8 Comic Book Characters Hollywood Will Never Understand
6. Superman
DC Comics
Richard Donner's Superman films are magical to watch, and hold up tremendously to this day. However, since their introduction the character of the Man of Steel has undergone a great many changes, shifting in personality, fluctuating in terms of power, and even having a selection of villains added to his already impressive rogues gallery.
One of the biggest criticisms of the character's films leading up to 2013's Man of Steel was that they never seemed capable of depicting Kal-El's strength, with Superman Returns in particular having been labelled a boorish exercise. Unfortunately, in an attempt to bring Supes' cinematic portrayals up to speed with his modern day comic book ones, director Zack Snyder overcompensated with a gaudy CGI-fest heavy on religious allegory and even heavier on discombobulating action set-pieces.
The same approach returned for Batman v Superman, and to a degree Justice League too. Now, actor Henry Cavill appears to have departed the DCEU altogether, and with no apparent plans for the Superman franchise, it's becoming apparent that WB don't have a clue what they're doing with the Last Son of Krypton.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
