Singer & Routh Hint Possible "Superman" Villain!

[ElderPredator]

Hey everybody,

An awesome bit of news comes from the DVD release party of "Superman Returns" which is coming out very soon. According to several press sources at the event, Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh were constantly teasing and hinting to the audience about the possible villain of the next "Superman" sequel. That villain is.....BRAINIAC!

“There’s a lot of talk about Braniac – everyone wants to see [him]. But in the Superman Returns video game you get to play as Bizzaro [the imperfect Superman clone], and Bizzaro’s pretty fun – you could have some fun with that [too]”, says the actor, reportedly keen on getting involved in Legendary Pictures’ “World of Warcraft” movie next. “So I’m leaning towards one of those”.

Routh says there’s a “lot of possibilities” with the Brainiac character – recently played on Tvs “Smallville” by James Marsters – because he’s a “mastermind [and an] intelligent villain, so he could create any number of evil things”.

This is totally awesome news as Brainiac is a great comic villain and hoepfully the movie will pan out this way. I was kinda hoping that Doomsday would make an appearance but we'll have to wait and see. In case you don't know who Brainiac is, head to the link below for his history:

Brainiac: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainiac_%28comics%29

Story: http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_d4j_ezine&task=read&page=1&category=1&article=657&Itemid=28

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5043/supermancv2192bd9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Danger^Cart]

I wonder if Singer would ever consider re-casting Marsters for the part. I know that's considered a bit taboo, but he did pretty damn good job with the character, I thought.

Although, knowing Singer, he'll probably shoot for the biggest name possible, cuz he's a bit of a media whore.

Some Krypton club fights would be kickass with the special effects nowadays, and I'm glad Singer is going to actually give us some action his second time out, instead of some pussy arthouse Superman shit. It's Superman...the most generic superhero in existence...its not hard to come up with some good movie concepts. It's pretty simple actually....HAVE SOME FUCKING ACTION!

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Originally posted by Danger^Cart


Although, knowing Singer, he'll probably shoot for the biggest name possible, cuz he's a bit of a media whore.



Ummm...he is? Hugh Jackman was an unknown in the film world until Singer discovered him for X-men. Brandon Routh was an unknown until Singer cast him for Superman Returns. Heck, The Usual Suspects--Singer's first film--is the movie that made Kevin Spacey as well known as he is now. If anything, Singer doesn't shoot for the biggest names possible. He just looks for really good actors/actresses.

The only other big names he's worked with have been Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan and Halle Berry and Frank Langella. Singer's not a director who will hire an actor on name alone.

And I gotta disagree on Supes being a generic superhero who should rely on action alone. Myself, I loved the fact that SR showed the more emotional side of Superman and how he dealt with Lois moving on. Although I will love to see him kicking ass in this next one (especially since Singer is known to not throw in action for the sake of having action--it'll be action with purpose).

[Danger^Cart]

Yes, it's true Jackman was unknown before X-men, but the rest of the cast wasn't. Just because Jackman was uknown I don't feel that negates the rest of the big-name cast.

The same goes for SR and Routh. True...Singer cast an complete unknown for the title role, but that's easy to do when you have the Superman fanbase backing you, as with X-men. Let's not forget the balance of casting Spacey as, next to Joker, the most well known comic villain in history. As for Singer launching Spacey's career...that's kinda pushing it. While it was definetely one of his more memorable roles, Suspects was a 1995 release and Spacey has been on the scene since 1986, with such movies as See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Swimming With Sharks under his belt. And, if anything, American Beauty is what shot Spacey to international acclaim.

While he can be accredited with launching Jackman's career (I'll definetely give him credit for Jackmans push in the States, even though he was already big in Austrialia at the time) I wouldn't hold my breath on Brandon Routh. I honestly don't see a huge future for him outside of Superman. While his performance was passable, it was nowhere near as marketable as Jackmans, and I don't see him having near as impressive a career.

