Zack Snyder And David Goyer Discuss MAN OF STEEL; "He Can't Hold Up A Continent..."

Zack Snyder And David Goyer Discuss MAN OF STEEL; "He Can't Hold Up A Continent..."

Yeah, we're pretty sure that's a dig at Bryan Singer's Superman Returns too! Hit the jump to check out what director Zack Snyder had to say about handling Superman's powers and the possibility of a sequel, while David Goyer discusses the tone of the movie and the role of Krypton and Jor-El.

By JoshWilding - Mar 14, 2013 03:03 PM EST
Filed Under: Superman
Source: Total Film Magazine


The problem with a character like Superman is that it's just so difficult for readers - and viewers - to relate with a near-indestructible super being. This has frequently plagued comic book writers, although the last time it was addressed (in JMS' critically panned "Grounded" story arc), it did not go down well with fans. Neither did Bryan Singer's almost action-less Superman Returns in 2006. So, how is Zack Snyder planning on dealing with the Kryptonian's power set in Man of Steel? "It's amazing what [Superman] is capable of but [Henry's] a slightly more down to Earth version of the character," he told Total Film Magazine. "I don't think he can hold up a continent... Superman has been broken for a little while." Ouch! It sure does sound as if he wasn't a fan of Singer's take on the character either.

"He's a man, but he's a Man of Steel," added writer David Goyer. "It's very much the theme of the movie, so it's embedded in the title, which we settled on at the very beginning. He's human but he's not human." It sounds as if the fact that he's not human will play a much larger role in the movie than any of us may have expected. "We try to flesh out Krypton and its different political factions, it's fauna, it's science. It's not a cameo," he said of Russell Crowe's Jor-El. "I think people think he's playing the Marlon Brando role, which isn't necessarily the case." So, Krypton will have a large role in Man of Steel, but what about the larger DC Universe? "I can't really say," is all Zack Snyder will reveal, before adding: "My hope is that we establish him and that he's a viable, awesome character that everyone is interested in seeing continue. He's the biggest superhero in the world. Or should it be. He's Superman, for gods sake!"







In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is a young twenty-something journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond his imagination. Transported years ago to Earth from Krypton, a highly advanced, distant planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question 'Why am I here?' Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Diane Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner), Clark discovers having extraordinary abilities means making difficult decisions. When the world is in dire need of stability, an even greater threat emerges. Clark must become a Man of Steel, to protect the people he loves and shine as the world’s beacon of hope – Superman.


STARRING:

Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman
Amy Adams as Lois Lane
Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent
Diane Lane as Martha Kent
Michael Shannon as Zod

RELEASE DATE: June 14th, 2013.


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Highflyer
Highflyer - 3/14/2013, 3:09 PM
i lked superman returns. Even though it lacked action, it was a refreshing movie.
WorstUserNameEver
WorstUserNameEver - 3/14/2013, 3:09 PM
Ouch!
DeanCorso
DeanCorso - 3/14/2013, 3:10 PM
And I'm not a fan of Snyder slo-mo action style!!

TheSuperguy
TheSuperguy - 3/14/2013, 3:11 PM
Hoping this becomes either a trilogy like THE DARK KNIGHT, or an ongoing series like TASM.
JDUKE25
JDUKE25 - 3/14/2013, 3:11 PM
@Dean COOL!!!!!!!!!!
LP4
LP4 - 3/14/2013, 3:11 PM
NICE. We almost rarely ever hear from Mr. Snyder himself. Glad to hear he didn't like Singer's Superman film either.

Singer is a fanboy. He's one of us.

angus666
angus666 - 3/14/2013, 3:15 PM
I still think Superman should be able to do anything. He should be able to move the Earth. He's freaking Superman.
JoeMomma29
JoeMomma29 - 3/14/2013, 3:16 PM
LMAO!

JDUKE25
JDUKE25 - 3/14/2013, 3:16 PM
@yoss yeah, Smallville proved that!!



I couldn't say that with a straight face
FOOM
FOOM - 3/14/2013, 3:17 PM
Come on DC folk. In order to adopt your heroes to the big screen you must have known all those ridiculously inflated powers would have to be ramped down.
Tony93
Tony93 - 3/14/2013, 3:18 PM
3 months
JULEZ13
JULEZ13 - 3/14/2013, 3:20 PM
Why can't he move a continent? Its Superman, he can do ANYTHING!

I hope it was just a stab at Singer's ridiculous attempt at a Superman film. That thing was the worst thing related to Superman EVER.

I like what they said about Krypton. I kind of hate Donner's Jor-El and the way he portrayed Krypton. It seemed very generic and unrealistic.

