Written by The Wandering Fox
Quite the interesting year of movies we’ll be getting this year, among them a Superman reboot by James Gunn with David Corensweet as the Man of Steel. Not only that but in fourteen years Superman will turn one hundred years old! It’s been quite the interesting history for the young man from Kansas, though if you ask me his most interesting moments have come in cinema, mostly with Christopher Reeve and Henry Cavill’s takes on the character. But as we all know, the letter’s time with Warner and DC was far more gruelling and didn’t have as such a beloved impact on the bigger audience though many recognise this was not Henry’s fault, and while a lot of us are eager to see how David will do as Superman, a lot can’t forgive Warner for its harsh treatment of Cavill.
Like I said though, a lot of the problems weren’t even Henry’s fault. And having got the very first Christopher Reeve Superman movie on my birthday, the more I look at the studio and think “Why didn’t you take some inspirations from that and make your take less darker?” Even with the years going by I am starting to question myself if Zack Snyder, David S.Goyer and others were the right ones to take Henry on as Superman. Then again, Henry could’ve got JJ.Abrams instead.
But back to the point, I the Wandering Fox watched this classic film and I found myself mesmerised by how much care and thought went in making Superman’s debut in the cinema, then I thought of how they had gold with Henry Cavill as Clark but thought making him and his side of DC much darker and grittier, then have him outshone by Batman and the larger DC universe was a clever idea all just to catch up with Marvel and be much too different from Marvel.
Hence, I thought I’d just offer you an easy rewrite to Man of Steel.
First Step
I’d keep the opening scene with Krypton’s destruction and Jor-El’s death by Zod. Keep the oil rig and Arctic exploration scene, though Clark wears a ski mask to hide his face from Lois. Do an interview similar to the prison scene in which Lois asks “What does the S stand for?” Keep Zod’s Black Zero ship. Keep Clark’s reunion with Martha. Keep Clark’s first meeting with Zod.
The Second Step
For how I’d intercut these into the different movie, the oil rig does lead into the flashback’s to Clark’s childhood though instead of the classroom scene, you replace it with the school bus scene, only that goes a lot differently: Clark ends up missing the school bus after school, hence he runs home but then sees the bus is about to go over the bridge, he gets it back on the road without anybody seeing him, then we have him running up to the bus going “Is everybody okay? I saw it almost went over the edge!” Then you end this flashback with Jonathan and Martha teasingly asking him if he knew what happened, Clark confesses he saved them and Jonathan and Martha are proud of him, though they tell him he can’t just help people with his powers, he can help them in any way, wether it’s fixing a busted door, or being a rock for somebody to hold to, he can help them all by being him thanks to his heart.
Lois does talk to him at the Arctic exploration but cos he’s got a beard and he later wears a ski mask she doesn’t connect the dots he’s Clark Kent. Lois does talk to Perry about this and though Perry accepts she saw something he doesn’t want this published as it could make the Daily Planet a mockery. Though we get a humorous moment in which, once Superman comes along, Perry wants Lois to interview him.
Before Zod’s arrival, we get a longer reunion with Clark and Martha which has them visit Pa Kent’s grave. I’ll come to how I’d do his death later but for the moment Clark talks with the grave and tells it he’s finally found out what he is and he knows what to do, go by everything Jonathan and Martha taught him with and do some good. Clark chooses to go to Metropolis and seek out a job and hopes to help as many as he can.
The interview with Lois obviously isn’t in prison, instead it’s on the Daily Planet rooftop. There is some questions with Lois cleverly guessing he’s the man she encountered in the Arctic, though obviously doesn’t know he’s Clark Kent. Superman explains he’s only here to help, to help anybody wether it’s with a door or a car accident, he’s there to help. His home planet died thanks to nobody wanting good people doing their jobs.
His meeting with Zod goes just about as it did in the movie, though obviously the army hand him over, Lois doesn’t go with him as the Kryptonians don’t have any interest in her. There’s no mental torture. Zod has a much more sadder talk with Clark as he explains how he tried to save Krypton and hoped Jor-El could’ve helped him.
