The Superman Trilogy We'll Never See (YOURS)

[thecolorsblend]

SN got this ball rolling with:

This discussion has got me thinking about how I'd handle Superman in a self-contained movie trilogy. I've got a lot of ideas on that front, but such a discussion is probably best saved for a new thread.

So, here we go. Honestly, there are a lot of different directions I could go with this. Part of me wants to bypass SuperMAN entirely and do a Young SuperBOY franchise. But... no.

Rather, I think the best way to go for the purposes of re-reestablishing Superman on film would be SuperMAN trilogy. My basic idea would be to somewhat incorporate all major eras of Superman into my trilogy.

-- The Obvious Stuff
Krypton: This is the Flash Gordonesque World Of Tomorrow. I'd want to give it a 1930's sci-fi serial aesthetic. My basic idea is that Krypton LOOKS all advanced and utopian. But appearances are deceiving and the futuristic flash of Krypton masks a very deep social rot. So much so, that it Jor-El is risking his life in stating the obvious: "Fellow scientists, Krypton is doomed!"

Smallville: The last innocent place on Earth. The embodiment of Small Town, USA. Children respect their elders, the entire town closes at 9:00 every night and even Archie Comics aren't as wholesome as this place.

Metropolis: Imagine, if you will, a Chicago that was never swallowed up in corruption. Yeah, Metropolis has its fair share of problems. But it's not Gotham City and that needs to be apparent at a glance. I harp on Chicago since Kansas is already in the Midwest and I think Clark would naturally gravitate to a major city in the Midwest.

-- Superman
I rather like the idea of Superman being an ongoing series of transformations. The concept I'll be working with is that Superman's powers gradually change and transform his senses. In turn, these changes to his senses will alter his consciousness.

-- The Movies
Movie 01, The Golden Age: To start with, I would want the first movie to show Superman becoming Superman. But a VERY limited form of Superman. Back when Superman first debuted, his powerset was pretty limited. He had the strength of, say, 100 men. His skin was highly durable but he himself remarked that an exploding shell would've harmed him and another time he said that a runaway train would've killed him. This Superman is NOT invincible.

He also can't fly. He can jump LAMF. But he can't fly for most of the first movie. A transformation in his powers will enable him to fly near the end of the movie.

The basic plot will be that this Golden Age tier Superman has to discover his true origins while overcoming Lex Luthor (the renegade scientist operating in secret) and Metallo. I like the idea that Superman views his alien origins in a negative way while he fights villains who use radioactive pieces of his home world to poison him.

I want Superman's uniform in this movie to be very primitive. It should look recognizable as Superman. But it should still maintain a homemade look. Because this version of Superman is a social crusader. He uses Superman as a public persona to call attention to corruption and crime and so forth. But he doesn't take the "Superman" identity too seriously. He simply believes that he has a responsibility to Metropolis. Picture an all-cotton version of the Fleischer Superman outfit and that's more or less what I had in mind for the outfit in this movie.

Movie 02, Post-Crisis: Following the transformation from the last movie, this is a very John Byrne Superman. The big issue for Clark in this movie relates to his relationship with Lois (will they, won't they?) while Superman has to contend with Lex Luthor (the CEO of Lexcorp) and Bizarro.

The conflict has to be Clark's desire to lead an ordinary life considering his responsibilities as Superman. Clark is having success in his career, he and Lois have a nice little thing going and I think it makes sense that Clark would enjoy those things. But his duties as Superman are at least as important to him as Clark's stuff. His struggle comes down to finding equilibrium in those things. Basically, the same work/life balance thing that a lot of people struggle with.

A big part of this struggle is Superman's transformation in the previous film. Now, he can fly, has his vision powers, is more invulnerable than he was before, basically he's got all of the John Byrne era of Superman's abilities. He knows he CAN do more so to him, that means he SHOULD do more. But what is the price for that? What sacrifices might Clark have to make in order for Superman to be everything that he CAN be? Yes, Superman now realizes that he has a responsibility to the ENTIRE WORLD. But what responsibilities does Superman have to Clark Kent?

Superman has an object lesson in how much good he can do in comparison to Bizarro. And clearly, Lex isn't slowing down either.