It's true, he has hired some unknowns in the past, but I wouldn't go as far as too call him a real talent scout. I think he'll make a gamble once and while on whether something will sell or not, but that's it. I just don't hold the guy as high as most people do, never understood the love for him at all. (Although I'll be the first to admit that, while X-men was passable but definetely nothing special, X2 was fantastic and I truly missed his work when Last Stand (shudders at horrible subtitle) debuted)

I can see how you would like SR, but I feel Singer went a little overboard on substance when it simply wasn't needed. I'll admit, my opinion is fairly biased, as I am a huge Batman fan (the way I see it, people fall into two categories: Batman fans and Superman fans), but aside from the amazing visuals I think SR fell way short of the mark. Although, I've heard some people say the same thing about Batman, as it had too much story and not enough action, of course I believe these people should be subjected to slow and excrutiating torture, so there opinion is of little concern.

*Interesting Tidbit: Before being cast as Luthor, Spacey did some narration work for a short film titled "The Tower of Babble." If you read comics, you'll take note of the irony.

[cocksmokinclerk]

great news! thanks again elder!

[Tuukka]

Originally posted by Danger^Cart
Yes, it's true Jackman was unknown before X-men, but the rest of the cast wasn't. Just because Jackman was uknown I don't feel that negates the rest of the big-name cast.

X-Men didn't have even one name-actor when it was made. McKellen was an arthouse darling, whom nobody knew in the mainstrream. Halle Berry had made a minor career with supporting performance in lame movies. Anna Paquin was known only for Piano, which was 7 years before. Jackman was a complete unknown outside Australia. Rebecca Romijn was known as a model, not as an actress. Famke Janssen was known only as a Bond Girl from a film made 5 years before.

Patrick Stewart probably was the best known of the bunch - and he was famous for being a TV-actor.

You got things mixed up - It was X-Men which raised the careers of everyone to a higher level, they weren't stars before.

Superman on the other hand had only one star actor - Kevin Spacey. Usual Suspect didn't have even one star, and neither did Apt Pupil.

[ElderPredator]

Originally posted by cocksmokinclerk
great news! thanks again elder!

No problem bud, it'll be interesting to see if he actually turns out to be the villain and who he will cast as Brainiac will be even more intriguing. :D

[cocksmokinclerk]

Originally posted by ElderPredator
No problem bud, it'll be interesting to see if he actually turns out to be the villain and who he will cast as Brainiac will be even more intriguing. :D

but the weird thing is i know nothing about brainiac so i'm kind of up in the air about caring, right now

[bigred760]

Originally posted by Danger^Cart
Although, knowing Singer, he'll probably shoot for the biggest name possible, cuz he's a bit of a media whore.


Yeah, that's why he went with Brandon Routh to headline the movie.

Marsters doesn't have a chance in hell of making it to the movie if that's the villain they go with. It's not that he's not a good actor, but while he may have been good for the TV show, he won't be right for the movie. Not to mention that they're not trying to connect "Smallville" to the movies, other than the characters themselves.

[Danger^Cart]

Originally posted by bigred760
Yeah, that's why he went with Brandon Routh to headline the movie.

Holy shit did anyone bother to read the rest of my fucking post? This has been touched upon, lets move on.

As I mentioned in my post that everyone has seemingly just glanced over, while the casting of people on Smallville is considered taboo, I think they would be mistaken to pass up on Marsters, as I think he did an outstanding job.

And if by not by suited for the show and not for the movie your referring to him being incapable of overly arthouse fanboy supercrap, then perhaps your right.

[SuFiEthon]

If it was down to the two of those villians I would lean toward Brainiac. I only say this because there are way too many ways to screw up Bizarro. Bizarro could turn out to be too humorous or not funny enough, and they could really pick the wrong person if they chose a big name actor to play Bizarro. I would like to see a Brainiac similar to that in the current Justice comic by Alex Ross. Someone evil enough to play Lex Luthor and out smart Superman.

[RandalGraves]

Originally posted by bigred760
Yeah, that's why he went with Brandon Routh to headline the movie.

Marsters doesn't have a chance in hell of making it to the movie if that's the villain they go with. It's not that he's not a good actor, but while he may have been good for the TV show, he won't be right for the movie. Not to mention that they're not trying to connect "Smallville" to the movies, other than the characters themselves.

I wish they woulda had the actor from Smallville in Returns, he does a good job imo.

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Originally posted by RandalGraves
I wish they woulda had the actor from Smallville in Returns, he does a good job imo.

