Things have been rolling along at a thunderous pace for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. It felt like the internets were abuzz with the latest bit of casting info on a bi-weekly basis, with beloved young stars like Amy Adams cast as Lois Lane or established screen legends like Kevin Costner being cast as Jonathan Kent. And let’s not forget just yesterday the wacky, but brilliant news of Laurence Fishburne as Perry White. On top of that, over the past few weeks pictures have been surfacing all over the online community of the construction of Smallville and the Kent farm itself in rural Illnois. To date, Snyder and Co. have consistently done a good job of increasing our appetite for more and more info on this project. But we all know today’s news is what we’ve all really been waiting for…
…We’ve now finally gotten our first real peek inside the look and feel that the Last Son of Krypton will embody in his next big screen relaunch, Man of Steel.
It feels like just yesterday, the fan community was in an uproar over the first underwhelming pic of Brandon Routh in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. Shouts of “The red is too dark” or “The neckline is too high” or “Why is the S-shield on the chest so small?” or the even more ridiculous “Why is the S-logo on his belt buckle too? Overkill!” were echoed all over fandom.
I’m happy to say, at least from what I’ve seen, this incarnation should be met with faaaar less ire. The photo is a slick, but obviously somewhat Photoshopped, action shot that reveals a slightly darker aesthetic than we might be used to for Superman. Obviously, Snyder is going with a more muted color filter on the photograph, per his usual visual style. We can see the overall suit is a deeper shade of blue than what was worn by Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh, but not quite as dark as Dean Cain’s Lois & Clark outfit.
Also, thank Rao, the S-Shield is much bigger and more pronounced than what we got in Superman Returns. That tiny stylized “S,” much like the film itself, seemed too unsure of what it wanted to be. The updated larger “S” on Cavill is very old school in design, and just has a great retro vibe that I love. I think this particular choice will draw some of the heaviest division amongst fans, but I think it’s a thing of beauty. A number of fans hoped for or expected a more streamlined version of the “S” and not the fuller, more classic version of the shield.
Another nice fix is the return of the stretched regal cape neck-line. This is the part of the Returns outfit that annoyed my inner fanboy the most. Because of the increased size of the S-shield, it no longer looks like a tight necked t-shirt with a cape attached at the back of the neck. You get that Caesar-esque nobility that was lacking before. The cape itself is also long and flowing, as is it should be, and just looks really sharp. It’s ripped straight out of some the best artist renditions of the character. Will it have the yellow “S” on the back? That remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
One thing I’m not sold on is the scaly chain mail look of the overall suit and S-shield. This style of material, like it or not, is quickly becoming the norm with superhero costumes these days (see The Amazing Spider-man). It doesn’t ruin the overall costume for me, but just comes across as an odd choice. We do not know yet how this Clark Kent acquires the suit, nor the origins of the suit itself. It doesn’t look like something Martha could have sewn from baby Kal-El’s spaceship blanket – it’s almost too wetsuit-y and low-tech to be an actual adult Kryptonian garment. Will Clark fashion this suit himself, similar to that Wayne guy in the other DC franchise?
The remainder of the outfit is pretty faithful to previous incarnations. The belt appears to be a shinier, more metallic version of the Reeve, Cain and comic book incarnations. No S-shield belt buckles to be seen.
The boots are still…well, big red stripper boots…can’t really go far off book there. And finally, much was made of the shots of Henry Cavill cavorting around Comic-Con this year sporting the vintage Superman spit-curl hair-do. So now we get our first shot of him as the big blue boyscout… and no spit-curl?! What gives Zachariah?! Other than that nitpick, Cavill is turning out to have exactly the look I hoped he’d possess in the role. He has the comic-style, square jawed, all-American look – he looks like Superman. But he’s not trying to be Chris Reeve AS Superman (no offense to Reeve, there will never be another like him). It also doesn’t hurt that Cavill appears to be the most ripped actor to ever play Kal-El.
Knowing Snyder’s propensity for audacious production values and over the top imagery, I think I expected a less faithful looking version of his Superman. But overall, in this fan’s humble opinion, Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill have hit a homerun with the design, look and presentation of their Man of Steel. Can’t wait to actually see it in motion. Until then, I will patiently await the first photo of Michael Shannon (and that patented creepy stare) portraying General Zod. Kneel!!!
-KW
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