Death of Superman (2018)

[Silver Nemesis]

DC is developing two new animated features based on the classic Death of Superman storyline. The first film will be released on DVD in late 2018. The second is called Reign of the Supermen and will be released in 2019.

https://www.comicbookmovie.com/superman/upcoming-dc-animated-movies-include-two-part-death-of-superman-and-suicide-squad-titles-a152709

As someone who was thoroughly disappointed and underwhelmed by Superman: Doomsday (2007), I think this is great news. I've always said the best aspect of the Death of Superman arc was the Reign of the Supermen part. I'm delighted to hear it's getting its own feature film. And it'll be nice to see another DC animated movie focused on someone other than Batman.

That said, I hope this is the last time we see the Death of Superman storyline adapted. Give it a definitive screen treatment, then move on to something else. There are plenty of other great Superman stories that would make excellent films.

[thecolorsblend]

It's a famous story with a lot of marquee appeal which allows a lot of character development. Superman is considered (by some) to be impossible to write because of his vast array of powers so the one story where those powers "failed" him is attractive to writers.

So I see the appeal.

But you're right, this needs to be put out to pasture. Superman Returns half@$$ riffed on it with a newspaper headline, the 2007 animated feature was wtf all the way through, Smallville riffed on it and BVS did it okay.

The part that bugs me though is that whole Doomsday/Funeral For A Friend/Reign of the Supermen trilogy really was a reward to readers who had stuck with the Superman titles after John Byrne left. Entire chunks of that story lose all their impact if you don't have 1988-1991 comics in your memory banks. Mongul, Hank Henshaw, Warworld, the Eradicator, Lex Luthor II, Matrix-Supergirl and probably other stuff I'm forgetting about all happened during that post-Byrne, pre-Doomsday interval.

Those elements are what hold the stories together and give them a lot of dramatic impact to the audience. So without those stories in the background (as I assume will be the case for these animated things), I don't think it's really possible to do this Doomsday stuff from the comics justice. So my guess is once again they'll make a crapton of changes to the story and cut a lot of stuff out to make it accessible to the non-comics numbnuts' out there.

A shame.

[The Dark Knight]

Superman has a ton of good stories to use, but they are fixated on this one. Birthright, Kryptonite, Kingdom Come, Whatever Happened?, For All Seasons and others are all neglected while they do this arc again. How boring. I like what BvS did with the story, but it's time the brand moved on now. Tell stories about his life, not his death. Show me why he was so loved.

[Silver Nemesis]

But you're right, this needs to be put out to pasture. Superman Returns half@$$ riffed on it with a newspaper headline, the 2007 animated feature was wtf all the way through, Smallville riffed on it and BVS did it okay.

I'd also cite the New Krypton storyline that bridged seasons 3 and 4 of Lois & Clark as another loose adaption of Return of Superman. It doesn't involve Clark's death, but it does present a similar scenario of a world suffering in Superman's absence prior to his triumphant return. Some of the imagery is similar too. The scenes of the Kryptonian spaceship flying over Metropolis recall the image of Mongul's spaceship hovering above Coast City:

And of course there's the black suit Superman wears:

The part that bugs me though is that whole Doomsday/Funeral For A Friend/Reign of the Supermen trilogy really was a reward to readers who had stuck with the Superman titles after John Byrne left. Entire chunks of that story lose all their impact if you don't have 1988-1991 comics in your memory banks. Mongul, Hank Henshaw, Warworld, the Eradicator, Lex Luthor II, Matrix-Supergirl and probably other stuff I'm forgetting about all happened during that post-Byrne, pre-Doomsday interval.

I can understand the appeal of using the Death of Superman, particularly if the director has a limited knowledge of the source material. Just flick through the book and you'll see numerous shocking and evocative images that would stand out to any filmmaker looking for inspiration. It's the same with The Dark Knight Returns. Almost every live action Batman film has referenced that book in some way, and it's not hard to see why. But I agree that much of Death of Superman's intertextual relevance is lost when you remove it from its proper context within the surrounding mythology. I guess that's why so many of those elements had to be omitted from the first animated film.

Regarding Doomsday, I think he's kind of like Bane insofar as he's a villain that has to be earned. Bane worked well in The Dark Knight Rises because there he represented the final challenge for a Batman who'd already overcome numerous other enemies. Bane wouldn't have worked as the villain in Batman Begins. Similarly Doomsday wouldn't have worked as the villain in Man of Steel. In the eyes of the audience, Superman has to earn the right to battle someone (or something) that powerful. That's why having Doomsday kill Superman in the opening act of the first DC animated movie didn't work for me. Perhaps if that film had followed on from the DCAU, then his death might have carried more weight. Hopefully this new film will handle it better. Give us some time to get to know this version of Superman, then have him croak at the 75 minute mark.

