Separation Anxiety

New Comic Day takes on a different appeal in the Digital Comic Era.

The big news early this week is that Superman has returned or at least he’s been recast. Henry Cavill definitely has the chiseled jawline and unruly hair that we’d expect from the Man of Steel. The only things from his portfolio that I’ve seen is the Count of Monte Cristo way back in the day and Stardust. I can’t say I remember specifically either of the two characters he played, so I can’t really give a good evaluation of his screen presence. At the same time, I don’t remember thinking “That guy who played that character really sucked” for either of those movies, so I guess that not remembering is a good thing as well. While I haven’t watched any of The Tudors, it’s been recommended to me by people who’s opinions I trust, so I have a feeling he’ll do alright. Somewhere on the Internet, people are upset that Superman is British, but then the current Batman and Spider-man are both British (and Wolverine’s Australian), so I can’t say that bothers me too much. It’s much easier for a British actor to hide their accent to play an “American” than it is for an American actor to take on a good British accent, so I don’t think the actor-character nationality is really that important.

Now that we have a Superman, the next thing we need is a Lex Luthor and a Lois Lane. At least, I think we can safely assume that Lois will be in the film and casting rumors for her have already started. I can’t say I have a really strong opinion about who should be Lois, whether from these rumored women or any others, as long as they don’t use Tron: Legacy de-aging CGI and give the role to Teri Hatcher. I haven’t heard anything about Lex Luthor being in the film, but he’s so integral to the Superman mythos that I think he has to appear in the movie somehow. Even if he’s not the story’s main villain, there needs to be at least one scene in the movie where Lex is up in his penthouse office, looking out the window at Metropolis below, rubbing his bald head with one hand and holding a copy of the Daily Planet screaming “This is my city! MY CITY!” or the movie is DOA.

It’ll be interesting to watch the developments of this reboot to see if it bombs as badly as Superman Returns did or if it is able to go up, up, and away into box office success.