The Man of Steel was born in June 1938, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the comics. However, Superman wasn't brought to the big screen until 1978, by producer Alexander Salkind and director Richard Donner, to commemorate the character's 40th anniversary. Superman hasn't starred in a great many films , which might seem surprising given his impact on mass culture. In fact, there are more canceled Superman projects than completed ones. This is due to a multitude of factors, such as financial problems, loss of rights, and disagreements among screenwriters. Below, we'll review the stages the superhero has gone through in his cinematic journey, as well as all of his films.
Original stage: the Salkind era (1978 – 1987)
The first stage of the Superman films is considered the Salkind film series , which lasted almost a decade: from 1978 to 1987. During all these years, Christopher Reeve was in charge of playing the superhero.
Superman (1978)
The first film featuring the Kryptonian superhero was also the most expensive movie ever made at the time. It told the story we all know: Kal-El's origins on his home planet, which was on the verge of collapse, and his subsequent arrival on Earth, where he was found by a farming couple in Smallville and raised as their own son. After his teenage years, Clark left the town to move to Metropolis, where he would eventually clash with Lex Luthor.
It was a film highly praised by critics for its technical aspects, Christopher Reeve's dual performance, and Richard Donner's direction . Furthermore, John Williams composed a soundtrack that has remained timeless ever since.
Superman II (1980)
The second Superman film arrived a couple of years later, but not without its problems. The Salkinds (Alexander and Ilya) disagreed with the director's vision and decided to fire him when he had almost three-quarters of the film completed. They replaced him with Richard Lester , who reshot much of the film and retained barely a third of Richard Donner's work, which wasn't even credited.
Superman II tells the story of several Kryptonians accidentally freed by Superman himself, who seek revenge upon discovering he is the son of Jor-El. Despite numerous script changes, the film was a success , retaining some of the charm of the first installment and receiving generally positive reviews.
Superman III (1983)
The third installment was again entrusted to Richard Lester, but lost Mario Puzo as screenwriter, one of the Salkinds' most valuable assets at the time. It would tell the story of Ross Webster , a megalomaniac who decides to take revenge on Superman when the superhero destroys a crop he owned that was harmful to the environment. Ross orders a computer expert to design a synthetic kryptonite to use against Superman, which would ultimately split him between Clark Kent and a dark Superman.
On this occasion, the film was indeed heavily criticized, both for its direction and its lack of originality.
Superman IV: In Search of Peace (1987)
It was Christopher Reeve himself, who pulled the strings so that this film ended up being produced, getting the support of Cannon FIlms, Golan-Globus and Warner itself.
The story, proposed by Reeve , dealt with nuclear disarmament . The film opens with the superhero attending the United Nations General Assembly and announcing his intention to eliminate all nuclear weapons from the planet. However, Lex Luthor disagrees with Superman's plans. The villain ends up cloning the superhero , creating a nuclear-powered version of the protagonist. The film was even weaker than the previous one and marked the end of Reeve's run as Superman.
The Dark Stage: Superman's Canceled Projects
After the four films, we wouldn't see Superman on the big screen again until 2006. In between, there were all sorts of canceled projects. Superman V was ultimately canceled due to the bankruptcy of Cannon Films, the production company behind the previous installment.
In 1993 , Warner Bros. regained the film rights to Superman and assigned the project to Jon Peters, who had produced Tim Burton's two Batman films in 1989 and 1992. Peters eventually hired screenwriter Jonathan Lemkin, who completely ignored Warner Bros.' guidelines and wrote the script for Superman Reborn , which told the story of Superman's death and Lois Lane giving birth to a new Superman. Warner Bros., unsurprisingly, did not like the story. The project was subsequently canceled after a new screenwriter was hired, but he too failed to convince the studio.
Jon Peters' next failure was Superman Lives . The script was commissioned to Kevin Smith, forcing him to adhere to a series of absurd premises that the creative mind ignored. The film was supposed to be released in 1998, directed by Tim Burton and starring Nicolas Cage. Filming began, but was halted to rewrite the story. The rest was a series of setbacks. Wesley Strick was hired, who scrapped many of Smith's ideas. Subsequently, the director himself began to express discontent with Peters, and given Warner's financial situation at the time, the most sensible course of action was to cancel the project. This entire story is recounted in the documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, directed by Jon Schnepp.
