The Lois Lane Problem and a Superman Trilogy

So, I was talking to a couple of regular readers about Man of Steel (which I REALLY try not to do because Man of Steel is SO insanely divisive among fans, that I have talked about Man of Steel for long enough to last a lifetime) and one of the elements that seems to garner the biggest love/hate relationship with the audience is Lois Lane. I would argue that Zack Snyder introduces one of the better incarnations of the character. Granted, this one probably gets into twice the trouble of the previous one, but she tells off military officials and shoots evil Kryptonians in the face. That's pretty goddamned fun if you ask me.

But the fundamental flaw in her storyline was finding out that Clark Kent was Superman so quickly. Granted, on one hand, she did pretty much figure out who he was via common fucking sense. ("Maybe if I backtrack through all the times/places someone lifted a steel beam with their bare hands, I might just find this guy.") On the other hand, the dynamic between Clark, Lois and Superman is one of the fundamental elements of the Superman mythology. Lois' relationship to the Clark Kent persona is a reflection of how humanity views the "everyman" in comparison to Superman. People joke all the time about how a Pulitzer Award winning journalist couldn't see past a pair of bifocals, but the joke is one that I believe writers have been more conscious of than most are willing to believe. In the context of this fictional universe, Superman is considered the best, the archetype for what a superhero is. He can move planetary bodies and block bullets. Who would EVER believe that he'd want to pretend he was one of us? The thought is so ridiculous that it eludes Lex Luthor, one of the smartest men in the world. So, it's not unbelievable that it might go over Lois Lane's head.

Honestly, I think it could have been a primary element of a trilogy of movies:

Man of Steel: No forced kissing at the end. My ex and I felt weird cuddling when we found out Amy Winehouse died. I have a hard time believing there's enough adrenaline fueled hornyness between the two of them to have that spark after an entire city has been completely leveled. Keep the Zod plotline (though maybe just a little less Jor-El) except when Lois is searching for the "mystery hero" and ends up in Smallville, have the townspeople (who have blatantly seen Clark's childhood super feats) be comically unhelpful. Give two minute flashbacks for a few people she interviews where they remember that time when "someone" pulled them out of the water, or "that blur" that moved them out of the way of that incoming train. Of course, they kinda know it was Clark, but they'd never betray one of their own. Then show how they're a intricate part of the town's infrastructure and they wouldn't have been able to if it weren't for this well-meaning kid. It's stereotypically midwestern, but it manages to show off one of the things that makes him the hero he is: Superman inspires other people to be their better selves. Even when you're a jerk (maybe Pete Ross or Whitney Fordman in this case). Keep the "welcome to the Planet" ending except show more of Metropolis being rebuilt thanks to Lexcorp. Include a shadowy figure staring out the window at the restoration of the city.

Man of Steel 2 (maybe Man of Tomorrow...I dunno): Clark comes to adore Lois in the traditional way we know, but she is either oblivious or just plain not interested. Eventually, keeping the secret becomes tiresome (include some mildly comic moments of Clark using his power without being noticed) and he starts to wonder if it's time to come clean. Meanwhile, Batman comes into town for a team-up (whether he likes it or not) because Lex Luthor is up to something (a smear campaign about how we can't entrust humanity to "them"....which of course means aliens). Batman will have no doubt deduced that Clark is Superman by the end of the first act and sees him pining for Lois. There's an exchange between them where Bruce tells him that men like himself and Clark, who answer to a "higher purpose", don't have time for distractions like love and that keeping his identity a secret is for the better. Meanwhile, have Lex secretly working alongside Solaris, The Tyrant Sun (it's a good nod to All Star Superman, gives the writers an excuse to use red sun radiation against Superman AND shuts up the fan whining about wanting to see a new villain) to create some kind of "faux" machine that will solve the world's energy problem. At the end, once the day is saved, Clark tries to reveal his identity, but Lois, still oblivious, confesses an epiphany that she's doubtful about Superman being "one of us." Upon hearing this, he keeps his secret. This explores the question of whether or not people knowing who he really is would hurt his ability to inspire humanity to its true greatness.

Man of Steel 3 (I don't have another title for this one): Have Lois try to set Clark up on a date with her sister, Lucy, a slightly wilder soul who is a little more perceptive than she is as far as Clark's "convenient" disappearances go. This would make for a hilarious awkward moment where Clark is trying to explain his way out of having to go save someone. Lucy would see through all the excuses that normally work on Lois. Eventually, Lucy turns away Lois' attempts to get them together because she sees that Clark has loved Lois all this time and is too polite to say so "for some reason."

There's a few good choices for a Big Bad here. Despero, Brainiac, Darkseid (except I would honestly save Darkseid for the first Justice League movie), but I would run with Mongul, bringing his colosseum space station/planetoid, War World, to Earth in search of Earth's Greatest Champion. Superman must fight a gauntlet of alien champions or risk Mongul's superior invasion forces destroying the Earth. During his time on War World, Supes notices that the while the arena itself is a beautifully kept technological advancement like he's never seen before, the citizens outside live in terrible poverty with streets in disrepair (thus highlighting the contrast between Superman, a powerful being of human morals that never lets down the little guy versus Mongul, a powerful despot that ignores the little guy "for the good of the realm" who sees himself alone as "the realm") but looks past it at first because he doesn't want to risk the Earth in a slugfest. Of course, upon Big Blue's victory, Mongul later goes back on his word and attacks the Earth anyway. Fearing he may not come back from this fight, Superman finally tells Lois he's Superman and that he loves her "until the end of time" (another All Star reference) before flying off for a ridiculously epic fistfight with Mongul himself. The battle itself should probably reenact some parts of the Doomsday fight in the comics (without actually using Doomsday because he's the most overused element of Superman mythos except maybe kryptonite). Meanwhile, maybe there can be a scene where we see the military reports detail that there are other costumed heroes fighting Mongul's invasion forces in different parts of the world. Don't show them in full view but allude to the usages of the powers. Show Wonder Woman's lasso pulling a spaceship down into the water, the Bat-plane dogfighting in the sky or green arrows taking out troops on the ground. At the end, give us a post credits scene where Batman beams himself and Superman up to the Watchtower and then shows the Justice League in full view and introduces the Martian Manhunter who says something to the effect of "My name is J'onn J'onzz of Mars and I come with a warning. 'He' is coming."

