My Superman Trilogy

Alright! A few weeks ago, I released an extremely long and laborious post about how Superman movies have all ignored aspects of the character, and how to craft the definitive Superman movie. So, today, I just thought it would be fun to go through and draft my own outline for a proposed trilogy. Now, if these movies did really well, I could definitely see them using it as a launchpad for a DC cinematic universe, maybe a few Justice League movies. 

But that's not what we're focusing on. We're talking about a Superman trilogy. The three main villains of the three movies would be Parasite/Lex Luthor, Kalibak, and Brainiac. I know I said "No Lex Luthor," but we've never gotten a good live-action one, so this would just need to set the standard (Which shouldn't be hard). Some other characters that would appear would be Parasite, Lobo, and Supergirl. 

I'd love to include Metallo, Livewire, and Bizarro, but I couldn't figure out a way to incorporate them naturally, so... oh well. Maybe another trilogy. 

And, because this is my personal project, I'm gonna say that I would cast Anthony Ramos as Jimmy Olsen. He just did so well with the flustered adorkable type in In the Heights. And John Goodman is Perry White.

I also decided on the following titles: 

Superman: Sky High

The Last Son of Krypton

The Man of Tomorrow

Superman: Sky High

Okay, first of all, I'm not 100% sold on this name. Ideally, it would be a placeholder name until I find one I like better. Sky High would have the obligatory flashback on Krypton, mostly to set up the new Jor-El, although it wouldn't be 20 minutes of unrelated exposition and overstuffed backstory like previous iterations. 

Jor-El is doing his thing, finds evidence that Krypton is dying, tells Brainiac, gets rejected by the council, sends his son away, and then boom. Title card. And Krypton would actually look like a cool place to live, not Antarctica.  

And I would show Kryptonite shards flying from the exploding planet, in what I imagine would be an fun visual shot. Brainiac would be referenced here, with just the smallest hint of Kandor, Krypton's capital, being taken by a large skull-shaped ship.

Anyways, then you spend some time in Smallville, set up the Kents and Lana Lang. I'm a bit on the fence about killing Pa Kent. On one hand, I like the "All those things I can do. All those powers. And I couldn't even save him" lesson. On the other hand, I really like the wholesome dynamic of a Superman with two caring, elderly parents. I think he'll stay alive, but I reserve the right to kill him.

A large part of it would center on the relationship between Lana Lang and Superman. I chose not to focus on Lois because, frankly, she's been done several times over, with varying degrees of success. Lana Lang would be new and fresh to the franchise and serves a similar purpose (Superman's girlfriend). 

Lana would also be tweaked from the comics to be a clothes designer who helps design Superman's iconic symbol and repair his costume. And I'd like to clarify that Lois Lane would still be here but to a lesser extent. Like, it would be a plot point that she's beginning to fall in love with Clark Kent (NOT Superman).

After Clark moves to Metropolis and starts his career as Superman, J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, warns him about humanity. J'onn has kept his martian identity a secret because he sees that humans can barely tolerate each other. Heaven forbid you're green and from Mars. Clark would respect J'onn's decision but disagree, he believes humans could eventually tolerate and work together in harmony. 

Lex Luthor would be here, because that hasn't been done before. The difference is, again, this Lex Luthor would be much, much closer in line with the DCAU version. No silly posse or real estate schemes or Lionel Luthor tendencies or hair. Just an intimidating bald man who hates Superman because he scares him. That's it. 

The main villain would be Parasite, who serves as the physical threat of the film in contrast to Luthor's sly political maneuvering. Parasite's powers are that he can suck the life force of other people, just in case you didn't know.

Parasite's origins here would be that he's a weapon created by an extremely discreet Lex Luthor and the U.S. government, an escalation clause to their Superman problem. Rudy Jones, a janitor at S.T.A.R. Labs, would be the accidental subject and mutate into the monster known as Parasite. 

Rudy Jones would have a pre-established family, whom he would run home to after his transformation. To his horror, he would slowly drain the life from their bodies until they become nothing more than husks. His wife and two children, dead. By his hand. This would not be great for Rudy Jones' mental stability, and he would begin a revenge plot against those who wronged him.

I'm thinking along the lines of Superman: Man of Tomorrow

Parasite's actions and powers would be closely tracked by Luthor and the U.S. government, the latter of whom would calculate the force needed to overwhelm and destroy Parasite would be equivalent to a bomb. During the final fight, Superman would draw an all-time powerful Parasite away from Metropolis (Suck it, Man of Steel), at which point the government would launch said bomb to destroy Parasite, the Kryptonian, and their involvement in it all - three birds with one stone.