Superman undergoes another transformation in this movie. After all these decades of absorbing solar radiation, Superman's body mutates in this film, radically expanding his powers, consciousness, etc. This transformation pretty much settles the Clark/Superman dichotomy once and for all.

His outfit in this movie should look a lot more polished than the last movie. He's at peace now with his alien heritage and his uniform should reflect that. But it should still have certain limitations. Superman is more powerful now following his transformation from the last movie. But he still wears a fabric outfit. I want to use the John Byrne idea of Superman's capes constantly getting destroyed while his bodysuit is unscathed because it's skin tight. But it should still have a bit of a homemade quality to it. Basically, picture Dean Cain's outfit from the first few episodes of Lois & Clark and that's what I have in mind here.

Movie 03, Silver Age: After the last movie's transformation, Superman is now SUPERMAN. His consciousness has been so radically transformed at this point that he can scarcely relate to who he was back in the beginning. He can hear a frog fart in Fiji. He sees spectrums of light that we haven't discovered yet. He can taste individual air molecules. So, at this point, let's skip this idea that there's anything even remotely human about Superman anymore.

That means there's no room in his life anymore for Lois. He loves her, yes. But with his newly expanded powers, there's virtually no limit to what Superman can achieve. And those duties are so important that it just doesn't make sense to prioritize Clark Kent's private life as even remotely as important as Superman's duties.

Superman's outfit should abandon any semblance of a homemade aesthetic in this movie. By all means, make it all look all Hollywood designy. Superman now has a 4-digit IQ and his expanded intelligence has allowed him to create an indestructible suit. Imagine a Superman suit with a texture to it similar to Cavill's outfit and that's what I had in mind here.

Superman's big struggle in this movie should be not getting so lost in the big picture that he forgets individual people. This conflict will be personified by President Luthor secretly working with Brainiac to take Superman out. Of course, that goes bad when Brainiac breaks his deal with Lex and attempts to shrink and harvest the city of Metropolis.

This leads to Superman's final transformation: the Grant Morrison Sun God. The only way Superman can defeat and turn Brainiac back is by transcending a mortal form entirely. This is where all the previous lessons he's learned come into play. Yes, he's an alien but there's nothing wrong with that (from Movie 01) and yes, his responsibilities as Superman are important (from Movie 02). But good is not an abstract ideal to be mindlessly pursued no matter the cost. Rather, good is to work for the benefit of LIFE.

And with Superman's latest transformation, he now realizes that he can preserve, protect and defend life across the entire galaxy. Possibly even into other dimensions.

This is the "death" of Superman, in a way. But in another way, it's merely the next stage of his evolution. And he's finally ready to take that next step. He "leaves" Earth, knowing that some part of his energy and consciousness will ALWAYS be here to help those in need.

But it's time now for him to take a far more galactic approach to his mission. Which will always be the same: truth, justice and the American way.

[Kamdan]

Krypton: This is the Flash Gordonesque World Of Tomorrow. I'd want to give it a 1930's sci-fi serial aesthetic. My basic idea is that Krypton LOOKS all advanced and utopian. But appearances are deceiving and the futuristic flash of Krypton masks a very deep social rot. So much so, that it Jor-El is risking his life in stating the obvious: "Fellow scientists, Krypton is doomed!"

I've always entertained that notion of the futuristic Krypton with the revelation from Superman: Red Son that it was really Earth in the distant future. It does solve a lot of logistical conflicts of how Superman appears to be human but it seems to rob his special heritage of being an immigrant from another world. I'm growing the prefer embracing the alien nature of Krypton instead of s futuristic one.

[Silver Nemesis]

I started creating a thread on this subject a few weeks ago, but my own ideas became so detailed and longwinded that I decided not to bother. But since the thread now exists anyway, I may as well post my thoughts. Here's my concept for a Superman trilogy. My ideas overlap in some places with yours, colors – particularly with regards to the depiction of Metropolis and the way the final film would end – but I wrote this three weeks ago, so those similarities are purely coincidental.

