The Costume:
Superman's costume is a big deal. Some people want to see it changed. I'm kind of a traditionalist when it comes to the costume so I don't want to see any major changes. The basic design is fine. There are always some stylistic things that are tweaked to make it look better though. The Superman Returns costume was pretty controversial. A lot of people totally hated it. I really believe this was more about their opinion of the movie than their actual dislike of the costume. It did go overboard putting tiny little Ss all over the main S shield, but that wasn't noticeable. Speaking of additional Ss, I think I'm one of the only people who actually liked the S belt. Maybe it doesn't need the S, but the sleek way it curved really gave it a cool look. The biggest problem with the costume was the color scheme. The idea was that 3 bright primary colors in one costume would clash. I kind of agree with that. To solve this issue they decided to tone down the red and yellow while keeping the blue bright. The yellow looked fine, but the red ended up looking more like a murky maroon.
While the red should have definitely been more red (even if it was dark) I've found that darkening the blue of the costume really makes the red look a little bit better.
As someone whose earliest memories of Superman are Superman: The Animated Series and Lois and Clark, I've always found the blue in most of the live action costumes to be a little bit too light. Maybe they should go darker this time. Not quite Dean Cain's level of dark blue, but somewhere between that and Routh's.
Another big (or not so big) problem people had was the S shield. For one thing it was too small. I think we pretty much all agreed on that. For another, people didn't take to the stylized look and claimed that they "changed it" or "messed it up." Once again, I feel like bias from dislike of the movie and the overall costume made people more inclined to dislike this new S. My issue with all the hatred is the fact that no live action Superman has worn the "real" S. (Superboys don't count) It has evolved over the years, but this has been the official S for quite some time.
Check out any of these Supermen. None have that exact symbol.
So if you don't like one of the styles, that's fine, but don't criticize it for not being the "real" S unless you admit the same for every other one. Anyway, I think it would be nice to finally have a major Superman where the true S on screen. I've also designed my own version of the symbol that merges the Superman Returns S with the classic S. I think something like this could work too.
Whatever the design, it should be bigger than Routh's but not too big. (aka Alex Ross big) I approve of making it rubbery and a separate material from the rest of the costume, but it should be flatter (reds and yellows on one level with the reds thicker so they stick out a little bit) and feel more like it's part of the whole thing.
This is my basic design of the costume. Darker blue, brighter red, belt has S removed but keeps shape, S shield is bigger and altered to look like my custom Returns/classic S. Click the picture to check it out on my deviantart page!
One of the issues a lot of people have with the Superman costume in general is the red briefs. They say it looks too old-fashioned and a little bit too campy. Personally, I think Superman's costume is one of those that works well pretty much as a direct translation, including the briefs. They look as good to me now as they always have. However, there are a lot of people who take issue with this look. I begrudgingly admit, that they don't exactly scream cool. So if they were to get rid of them, I'd want them to keep the color scheme sort of like a combination of the red briefs section in these two pictures.
I'm not a fan of either costume in general, but I think the idea of making the red part of the design of the regular tights has potential.
Finally, I'd like to mention the origin of the costume. I know traditionally Martha Kent made it for him. However, I prefer the idea of it coming from Jor-el/ the Fortress of Solitude like in Superman: The Movie. In modern times, a ton of money goes into making these costumes look good and Superman's costume will definitely be no exception. Is it really believable that Martha Kent can sew something that looks as good as a costume made by Hollywood costume designers? No, but it works if it just comes from the Fortress. It can look as good as it should while still making sense as part of the story.
Colors/Lighting:
Maybe it's just me, but I think Superman Returns had both dim lighting and dull colors in general. Look at some of these stills from the movie. They tend to have a brown or gray hue.
Now compare the overall look of this scene from Superman Returns to this scene from Spider-man.
I don't know if it was the location they shot the movie or some kind of camera filter, but Returns just didn't seem bright enough. The next Superman movie really needs some brightness to help it be visually pleasing. It's a comic book movie! I realize there is a wide range of how these things can look depending on what the director is going for, but Superman just seems to be the kind of character that would be best at home in a bright environment. Maybe they could use it as subtle symbolism and go from dull/dim to bright showing how things improve when Superman comes and starts to bring hope to the world.
Music:
John Williams' Superman Theme is the definitive theme for the character. However, it is tied to the Christopher Reeve Superman movies making it tricky to decide whether or not to use this theme for the new movie. Just like how they ditched the iconic Danny Elfman Batman theme for Nolan's Batman movies, the film makers may want a new theme to help signify that this is a new Superman. I believe the Batman theme for the Nolan movies is more about setting a tone than being a character theme the way Elfman's theme was. This Superman movie may follow suit by using a theme that is more about matching the tone of the movie than being music that's says "Here's Superman!" I'm a big fan of the Williams theme so I hope a new theme would capture some of that feel even if it is different.
Tone:
I touched on this back when I talked about not doing some kind of dark edgy revamp. The tone has to feel like it's a Superman movie, obviously. There should be some weight to it. After all, Superman is a big deal, but overall, it should be a fun, feel-good movie. It has lessons, but it needs to strike a balance between being a fun action movie and being an inspirational movie. People who want to read into it to find some kind of life lessons should be able to without much effort, but it shouldn't seem too preachy. It can go dark at times, but it still has to have its light comedic moments. It's not a drama, but the audience should go on a kind of emotional journey with Clark. When he's ticked off at Lex, we should feel a little bit ticked off. When he reaches the end of the movie and has found his place in the world, we should feel happy for him and feel like we're glad to have seen Superman reintroduced in a great way.
Thanks for reading, especially those of you who have read this whole series! Please check out the video version of this article here! As usual, it's a little more flashy than the article and it's a nice alternative for people who don't feel like reading everything. If you enjoyed this article, please help me out by pushing the like button! Even if you completely disagree, comment anyway and tell me your ideas for how things should go! I'm always up for a civilized debate.