Wesley Strick's SUPERMAN LIVES Script Hits the Web

Wesley Strick's SUPERMAN LIVES Script Hits the Web

The website Superman Homepage has recently received a copy of Wesley Strick's script for Tim Burton's Superman Lives, which ended up being turned down due to budget concerns. Could it possibly be the adaptation of the iconic character you'd actually like to see?

By Jolt17 - Jan 30, 2013 06:01 AM EST
Filed Under: Superman
Source: Superman Homepage

Prior to its cancellation, the script for the Superman Lives project had undergone several rewrites, with Wesley Strick (Doom, 2010's A Nightmare on Elm Street) being the writer chosen to completely rewrite Kevin Smith's version of the screenplay, following Tim Burton's involvement in the project. However, Strick was ultimately discharged from the now-aborted project, due to the script he wrote said to be going over the budget, allowing writer Dan Gilroy to take over the position. Now, despite being deemed as one of the rarest scripts of the project to ever be publicized, the folks over at Superman Homepage have recently gotten their hands on the script, which features a spider-legged Brainiac as the main villain. Click on the image below to check it out for yourself...


So, did Warner Bros. make the right decision by turning down the script, or does it accord to your image of a perfect Superman movie instead? Sound off with your thoughts on the usual space provided below.


Superman Lives is the title for a canceled Superman movie intended for production during the 1990's, which was set to be directed by Tim Burton, with actor Nicholas Cage starring in the titular role. The movie was based on "The Death of Superman" storyline from the comics, with the alien supercomputer known as Brainiac serving as the primary antagonist of the movie, plotting to kill Superman by simultaneously blotting out the sun and unleashing Doomsday on Metropolis.


DC Studios Boss James Gunn Explains Why He's Skipping Superman And Batman's Origin Stories In The DCU
Related:

DC Studios Boss James Gunn Explains Why He's Skipping Superman And Batman's Origin Stories In The DCU

SUPERMAN: First Trailer For James Gunn's Reboot Could Release Online Sooner Than Expected
Recommended For You:

SUPERMAN: First Trailer For James Gunn's Reboot Could Release Online Sooner Than Expected

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

1 2
jessepostal
jessepostal - 1/30/2013, 8:08 AM
We laugh now, but watching this as a kid it would have been the coolest thing ever
Greengo
Greengo - 1/30/2013, 8:08 AM
Someone read this shit and let me know if I'd like it.
Canon108
Canon108 - 1/30/2013, 8:09 AM
What about polar bears? lol
SimpleObserverOfThings
SimpleObserverOfThings - 1/30/2013, 8:10 AM
In reality this movie would have likely worked for the time that it would have been released, and there would have been of course limits with CGI, special affects, etc. So would it work now, yes most definitely, would it work with the actors that were chosen? No.

Today, if they had chosen this over Man of Steel, I would have hoped that Tim Burton wasn't involved seeing that his current movies have been striking out badly, and doesn't seem that his "mojo" in directing movies is ever going to return. Sad really, he did great with bringing Batman to the screen but that's where it stopped.

Nicholas Cage as Superman?! NO. As Lex Luther with his head shaven off, very likely...in my opinion. With the description of Braniac only being protrayed as a head on a mechanical spider body....why?! What's wrong with just bringing him in as an AI that builds itself a human like body to fight Superman, and it so happens a spider body is one of many that he can use, because in reality he's nothing more than a AI software, kinda like Skynet, it's everywhere.

That's my take on this...
ToTheManInTheColdSweat
ToTheManInTheColdSweat - 1/30/2013, 8:14 AM
"... get sean penn as superman, his got the eyes of a caged animal, a vicious killer"
- jon peter

that line still cracks me the [frick] up. gonna imagine sean penn as superman as i read it.
AlexDeLarge87
AlexDeLarge87 - 1/30/2013, 8:15 AM
Oh dear god! What they have don to you Brainiac!
continuezero
continuezero - 1/30/2013, 8:15 AM
How would a spider possibly give Supes any trouble? Seriously..
fadersdream
fadersdream - 1/30/2013, 8:23 AM
@fettastic
I believe they used that spider in Wild Wild West.
TonyChu
TonyChu - 1/30/2013, 8:30 AM
I love hearing Kevin Smith describes his ordeal with WB and Tim Burton about the script. The giant spider thing was so ridiculous.
Bojac
Bojac - 1/30/2013, 8:39 AM
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

This script is terrible.