A few general points. I'd try to avoid repeating any of the storylines that were used in earlier live action movies. However, I'd still try to somehow acknowledge the most important plot beats from Superman's back story (for example, his escape from Krypton and his formative years in Smallville) without succumbing to a full retread of that origin narrative. I'd try to focus more on Clark Kent as an investigative reporter, similar to how the Lois & Clark TV show handled the character back in the nineties. I'd have each film begin with a pre-title sequence similar to the James Bond movies, where we get to see the end of another Superman adventure that doesn't necessarily connect with the main story. And I'd try to strike an equal balance between humour and drama. I think Superman films work best when they have some comedy in them but not too much. I would reference "truth, justice and the American way" several times throughout the trilogy. Not "truth, justice, all that stuff." Superman is an intrinsically American hero, and I wouldn't shy away from celebrating that.

Here's an excessively detailed synopsis of the first movie in my trilogy, followed by two much shorter descriptions of the sequels.

SUPERMAN: THE LAST SON OF KRYPTON
Running time: 120 minutes
MPAA/BBFC rating: PG

THE OPENING ACT

The first movie would begin with a very short prologue showing the destruction of Krypton. Instead of focusing on Kal-El and his family, I'd depict the event from the perspective of Brainiac. There would be a brief moment where the scanners on Brainiac's ship detect another vessel moving away from Krypton, but other than that I wouldn't repeat any of the familiar scenes portrayed in earlier movies. This is our pre-title teaser before the opening credits. Even though this is a reboot, I would still use the John Williams theme. The rest of the score would be original.

Superman's costume would be a simple comic-accurate version like the ones worn by Alyn, Reeves, Reeve and Cain. No more sculpted muscle suits, please. Provided the lead actor is suitably built, he shouldn't need fake muscles.

After the credits, I'd leap ahead to the present day – skipping the Smallville sequence for the time being – to show Clark Kent working alongside Lana Lang as a television reporter for WGBS. Clark is covering a press conference held by billionaire Lex Luthor, who publically refutes accusations made by WGBS that he is connected to the mysterious crime syndicate known as Intergang. Luthor, who is accompanied by his bodyguards Mercy Graves and John Corben, delivers a speech in which he accuses Galaxy Media president Morgan Edge of peddling fake news against him in order to pre-emptively sabotage his political ambitions and besmirch rival television network WLEX-TV.

During the conference Clark bumps into old flame and former colleague Lois Lane, who is still working for The Daily Planet and doesn't yet know he is Superman. They share an awkward exchange in which she basically accuses him of abandoning Perry White and his other friends at the Planet by going to work for Edge. She tells him that if he really wants to know who's behind Intergang then he should try looking closer to home. Clark asks what she means by this, but Lois tells him he'll have to read about it in The Daily Planet like everyone else.

During the rail journey back to his office, Clark is haunted by Lois' words about him abandoning his friends. This triggers a flashback to his teenage years in Smallville, where we see a lonely Superboy (played by a younger actor) rescuing a car from veering into a river. Following the rescue, Superboy quickly ducks behind some bushes to avoid being seen. Suddenly he notices a group of strangely-dressed kids have appeared out of thin air behind him. He panics, fearing they might've seen him use his powers, but the kids reassure him that they are "friends" and introduce themselves as the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 30th century. They have travelled back in time to meet a living legend, and having now seen him in action they congratulate Superboy on the rescue he has just performed.

Using the word "congratulations" as a transition we then snap back to the present, where Morgan Edge is commending Clark on his coverage of the Luthor story. Edge hints that he expects to soon obtain more evidence to corroborate the accusations against Lex. Clark knows Luthor is a crook, but he's starting to doubt the accuracy of Edge's sources. When he voices these doubts, Edge tries to distract Clark by assigning him a new story. He's to go the Metropolis observatory where astronomers have predicted they're about to observe Krypton's sun Rao go supernova. Krypton's sun died many years ago, but it's taken this long for the light to reach our solar system (Clark travelled FTL when he came to Earth, so he outpaced the light waves by several decades). Consequently Rao is still visible in the sky, but not for much longer.

Clark speaks briefly with Lana. She senses he's preoccupied with something and when she asks what's troubling him he tells her to keep an eye on Edge. Clark then goes to the observatory only to find that the astronomers monitoring Rao are in a state of panic. They've detected a large object heading towards Earth from the direction of Krypton's solar system, and radio telescopes focused on that region are picking up ominous messages from an intelligence identifying itself as Brainiac. Clark recognises this name. But from where?