Superman would stop his fight with Parasite to make the sacrifice play and save Parasite from the bomb, because it's the right thing to do. Parasite, however, would realize that, unlike Superman, he's not a beacon of hope to humanity. Plus Parasite's family is dead, so no one will miss him. So he zaps an unwilling Superman of his strength, throws him back to the ground, and takes the nuclear blast, killing himself in the process. Superman is left decimated by the attack. 

Superman would then find those responsible and chastise them for the damage they caused to the Earth ("I may not have been born here, but I do appreciate living here"). It's important to note that Superman is pretty pissed off here. He doesn't like the idea of nuclear weapons or being able to destroy that much environment, and the fact that Rudy Jones sacrificed himself hurts him. 

The movie would have a post-credit scene: As Superman flies through Metropolis, he's knocked to the ground by a handheld black object. He lands on the rooftop where (drumroll, please)... two white triangles appear in the shadows, along with a bold proclamation that 

"So you're the Superman I've heard so much about.  I've been monitoring your actions very closely. You may have gained their trust, Man of Steel. But you haven't convinced me... Clark." 

"You know I have x-ray vision. Standing in the dark doesn't conceal you, you can come out... Bruce."

Maybe these lines sound cringe, and without a studio hiring me to write, it's just terrible fanfiction. But hey, I'm having fun imagining what would make me, as an audience member, freak out on opening night.

The Last Son of Krypton

The Last Son of Krypton's villain is tricky. On one hand, I want it to be an escalation from Parasite and Luthor. Some potential candidates are Metallo, Kalibak/Darkseid, and Livewire. I want to use them all, but three movies can only take so many bad guys. Let's go with Kalibak/Darkseid.

The movie would open with Superman going back to Krypton's destroyed remains to poke around and see what's happening. While there, he would run into Lobo, who is doing some routine pillaging. Superman and Lobo get into a tussle, with the man of steel eventually winning the fight and Lobo's respect.

Lobo would then tip Superman off about a Kryptonian vessel he's been dying to take a look at near the edge of a black hole (Lobo hasn't done it because he doesn't want to risk anything, but he thinks Supes could take it. Or he wants him dead). Anyways, Superman finds Kara Zor-El trapped in the pod, and he brings her back to Earth to live with Ma and Pa Kent. 

Meet the main man.

Lobo would then brag about his encounter with Superman at a space pub, where an agent of Darkseid would overhear and report to Darkseid. Darkseid, curious about the last son of Krypton, would start monitoring the Earth more closely. Kalibak, eager to prove himself to his father, would offer to go to Earth and capture the Superman. 

Back on Earth, Superman gets a really wholesome and fun montage of him doing Superman stuff, Spider-Man: Homecoming style. 

Eventually, Kalibak does go to Earth (This plot should be reminiscent of the Superman: The Animated Series episode Apokalips... Now!), where he starts causing havoc and wrecking things. All the while, Clark plans to propose to Lana, oblivious to Lois's feelings towards him. 

While Clark deals with that, Jimmy Olsen has been tasked with showing the Kents and Kara around Metropolis, which is when Kalibak shows up (We should be a good 30-40 minutes into the movie?). They trash the city for a bit, it's revealed that Kalibak knows about his secret identity, don't ask me how, and the fight ends with Superman punching Kalibak through a boom tube back to Apokalips, where an unforgiving Darkseid is just the worst to him. 

Kalibak is completely devastated by this attack from both Superman and his father. It's the worst Darkseid has ever treated him, which is saying a lot. And so Kalibak decides to try again, but with more subtlety. He tries to destroy every aspect of Superman's life.

He arranges to try and kill Jimmy Olsen, whom Supes gives a watch as a result (It's meaningless fan service that won't factor into the plot). Then Kalibak tries to kill Supergirl but fails. Worried, Superman enlists the help of Batman to protect Lana Lang. Kalibak does succeed in blowing up lots of Metropolis and killing Lana, absolutely decimating Clark emotionally, which leads to the big fight of the movie with a bunch of lasers and explosions and stuff. Trailer flavor. 

Superman and Kalibak fight until Superman finally gains the upper hand, which is when Darkseid shows up and calmly decimates... basically everyone, including most of Kansas. Darkseid calmly explains his purpose, the Anti-Life Equation, New Gods and New Genesis, Orion, etc. He even apologizes for Kalibak attacking Metropolis behind his back. Class act all the way. Then he and Kalibak boom tube back to Apokalips and leave Superman left in the crater of what was downtown Metropolis with a dead Lana Lang. 

Cue ending monologue from Supergirl about how Clark can't give up hope, assorted shots of the funeral, Superman in space, Lois and Clark becoming a bit closer, and Superman in the Fortress of Solitude, alone, looking over the last outfit Lana had designed for him.

