explaining to every guest that he was Superman's nemesis, and that his bosses had requested he attend in costume, and that's why a thin layer of polyester was the only thing standing between the future King of England and his spandexed scrotum.

http://www.supermaniv.com/Superman_IV_BTS/41_Superman_IV_The_Quest_For_Peace_1987_Christopher_Reeve_Margot_Kidder_Lois_Lane_Marc_McClure_Jimmy_Olsen_Elstree_Studios_1986_Cannon_Pictures_Films_Milton_Keynes_1986.jpg

HahahahahHHhHAHAHAHh

nice.

Meantime

http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-brief-history-of-zack-snyder-defending-the-end-of-man-1763888746

i'm not really on board the Snyder hate train, but yeesh

the wonderful thing about superman is that over the last 78 years a lot of creative people have left their stamp on the character and the world he lives in, but (in mainstream continuity at least) throughout his many weird adventures he's remained more or less the same morally upright character who devotes his life to doing good works (obvious examples of superdickery aside, too).

it's impossible to square that with snyder's Now, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t now have a code ... but you’ll always have in the back of your mind this little of like, “Well, like how far can you push him?” Right? Like, if he sees Lois get hurt or he sees his mother get killed or something, you just made a really mad Superman that we know is capable of some really horrible stuff.

well, no. superman isn't capable of some really horrible stuff. that's the fucking bedrock of his character. if you can't think of a way to make that vital character trait interesteing then you have no right being involved in telling stories which involve him.

both superman returns and man of steel have some cringingly heavy-handed jesus imagery (as does the reeve original in places), yet they can't extend those clunky metaphors to the actual character. if you want to draw parallels with jesus you don't then get to go 'BUT WHAT IF JESUS WAS IN DANGER OF BECOMING AN ENRAGED MURDERER' too, because (in mainstream continuity at least) jesus is a pretty chill dude. ffs snyder is such a cretin.

Thank you. Very well put, and pretty much exactly why I have no interest in these movies. Go make a movie about an Ubermensch of your own creation if your only real interest is showing how destructive a potential force of destruction can be, you schmuck.

bizarro so otm

although having said all that i'm totally on board with a snyderised version of the life of jesus where some rippling-chested beefchrist trembles undertainly on the precipice of committing acts of genocide

AFAIC, this pretty much defines the core of Superman's appeal: “Of all the manifestations of power, restraint in the use of that power impresses people most.” When you stray from that, you're no longer writing Superman.

yeah, for sure.

in a just world, any future superman screenwriter should be handed this page and, every time thereafter when they write a line of superdialogue which conflicts with the character on this page, they will receive a painful and debilitating electric shock:

https://braveblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/pic013.jpg?w=538

Maybe Snyder should've directed a Maximortal movie instead. That seems much more well-suited to his sensibilities re: superheroes.

maybe Snyder should have done an Apollo/Midnighter movie instead

i'm sure he'd have a nuanced take on their romantic relationship

as long as he stays away from Icon, he can do whatever he wants

time for that long-awaited milestone universe / owls of gahoole crossover fans have been crying out for

Breaking: Zach Snyder and Jeph Loeb to reboot DC's Milestone imprint

bizarro otm

How much of the confused idiocy coupled with hyper-defensiveness over their chosen fondness for certain genre entertainment is Snyder's, and how much is Goyer's? And when paired together, does the idiocy add or multiply?

As I mentioned upthread, the lion's share of the blame lies at the feet of DC/WB. There will always be people out there who don't give a shit and would fuck up your property if given the opportunity. DC/WC has shown time and again that they neither know nor care about what gives their IP staying power, so they have no misgivings whatsoever about handing the keys over to creative types who share their lack of ethos.

tbh i think there's definitely room for a scary terrifying vengeful God-sort of Superman take. but this is not going to be it

(For which, again, see Veitch's Maximortal. Everyone should if they haven't already.)

if only there was a modern context for people to understand the plight of alien refugees maybe you could write a movie around that

I was trying to think of what it was that was bothering me about bizarro's take and then I realized it was the existence of Injustice: Gods Among Us (which really doesn't invalidate the point being made)

you could argue though that the movies are clearly an alternate what-if universe as compared to the comic book continuity and that the same leeway re: character interpretation should be granted but I didn't enjoy Man of Steel enough to champion that position

xp Superman sympathizing with immigrants? As a True American nobody's gonna buy that!

I am OK with Superman getting rid of his pussy no-killing code. I'm not OK with him Michael Baying an entire city.

technically that was Michael Shannon's fault

I love Michael Shannon but dear God was he a horrible Zod

i am gonna see this opening night but I'm afraid I might accidentally like it.

still tho the entire trailer = a city getting pancaked over stilted dialogue so i'm prolly ok

All these dark takes on a Superman character(e.g. Irredeemable/Uncorruptable/the dad in Invincible) only work because you have Superman to bounce off of. You can't do this take with Superman himself being the only God-level character in your universe. Even Superman III had two versions which could fight.

I feel like Snyder's movies are based on a 90s view where you've read all the 80s takes on how superhero morality would play out and instead of using that as a basis for commentary, you stick with the grim and gritty. Even if Moore and Miller had some troublesome aspects in their narratives about how these characters would deal with real life death/destruction, the point was that the death/destruction was real and had consequences.

The message wasn't "superheroes act without consequences"

Speaking of "superhero morality":

Given all your involvements, do you have time to develop anything outside of this?

ZACK We have The Last Photograph that I've been working on for a long time. It's a small, sort of weird project about a war photogra­pher in Afghanistan. I have been working on The Fountainhead. I've always felt like The Fountainhead was such a thesis on the creative process and what it is to create something. Warner Bros. owns [Ayn Rand’s] script and I’ve just been working on that a little bit.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/batman-v-superman-married-creative-874799

bwahahaha of course

god what a worthless human

sometimes people assume their popularity or notoriety is because their fingers are on the pulse of some deep vein in the zeitgeist

it's really hard to convince them it's not a vein but a bile duct

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2016/03/18/warner-brothers-destroyed-supermans-brand-for-their-new-franchise-will-it-pay-off/#6c56efa147d8

Interesting take on Forbes, looking at Superman from a branding perspective

god what a worthless human

― Οὖτις, Thursday, March 17, 2016 3:37 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he really is profoundly stupid

i hope this new movie loses a fuckton of money

Speaking of profoundly stupid -- or maybe just venal

http://jezebel.com/henry-cavills-press-tour-for-batman-v-superman-has-been-1765323349

lol what a prick

imo he'd be ok if cast as a person you're supposed to actively dislike, which is my reaction when he's on screen

He looks perpetually peeved. Very Superman-esque.

I’m slightly wary of saying this, because it can be frowned upon, certainly by members of my community and people outside my community, but I’m not just doing this for the art. The money’s fantastic and that’s something which I deem — and again, it is frowned upon — very important.

if you're going to come out and say 'wheee i love money' to a reporter you should really have confidence in your dickheadery and not bother about prefacing it with some equivocating bullshit imo

supposedly this movie focuses on Batman's disillusionment with Superman cos of all the buildings destroyed and people killed in the Krypton invasion.

I hope the movie begins with him reading a paper titled the "Gotham Gazette", with comically large type, with a headline reading "165,000 dead in Metropolis, and the rest of the text being a bunch of random latin words in smaller type.