Thing is, SR is an extention of the Donner films. Had they had Tom Welling play Supes, people would automatically connect the film to the Smallville TV show, which isn't what Singer or the WB were aiming for.

Myself, I don't care for Welling to be honest. He seems more like a GAP model than the Last Son of Krypton.

[soda]

Originally posted by RandalGraves
I wish they woulda had the actor from Smallville in Returns, he does a good job imo.

Interesting side note:

ask people who care about Superman, and who care about the mythology, and they pretty much all agree: Michael Rosenbaum is the greatest Lex Luthor of all time. That's how I wish Spacey had played Lex in the movie. Rosenbaum just so gets what Lex is, post-1960. (ie, post "mad scientist Lex"), whereas it seems like Spacey is just trying to jazz up Gene Hackman's cheesy performance. I wish they had gone with Rosenbaum and smallville's version of Lex for the movies.

As for the next Superman villian, I'm really rooting for Darkseid, but I'd settle for Brainiac. Doomsday is a candidate that only people who aren't really fans bring up. He had his 15 minutes of fame, when he killed Superman, but other than #75 (the death of Superman issue, the only comic that everyone in america owns, and the reason why Doomsday, after only Lex, is the only superman villian everyone knows), he hasn't done anything. I wouldn't want him in a movie, too one-dimensional.

[stickmangrit]

personally, i think Doomsday would make an excellent movie villain, but the next sequel is too soon. we need to be truly invested in Superman and Metropolis before running Death of Superman, and, let's be honest here, SR simply did not garner the kind of goodwill that a Doomsday movie needs in order to be effective. at the end of the day, Doomsday has had many iterations in cinema. the bandits from Seven Samurai, the gang from the original Assault on Precinct 13, any mindless-horde zombie movie you want to name. Doomsday is a blank slate, he's a pure, unstoppable force of hatred and destruction. he doesn't have to have depth, the drama is in what that force brings out in the hero. also, far more DC films need to be made, so that the funeral might have the impact that it deserves.

unfortunately, such a movie would call for a far stronger actor than Routh, and a far surer hand at action than Singer. this would have to be a dread-soaked and somber movie, the likes of which WB would never allow for the Superman franchise. not to mention the fact that they've already fucked up one of the most brilliant aspects of the story from the comics(Luthor's reaction to Supes' death would be a vast breach of character for the film version). but it's fun to dream.

[Sh8dy Milkman]

Yea...Singer's Superman is still relatively young. I cant see Doomsday being a villain until maybe the 3rd or 4th movie.

[castlesave]

gen. zod

[castlesave]

actually he should fight and kill his son. i really dont want him to have a kid because we all know damn well what will come of that. how would this make for a good villian though i know it wont happen: the joker

[soda]

Originally posted by castlesave
actually he should fight and kill his son. i really dont want him to have a kid because we all know damn well what will come of that. how would this make for a good villian though i know it wont happen: the joker

Unless it was Emperor Joker, one of the best Superman stories ever, and a tale that would make an excellent movie. The trade paper back of that run is finally coming out next year. The only thing is you'd need an incredibly skilled director to pull off an emperor Joker movie, the characterization would have to be just right.

[chinton]

The Usual Suspects was really Kevin Spacey's breathrough. Nobody really talked about him until that film.


Honestly they shouldn't even bother with a complex plot cause remember talking BAD action GOOD.

[EZMOHR]

I would like to see Brainiac as the villian. I know this will probablly get shot down....but Wentworth Miller has that kind of cold, mechanical voice in his delivery that could make a cool Brainiac.

Though the villian I think I want the most is Kevin Bacon as Metallo.

[LordSimen]

Originally posted by soda
Interesting side note:

ask people who care about Superman, and who care about the mythology, and they pretty much all agree: Michael Rosenbaum is the greatest Lex Luthor of all time. That's how I wish Spacey had played Lex in the movie. Rosenbaum just so gets what Lex is, post-1960. (ie, post "mad scientist Lex"), whereas it seems like Spacey is just trying to jazz up Gene Hackman's cheesy performance. I wish they had gone with Rosenbaum and smallville's version of Lex for the movies.