We resume the Smallville flashback where we left off, with Superboy meeting each member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. When Brainiac 5 introduces himself, he warns Clark that in the future he will encounter another being named Brainiac, but that he should not assume that this person is also a friend. Superboy is confused, but the time travellers refuse to elaborate for fear of adversely affecting the future.

Back in the present, Clark is unsure what to make of this new Brainiac. Friend or foe? He uses his super-vision to visually inspect the object approaching Earth and in so doing gets his first look at Brainiac's skull ship. It is the same ship we saw in the prologue. He changes into his Superman guise and flies into space to greet the alien newcomer and attempt communicating with him on behalf of Earth. The whole world watches with baited breath as the skull ship draws nearer. Perry sends Lois to cover the story from Metropolis observatory, and Edge has Lana report on it from the WGBS studio. Meanwhile Lex, accompanied by Graves and Corben, evacuates by helicopter to a private retreat outside of Metropolis. He reasons that if the newcomer is hostile then it will logically begin its attack by targeting Earth's military installations and major cities, and so he removes himself to a safe distance while he watches events play out.

Incidentally, Metropolis would have a highly stylised retro-futurist art deco look similar to the title city in Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927).

In space, Superman attempts to greet Brainiac. But the alien's motives are indeed hostile, and he has deliberately timed his arrival in our solar system to coincide with that of the red sunlight radiation expelled by Rao's supernova (I'm adapting this idea from one of my favourite Brainiac stories, published in Action Comics V1 #489-491, November 1978-January1979). Superman is weakened by the temporary surge of red sunlight, and Brainiac – presently in his green Coluan form – easily defeats him in combat. The whole word sees Superman's vanquished form plummet back to Earth and crash in the countryside outside Metropolis. Did he survive? No one knows for sure, but Lois races to find out.

Brainiac positions his ship in geostationary orbit above Metropolis while the city's population gazes up in terror at the fate that awaits them. Brainiac shrinks the entire city and places it in a bottle on his ship, leaving a vast smooth crater where Metropolis once stood. Lex observes this from the safety of his retreat and gets to work devising a means of destroying Brainiac's ship. While he does this, he despatches Metallo to track down Superman. If the Man of Steel isn't already dead then he'll be in a severely weakened state owing to the red sunlight exposure, and Lex wants to capitalise on that vulnerability to get rid of his old foe once and for all.

We then see a third and final flashback to the Smallville scene where the Legion of Super-Heroes offer Superboy some final words of encouragement before returning to their own time. The teenage Clark is then left alone as he was before – the last son of Krypton – and from that solitary image we transition back to the present where Superman is lying alone inside the crater he made when he crashed back to Earth following his first bout with Brainiac.

THE MIDDLE ACT

Fortunately Lois finds Superman before Metallo does and discovers that he is indeed still alive. However, the red sunlight has reduced his powers to the point that he is now basically no stronger than an ordinary human. Superman tells Lois his powers should gradually return, but it will take time. For now, he needs somewhere to lay low while he recovers from the beating Brainiac dealt him. Lois helps him into her car and they drive away from the crater just before Metallo arrives. Corben notes the tyre tracks and begins hunting Lois and Superman Terminator-style.

Lois and Superman do not realise anyone is following them, so they stop in a small town to get their bearings. Lois buys some civilian clothes for Superman and tells him that she saw Metropolis disappear. After Superman has changed into his new togs Lois begins to notice a resemblance between him and someone else in her acquaintance. When she asks where they should lay low, Superman tells her to drive him to Kansas. This further arouses her suspicions, but she refrains from voicing them. The idea is for her to gradually figure out that Superman is Clark over the course of the movie. At the same time, Superman is hiding his grief over Lana's death. He doesn't yet realise that Metropolis was shrunk and believes the city and its entire population have been destroyed.

Back in Metropolis, the city is in a state of panic. The population is now being held prisoner on an alien spaceship and is completely cut off from Earth communications. Lana overhears Morgan Edge plotting to take advantage of the situation to rid himself of certain political foes, starting with Perry White. White's paper is getting dangerously close to exposing him as the true leader of Intergang (as Lois hinted to Clark earlier in the film), so he orders some of his underlings to assassinate The Daily Planet's editor-in-chief. Lana is aghast as she secretly records this conversation on her phone, only now realising that her boss is in charge of Intergang. She has to feign ignorance when Edge catches her eavesdropping on him and his agents. There then follows a tense scene in which Edge is wondering if Lana overheard him, and Lana is putting on a cheerful facade to persuade him that she didn't. Her performance works, and Lana slips away to warn Perry about his impending assassination.