However, three more films would be canceled . The first Batman vs. Superman project was commissioned to J.J. Abrams, but it was canceled in 2002. Later, the same artist wrote Superman: Flyby, which was canceled because Abrams felt it didn't have enough budget. And finally, Superman Destruction also fell through in the early 2000s.
Superman Returns (2006)
Nearly three decades later, Bryan Singer decided to cancel two productions to direct Superman Returns with Warner Bros. Apparently, the director had been a big fan of Richard Donner's work, and in some ways, Superman Returns completely ignored everything that happened in the two films after Donner's run, so it could be considered a direct sequel to Superman II.
This time, the Man of Steel would be played by Brandon Routh , relatively unknown at the time, but with a look that vaguely resembled Reeve's. Kevin Spacey was also given the role of Lex Luthor . The film told the story of Superman's return to Earth after five years searching for survivors from his home planet, which had allowed Lex Luthor to run rampant.
This phase could have been much longer, as the film was quite successful, grossing nearly $400 million and receiving very positive reviews. The sequel was scheduled for summer 2009, but Warner ultimately decided that the numbers hadn't been as spectacular as they had anticipated. The sequel was never written , but according to Singer, it would have been titled Man of Steel— the same title as the subsequent reboot.
DC Extended Universe
Seven more years passed and Warner Bros finally decided to give Superman another chance, completely rebooting the franchise and laying the foundations for what we now consider the DC Extended Universe.
Man of Steel (2013)
This is the current era of Superman. It began with Man of Steel (2013), which introduced Henry Cavill as the protagonist and started the Zack Snyder era , which in turn was influenced by Christopher Nolan, who had just triumphed with his Dark Knight trilogy.
This film combines parts of the two original films starring Christopher Reeve, which tell the story of Clark Kent's early life , his evolution, and his subsequent confrontation with the other Kryptonian survivor, General Zod , who wants to destroy humanity.
Snyder's vision was quite interesting, portraying a very introverted Superman with a dark undertone. It was a box office success , grossing over $668 million.
batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Titled in Spain as Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice , this film takes place a year after Man of Steel . This time, Batman (now played by Ben Affleck) witnesses the fight between Superman and Zod in Metropolis, which ends with the destruction of the Wayne Enterprises building due to the Kryptonian's own negligence, resulting in the death of Jack O'Dwyer, Bruce Wayne's trusted confidant.
Following these events, the Dark Knight becomes completely opposed to the Kryptonian's method of dispensing justice—as if his own justice required a court order—and decides to confront him. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor creates a monster from Zod's DNA, which he names Doomsday.
Justice League (2017)
The Justice League movie began planning immediately after filming wrapped on Man of Steel in 2012, and it followed the events of its predecessor. Without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman—along with other DC superheroes—feel unable to confront Steppenwolf , a new threat to the world, so they conclude that the only way to deal with him is to resurrect Superman.
The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer, and it was established that there would be two films in total, but not consecutively. Both would be directed by Snyder. However, everything went awry after the release of Batman v Superman , which received very poor reviews. Warner Bros. decided to reduce Snyder's involvement to avoid burning him out. This, coupled with the fact that the director and his wife were going through a difficult time, led them both to step aside, and Joss Whedon was hired for post-production . Whedon ended up making numerous changes, even reshooting scenes and adding touches of humor.
To make matters worse, the reviews were quite negative . DC fans launched a campaign urging Snyder to release his own cut of the film under the hashtag #ReleasetheSnyderCut . And, for the first time ever, complaining on Twitter actually worked. On March 18, 2021, Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) , a director's cut adapted for television, was released on HBO (HBO Max in the US) and was very well received by critics, despite being unnecessarily long.
Superman's future plans
There has been much talk about the future of this character in the DC Extended Universe. For the past few years, there have been strong rumors that Henry Cavill might leave the superhero suit, although these rumors are nothing new for the actor, as the same speculation arose regarding his role as Geralt of Rivia.
With the latest moves by Warner and Discovery , it's not very clear how they're going to organize the superhero's future, as the company is making quite a few unusual moves, such as the cancellation of Batgirl , a film that had cost $90 million and was practically finished.
Apparently, it shouldn't be long before Man of Steel 2 is announced. David Zaslav, the group's CEO, has already shown his intentions to revive Superman, so it wouldn't be surprising if he reached out to Zack Snyder for a new installment that should arrive in late 2023 or 2024.