The Big Daddy of crazy, unmade Superman films, Superman Lives began life when Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma) was hired by Jon Peters to rewrite Greg Poirier's script for Superman Returns and basically threw the whole thing out, comparing it to a 'campy TV Batman version' of the character. Smith's script was hamstrung by Peters' vision for the movie: he wanted Superman in all black and never wanted the character to fly, Brainiac had to fight polar bears at the Fortress of Solitude and mandated that Supes had to fight a giant spider at the climax (something that never happened in any Superman film, but Peters got to see his giant spider dream come to life in the celebrated f***-tastrophe Wild Wild West). Lex Luthor was also to own a 'space dog'. Smith did the best he could with what he had and ended up with a screenplay that saw Brainiac sending Doomsday to kill Superman after first blocking the Sun's rays from restoring him. Tim Burton was eventually brought on as director and immediately threw out Smith's script, stating that he wanted to make his own movie. That movie would have seen Nicolas Cage appear as a 'reimagining' that no-one had ever seen the likes of, and was even the subject of a documentary entitled The Death Of "Superman Lives": What Happened? What do you think of our order? Are any of the movies listed crazier than they're given credit for? Let us know in the comments!
