First, let’s get a bit of ranting out of the way. ANYTHING is better than Brian Singer’s “Superman Returns” attempt to reboot the franchise. I grew up on Superman and other than Kevin Spacey’s take on Lex Luthor there was nothing remotely good about the film. “Superman Returns” is the only superhero film I’ve ever fallen asleep during…that can’t be good. It’s not that Brand Routh did a bad job as Supes but he was trying too hard to be Christopher Reeve. Hell, the whole film was trying too hard to be a Richard Donner movie, a cannon the Superman comic books got rid of years ago.

Also, loose the kid. Super Brat was by far the worst part of the Singer film and totally unnecessary. If you’re going to add in super offspring (a sure sign of jumping the shark if ever there was one) at least make them be, you know, SUPER. The kid they got to play Lois Lane’s son reminded me all too much of the little boy from The Shining. Truly creepy.

Yes, the Christopher Reeve movies were good but comics have matured a lot since the Donner films and it’s about time the Superman films reflected that. Superman needs to be darker and face some real ethics questions. The man is literally a deity, Zeus incarnate, and he chooses to live among men saving them instead of ruling over them. Most people misunderstand the role of Superman. Superman is the disguise and Clark Kent is the real person. If Synder chooses to make Kent the disguise all we are left with is a slapstick driven, bumbling alter-ego that audiences will bore of fast. Use Tom Welling and Smallville as a template and the movie will at least have a solid foundation.

Say what you will about Smallville it brought a sense of dignity to characters that would otherwise by laughed at on screen. With Nolan overseeing the new movie there is at least a good chance that the same ideals he brought to “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” will survive into this new adaptation. Make the heroes and the villains realistic yet still full of wonderment. This is Superman after all and not Batman. Superman should fight a villain worthy of his both intellectual and physical power. Lex Luthor is overdone and there is honestly too much room for failure there. Unless you can get Michael Rosenbaum (the definitive Lex Luthor in my books) to reprise his role just leave it be. There is talk of bringing back General Zod but even that villain has been overdone as well. With Snyder at the helm it might be possible to bring in a worthy, more CGI driven adversary like Brainiac or Darkseid. Just so long as the villain(s) are complex and well-thought out they will be a pleasure to see on screen.

The movie could be in far worse hands than Snyder’s. Snyder proved his comic book prowess when he faithfully adapted both “300” and “Watchmen” for the big screen. “Watchmen” was tricky source material with characters that were bound to alienate many viewers but Snyder did it any ways and gave it the proper treatment it deserved. More than that Snyder knows how to handle more than one superhero at a time and that is something that the DC Universe movies have desperately needed. Take a tip from Marvel and expand your movie universe! With over 100 years of material to work from there are literally thousands of characters both new and old to bring into the fold.

With a release date 2012 we still have a while to go before we see the finished product but I remain hopeful. What do you all think?

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