The Man of Steel Syllabus: Christopher Nolan’s Superman Movie Homework

By Evan Narcisse | March 11, 2010 | +

The Last Son of Krypton may have finally found his own Superman. An article over at The Los Angeles Times confirms the rumors that have swirled for the last month or so that Christopher Nolan would be sitting in the director’s producer’s chair for Warner Bros.’ reboot of the Superman movie franchise. While we’re sure the DC Entertainment brain trust is already hard at work making sure the Dark Knight director’s bookshelf is well-stocked, we at Techland wanted to chime in with our own required reading.

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charlieromeobravo

“An article over at The Los Angeles Times confirms the rumors that have swirled for the last month or so that Christopher Nolan would be sitting in the director’s chair”

Uh, no it doesn’t. From the article:

“Nolan says he has no idea who will direct the Superman film but his role appears to be comparable to Peter Jackson with “District 9…”
http://callnresponse.wordpress.com Evan Narcisse

Damn! I meant to say producer. My brain instantly thinks Nolan = director. Will fix. Thanks!
charlieromeobravo

NP.

I’m really curious to see what Nolan can do with Superman. They keep trying to revive him but he’s a tough character to work with. His predominant image is basically a really really nice guy with god-like power and a red and blue leotard. IT’s hard to make Superman less corny and more dramatically compelling without messing with the stuff that makes him Superman in our minds. It’s a fine line to walk. IT’s possible that Superman’s true vulnerability is that his own iconic-ness makes it impossible to revive him for films that would be entertaining for today’s audience.
http://twitter.com/thepeterha Peter Ha

I’m more interested to see what JMS can do with Superman this year. On the other hand, I’ve been saying that they need to make the Doomsday run into a movie.
http://figerrific.wordpress.com/ figerrific

I liked Man of Steel by Azzarello. Some of the best Superman stories has been when he is a figure to write around, instead of being the main character. For example, Man of Steel, the first part of Kingdom Come, and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow.
thebro88

touche on the early Kingdom Come. I always thought that treatment would be exactly how Superman would handle “retirement” if the world no longer needed him. If Nolan got Alex Ross to storyboard, that wouldnt be bad either.
orchardist

Just make him a hero with a set of decent morals. No morally gray — that’s what makes Superman Superman.
http://callnresponse.wordpress.com Evan Narcisse

@figerrific: I liked the Lex Luthor mini slightly better than the Azzarello/Lee For Tomorrow run, but both leave me kind of cold. If I had the time, I would’ve included some Cary Bates stuff from the 70s and 80s. Definitely some hidden gems in there.
gminnj

All he has to do is read Morrison’s stuff, and some Elliot S! Maggin, a little Denny O’Neil, and he’s set.

On the other hand, I am praying that we get the JMS who wrote the “Morlun” stuff in Spider-Man, and not the JMS who wrote… well, everything else that he’s ever written.

I am nervous about him on Supes (and WW). Can’t possibly be as awful as James Robinson, or the lurking spectre of that dude from the “Real World” who completely destroys all he touches.