In Response to the Man of Steel Haters: Calm Down. It’s Not Even Out Yet

It’s been two years since news of a new Superman film emerged and the Internet had another of its little meltdowns. What caused it this time, exactly? Just the identities of the film’s director and producer: Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception). These fans weren’t simply outraged but pro-active, too. Articles, videos and whole blogs (one cheerfully alliterative, “Snyder’s Superman Sucks”) sprang up overnight to denounce this film. However, if you wade through the frothing rage, you find their central issue: this Superman isn’t faithful.


Truth be told, it’s completely understandable that fans would feel this way. The first promo pictures were either Superman outside a bank vault, broodily gazing at you, or cast in shadow like Nolan’s Batman. Then, the first trailer felt like a time warp back to 2002 and Ang Lee’s Incredible Hulk; shots of a scruffy, reclusive man and voice-overs rambling on about “great powers”. It would seem fans are right to call out Snyder and Nolan for lacking faithfulness to the original comic. 

However, Snyder and Nolan answer these accusations in interviews. They say Superman’s character is too different from Batman’s to use as a “template” and that they are going to treat Superman’ “respectfully”. And what about their previous film outings? They’ve won acclaim for bringing comic book settings to life. Sure, the adaptions of 300 and Watchmen were grim but look what he had to work with - Frank Miller practically helped start “grim” comics and Alan Moore was deconstructing the entire superhero genre! You might say that Snyder was completely “faithful” to that material as he brought these dark universes to life. The same goes for Nolan in presenting Batman as a tortured, troubled superhero. This is a pretty standard interpretation of Batman (barring Adam West’s Batman). So, it’s not too much of a stretch to believe this film’s in safe hands. 

Finally, look at the most recent trailer for Man of Steel. The familiar Superman story is present: Krypton is dying, Clark is being sent away to be raised by the Kents, he’s discovering superpowers and doing heroics and there are action scenes galore! The more upbeat tone of Superman seems to be captured in two little scenes: Jor-El’s speech that his son will "give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards" and Clark saying the “S” on his chest means “hope”.

It’s understandable that people get invested in their favourite comics, so it makes sense that they go a bit nuts when they see change and fear their character will be “ruined forever”. In this case, though, it seems people have just let their imaginations run wild and judged this film too early. To all comic books fans, or just fans in general, remember to be patient. Wait until the film is released and then you can go nuts.

P.S. Remember, if this film does turn out to be an unfaithful adaption of Superman, just blame Nolan and Snyder! Froth away!

 Feature Image: Warner Bros.