Superman News

After Hollywood's success at (finally) bringing Spider-man to the big screen, they're going to take another crack at Superman. And now, of course, they've got all the computer-aided special effects that they didn't have back with Reeves. So are they going to hit it big?

The trailers make the visuals look good, and Kevin Spacey looks like an outstanding Lex Luthor. But I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about how mind-crushingly obvious they've made it that Supe is a "Christ" figure. (And I'm a Christian, for anyone who thinks I'm bashing the Christ concept.)

Granted, Superman -- as a comic hero -- has become the Christ archetype. Early on (see details further down on this page), he is just someone from a planet of people whose physical prowess is much greater than our own. But over the decades, he has come to have just about universal power, taking on the responsibilities not only of Earth, but of the entire galaxy. I could go on, but suffice it to say that the comic seems to draw a lot from the Christian theme.

Still, they don't have to make that point so blunt in the movie -- not because they should avoid the obvious, but because you're not supposed to have to state the obvious unless you want to insult the audience with the message: "You couldn't figure this out for yourself."

So in the movie, we have this outrageous line: "Even though you've been raised as a human being, you're not one of them. ... They could be a great people, Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all -- their capacity for good -- I have sent them you: my only son."

Originally (see "History" below), Kal-El's planet was about to blow up and he was shot out into space by a father, desperate to save his son ... perhaps intentionally toward a planet that sustained life as those people knew it. I don't remember anything about him being sent "to save a people who needed light by some sort of loving father."

Not only that, but the trailer makes it look like Clark Kent sort of discovers his powers when falling through a roof into a barn. (There wasn't any room in the inn, eh?) I hope I'm mistaken about this.

Again, though, it looks like this movie can really bring the story home. They've got some good actors and it looks like some good lines. So if the movie can overcome this one insult, it could end up as a successful summer hit.

Note: The movie comes out on June 28.

Based on the first Superman comic books, we have a fairly simple background for the Man of Steel. Of course the Superman we know today isn't quite the same as the one we started out with. Times change, and so do expectations of superheroes. So here's the original background.

The aging planet Krypton was about to blow apart, and a scientist who knew its fate placed his boy into an experimental rocket and launched it towards Earth. (We're not told if he purposely aimed it. We also learn later on that his real father's name was Jor-El. His mother was Lara. And Supe's name was Kal-El.)

The infant was found on Earth by the Kents, who took him to an orphanage, where his incredible strength nearly wrecked the place. The orphanage was only too happy to have the Kents return and ask to adopt him. The Kents taught him to hide his strength so as to not scare other people ... but also told him that one day he would need to use his strengths to help humanity.

As he grew up, he found that he had the following powers: he could leap 1/8th of a mile; could hurdle a 20-story building; could outrun a train; and could lift tremendous weights. Also, nothing short of a bursting shell could break his skin. (This is what we're told; but even early on, a gun shot point-blank at him didn't break his skin.)

The reason we're given for these powers is that the people of Krypton were millions of years more developed, and upon reaching maturity, they all had these powers.

Of course you can see why Superman would change over the years. When this was first written in the early 1930s, a 20-story building was still pretty tall; a train was still pretty fast; and people weren't familiar with nuclear warheads yet. (Many years later, we see Superman barely survive a nuclear explosion to save planet Earth and endure the heat of the sun's core.)

You also have to wonder why the rocket was so experimental if the people of Krypton were millions of years more advanced than we are, but again, this is why the hero himself has developed to keep up with the times. (We're not told anything about x-ray vision or even about flight early on.)

Superman had fairly humble beginnings even here on Earth, but as the comic evolved, so did he.

Over time, we see the addition of more and more powers, and the explanation for his powers changes as well. At first, we're told that everyone on his home planet of Krypton had the same basic powers because their bodies were so far advanced beyond our own. But later, we learn that Supe's powers are far different than they would be on his home planet first because of the gravitation and atmospheric differences between the planets (allowing for things like flight), and second because of our yellow sun. (This can automatically then account for just about any power the writers want to create.)

With reasons out of the way, Superman's writers have turned Superman into a virtual god. Today, he:

* is basically invulnerable
* has limitless sight, x-ray vision, heat vision
* has super breath and has even extinguished a star with it
* has other super senses that seem to only be limited by the writers' imaginations
* can fly way beyond the speed of light
* can hurl planets and endure a nuclear explosion
* and can basically do anything the writers decide to come up with.

One version of Superman can even use his super muscles to physically alter his size and features, so that he can literally look like anything he wants to. But of course these powers are generally NOT associated with the Man of Steel we know today.

In the end, the only things Superman seems vulnerable too are: 1) either very specific places (one is his home planet of Krypton, when travelling through time to reach it before its destruction) OR those solar systems that aren't centered around a yellow star; 2) things that bring the influence of a non-yellow star near Superman, such as Kryptonite. In the coming movie, it seems to be some sort of alien artifact that Lex Luthor will use again Supe.

Check out this Limited Edition Superman Watch from Fossil.

Note that Fossil also has another, more conservative looking (and VERY sweet looking) Superman watch. Click the link above and then search the site for "Superman".

When he isn't saving the world, Superman is known as mild-mannered Clark Kent. Clark was raised in Smallville by Jonathan and Martha Kent (though they were known by other names early on, and he was raised in Metropolis in an earlier version too).

As an adult, he works as a reporter for the Daily Planet, the newspaper for Metropolis. He is smitten with the paper's star reporter, Lois Lane, who in turn is smitten with Superman. Their relationship has changed form over the years; she generally has cool feelings towards Clark and works at beating him to the top stories. But at times, she has suspected and tried to prove that he is Superman.

Star reported for the Daily Planet, newspaper to Metropolis, Lois Lane is in love with Superman. (And in the current DC Comics, she is Superman's wife.)

She has generally had cool feelings towards Clark Kent and has tried to beat him to the top news stories; but at times she has suspected and tried to prove that he is Superman.

In the upcoming movie, "Superman Returns," Superman left without a word five years ago, so she has had to move on and has since had a son. But as it turns out, her love has never waned. ...

Lex Luthor is widely known as Superman's arch-enemy. What's not so widely known is that his hatred for the Man of Steel dates back to when they were mere teens.

At the time, Luthor was working on an experiment that might have benefited the whole world. An explosion -- which he blamed on Superman -- ruined the experiment, however, and left him bald. (He previously had red hair.) Since then, Luthor turned his genius brain toward evil pursuits, wanting to destroy Superman and control the world.

Decades ago, when Superman first learned his weakness against kryptonite (from his planet Krypton), Lex Luthor synthesized this material and called the synthesized version "luthorite." This he uses the thwart Superman in his effort to dominate Earth.

The Daily Planet is the newspaper to Metropolis, where Clark Kent and Lois Lane reside. Both characters are reporters for the newspaper.

Its chief editor is Perry White.

Want to see the trailers and check out all the latest information about the movie directly from the official site? Click here: Superman Returns