Written by J.J. Abrams, Superman: Flyby was set to deliver a fresh take on the Man of Steel's origin story. Krypton was going to factor heavily into proceedings, with Lex Luthor written as a government agent who had become obsessed with UFOs and Lois Lane intent on exposing him to the public.
According to various leaks, Superman was set to square off with a group of villainous Kryptonians, ultimately dying and being sent to Kryptonian heaven to meet his father, Jor-El, before being resurrected. As you might expect, Kal-El was going to win the day, while a cliffhanger ending would have seen him return to his home planet.
Superman: Flyby eventually morphed into Superman Returns, and the character was rebooted years later by Zack Snyder in Man of Steel.
Marvel Studios concept artist Phil Saunders has now shared his early work from the scrapped movie showing Supermanfacing off against a giant Kryptonian battle mech. "This is one of my first movie [key frames], done for [Superman: Flyby] back in 2003," he noted. "The Rouser was [Kal-El's] evil cousin Ty-Zor’s [Kryptonian] [Battle Mech], armed with [Kryptonite] plasma weapons."
"[It] was a crazy idea but super fun to design," Saunders concludes.
It's always difficult not to wonder what might have been with a movie like Superman: Flyby, but it doesn't sound like too much of a loss. This sequence would have been epic to watch play out, but with 2003 visual effects, we're not sure the reboot could have done Saunders' impressive work justice.
About The Author:
Comic Book Reader. Film Lover. WWE and F1 Fan. Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and ComicBookMovie.com's #1 contributor.