Nobody talks like human beings.
ToTheManInTheColdSweat
ToTheManInTheColdSweat - 1/30/2013, 8:53 AM
lmbo, so far: superman is a stalker and braniac is an octopus looking mother[frick]er.
MisterBabadook
MisterBabadook - 1/30/2013, 8:59 AM
The Kevin Smith script was pretty good
Sanderman
Sanderman - 1/30/2013, 9:30 AM
"Fade back to my crib?"...that last page was just awful
jjk2814
jjk2814 - 1/30/2013, 9:45 AM
Did they get the idea for "K" from Marlon Brando's suggestion that Jor-El be represented by a giant, glowing green doughnut...

Yeah, that was a thing.

Really.
HavocPrime
HavocPrime - 1/30/2013, 9:53 AM
My god that was painful to read, some parts were ok but every scene with Brainiac and Luthor was cringe worthy.

Brianiac: You read my RamDisc

WHAT THE [frick] DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!!!
jjk2814
jjk2814 - 1/30/2013, 9:55 AM
LUTHOR
You loved The Thrilla In Manilla!
' You dug The Rumble In the Jungle!
Tonight, Brainy and I bring you:
, The Superman-Stoppa In Metroppa!

...No...just no...
ComicsCommando
ComicsCommando - 1/30/2013, 10:00 AM
@HavocPrime

I'm guessing that means, "You read my mind", but for androids.
jjk2814
jjk2814 - 1/30/2013, 10:09 AM
THEY USED THE RICHARD LESTER CHEST-SHIELD THROW???? WHAAAAAaaaAAA?

"He rips the full-sized titanium "S" off his chest and
flings it, twenty feet. The sharp, heavy weapon lands
square in the middle of the Snare Beast's forehead, at
least half of it buried in her primeval little brain! "
toocool
toocool - 1/30/2013, 10:18 AM
peter's "who the (frick) is this Kar-le?"
thewolfx
thewolfx - 1/30/2013, 10:27 AM
If there's ppl who want to see this i want to superman punch them in the throat
rbfn04
rbfn04 - 1/30/2013, 10:44 AM
that script solved mny insomnia problem...
Kalel59
Kalel59 - 1/30/2013, 10:59 AM
thaonly1guly
thaonly1guly - 1/30/2013, 11:18 AM

LOL! Did anybody else notice that it said Clark/Superman had a picture of an elderly couple(Ma & Pa Kent) above his BED!? WHAAAAAAATTT! That's pretty creepy...LOL!
speno94
speno94 - 1/30/2013, 11:29 AM
ahhmynuts
ahhmynuts - 1/30/2013, 1:00 PM
i read the whole freakin thing, wow.
ill say i probably would have watched it in theatres being a superman fan but wtf. it has its moments(doomsday battle,dream sequence) for sure but its just strange as f*ck. the whole K thing and lexiac and superman drinking "gallons and gallons and gallons of water" and spitting it out like a hose. all that while imagining nic cage portraying superman.i just--i dont know. this movie would have pissed SO MANY people off i know that lol. the script in three words is WTF.
Durf
Durf - 1/30/2013, 1:09 PM
lmfao, I guess I will have to read this based on the comments...
TheTank
TheTank - 1/30/2013, 1:10 PM
This was total dog shit. I just got through reading it, I expected to read something really off the wall and very Tim Burton, It was more or less Kevin Smith's story (which i knew it was going to be since it was the template) but with none of the great dialog, no stirring scenes, and absolutely nothing that made me feel like i was reading something Superman related. Superman doesn't even appear until 30 pages in.

I remember reading that this script was going to cost a fortune to make, i can't see how it could possible cost anymore than any of the other drafts, maybe that was WB's way of nicely telling them "THIS IS FRIGGEN TERRIBLE". It possessed some of major points of Kevin Smith's draft without the understanding or explanation as to why they were there. Dan Gilroy's draft was much better than this and that was still garbage compared to Smith's draft.