Back on Earth, Lois and Superman have reached Kansas. Clark doesn't want to blow his secret identity, so rather than direct Lois to drive him to the Kent farm he asks her to take him to an abandoned neighbouring farm that had formerly belonged to the late Ben Hubbard. This doesn't fool Lois, and she is on the brink of raising the issue of the farm's proximity to Clark's childhood home when suddenly Metallo catches up and attacks them. Superman's powers are starting to return, but they're still barely a fraction of their usual strength. He's strong, but no stronger than Metallo. He can leap, but he can't fly. Corben's kryptonite gives him an edge in battle and he almost succeeds in killing Superman, but Lois intervenes by ploughing into the cyborg with one of the farm's heavy agricultural machines. With Metallo temporarily trapped beneath the machinery, Lois helps Superman back into the car and they speed away.

While she drives, Lois asks where they can go so Metallo won't be able to find them. Superman answers that there's only one place and instructs her to drive north. He also says they'll have to ditch the car, since Metallo might be able to access traffic camera systems and track their licence plate. Lois and Superman find that the further north they drive, the heavier the traffic becomes as people rush to flee across the Canadian border for fear of Brainiac attacking more American cities.

Back on his spaceship, Brainiac is studying the behaviour of the humans inside the bottled Metropolis. He observes as the police impose martial law in an attempt to maintain order and stem the tide of panic. Lana is struggling to get across the city to the offices of The Daily Planet. The police are setting up checkpoints and encouraging people to stay indoors until the city officials can formulate a solution to the present crisis. Lana is stopped by a policeman named Dan Turpin who tells her to calm down and go back indoors. She explains about Edge's plan to assassinate Perry White and presents the voice recording of her boss ordering his death. Turpin tells his partner Maggie Sawyer to accompany him, and together with Lana they race to The Daily Planet offices.

Brainiac monitors these events with interest. Conversing with his ship's AI, Koko, he predicts that the Metropolis constabulary will succeed in maintaining order despite the criminal element in their midst that is actively seeking to undermine it. He instructs Koko to analyse Earth's data networks and locate for him another city that he might shrink down and use as a parallel experiment, only this time he wants a city in which the constabulary is mostly corrupt and the criminal element even more influential. Koko begins searching for such a place.

On Earth, Lois and Superman ditch their car and board a train heading across Canada. They see no trace of Metallo following them and so allow themselves some time to relax. There then follows a romantic scene on the train where Lois finally tells Superman that she's figured out who he really is. Clark owes his life to Lois, and so he decides to come clean and stop lying to her about his dual identity. The two of them reconcile and just when it seems we're about to get a less-than-subtle North by Northwest visual metaphor of a train entering a tunnel, we instead get a James Bond-type scene where Metallo surprise attacks them in their compartment. Superman's powers are still nowhere near recovered, but together he and Lois manage to knock Corben through a window and into the path of a speeding train that is heading in the opposite direction.

There then follows a suspenseful sequence in Metropolis where a band of Intergang operatives stage an assault on The Daily Planet offices and try to make it look like an act of political extremism. Lana, Turpin and Sawyer arrive at the same time, and the two cops are able to take down the assassins and save Perry. I'd fit Perry's "Great Caesar's ghost" catchphrase somewhere into this scene. On board the spaceship, Koko informs its master that it has identified a city that meets the requirements for Brainiac's experiment. The city in question is Gotham, but since this is a self-contained Superman movie there will be no direct references to Batman or any other DC characters extraneous to the core Superman mythos. Elsewhere, Lex is overseeing the construction of a special missile he has designed to destroy Brainiac's ship, when he notices that the ship itself is now moving into geostationary orbit above Gotham.

