Man of Steel: A Movie For All Seasons?
So, Man of Steel is set to start filming some time next week. Filming secrets and set photos have already leaked as the production crew has started to set up shop in Plano, Illinois for the Smallville scenes. Starving for Supes news, I went back and started looking at all of the relevant information that has come to the surface over the last six weeks… and something jumped out at me.
Zack Snyder’s story line is at least partially based on the four part series Superman For All Seasons, by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale. How did I miss this? How did we miss this? I went back through the message boards to make sure I was the first one to notice the similarities. I see a lot of people giving a nod to Birthright, but not Seasons.
Here is my theory, in which the Plano, Illinois news snippets shadow what we know from the Spring edition of Superman for All Seasons.
1. Autumn Frost is the production name for Superman: Man of Steel. This may be an obvious reference to a change in seasons.
2. Pa Kent is the narrator and most prominent character in Seasons. Kevin Costner was the first major casting news that broke, meaning perhaps his role is more pivotal to the movie than any Jonathan Kent character has been before.
3. We’ve seen a picture of a copy/internet shop and Otto’s Barber Shop. In Seasons, Clark is in a random store when he remember he has missed his haircut appointment. He then shows up to get trimmed, only to break the barber’s scissors on a strand of his hair.
4. We have been told that there will be a tornado scene. This is the major catastrophe scene in Seasons.
5. We have seen set pics of buildings that have considerable damage. The busted up structures actually look exactly like two of the buildings in the tornado panel from Seasons.
6. We have seen set pics of a phony gas station. In Seasons, Clark finally decides to use his powers for good to save a man from an explosion at a gas station.
Now, clearly the entire story will not be from Seasons. Zod is not in that series. But, I think that this is irrefutable evidence that at least the Smallville portion of the film will be based on For All Seasons. I, for one, get chills when I think of the iconic picture of Clark and Jonathan Kent standing in the cornfield watching the sun set before he leaves for Metropolis. This has long been my favorite comic book mini series. I love the art and I love the nostalgia. If Zack Snyder is doing any sort of adaptation that pulls from different famous story lines, we may be in for the ride of our lives.
Could we be finally getting what we’ve all been praying for? I can’t wait till summer of 2013.
P.S. Sorry I didn’t have time to set up the pics or any page grabs from Seasons. Do the research yourselves on the similarities. You won’t be disappointed.