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5 things we learnt from the Man Of Steel trailer - SciFiNow

5 things we learnt from the Man Of Steel trailer

5 things we now know about Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot, in cinemas 14 June 2013

Man Of Steel Superman
Man Of Steel Superman
Henry Cavill as Superman in Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel

1. It’s faithful

Going by the leaked San Diego Comic Con footage (which we’re not going to repost, because we rolled Lawful Good on our alignment charts), all the set dressing we’ve come to expect from the Superman mythos seems intact – his smalltown Kansas upbringing, sermonising Pa Kent (Kevin Costner), being cast out of Krypton in a capsule, the Daily Planet, a kiss from Lois Lane, a mythology injection from Russell Crowe’s Jor-El, and the bespectacled Clark Kent persona.

It’s a small thing, really – but the idea of a “reboot” doesn’t half put the willies up people sometimes.

Grant Morrison's All Star Superman
The relevant panel from Frank Quietly and Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman

2. It’s inspired by Grant Morrison

Of the two teasers, one with a voice-over from Costner’s homespun Pa Kent and one from Crowe’s antipodean alien, the latter is worthy of note as Jor-El’s speech to his son (Henry Cavill) is almost word-for-word from Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s groundbreaking All-Star Superman – thanks to BleedingCool.com for spotting that first.

“You will give the people an ideal to strive towards,” says Crowe meaningfully. “They will race behind you. They will stumble. They will fall. But in time they will join you in the sun. In time you will help them accomplish wonders.”

Incidentally, you should definitely rush out and buy All-Star Superman right this second because with screenwriter David S Goyer being such a massive comic fan there’s bound to be more in there pilfered from this modern classic.

Man Of Steel Superman
Clark thinks deep thoughts about identity while music swells.

2. It’s very Nolan

By that we mean we had to adjust the brightness on our monitors in order to make anything out. HAR HAR HARRRRR.

Where Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight-sized prints are clearly all over Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel, is in the obvious musing on the psychology of an icon and the deconstruction of mythology as we see the two conflicting heritages – Smallville and Krypton – shape his journey. He’s still going to be a sun-powered demigod, but he’s going to be one that says something really interesting about our world, as opposed to flying so fast that we go back in time.

Nolan’s Bat-films asked, “Why does a man dress as a bat and throw himself into danger, and what does that mean for the world around?”, and hopefully as producer he’s leading Zack Snyder into asking some pretty big questions of his own.

Man Of Steel Superman
Hitchhiking is the sleep eazy mattress of the American Dream

4. It’s going be full of Americana

We’re talking wistful soul of America stuff, the teaser shows fishing boats, log cabins, childhood cape-donning and let’s-play-superhero stuff, followed by a shot of Clark hitchhiking.

We’re 86% certain there’s going to be a real Jack Kerouac On The Road thing in the first half of Man Of Steel, where our boy discovers his place in the world, perhaps accompanied by classic rock or bluegrass or something, like half the scenes in Watchmen, conversations with a wise old drifter, and saving someone from something rural like a forest fire, all culminating with his arrival in Metropolis to fulfill his GLORIOUS DESTINY.

Man Of Steel Superman flying
Actually, this doesn’t look particularly cool. He looks like a fly stuck on the windscreen.

5. He looks much cooler than Brandon Routh

Sure, Routh did a fantastic impression of Christopher Reeve, but he looked awful in the air. In fact he looked absolutely ridiclious when he was doing anything physical.

Even when he took his glasses off and puffed out his chest, Brandon Routh still looked like white-collar every-dork Clark Kent.