As for the next Superman villian, I'm really rooting for Darkseid, but I'd settle for Brainiac. Doomsday is a candidate that only people who aren't really fans bring up. He had his 15 minutes of fame, when he killed Superman, but other than #75 (the death of Superman issue, the only comic that everyone in america owns, and the reason why Doomsday, after only Lex, is the only superman villian everyone knows), he hasn't done anything. I wouldn't want him in a movie, too one-dimensional.

You could easily make him three-dimensional...

[FLAME_ON]

*POSSIBLE SPOILER*

My deal with Doomsday is that if they go that route they'll possibly go with the "Death of Superman" story line... and if they do, they would have two deaths of Superman in a row (if you count Superman dying in SR)

[GodMagnus]

They could also sort of follow the video game route and have Mongul come to Earth for Revenge.
Lots of chaos and destruction right there!

[bigred760]

Originally posted by FLAME_ON
My deal with Doomsday is that if they go that route they'll possibly go with the "Death of Superman" story line... and if they do, they would have two deaths of Superman in a row (if you count Superman dying in SR)

He died? I don't think he died anywhere in the movie, but even if he did, this "death" would be totally different. Plus, the death storyline would open a whole array of storylines for a second sequel - they could call it Superman Returns II :D. Joking aside, I wouldn't be against a "death of Superman" storyline. Not at all.

[mutesaint]

Im doing a little happy dance now. I loved SR but if theres one thing the sequel needs is more action. BRing on Brainiac. Bring on Bizarro. BRING ON DARKSEID. Sorry, I loved him in the 90's cartoon series.

[castlesave]

this is goin to be, i believe, the 5 superman movie in the series, its not too early to bring in anyone. if anyone here read the script for batman vs. superman, you'll recall lex luthor saying that the government consulted him on making a plan to kill superman in case he decided to take over the world. i wouldnt mind seeing superman take on an army (dog fight scene w fighter jets). hows this grab u? luthor developes this plan for the gov. hes released/ escapes. then begins to frame superman for a series of catastrophies and begins to build a puppet candidate for the presidency running on the platform of destroying superman. naturally his candidate wins and a war is waged on the man of steel. luthor watches as both the gov. and superman weaken and plans a way to take leadership of the gov. and move on through the world w/ the American military and a dead superman.

your thoughts???

[bigred760]

Originally posted by castlesave
this is goin to be, i believe, the 5 superman movie in the series, its not too early to bring in anyone. if anyone here read the script for batman vs. superman, you'll recall lex luthor saying that the government consulted him on making a plan to kill superman in case he decided to take over the world. i wouldnt mind seeing superman take on an army (dog fight scene w fighter jets). hows this grab u? luthor developes this plan for the gov. hes released/ escapes. then begins to frame superman for a series of catastrophies and begins to build a puppet candidate for the presidency running on the platform of destroying superman. naturally his candidate wins and a war is waged on the man of steel. luthor watches as both the gov. and superman weaken and plans a way to take leadership of the gov. and move on through the world w/ the American military and a dead superman.

your thoughts???

Wow. That's a lot to take. That wouldn't be too bad, other than the fact that it's Lex Luthor AGAIN! He's a great villain, but I still think they need to go with an alien villain, like they did in Superman 2. If they're going with The Man of Steel title, they'll need something more than a human army to pit against him.

[castlesave]

Originally posted by bigred760
Wow. That's a lot to take. That wouldn't be too bad, other than the fact that it's Lex Luthor AGAIN! He's a great villain, but I still think they need to go with an alien villain, like they did in Superman 2. If they're going with The Man of Steel title, they'll need something more than a human army to pit against him.

3 humans almost killed him in the last one. the human army is using the plan that luthor devised for the military. imagine cities getting leveld in battles and an air fight

[soda]

When DC comics made Lex Luthor the 43rd president of the United States, the intent behind that move, as a plot-device, was that Superman always stood for "Truth, justice and the American way." Well, now that Luthor was president, the American way had turned on Superman. Talk to Frank Miller, or to some people in the community, and they see Superman as a patsey of the US Government. That was the heart of Superman and Batman's disagreement in the "The Dark Knight Returns", well, with Luthor running the country, Superman couldn't very well run up to the white house and punch him. That was the gist of the idea, give Superman an intellectual challenge, an emotional challenge, one he couldn't just punch. The problem was that the angle was poorly executed by DC (sometimes, you give them a great story idea with watercrest around it, and they still blow it), so much so that Jeph Loeb came along and eventually booted Lex out of the white house (there's this scene in Superman / Batman #4 where you see just the hint of the giant purple battle armor in a back room of the white house, and you think to yourself, "of course, it makes perfect sense that president lex would have that stashed away somewhere.") I certainly think that president luthor still has potential, but I'm not a big fan of doomsday.

