Warner Bros unveiled the first trailer for Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot Man of Steel at Comic-Con on Saturday.

Although not yet officially made available online (it is likely to hit the web after it plays in front of The Dark Knight Rises next week, possibly hitting the web on Friday), a leaked version of the trailer has hit Youtube and can be watched below. Please note that the quality of the trailer is pretty poor – it was shot by a Comic Con attendee who is sitting quite far away from the screen and it is really tough to make out what was being shown (from what I did see it feels like Smallville meets Batman Begins), although there’s no problem hearing the audio from the trailer.

So it’s very low-res but the audio makes it a worthwhile listen.

The trailer is scored with Han Zimmer’s “Journey to the Life” score from The Thin Red Line and feels very out of place in this trailer but it’s basically just a placeholder until Zimmer begins work on his new original music. We heard this past week that he is literally terrified of making the score as John Williams’ original is so iconic.

What hits me too is Russell Crowe’s new take on Jor-El, which just like Marlon Brando did decades ago, the Oscar winner takes the approach of delivering lines as if it was Shakespeare. You can’t really underestimate how much depth and gravitas this gives to Superman on film. Also the Kevin Costner quote; “You just have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Good or bad, that character will change the world.” And the first moments Henry Cavill appears on screen wearing the cape, the crowd goes ape.

Interestingly, there is a lot of talk that Snyder has dropped his usual slow-mo style of directing and this is nothing like Watchmen or 300 – some are even comparing the footage to being Malick like – but we can’t really say for sure until we see more.

Thanks to We Got This Covered for the trailer embed and who also had a play by play of the trailer below. There’s also a brand new teaser poster that has been unveiled and can be seen at the bottom of the post…

  • We see flashes of Smallville. The farm house. Clark running in a red cape as a child.
  • This looks VERY different from Superman films of the past
  • An older, bearded Clark walks a snowy road in an arctic town.
  • We hear Russell Crowe’s voice talking about children being inspired to greater things
  • It sounds like it’s cut with Kevin Costner’s voice. Both fathers are giving Clark/Kal advice on how to become who he wants to be
  • We see Clark being brought to the Kent barn and shown the spaceship that has been hidden there
  • Clark holds a small piece of metal with the S logo on the end
  • We’re jumping back and forth through time periods
  • Clark, as a teen, saved a bus of kids
  • The bus crashed in the water and we see him swimming, pulling the door off
  • “People are afraid of what they don’t understand,” says Costner
  • We see Clark talking to Jor-El. They’re standing right in front of one another, but I think it’s a holographic projection (though it looks live)
  • We see Superman in the suit. First from a distance and then walking across a snowy plain
  • There are flashing of Superman flying and one of him catching someone falling off a building
  • A single flash of Amy Adams’ Lois Lane
  • One flash has Superman (in costume) — seemingly in handcuffs — being led down a hallway by a security force
  • We see Clark (without seeing his face) stepping into an elevator and begin to lift glasses to his face
  • There’s a flash of Clark, shirtless, with his whole body on fire
  • Another of him crashing into the bank vault we saw in the first still. It looks like he’s been thrown.
  • I’m not great at describing music, but it’s decidedly more somber than Williams’s score.
  • The whole look of it has a very dark, autumny feel to it all.
  • There’s a major discussion in the narration about the world turning against Superman because they don’t trust him if he ever appears.
  • There’s a flash of Zod, but literally so fast you just see his face.
  • Apparently someone witnessed young Clark as a child saving the bus with his powers.
  • None of the trademark Snyder shots in the trailer. No slo-mo or shuttery frames

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