Superman Returns... exactly why, again?

[filkertom]

USA Today has a picture of Brandon Routh as the new Superman.

Never mind the belt buckle. Never mind the gently tousled perm. Never mind the changes to the colors of the suit. How's this for a money quote, the very first line of the article:

The look of Superman literally rests on the broad and buff shoulders of newcomer Brandon Routh.

"Broad and buff"? This frat rat?

Anyone in pro wrestling is more "broad and buff" than that wuss-boy, and that includes Spike Dudley and Dawn Marie.

Update: Ain't It Cool had a link to Brandon's official site, with a very large full-body photo. You be the judge.

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

What's with that drab suit? It looks like it got washed in Hot Water without benifit of color-safe bleach! SuperMan meets Sin City? Geez.

[bald-ruminant.livejournal.com]

He's got better abs than JBL...

[ericcoleman]

leaping tall buildings my ass .. looks like he couldn't leap the back yard fence

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

A more subtle Superman, I suppose the proof will be in the viewing when the movie comes out. C. Reeve was less musclebound than the comic book version and we criticized him heavily at the time... until we saw him in motion.

I like the costume. Searingly bright colors just don't translate well to live action.

[cleverthylacine]

I think he's hot.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hot, maybe (although I'm NTA). But Superman?

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

What's "NTA" in this context, please?

[huskiebear.livejournal.com]

Not the audience

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Actually, I don't recall much criticism of Reeve for that at all. I thought he looked pretty good -- I knew they weren't going to get that Curt Swan torso, 'cause it didn't actually exist.

And they're his colors.

Look, I'm good with changes to canon, up to a point -- I don't have a problem with Spider-Man having natural webs rather than mechanical web-shooters, the alterations in DareDevil's costume didn't bother me (heck, his and Elektra's and Bullseye's and they made the Kingpin a black guy), I got a hell of a good smirk out of "Would you prefer yellow spandex?" in X-Men. I understand they want to do something different, and perhaps more visual.

But it's not gonna look like Superman. More than any other, he's an iconic superhero. Subtlety can and does work for Supes... but not involving his looks. They've proven that, time and again. The only change that ever actually took was giving him longer hair... and not that much longer.

I'm gonna have to see the flick, because I'm a big Superman fan. But I just don't think this guy or this costume have "the Look".

[cogitationitis.livejournal.com]

It's the dried-blood maroon that's really off; I can handle the deeper blue and the gold. Also, the sheild (not emblem) looks too artificial, as if it's glued on and might fall off.

Supe *isn't* buff. He doesn't need to work out. Peter Parker always looked kinda wimpy, too, at first. That's what superpower does for you: negates the need for trips to the gym. Batman, on the other hand--now there's a guy who's seriously into exercise (or should be).

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ummm....

Every interpretation of Supes that didn't involve George Reeves was incredibly muscled. That was the point -- he's supposed to look super. The Alex Ross and Garcia-Lopez versions stand out in my mind, as does the version in Identity Crisis, where he was damn near a force of nature.

I agree completely on the maroon. The blue and gold might work, if not for that -- it's almost brown.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

And they're his colors.

Frequently enough, I've seen that the color balance seen in stills does not match with ends up on the silver screen. Doubly so on internet-distributed jpegs. On colors, don't count the chickens before they're hatched.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Not everybody can have broad shoulders attached to pencil thin legs, like in the later Superman/Batman TAS shows. I think he looks fine, and the suit isn't as broad a re-imagining as the rubber fetish suits from the Batman movies.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, of course not. That was a show run by Joel "The Kinkmeister" Schumacher.

[annathepiper]

I thought for the longest time that as far as Superman goes, there could be only one, and that was Christopher Reeve.

But Dean Cain managed to sell me on being Clark when Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman came out, though I only held out through the first season.

I am not terribly impressed with this new guy's look, but much could be forgiven if the movie doesn't suck. Guess we'll find out. :)

[janet-coburn.livejournal.com]

We're sitting around discussing whether a Hollywood actor looks more like a comic book character than a pro wrestler does???

Sheesh!

Wow

[illusionmajik.livejournal.com]

DAmn if Spike Dudley is more buff
But spike is cool so...
GRRR

[naja-pallida.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of trouble warming up to Dean Cain, but I think he did manage to pull it off. This kid looks younger than Tom Welling from Smallville. I'll hold off judgement though, until I see the movie. Maybe he'll be the best Superman yet... maybe not... who knows.

What the heck is that material they used for the suit? It looks like one of those old vinyl picnic table cloths. I hope there aren't many shots that close up in the movie. :)

[billroper]

Actually, the suit looks pretty good, other than the amount of patterning in the larger shot and the boots being too dark. It reminds me of the Fleischer cartoons more than anything else, and that's a pretty good source to be drawing from.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Fleischer is indeed an excellent source, and I wish I saw more of it in this, or maybe Alex Ross. I don't object to the patterning. I think the belt buckle is silly, I think the colors should be brighter, and I think the S symbol on his chest should be much bigger. More, though, I think the guy in the suit shouldn't look as if he can't bowl 135 (said the guy whose lifetime average is 113).

[bald-ruminant.livejournal.com]

Sacrilege! There's no way that those boots or that chest emblem were made from his baby blankets!

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Ma Kent had to KNIT the suit after unraveling the (indestructible) babyblankets. This garment has VISIBLE SEAMS!

[djonn]

Clearly the Ma Kent in this incarnation had help with the fabric from Kal-El (Kryptonian heat vision being useful for cutting Kryptonian cloth and then melting the pieces back together).

[this post courtesy Rationalizations R Us....]

[singlemaltsilk.livejournal.com]

I don't like the low-slung, Speedo trunks.

[chaosdancer.livejournal.com]

Well now honestly, that makes sense. Because - think about it - where's Superman going to find enough resistance to really bulk up his muscles? Go out and do press-ups using the entire planet? Shot-put Mt. Everest? It makes sense he'd be a skinny wimpy sort of guy that just happened to be really really strong. If you want him bulky, you'd have to drop him down on a heavy gravity world for a while. Right?

my 2 cents

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

I still wanted Tom Welling to play this role. But you know someone recently pointed out to me that his eyes are hazel not blue. HORRORS!

I wonder about a soap star having the acting ability to pull this off, but I haven't watched this guy's soap. While soaps have many great actors, most soap actors are mediocre at best.

[jabberwokky.livejournal.com]

I agree with the actor not being buff enough.

The colors I like - they are the right colors, and the real world has muted shades compared to the comic world: taxi cabs are solid bright yellow, trees are uniform bright green, etc. Converting over the primaries of his outfit to the more muted and textured real world is a Good Thing, IMO. It makes it appear real.

I'll note that I like the opposite as well - turning the real world into comic colors a la Dick Tracy. But if it's going to look "real", this is a good conversion.

As an aside, I'd really like to see the older, slightly bitter Superman (from things like "Kingdom Come") played by a buzzcut, slightly greying Bruce Willis. He has the muscular mass, the twinkle in the eye and can play honest idealism with sincerity.

"Broad and buff"? This frat rat?

[mstrhypno.livejournal.com]

With a treble-cleft chin stolen from Kirk Douglas, shoulders sloping like a water slide at Sea World and costuming that Mr. Black would deem damaging to the environment, this guy can only be seen as Marvel's revenge on DC!

Ye Gods! Scuster must be turning over in his grave!

Lee Darrow