"He" can be Darkseid. Anyway, this is just a basic outline of one way to makes Superman's identity an ongoing theme, but how to incorporate the Justice League for future movies. I threw a good amount of All Star Superman elements because I feel that, honestly, it's one of the best Superman stories that encompasses everything that makes him who he is. Feel free to discuss, approve and/or reject amongst yourselves. Just saying....the shit could work. Then again, I could be wrong.

My Review of Man of Steel (minor spoilers enclosed)

Let's be honest. The last good Superman movie to ever get made was Superman II. Three bizarre, contrived, aimless movies and a slew of successful movies later from several other superheroes, the Last Son of Krypton needed a win. Furthermore, DC Comics needed a non-Batman win. Enter Henry Cavil. Enter Man of Steel, a film that, in many ways, asks old fashioned comic fans like myself to let go a little and open themselves up to a re-imagining of the Superman mythos that could be compared to the early ambitions of Marvel's "Ultimate Comics" line. Gone is Richard Donner's largely optimistic world, traded for a darker tone and more post 9/11 atmosphere of fear (while still goodhearted and well-meaning) in keeping with a slightly more cynical brand of heroes in the current superhero genre. Even the Man of Tomorrow's outfit (referred to as "armor" here) looks like it's meant to be more functional than it's noticably brighter predecessors in the same way Christopher Nolan's Batman forgoes tights for battle armor. With the exception of a few laugh tactics here and there, Snyder's story is light years more serious in nature than anything Richard Donner or Bryan Singer dreamed up.

The origin story of Superman is, in many ways, a challenging one. In many superhero beginnings, we see a character given a drastic alteration necessary for their evolution. Captain America was given his strength via a science experiment. Daredevil was endowed with enhanced senses during an accident with toxic waste. Batman was born of trauma. Clark Kent has always been what he is whether he realizes it right away or not. More than anything, Man of Steel tells the story of a powerful but noble man discovering his place in the world.

A notable departure from tradition is most apparent in the depiction of Krypton, Superman's ancestral home. Though the designs cannot lay claim to being the most original, the lifeless crystal cities we've seen so much of in the past are no more. Here, we see a vibrant planet that's equal parts Dune, Avatar and The Matrix's Zion. Superman's biological parents, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara (Ayelet Zurer), while intellectual, are also men and women of action, leaping onto flying creatures and shooting down surface air projectiles with little more than a shrug in the face of rebel leader General Zod (Michael Shannon, who has mastered the villainous face clench), who isn't nearly as much the third person talking, would-be-conquerer we saw in Superman II. We find Clark (Henry Cavil) later in adulthood after being raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner, Diane Lane) as a drifter, taking odd jobs, compelled to help people wherever he goes. Eventually, his destiny becomes almost unavoidable when his fate intertwines with the vengeful Zod's as well as that of Earth's.

Cavil gives us an immensely likeable but burdened Superman that recalls key moments in his childhood where he and his parents struggle to understand his powers and the necessity to conceal them. There is an especially awesome scene where Clark is overcome by his super senses to such a point that the whispers and footfalls around him are too much to bear. By far, the show-stealing performance in this movie is almost certainly that of Costner. This is easily my favorite incarnation of Pa Kent because he came across as a man and not an idea much like Martin Sheen's Uncle Ben in the Amazing Spider Man. He was a man that many of us could see in the company of our own fathers who was, sometimes, unsure of the right thing, completely conscious of not being fully equipped to give his son all the right answers in every situation, something many (if not all) fathers struggle with at some point in their lives. Amy Adams was definitely a better Lois Lane than we've seen in a while, capable of getting herself out of most of the trouble she gets herself into. She shoots at the bad guys, uses her journalistic know-how (and honestly, common goddamned sense) to investigate Superman and tells off military officials unapologetically. It's one of the first times we see a love interest (although it's a rushed love) that proves why she's worthy of our hero. Michael Shannon was a compelling Zod, moreso than his predecessor, played by Terrance Stamp, simply because he's a protagonist with more dimension, who doesn't just feel he's doing what he does because the hero is doing the opposite. He thinks he's doing what's right. In turn, Superman seems to understand this much about his foe while still seeing the necessity in stopping him. And that's who this hero is, one who sympathizes and grasps the need for compassion even though he can't always make his enemies see it. Though it's a self contained adventures, it obviously leaves enough leg room for sequels and (who knows) cross-franchising later on to compete with Marvel's Avengers initiative. Good luck with that, by the way.

Bottom Line: This movie is exactly what the Superman of this generation should be: equal parts morality play and slugfest. It's refreshing to see a Superman who is still attempting to figure out who he is and who he wants the world to see him as just like every other person that was raised by human people instead of a hero who instantly knows exactly what to do to solve every problem. 9 out of 10