Here's the thing, the death of superman story is the one book everyone has, and it's the one comic everyone has read, that's why Doomsday is so high up in the name recognition. However, he wasn't then, and isn't now, a terribly interesting villian, there's no psychology involved, he just came to earth and punched his way to the top. He's no different than Imperix or a thousand other Superman villians over the years, he's only different in one respect: he succeeded, he actually killed Superman. That just makes him stronger, not more interesting. If I had to pick a villian for the next movie, I'd want Darkseid, because he's both strong and interesting, the hordes of apocalyse are due for an invasion of earth, and that would be a cool movie.

[Jas]

No matter what may come, the coolest moment in the history of comic book movies/shows, was when the Justice League fought Brainiac/Luthor on Justice League Unlimited....
That would actually be pretty cool in a Supes movie too, if in the end Lex and Brainy merged.
I'm not a big fan of Bizzarro, partly because that must be one of the easiest fucking characters to create, ever.

[mutesaint]

Originally posted by soda

Here's the thing, the death of superman story is the one book everyone has, and it's the one comic everyone has read, that's why Doomsday is so high up in the name recognition. However, he wasn't then, and isn't now, a terribly interesting villian, there's no psychology involved, he just came to earth and punched his way to the top. He's no different than Imperix or a thousand other Superman villians over the years, he's only different in one respect: he succeeded, he actually killed Superman. That just makes him stronger, not more interesting. If I had to pick a villian for the next movie, I'd want Darkseid, because he's both strong and interesting, the hordes of apocalyse are due for an invasion of earth, and that would be a cool movie.

I LOVE Darkseid. He is probably my favorite superman villain of all time thanks to the 90's cartoon series. The only problem would be to set up Darkseid as a villain. There is so much there that is completily out of this world that it would be hard to do in one film. Me, being the overly ambitious trilogy lover, could see it happenning in two. One movie we see superman taking on his minions who are very powerful and it ends with Darkseids invasion of earth ala the cartoon. I know they arent going to do this but damn would it make me happy or what.

[Crazy Dud]

Brainiac is the most logical villain to add for the second movie. It would make the movie much bigger and more epic than Returns, without being too big as to seem like a completely different movie. Doing Darkseid or Doomsday at this point would be too dramatic a shift in tone for the new franchise as established by Returns. However, I would love to see Darkseid in three, and Doomsday in four. Villains I don't think will work in the movies at all include Bizarro and The Toyman.

[Danger^Cart]

Originally posted by castlesave
this is goin to be, i believe, the 5 superman movie in the series, its not too early to bring in anyone. if anyone here read the script for batman vs. superman, you'll recall lex luthor saying that the government consulted him on making a plan to kill superman in case he decided to take over the world. i wouldnt mind seeing superman take on an army (dog fight scene w fighter jets). hows this grab u? luthor developes this plan for the gov. hes released/ escapes. then begins to frame superman for a series of catastrophies and begins to build a puppet candidate for the presidency running on the platform of destroying superman. naturally his candidate wins and a war is waged on the man of steel. luthor watches as both the gov. and superman weaken and plans a way to take leadership of the gov. and move on through the world w/ the American military and a dead superman.

your thoughts???

That would be bitchin'. They should have used that as the plot for Superman Returns, having Superman Return to a world already run by Luthor. Not exactly the meet and greet he expected, kinda thing. (Superman vs. F22's would be awesome).

Metallo would be the best villain for the sequel, however. Have a few small battles culminating in the characters inevitable evolution and a hulking, terrifying mass of electronics for the final battle. A giant metallo rampaging through Metropolis would be kickass.

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Originally posted by Danger^Cart
A giant metallo rampaging through Metropolis would be kickass.

I take it you've been playing the SR video game? ;)