I'm really excited about this film!!
NeoBaggins
NeoBaggins - 3/14/2013, 3:20 PM
I don't hate Superman Returns, but I thought lifting a Kryptonite continent into space was a bit much even for Superman- or at least for the condition he was in.
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 3/14/2013, 3:21 PM
@ JoeMomma29 - Awesome gif! LMFAO!!
sephiroth211
sephiroth211 - 3/14/2013, 3:28 PM


LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!
TheTank
TheTank - 3/14/2013, 3:29 PM
Its only in the years after the dark knight came out did people start saying Superman Returns was panned and this and that, firstly it made more money than Batman Begins, secondly I live in NY and all the papers on Long Island and in the City gave the movie outstanding reviews saying that "The rest of the superhero genre looks like cider next to Bryan Singers sparkling champagne"

I admit i can't sit through the movie anymore, and there are certain things that if done right would have given us an amazing franchise, the 2 things aside from the suit looking stupid was that it was totally based on the donner universe instead of the comics, reminded me when i was a little kid and used to write superman stories in kindergarten, the only material i knew was the movie, i couldnt read the comics then lol. Secondly they boxed it off with Jason White, because now for the sequel there is too much baggage in the way to write an effective movie.

Not to mention the FX sucked, but other than that the heart was totally in the right place. But its like i said numerous times, that movie came out at the tail end of what i like to call the first wave of superhero movies. There was no TDK and Iron man at that point to change the game for the genre. Batman Begins was vague enough to be able to slide out of that first wave and continue on with an awesome series.
jaysin420
jaysin420 - 3/14/2013, 3:33 PM
Pretty weak taking shot at SR, especially considering his last movie was an absolute bomb and he's had Nolan holding his hand through MOS.
sephiroth211
sephiroth211 - 3/14/2013, 3:34 PM
@Chloefornication



;^]
TheFox
TheFox - 3/14/2013, 3:34 PM
@LEVITIKUZ: Nice Superman/Batman reference!

I'm glad that the film is scaling back Superman's power levels. That was always the biggest failing of the films to me-- the fact that no one involved in any of the productions seemed to know just how strong Superman was or what exactly he could do, but they always estimated upwards to a ridiculous extreme. Even Richard Donner did it as far back as the first movie! And the less said about Richard Lester and his baffling additions to Supes' power set, the better...

Superman should not be totally invincible, nor should be be completely indomitable. Superman's powers should be amazing TO US, but they still need to have upward limits-- otherwise, he's just a walking Deus Ex Machina. John Byrne had the right idea when he de-powered Superman post-Crisis, but sadly, the only live-action iteration that's ever tried the approach was Lois & Clark. So maybe now we'll have a Superman on film who's powerful enough to be amazing, but not SO powerful that he becomes ridiculous.

Z
JohnnyKrypton
JohnnyKrypton - 3/14/2013, 3:47 PM
@Josh - There shouldn't be quotation marks in the article's title unless you're actually using a direct quote

More importantly, can this Supes do c*ck pushups?
dadarkknight
dadarkknight - 3/14/2013, 3:53 PM
@Jimsin720

He is not taking shots at superman returns he was just making appoint that his superman would not be as powerful as the supes from that movie by referring to a scene in returns that denstrated that.
You are acting like Taylo swift when she took a joke from tina Fay and Amy polher too seriously. The thing is Zach was not even joking about the scene.
StrangerX
StrangerX - 3/14/2013, 3:55 PM
"He's Superman for gods sake"

RIGHT!!
Azazel1
Azazel1 - 3/14/2013, 3:55 PM
It was not just the lack of action that made Superman Returns a bad movie. It was awful on countless levels!!!!!
WarnerBrother
WarnerBrother - 3/14/2013, 3:58 PM
Had Singer made a few changes to the third act,Superman Returns could have been a good enough film to get a sequel.

When Luthor steals the crystal tech he talked about being able to use it to create weapons.Why the f.ck didn't he use it to create Doomsday?

Superman was "killed" anyway lifting the Kryptonite island.It would have made for
a better third act to have Superman battle Doomsday in Metropolis while saving people,putting out fires,etc vs dealing with another Earthquake ala Superman the Movie.

It would have created far more emotional impact had Superman "died" in the streets fighting to protect Lois.his son and the people Metropolis then lifting a huge rock.

That was the fatal flaw of that movie.Singer was trying to build a franchise by setting up too much stuff that needed to be paid off in future installments vs making the most kick ass Superman film possible.

He assumed that people would flock to a warmed over, updated Superman the Movie for his first film, then he could really do some wild stuff in the second.

