3. Superman: Flyby
Personally, Im one of the people who didnt mind Superman Returns, although I do recognize it has its flaws. The film has received a lot of flack from audiences and fans alike, but the reality is that we could have gotten something much, much worse. Theres a lot been said about the aborted Superman Lives project that would have been directed by Tim Burton and starred Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel. If you havent seen it, I recommend you check out Kevin Smiths
hilarious account of working on the script and dealing with producer Jon Peters. Other attempts were the previously-mentioned Batman vs. Superman and Brett Ratner and McG were also attached to the Superman reboot at one point. Before J.J. Abrams got the chance to boldly go where no man had gone before, he was asked to reinvent Superman for modern audiences. And reinvent he did. While he keeps some of the familiar beats, he also adds some head-scratchingly stupid decisions. Lex Luthor isnt an evil genius or a corrupt businessman or a mad scientist. Instead, hes a CIA agent trying to track down alien life on Earth. As everyone knows, Superman was rocketed from Krypton by his father, Jor-El, so he could survive its destruction. But in this version, Krypton never explodes, never dies. Its still there and Superman is instead sent to Earth in order to fulfill a prophecy. Superman was going to die and then Jor-El would have committed suicide to meet him in the afterlife and convince him to return to life. And the big bad would have been Supermans cousin, Ty-Zor, who travels from planet to planet trying to find Kal-El and they fight with Kryptonian kung fu. After Superman defeats Ty-Zor, he returns to Krypton and takes his place as its ruler. Oh, and Lex Luthor? Turns out hes also a Kryptonian.