We've seen a poster with Superman being carted off in handcuffs. We've seen the Terrence Malick influenced teaser which, depending on where you saw it, was narrated either by Kevin Costner or Russell Crowe. More recently, we saw the full trailer, which kind of knocked everyone's socks off with its heavily influential bearded Superman action. By now, I think we have just about all the info needed to declare Man of Steel probably the greatest movie ever made. It's already grossed more hypothetical money than Avatar and its twelve sequels combined.
Which is good because it kind of has a lot going against it. For one, there hasn't been a good Superman film for thirty years (yes, that was my way of telling you that I love Superman III and don't like Superman Returns). It's also a retelling of an origin story that falls just beneath that of Jesus Christ's when it comes to cultural awareness. Babies get this origin from their mother's teat (for reasons that should be obvious, formula babies receive the Batman origin instead). Sitting through another iteration of Superman's whole adoption process might stretch our patience a bit too thin regardless of how much Russell Crowe it contains.
But on top of that, Man of Steel must also shoulder the responsibility for our anticipation and expectations regarding the upcoming Justice League film. As the sole cinematic diplomat to meet us before that bombshell drops, nearly everything we know about what to expect will come from Snyder's take on Superman. If we fall in love with Henry Cavill, we'll get super excited and amped up to see him again in the team film. If we hate him, Justice League might be the biggest lunchroom loser table cinema has ever seen (assuming the film includes Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern).
As for Zack Snyder's involvement, he appears to be ripping of Malick, so his normal quirks might not apply. It will probably look very pretty and feel very humorless.
I'll tell you one thing I know for sure: It's hard to be Superman, and it looks like this film knows a thing or two about that. Everything you touch breaks due to your super-strength. People are always trying to kill you. And you have to spend your only time off from the job busily doing some other job. As if that weren't hard enough, you also have to spend all that time pretending to be a nerd. Meanwhile, your only friend is a super genius who constantly takes potshots at your intelligence because he's secretly jealous of your superpowers. That's rough, man.
We'll all get a good look at poor, sad Superman when Man of Steel comes out this June. In the meantime, tell us truly: Which movie are you more excited for, Man of Steel or Iron Man 3?