[Silver Nemesis]

THE FINAL ACT

Lois and Clark are now travelling the Arctic region using a snowcat. Lois complains that it's taking them too long, but Clark assures her his powers are rapidly returning and that he should be able to fly again soon. Just then, Lois notices an attack helicopter approaching from the south. Metallo has found them and is rapidly gaining on their position. Clark pushes the snowcat to its maximum speed, but it's still too slow. The helicopter opens fire on the snowcat and Clark just about has time to grab Lois and fly her to safety before the car blows up. His powers of flight restored, he continues soaring on towards their destination with Lois in his arms and Metallo hot on their trail in the helicopter. It isn't long before Clark spots what he's looking for: the Fortress of Solitude. The doors open automatically on his approach, and he flies himself and Lois inside and yells a voice command to activate the Fortress' security system. Before the doors can close again, Metallo swoops in after them and crashes the helicopter. Metallo emerges from the flaming wreckage with his skin burnt off and begins scouring the Fortress interior for his quarry.

Superman appears, only he's now wearing a different costume and displaying unusual powers. Metallo battles him regardless, unaware that he is actually fighting the Eradicator, which in this movie is a computer-generated simulation powered by the security system Clark activated upon entering the Fortress. With his foe distracted, the real Superman takes Lois to safety and dons a radiation-proof suit from his armoury. Metallo gets wise to the fact he is fighting a computer-generated decoy and starts randomly smashing the control consoles until he succeeds in deactivating the Eradicator. He taunts Superman and calls him a coward for hiding, whereupon the real Man of Steel appears in his radiation-proof suit. Now shielded against Corben's k-radiation, Superman makes short work of the cyborg, knocks him unconscious and links his life-support systems to an alternate power source so he can safely remove and isolate his kryptonite fuel without killing him.

Superman and Lois use the surviving computers to catch up on what's happening with Brainiac's ship (they had to ditch their phones to avoid having their GPS chips traced and are thus behind on the latest news). Superman realises Brainiac is about to do the same thing to Gotham that he did to Metropolis. He tells Lois to keep an eye on Corben while he settles things with Brainiac. Lois asks if he's strong enough, and Superman replies that his powers are presently functioning at about sixty percent their usual strength, which will just have to do. He then flies into space.

Mercy Graves informs Lex that Superman is still alive and was seen heading for Brainiac's ship. Lex is initially annoyed, but then decides this might work to his advantage. He is almost ready to launch his missile, which is loaded with kryptonite and other unstable materials that have proven efficacious against extraterrestrials. If Superman happens to be on Brainiac's ship when it is destroyed then Lex will have killed two birds with one stone. Luthor continues readying his missile for launch and orders Graves to have Corben eliminated for failing his mission.

Superman reaches Brainiac's ship and forces his way aboard. Brainiac is shocked to see Superman is still alive, since he was sure he had killed him; a misconception reinforced by Earth's inaccurate media coverage. The two of them fight once again, only this time Superman wins. It isn't easy, since his powers are still not fully recovered, but in the end he manages to incapacitate Brainiac's Coluan body.

Koko announces that Earth's media is reporting that a missile is being launched at the ship. Brainiac is unafraid of Earth weapons. But when Koko mentions that the missile has been designed by Luthor, Superman warns Brainiac that Lex is an exceptionally cunning human who has made a career out of trying to harm superpowered aliens. Brainiac tells Superman that if the missile destroys his ship, it will also destroy Metropolis. It is then Superman realises, to his immense relief, that Metropolis has been shrunk and not destroyed as he'd initially thought.

Lex launches the missile, and we see Lois' reaction as she observes from the Fortress of Solitude. We see Lana, Perry, Jimmy Olsen, Turpin and Sawyer gathered in The Daily Planet offices as the ground beneath their feet is rocked by the struggle taking place on Brainiac's ship. We also see Edge reacting to the turbulence in his office at Galaxy Communications. Outside the bottled city, Brainiac abandons his crippled Coluan form and transfers his conscious into a new body based on his 1983 'Rebirth' design. While this is happening, Superman investigates the spaceship's controls and finds a way of saving Metropolis by reversing commands stored in the computer's recent memory.

The skull ship flies back over the crater and Metropolis is restored to its original size and location. We see the reactions of Lois and all the characters in Metropolis as this happens. Back on the ship, Koko alerts Superman and Brainiac that Lex's missile has adjusted trajectory to follow them. It's about to strike. Brainiac launches a fresh attack on Superman using his Rebirth body and knocks him through a wall into another section of the ship. Here Superman discovers that there are other bottled cities taken from various alien planets. Among them he finds Kandor, which he recognises from the Kryptonian archives stored in the Fortress of Solitude.