The Black Zero does what it does, though instead it’s in the desert than in Metropolis. The Black Zero collapses into a Black Hole, though Superman battles Zod during this. This is where the similarities end.
The Third Step
The differences here are the following:
There’s no artificial Kryptonian lore, that’s gone.
The bus scene goes differently with Jonathan Kent not saying “Maybe” after Clark asked if he should’ve let his friends die.
Clark wears a ski mask after he saves Lois from the Kryptonian robot.
The Fortress of Solitude is no longer a typical spaceship, it’s a Crystal like fortress much like the comics and Donner films but also an outpost which contains old Kryptonian tech. Upon sticking in the Crystal, Clark, the Robots and the Fortress are warped to the Antarctic. The Fortress then has Jor-El and Lara’s consciousness come to life.
We have Perry not wanting to publish Lois’s story as he thinks it will make a mockery of the Daily Planet.
Clark moves to Metropolis and begins studying journalism while doing a few heroics, like stopping a car accident, stopping a robbery, rescuing a kid from falling to his death, and of course saving a cat from a tree. I’d even have Lois be cornered by a gunman who desires to kill her for exposing his dad’s killings, though Superman steps in and calmly bends the gun.
There’s a lot of people wanting to know Superman, some are happy, some are scared. Lois and Perry take notice and Superman has the interview with Lois. Lois figures he’s the man from the Arctic, though she swears to keep that out of the interview.
Zod does not go looking for the shuttle Clark came to Earth in. Instead he tries to find the Fortress while Faora brings the Black Zero to the desert to begin terraforming. There’s no World Engine here, instead the Black Zero is the terraformer. Superman asks why Zod won’t terraform an uninhabitable planet, to which Zod explains he cannot bear the thought of another alien race such as humans, even more so with them having “perverted” Clark with their ways, promising Earth will be a brand new Krypton and Clark will know what being a true Kryptonian is.
The Black Zero terraforms in the desert cos that way there’s no loss of life, and it dodges the question of why Metropolis didn’t evacuate even before the Black Zero began terraforming.
Clark escapes the Black Zero thanks to it entering the Earth’s atmosphere, helping his enhanced senses and strength to return and finds the escape pod thanks to his x-ray vision.
Though Clark escapes the Black Zero he retreats to the Fortress to recover, where Jor-El and Lara’s consciousness help explain to him how Zod can be stopped with him colliding the Phantom Drives together and Zod and the Black Zero will be sucked in the Phantom Zone. Superman takes a Phantom Drive and flies it to the Black Zero though he has a fight with Faora and Non, though he manages to succeed in colliding the drives and watches the Phantom Zone suck Faora, Non and the Black Zero inside.
Zod’s final fight with Superman is in the Fortress, which results in Superman opening the Phantom Zone, trapping Zod inside. Zod came to the Fortress to gather more info on Clark’s upbringing. Zod, though annoyed the Black Zero is trapped in the Phantom Zone, tries to bring it back through the tech in the Fortress.
The film ends with Superman asking Jor-El and Lara if there’s any Kryptonians out there. Jor-El doesn’t know though Lara says Clark has his people, the humans, and he has his home. It ends with Clark getting a job at the Daily Planet, meeting Lois and Perry, though upon hearing somebody calling for help, he slips away and flies out as Superman.
Done.
I wouldn’t swap out any of the castings as I think they all did a fine job in the movie, though Lois is still a hard worker as she was in the Donner films.
If they had tried to keep the story a bit more lighthearted while doing Clark and Superman as well as he was in the Donner films and a few animated movies I think they’d have done a fine job.
I honestly wish Henry had a better turn as Superman. I still love him as him, I still like Man of Steel, but you always have to sit and think of how different things would have been. Well, I only give David the best of luck as Superman and hopefully he doesn’t get the treatment Henry got from the studio. I’m the Wandering Fox and I will see you all later.
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