Personally, I'd like the kid gloves to come off. With modern times calling for darker, deeper, character-driven, of the graphic nature comic entertainment, Superman doesn't need re-booting... He needs to show us what's so damned super about him in the first place.
Just think about it. He's from Krypton, so the space/alien content is already there. We need Superman to be challenged in a way not since Zod and co. One way to do this is to not start over, but give us the return of a cliff hanger-(set the story up as a trilogy, with an introduction of an industructable force in the first; a seemingly hopeless plight of fate in the second part; finally ending with insurmountable odds in the finale.) This would no doubt place the supporters of Superman in the loop to see just what happens next. Along the way, give us what we crave, the return of Zod, Brainiac, and finally, Doomsday. Lois, Jimmy, Lex, Clark et. all can have their own subplots, but they should never deviate from The Last Son of Krypton.
Superman needs to be super. He needs to be able to UNLEASH the hidden emotion, the intellect, and the power that's flowing through his alien veins.
The darkness can come from his trying to "save the world from an apocolyptic destruction", set forth by a force of nature that mankind's armies, nukes, etc. cannot dream of containing.
Batman laid the blueprint, Ironman built the mach, now Superman needs to soar.
Are you with me?