44th Anniversary Of ‘Superman’ Is Perfect Time To Reboot Man Of Steel

Last week’s confirmation that Henry Cavill would not in fact be returning to play Superman in any additional DCEU movies shocked much of fandom and entertainment press (although it arguably shouldn’t have). The news coincided with the 44th anniversary of Superman: The Movie, so this is a perfect time to discuss rebooting the Man of Steel’s franchise and the legacy of director Richard Donner’s genre-starting blockbuster.

James Gunn and Peter Safran, WBD’s newly crowned co-CEOs of DC Studios, informed Cavill his tenure as Superman was over last week, after which Gunn and Cavill took to social media to share the news and express their mutual admiration. Cavill made it clear he was surprised and disheartened by the news, particularly in light of the fact he’d quit his job headlining Netflix’s popular series The Witcher because he anticipated the need to free up his time for Superman projects.

Indeed, Stephen Knight — creator of another hit Netflix show, the spectacular Peaky Blinders — penned a treatment for a sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel, a sequel desired by WBD’s new CEO and President David Zaslav and certain other executives, and Cavill filmed cameos for Black Adam and The Flash. The actor even released a short video online confirming his appearance in Black Adam and promising it was just the start of his return to the role.

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So everyone was taken by surprise when Gunn and Safran chose to end any plans for Cavill’s return. In truth, however, there were many reasons to suspect a reboot was coming and that any deal between Cavill and the studio was incomplete. There were few alternatives left for Gunn and Safran, unless they chose to continue the current DCEU and merely put their own stamp on an ongoing piecemeal approach that’s already stumbled each time it attempted a “course correction” from the original plans.

Even restoration of the so-called “Snyderverse” would have still been essentially tantamount to continuation of the current DCEU, simply making certain tonal shifts and reincorporating plans for the Justice League sequels, bickering about particular projects aside. So the question was, continue and hope audiences can be won over again after four years of sub-$400 million box office outcomes for major DC movies, or let it all come to an end with next year’s final projects and close that chapter of the DCEU while preparing a reboot and entirely new plan? (You can read my ranking of all of Cavill’s DCEU appearances as Superman here.)

Granted, we’ve got to wait and see whether Gunn and Safran do indeed plan a 100% reboot, or whether they might use multiverse or other selective process to retain certain elements of the current DCEU, or maybe reboot but within the parameters of some existing particular film or series (such as The Batman, The Suicide Squad/Peacemaker branch of the current DCEU, or maybe even Joker).

Or perhaps they might consider both a reboot in live-action cinema plus an open door to animated continuation of the current DCEU (or what could be overall considered the so-called “Snyderverse” with Zack Snyder’s Justice League the official canonical entry going forward) in elseworld anime series or films on HBO Max and PVOD.

Most signs point to a full cinematic reboot and an end to the existing DCEU, however, although I suspect we’ll see some continuity of certain creatives involved in these films — Jason Momoa, for example, portraying Lobo in some fashion seems likely (my guess would be as an adversary of Superman in the reboot screenplay Gunn is writing), and Ben Affleck might wind up directing a Superman movie.

I’ve even offered you my own personal picks for potential Clark/Superman recasting — Nicholas Hoult, Corteon Moore, Darren Barnet, Wolfgang Novogratz (thanks to James Prescott for that name as a good candidate), and Regé-Jean Page are my current top five favorite choices right now, and I bet at least a couple of them have come up in conversations about possible casting.

I’m especially enamored of the pairing of Corteon Moore as Clark, Naomi Scott as Lois, Brad Pitt and Halle Berry as Jonathan and Martha Kent, Jason Momoa as Lobo of course, and Denzel Washington as Jor-El, Brendan Gleeson as Lex Luthor (think “Donald Trump meets Dick Cheney”), perhaps directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood or The Bullitts.

For the record, I’m still guessing Gunn is the frontrunner to direct the film, with Joseph Kosinski and J.J. Abrams as my guesses for who else is on their minds. But I’d love to see Prince-Bythewood and The Bullitts in the running for Superman and pretty much any other DC and Marvel projects.

When considering the right casting and approach to rebooting Superman, I think it’s instructive to consider this anniversary of Superman: The Movie and what it got right.

First off, I don’t think enough fans fully appreciate how much Richard Donner’s film has meant in the history of superhero cinema. It literally started the cinematic superhero genre. Before 1978, the only other true comic book superhero feature film was Superman and the Mole Men, a one-hour theatrically released pilot for the Adventures of Superman TV series, and nothing that could be called a “genre” for these films existed.

The blockbuster success of Superman: The Movie and the fact it ended with an announcement that Superman II was already planned, instantly established the power of superheroes at the cineplex. It took a while for Hollywood to learn the right lessons from Donner’s movie, but meanwhile that film set the template for superhero origin moviemaking that is still used to this day to great effect.

The Marvel Studios shared cinematic universe applies a modernized but still easily recognizable version of everything Superman did for its own films and especially origin tales, as do many other DC superhero films including most famously Batman Begins, Wonder Woman, Aquaman for example.

A recent 4K UHD HDR restoration of Superman: The Movie was released and hopefully you’ve had a chance to see it, dear readers, because it looks exceptional and almost makes a case for simply doing a modernized remake because it got so much exactly right.

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It’s depictions of Kryptonian technology, for example, it’s wonderful contrasting of Clark and Superman, the mile-a-minute banter of the Daily Planet newsroom, the loving and sometimes comparative and other times contrasting parental aspirations and hopes of both Jor-El and Jonathan Kent (and how simply and magically simply it states and depicts its those themes), the sense of humor mixed with operatic gravitas, the iconic casting, and that soaring score by John Williams — these are among the finest accomplishments of any superhero movie ever made.

Of course, they won’t really do a remake, which was essentially attempted in a roundabout way with 2006’s sequel-redo Superman Returns. And in truth, there’s a pretty decent argument to be made that 2013’s Man of Steel likewise is a sort of reimagining of Donner’s Superman and Superman II merged and with a tone closer to Batman Begins — itself a modernized application of the Donner Superman template, so one extra step removed from the 1978 movie, so to speak.

But it’s a testament to the greatness of Superman: The Movie — particularly how well it adapted the character and laid the foundations for what eventually became the biggest and most successful genre in modern film — that a decent argument could be made for just staging a very modernized reboot (with the sense of humor in particular updated for modern sensibilities and less outright camp at times).

So that is why a new rebooted Superman should pay close attention to the resonant messages found in what Superman: The Movie and Superman II (both the theatrical and Richard Donner Cut versions) accomplished. I know some DC fans will hate me putting it this way, but it’s true. Donner’s films are almost exactly what a “Marvel approach” to Superman would look like, because the “Marvel approach” proudly admits its heavy influence and lessons learned from Superman: The Movie, so we could say the MCU is a “Donner Superman approach” to Marvel movies, too!

And whether fans who resent the comparison admit it or not, it’s a powerful approach with enormous worldwide appeal still evident if you rewatch the 1978 film today. Next year is the 45th anniversary of Superman: The Movie, and it’s the year we’ll get news of a new rebooted Superman. The new film shouldn’t try to mimic or remake Donner’s superhero masterpiece, but it should definitely look closely at it and take all of the right lessons away. And with James Gunn penning the script, I feel confident it will.

Check this space again soon for more updates on the DCEU’s future, including Superman, and meanwhile if you haven’t seen Superman: The Movie (and/or its sequel) or it’s been a while since you saw it, give it a watch sometime soon while you contemplate what the next era of Superman cinema will look like.