6. The Importance of Superman
This last one is the tricky one. Somehow, in a world of cinema that has almost got every single major superhero and all their quirks out there for us to enjoy, Warner Bros. have to present DC Comics big blue super boyscout as the most important Superhero there is. Somehow we need the fun, the action and the spectacle of The Avengers alongside the weight and depth of the Nolan Batman franchise. If this new Superman franchise has any change of longevity we need a hero that can be seen as a god who wants to live as a man and the drama that revolves around that. Frankly Superman hasnt got a strong enough set of villains to sustain sequel after sequel of Metropolis in peril stories. This new Superman needs to be about the impact he has on the world. How he inspires other heroes (to create more than enough reason for a Justice League movie), how being the all powerful has its own set of problems and then we can get onto stories that hold some dramatic weight for Superman and keep the focus on him rather than slipping into a series of villain origins and how Superman will beat them this time with no real sense of importance. Everything on this list comes from a fan who has been itching for a straight up great Superman film his whole life. Ive had my fun with the Christopher Reeves franchise, found a great superhero story in Superman Returns (though not a great Superman story), had ups and downs with a sometimes great TV show Smallville and seem glimmers of perfection within the DC Animation projects but now its time for Superman to step out of movie ups and downs, mis-steps and misunderstandings. Now its time for the Man of Steel to set a new standard in Superhero movies and take us to places only Superman can.
Man of Steel is due in cinemas June 14th, 2013.