Superman has a ton of good stories to use, but they are fixated on this one. Birthright, Kryptonite, Kingdom Come, Whatever Happened?, For All Seasons and others are all neglected while they do this arc again. How boring. I like what BvS did with the story, but it's time the brand moved on now. Tell stories about his life, not his death. Show me why he was so loved.

Absolutely. I've said this before, but I'd love to see some classic Brainiac stories translated into films. It's high time he made his cinematic debut.

[phantom stranger]

It's hard for me to complain about this adaptation being done again. It's one of my all-time favorite stories and I've always wanted a proper live-action version of it.

Maybe after this, we can get a two-part Knightfall/Knightquest.

[thecolorsblend]

Maybe after this, we can get a two-part Knightfall/Knightquest.

That's an interesting idea. I'm honestly surprised that this has never happened. That story is less dependent upon years and years worth of continuity. Every major (and even several minor) beats in Reign of the Supermen requires a solid memory of previous stories. But that Knightfall/quest/End trilogy could be done in a fairly standalone way.

To do the thing justice, as you say, you'd probably need at least two movies to work with. But it's doable.

I'd enjoy a No Man's Land adaptation too. If anything, that would probably be even easier to adapt since you probably could do it all in one go and at least hit the high points of it. The structure of NML allows for certain things to be omitted if need be.

[Silver Nemesis]

Maybe after this, we can get a two-part Knightfall/Knightquest.

That's an interesting idea. I'm honestly surprised that this has never happened. That story is less dependent upon years and years worth of continuity. Every major (and even several minor) beats in Reign of the Supermen requires a solid memory of previous stories. But that Knightfall/quest/End trilogy could be done in a fairly standalone way.

It could. But I'd argue Knightfall also loses some of its resonance when removed from a wider context. Perhaps not to the same extent as Death of Superman, but there are definite gaps in the trade paperback editions.

Bane, Trogg, Bird and Zombie show up fully formed in the Broken Bat TPB without any explanation of who they are. You need to have read Vengeance of Bane to understand their back story.

The Riddler has his arm in a sling in Broken Bat and there are references to him having previously fought Batman while pumped full of Venom. This follows on from the events of 'Who Riddled the Riddler?' (Batman Vol 1 #490, March 1993), but that story isn't included in the Knightfall TPBs.

Neither is 'Killer's Bane' (Batman Vol 1 #489, February 1993) included; the story in which Bane first fought Killer Croc and broke his arms. This battle is directly referenced during Knightfall, but the events referred to are not depicted in the graphic novel.

Perhaps the biggest problem for people who read Knightfall in isolation is the mystery surrounding Jean-Paul Valley. To understand who he is, why his mental state is deteriorating and why he is trusted with assuming the mantle of Batman, the reader needs to at least be familiar with The Sword of Azrael. Otherwise they'd have no idea who this character is or why he's entrusted with such a monumental task.

[The Joker]

I'm up for this. Why not? If these two films result in a more worthwhile adaptation of the whole Death/Funeral/Reign/Return storylines (besting the lackluster 2007 effort shouldn't be that difficult a task, though it did have a damn good doc going over all the BTS stuff from the people who worked on it at DC Comics), then yeah, that works for me.

It's no secret there's ALOT of DC Comics material that can be adapted, but I'm fine with a more proper animated adaptation of this.

[The Dark Knight]

I'd like to see Court of Owls/City of Owls get an animated movie one of these days, in the same way they adapted TDK Returns. It has everything I like in a Batman story and lends itself really well to a two-parter.

It digs into the history of Gotham itself and Batman's own relationship with it.
It introduces new characters to the universe, just as Knightfall introduced Bane.
It manages to showcase past villains and members of the Bat family.
It has kickass action and balances both Bruce Wayne and Batman.
Batman in the labyrinth is one of the best comic moments.
The attack on Wayne Manor is another standout moment.

I'm all about pushing the brand forward. I love the classics like The Killing Joke/TDK Returns as much has anybody. But I feel like we miss out on the here and now if we have our heads in the past too often, and that goes with the Death of Superman as well. I'll likely see the film, but would like to see something new afterwards.

[Silver Nemesis]