Koko announces that the missile is rapidly approaching and begins counting down the seconds until impact. Superman tells Brainiac he has to manoeuvre his ship out of the solar system now if he hopes to survive, but Brainiac ignores the warning and continues his assault on the Man of Steel, stating that he has not yet finished experimenting on the people of Earth. Clark brushes off Brainiac's attack, grabs Kandor and quickly flies out of the ship just in time to avoid Lex's missile.

All of the characters back on Earth see the explosion in the sky as Brainiac's ship blows up, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the supernova that featured earlier in the film. Lois holds her breath wondering if Superman got away in time. As though in answer, Superman swoops down into the Fortress with Kandor cradled safely in his arms. Lois and Superman embrace as he happily informs her that he has found other survivors from his home world – that he is no longer the last son of Krypton. He places Kandor in the Fortress and vows to one day restore it as he did Metropolis.

After that, Corben is handed over to the authorities and claims to have been acting alone in his attacks on Superman. Soon after, he is murdered in his cell on Stryker's Island by Graves. Lana goes on live TV and plays the recording of Morgan Edge ordering Perry White's death. Turpin and Sawyer arrest Edge, who is exposed as the real head of Intergang, thereby exonerating Lex of the false accusations against him. Lex meanwhile is hailed as a hero because his missile (seemingly) destroyed Brainiac's ship.

Clark has a touching conversation with Lana where he admits to feeling heartbroken when he thought she'd been killed, and Lana tells him she intends to pursue career options in another city. It will no longer be safe for her in Metropolis now that she's struck a blow against Intergang. She asks Clark what he intends to do since WGBS is collapsing, and Clark replies that he's considering a return to print journalism. The film would end on a humorous and upbeat note, with Superman meeting Lois atop The Daily Planet building and announcing that his powers are now fully recovered. He confidently states he's ready to face anything, whereupon Mister Mxyzptlk appears and tells him to put up his dukes. Superman and Lois exchange bemused looks, then the credits roll.


That's how I'd reboot the series. Now here's a much shorter outline of where I'd go with the sequels.

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL

The pre-credit prologue for the second movie would show Superman battling and defeating Toyman.

While the first film showed Superman being tested physically, the second would focus on him being tested morally. It would primarily be an adaptation of 'What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?' (Action Comics V1 #775, March 2001) mixed with aspects of 'The Supergirl from Krypton' (Superman/Batman V1 #8-13, May-October 2004).

Superman establishes communication with the people of Kandor, and they ask him if Kara Zor-El reached Earth safely. Clark has no idea what they're talking about, so they explain that his cousin was also sent to Earth. With the help of the Kandorians, Superman then locates Kara (and possibly Krypto) adrift in space and frozen in suspended animation. He brings her to Metropolis where he and Lois help her to adapt to life on Earth. By now Clark has also gone back to working for The Daily Planet, where his old friends have warmly welcomed his return.

At the same time, Manchester Black and the Elite show up and establish themselves as a trendy new superhero team. Superman initially tries to get along with them, but becomes increasingly concerned as he notices the bad influence they are having on Kara and the world's youth. I like how Atomic Skull was used in the movie Superman vs. the Elite (2012), so I'd have him serve the same function in this film. His death at the hands of the Elite would be the catalyst for their conflict with Superman.

Kara would be caught in the middle of that conflict, torn between loyalty to her cousin and the attraction of being one of the 'cool kids' among the Elite. The battle for Kara's soul would be the focal point of the story, with Superman trying to prove to her that the Elite's lethal methods are wrong. At one point, Kara might even join the Elite similar to how she joined Darkseid in 'The Supergirl from Krypton'. But in the end she'd realise Clark is right and would side with him. The final act of the movie would play out more or less identically to the second half of Action Comics V1 #775. I'd also include a subplot about Lex trying to capitalise on his newfound popularity (resulting from him destroying Brainiac's ship in the previous movie) by running for office.