The Man of Tomorrow

After the devastation from the last movie, The Man of Tomorrow picks up in a world where Superman has been missing for a while and Supergirl is filling those shoes. Lex Luthor, after hinting at a political career in the last movie, is now running for President. Jimmy Olsen, Superman's pal, broke out after taking the defining photo of Darkseid's destruction, and Lois Lane has won several awards and become editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet following Perry White's retiring. 

The devastation of Metropolis and Superman's disappearance has left a large impact on the world. More heroes have started to step up in lieu of his disappearance - some blur in Central City, a freak with a bow in Star City, and even reports of a winged warrior. Work in Zatanna and a Lantern reference and you're halfway to setting up a halfway decent Justice League lineup. 

Anyways, Batman is worried about his acquaintance Clark, so he and Lois hop in the Batjet and fly to the Fortress of Solitude to check up on him, where they find Clark with a purple plant wrapped around him.

After losing so much, Superman was given a gift from a supposedly merciful world - the Black Mercy, a narcotic plant that wraps around its victims and ensnares them in a dream-like fantasy. Superman's is a life on Krypton with Lana and a son. He's happy. He's normal. He has everything he ever wanted. In fact, he's taking his son to the capital, Kandor, to meet with Jor-El.

So while that dream plot plays out, the villain Brainiac has descended upon Earth and formed an alliance with Luthor. He plans on shrinking the planet and keeping it in a jar, as is his role. Because his characterization frequently changes, my Brainiac is basically a Kryptonian curator. He shrinks down planets and cities and places them in his giant space library, a ship in the design of a skull. He's neither a cruel dictator nor a benevolent leader. He's a cold and calculating robot designed for one purpose: Preservation. 

And so he has decided to shrink down Earth, which has been identified as the place of the last remaining Kryptonians, and he thought it would be best to keep them in their natural habitats. Luthor teamed up with him in agreement for an exchange of knowledge. Brainiac has already taken Martian Manhunter since he is the last son of Mars, but after a transporting mishap with fire, has decided it best to take the entire Earth environment. 

Brainiac sent the Black Mercy to Superman to make it easier to transport him. He knew that Superman would be empowered by the yellow sun and adjusted accordingly. He's able to defeat Supergirl, Earth's last line of defense, with relative ease, and begins his process to shrink the city. 

Batman has also been able to successfully rip the Black Mercy off of Superman, which basically creates this scene. The Black Mercy briefly attaches itself to Batman before being killed by Superman, who then explains that he had encountered Brainiac earlier and that Brainiac possesses Kandor - the capital of Krypton. Superman dons the last suit from Lana Lang, which is the Kingdom Come suit.

Superman, Batman, and Lois fly back to Metropolis where Brainiac is in his final stages of shrinking and encapsulating the planet. The world is in chaos. There's practically no hope left. So Superman goes up the skull-shaped ship and offers himself to Brainiac to save Earth, who refuses the other. He's a perfectionist and wants the entire collection. 

Superman and Brainiac both come to the conclusion that the only way the fight ends is with Superman trying to destroy Brainiac, who has already calculated a victory in favor of himself. But eventually Superman, with the help of Batman, a backstabbing Lex Luthor, and assorted members of a yet-to-be-formed Justice League show up to defeat Brainiac. 

The movie ends with Superman finally being able to unshrink the city of Kandor, which, plot twist, contains Jor-El and Lara, who had launched Kal-El right before Krypton exploded and the city was captured. Jor-El sees how Clark has inspired humanity and had grown to be the fine young man that he had always wanted him to be, and tells him that he couldn't be more proud. 

"You have given them an ideal to aspire to, embodied their highest aspirations. They will race, and stumble, and fall and crawl....and curse....and finally.... They will join you in the sun, Kal-El."

They hug. Lois and Clark get together. Batman creates a new folder on the Batcomputer entitled "League." Superman puts on his suit and is ready to continue to lead humanity into tomorrow. 

And that's my Superman trilogy. Some definite criticisms I'd give my script would be that 1) It's not really a script, just an outline, 2) Batman/Supergirl honestly don't have that much to do in the second movie, 3) Lana Lang is fridged, and 4) The movies failed to better develop Clark Kent and suffered as a result. 

Could it be better? Most assuredly. Will it ever get made? No. Would it even be good? Um... I doubt it... ideally, I'd have Bruce Timm and Paul Dini double-check everything to make sure I'm not about to ruin Superman or my career... but anyways, this was a fun thought experiment. Maybe one day I'll be a successful movie guy, and be able to workshop it a bit and make it real. That would be amazing.