Some of the rumors surrounding the draft were at least squashed (i.e. Superman driving around in some kind of Super mobile rather than flying.) Although, you do not see superman actually really fly until the final battle with Brainiac.

I admit with some crazy looking production art floating around out there I def wanted to see what this movie was going to end up like. But after reading this draft I'm so glad this was never filmed.
LFANCH
LFANCH - 1/30/2013, 1:31 PM
I'm upset that there isn't a scene where clark jumps on lois yelling "How many [frick]in dicks did you suck!"
TheUnHolyTrilogy
TheUnHolyTrilogy - 1/30/2013, 1:38 PM
Well I read the first 10 pages and I was done with it. I will say though that we all should take into consideration that this was written in the 90's and even though we now have high hopes for a Superman Movie back then they just wanted to get one made. There was way too much going on within this script, it's like this guy read all of the Superman Comics and wanted to include aspects of everything from them in one movie. I guess Hollywood wasn't in tune with the idea of Trilogies yet? Anyway there is nothing really good even in the first 10 pages of this thing, bad form in not going with Kevin Smiths version Warner Brothers. You could have had an amazing movie from someone that knows and loves the character. Also I think even at that point in his career Tim Burton had directed enough crap, you already gave him Batman he would have likely butchered Superman. I'm not saying his Batman movies were bad they were great for their time, but come on Superman done the same way? Too bad we can't go back to the Richard Donner Superman the one true Superman Movie (the first and maybe the 2nd). Superman 3 and 4 never heard of them? Anyway that's my rant on this whole thing. And hey if you guys like movies check this out looks interesting...

http://www.indiegogo.com/RPGIntertainmentFieldTraining
TheTank
TheTank - 1/30/2013, 2:05 PM
Its kind of funny how things work in relation to whats going on. Like when this film was in development, the only successful comic movie series was batman, so naturally they were going to follow in the template of that to some extent. When Superman Returns came out, it was at the tail end of what i like to call the "First Wave" of superhero movies, starting with X-Men but probably more so Spiderman. Summer 2008 changed all of that with TDK and Iron Man, and raised the bar as to what these movies need to be. When Batman begins came out I thought it was kinda dull compared to the comic book movies that came out around those years, but...it did something that none of the other movies did, it planted enough seeds to see it turn into something amazing with the subsequent movies. Im hoping Man of Steel raises the bar even higher, because now you're taking a science fiction premise and bringing it into the real world.
TheUnHolyTrilogy
TheUnHolyTrilogy - 1/30/2013, 2:11 PM
Okay so i just skimmed the rest of it... The whole thing made me cry in shame it's almost as bad as the Green Lantern movie. Also can anyone tell me what page the Doomsday thing is on?
TheFox
TheFox - 1/30/2013, 2:11 PM
Good GOD, this is awful! I'm on page 35, and already I can tell that this was written by the same jackhole that gave us Batman Returns. The same inappropriate, cynical sense of humor is on display-- you know, the one that turned the Penguin into a slimy pervert and turned the citizens of Gotham into brain-dead, easily fooled schmucks. I mean, did this guy REALLY need to get Superman to make a pee joke?

I'm going to try to read this to the end, but it's honestly getting more and more painful with every page. Thank Christ the studio never actually MADE this garbage-- I guess even Warner Bros. could tell this was going to be a stinker...

Z
TheUnHolyTrilogy
TheUnHolyTrilogy - 1/30/2013, 2:19 PM
It's not written by the person that wrote Batman Returns? Daniel Waters wrote Batman Returns with some rewrites by Tim Burton, so unless you were talking about Tim Burton? Although I don't think Tim Burton even had the chance to touch this particular script? Either way you sir are right it's garbage, and you haven't even gotten to the part where Superman throws his S and asks Lois if she wants to go back to his CRIB... This would have been a bad idea, how the hell and wtf did they rewrite Kevin Smiths script into this crap I will never know. Either that or maybe I'll just ask Kevin Smith this year at Comic Con.
1 2
View Recorder