Man Of Steel 2: 8 Comic Book Storylines That Must Be Adapted

5. The Reign Of The Supermen

Superman Truth Justice And The American Way
DC Comics

Let’s not forget that Superman is currently dead. Though he will inevitably make his return in Justice League, it might fall to Man of Steel 2 to explore just how much his death changed the world and how his resurrection changes it again. If this is the case, then the natural comic book storyline to adapt in the movie is The Reign of the Supermen. It was the plot that directly followed The Death of Superman in the comics, after all.

In the original storyline, four figures rose up to take Superman’s place as the protector of Metropolis: the Last Son of Krypton, the Metropolis Kid, the Man of Steel and the Man of Tomorrow. It was later revealed that two were villains – Cyborg Superman and The Eradicator – while the other two went on to become Supes’ allies Superboy and Steel.

Sadly, it's hard to imagine this classic 1990s story being adapted 100% faithfully for the screen. For one, DC will likely want to stay away from introducing Steel, after the awful 1997 movie starring Shaquille O’Neal. Instead the basic idea of other heroes stepping into Superman’s boots in his absence could be reused.

For example, why not follow on from recent comics and have Lex Luthor don a mecha-suit to become Superman? When The New 52 Superman died, his arch-nemesis stepped up to the plate, beginning an interesting ambiguous new direction for the character. Maybe Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex would work better as a good guy?

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