Mercy Graves, Vincent Edge and Intergang would appear, and Cat Grant and Steve Lombard would be added to the cast of characters at The Daily Planet. Bibbo Bibbowski would also show up in a minor role. Perhaps Metallo would return too, having survived Graves' attempt on his life and now being hungry for revenge against Lex for ordering his death. By the end of the movie Kara would have debuted as Supergirl and Clark and Lois would be engaged to get married. The film would conclude on a humorous note similar to the first movie, with Mister Mxyzptlk showing up for a rematch and this time bringing Bizarro along with him. Superman would react by rolling his eyes in exasperation. This might sound like just a silly running gag, but it's setting something up for the third and final entry in the trilogy. The second film's emphasis on Superman's oath against killing is also important to the final movie, which brings me to...

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF TOMORROW

This one would be mostly based on 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?' (Superman V1 #423 & Action Comics V1 #583, September 1986), but I'd mix it up with All-Star Superman (2006-2008) since the two stories have some obvious similarities and could blend well together. The pre-credit prologue would depict Superman escaping gladiatorial enslavement in the arena of Warworld by defeating Draaga and Mongul. He would then return to Earth in time for his wedding to Lois.

The Legion of Super-Heroes appear as guests at the wedding, and Superman learns that his days are numbered in the run-up to a predetermined showdown with his "greatest foe". Lex tricks him into flying too close to the sun so that he absorbs a lethal overdose of yellow sun radiation, just like in All-Star Superman, and Clark discovers he has a certain number of labours left to accomplish before his time runs out. Lex then gets possessed by Brainiac, Superman's secret identity is blown, and most of the allies and villains who'd appeared in the previous two movies would return for one final battle.

Eventually, as in Moore's comic, Superman would defeat all of his old foes until only Mxyzptlk remains. This would be the payoff for Mxyzptlk's appearances in the previous two movies. He is now revealed in his darker and more malevolent true form, and Superman is forced to kill him using the Phantom Zone projector, thereby breaking his Kryptonian oath.

Superman then renounces his never-ending battle and sacrifices himself in order to complete the last of his labours: to heal the heart of the sun that was damaged by Lex, Brainiac and/or Mxyzptlk. The movie ends with an epilogue taking place several weeks later, where Lois is sitting peacefully on a park bench looking up at the sky and still wearing her wedding ring. Jimmy and Supergirl approach her and Lois tells them she believes Clark is still alive and that he'll return one day. I might also throw in a teaser hinting at the existence of a Superman clone created by Project Cadmus.

Anyway, that's how I would write a Superman trilogy. And if you read this post in its entirety then you have my sympathies.

[thecolorsblend]

During the rail journey back to his office, Clark is haunted by Lois' words about him abandoning his friends. This triggers a flashback to his teenage years in Smallville, where we see a lonely Superboy (played by a younger actor) rescuing a car from veering into a river. Following the rescue, Superboy quickly ducks behind some bushes to avoid being seen. Suddenly he notices a group of strangely-dressed kids have appeared out of thin air behind him. He panics, fearing they might've seen him use his powers, but the kids reassure him that they are "friends" and introduce themselves as the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 30th century. They have travelled back in time to meet a living legend, and having now seen him in action they congratulate Superboy on the rescue he has just performed.

I find this part very intriguing. I adore the Legion and wish we could see them done justice in live action. But so far, Smallville (of all things) has come the closest to that.

Didn't want to make a big deal out of specific plot points in my summary. But one thing I would've wanted to do is position the Justice Society of America and the Legion of Superheroes into the trilogy.

The JSA got legally persecuted out of existence after World War II and I would want to make a point of briefly explaining that. At some point, I also would've wanted the Legion to have a cameo. The idea is that the JSA (hounded into obscurity by the public) is the situation with superhumans that Superman would've inherited. The Legion (celebrated by the entire galaxy) is ultimately the legacy that Superman would leave behind. The idea is that Superman is the one who ultimately paves the way for superhumans.

What I've come to believe is that there's just too much going on with the totality of Superman's mythos (Krypton's epic history, the early years as Superboy, the adventures with the Legion, the Metropolis years, etc.) to ever do it ALL justice in a feature film format. It's not every comic book character who can say that.

[The Joker]

Having read both Colors and Silver's outlines for a proposed Superman reboot trilogy a few times, I have to say both would make fine cinematic trilogies. As both encompass and celebrate much of the Superman lore and different but firmly distinct eras that has been established in the 84 years Superman has existed.

I honestly can't say I prefer one over the other. Both ideas work for me and then some.

Cheers to you both for sharing.