Singer is on record as saying the sequel would have had Doomsday come from the now,Kryptonite moon.

If Doomsday could be "grown" from crystal tech,why not have Luthor make him to provide a super powered enemy to kill Superman vs shanking him like a prison b.tch on a Kryptonite island?

That film was such a missing opportunity because the seeds were there to build a DCU before Marvel Studios got into the game.

Singer was setting up a possible Superman Batman meeting down the road when he mentioned Gotham.Hell,the early script for Green Lantern would have had a Brandon Routh cameo as a possible ring bearer candidate before it chose Hal Jordan.

Remember the line where Martha Kent tells Clark something about somewhere in the universe he might still meet people like him after he failed in his Krypton trip?

We could have had all the DC Cinematic universe world building we could handle years ago had Superman Returns been a big hit.

Too bad,we could have been on a third Superman film (with more DCU easter eggs)
leading into Justice League, vs hoping the latest rumors are true.
Berean
Berean - 3/14/2013, 3:59 PM
I am so tired of people talking about how difficult it is to write a Superman story that is engaging when he is so powerful. People talk about how they can't relate to him. Soooooo you can relate to a billionaire vigilante who refuses to kill mass murderers despite having his own parents murdered? Batman's ethic makes no sense. The ethical crises that could be explored with Superman are endless. It shows a lack of imagination on the part of the writer. Theologians and people of faith are still talking about God and he reportedly has no limitations. Gosh, he must be boring. Besides there are plenty of equally powerful beings to challenge Supes! Make him POWERFUL!!!
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 3/14/2013, 4:09 PM
@JohnnyKrypton I don't think he can, he never received KG's training. That is the kind of skill you can't develop just by being a Kryptonian.

Funny you mention that, that's what I watched last night !
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 3/14/2013, 4:17 PM
They caled it Man of Steel because they wanted to express the fact that "He's human but he's not human"? Hey! I've got a really good title that actually sums that up a little bit better than Man of Steel:
Superman. Get it? Super - Man? Human, but not human.
Just saying.
LP4
LP4 - 3/14/2013, 4:17 PM
People listen to Fettastic. He's got good facts about Superman Returns and its dismal performance.

Superman Returns was dull. Very, very dull.

As long as I see some action, I'm good. And I hope this spurns the rumored/hinted sequel with Luthor/Brainiac...Lexiac perhaps? :)
WarnerBrother
WarnerBrother - 3/14/2013, 4:17 PM
@MarvelPSYCHO79

I agree,it would have been better to start fresh,but all the fresh takes that JJ Abrams and others had pitched wear shot down.At least Singer could have just used Superman the Movie alone to deal with the origin, then not even dealt with Superman 2 by bringing in the "kid". That would have fit in better with the actual movie anyway because Lex was still dealing with his court appeals from his life sentence after Superman the Movie.At the end of Superman 2(the Lester version) Superman swore to the President of the United States he would never fail to "be there" again.

Why would he leave to visit Krypton hoping to find more of "his people" when he just finished dealing with 3 of them who wanted to enslave his adopted world?

Superman made his choice to be an earthman first when he fought Zod and bedded Lois. If there were more of his race why would he think they would be any different then Zod was in regarding humanity as little more then ants?

Searching for more survivors only makes sense if he believed they would look upon humanity the same way he did.

That could only happen if he didn't have a recent example saying otherwise.
DCfan89
DCfan89 - 3/14/2013, 4:18 PM
@ TheTank.... the heart of that film was in the chest of a rotted corpse named Superman V ... or 2 1/2... whatever. it was horrible from its inception. i saw it opening night and i hated it then as i do now. not because of batman or ironman, antman, Wonder Twins, or blip. it was just a bad film for its time. it belonged in the Donner era
CavEl
CavEl - 3/14/2013, 4:22 PM
Who cares if he's taking shots at Superman Returns? Superman Returns was shit, the only reason why anyone liked it was because it rode those SHITTY Donner movies that you all love for some reason.


And I know some Superman fans love Superman with no limits, but I hate when they write Superman as a pissing contest. Why does Superman need to lift up a planet, a continent, a country or a city? Superman's limit should be 100 tons, no more, no less.
CavEl
CavEl - 3/14/2013, 4:27 PM
And no, just saying he's Superman he can do anything IS NOT VALID ANSWER.


@ DukeAcureds - How would people be able to know that this isn't connected to Donner's Superman? And what's the big deal? Man of Steel has been Superman's nickname since his inception! Jesus, are people really gonna bitch about the title Man of Steel?
Super12
Super12 - 3/14/2013, 4:34 PM
@ballzdeep - TRUTH
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