4. Superman Reborn
Jon Peters, a Hollywood producer known for being pushy and wrestling with directors and screenwriters for creative control over projects, was charged by Warner Bros. with bringing Superman back to the big screen in a loose adaptation of The Death And Return Of Superman after they'd retrieved the rights from the Salkinds. Peters hired Jonathan Lemkin to write a screenplay entitled Superman Reborn, which featured Kal-El in a battle with both the villain Doomsday and his emotions, having relationship troubles with Lois Lane. Supes loses the initial battle and is killed, but not before having professed his love for Lois and transmitting his life force into her body. Lois soon discovers she is pregnant with Clark as her child and experiences a virgin birth, with Superman growing 21 years in a week and, of course, saving the day. Wow. Other rewrites were done by Gregory Poirier that saw Brainiac creating Doomsday from "Kryptonite blood" and Superman visiting a psychiatrist to deal with his and Lois' relationship troubles. Again, Superman died and was reborn but this time without his powers, so he donned a robotic suit that mimicked them. It's hard to say which of the two scripts is more bonkers, but in the end neither version was filmed as Peters handed the project over to another rising screenwriter and noted loudmouth you may have heard of. But more on that later...