A Bright, Optimistic Superman Film Would Actually Be Refreshing Now
In recent years, there have been plenty of satirical subversions of the Superman archetype exploring what would happen if an evil character without Kal-El’s moral compass was granted his godlike powers: Brightburn, Homelander from The Boys, Omni-Man from Invincible, Ikaris from Eternals, the list goes on. Even the last on-screen incarnation of Superman himself subverted the expectations of a squeaky-clean superhero with a brooding, conflicted Clark Kent. After all these “evil Superman” stories and a couple of official Superman movies with unofficially dark and gritty characterization, returning to Supes’ roots as a somewhat dorky do-gooder with a heart of gold would actually be refreshing.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman has successfully reinvented the Caped Crusader on the big screen. It’s about time Superman was similarly reinvented. But instead of doubling down on the darkness like Reeves’ horror-tinged neo-noir epic did with Gotham’s masked protector, Warner Bros. should pump its resources into a more faithful Superman reboot that begs the ultimate Superman question: what if an all-powerful being used those powers for the good of mankind?
A New Superman Movie Should Be The Polar Opposite Of The Batman
Nearly a century after Superman was introduced as the original superhero, solidifying all the hallmarks of the now-familiar archetype, the “evil Superman” stories arrived as a fun change of pace. Characters like Homelander have challenged the “hero worship” of the superhero genre and drawn cynical parallels with alarming real-world politics. But if the same subversion is copied over and over again, it ceases to be subversive. With two Prime Video series and a bunch of movies, including actual Superman movies, digging into this
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