Ben Affleck Is Batman for Man of Steel Sequel (dir. Zack Snyder)

Starman did specify the movie screen in his criticism. Rosenbaum's version of Luthor was better than Hackman's or Spacey's, which tells you just how badly those were written. Smallville's writing was always uneven, but they usually did a nice job with Lex.

As with many characters in DC, the best version of Lex Luthor was in the "Timm-verse" animated series and movies, with Clancy Brown providing the voice. Also some very weird moments (such as merging him with Braniac), but they captured a character that is supposed to be complex, ruthless, brilliant and dangerous.

 

Other than Luthor, what other Superman villains would translate well to the screen?

 

I heard a good point yesterday in favor of Affleck. Batman Begins is the only Batman movie anyone watched to actually see Batman.

Batman = Joker
Returns = Catwoman/Penguin
Forever = Riddler
TDK = Joker
Rises = Bane

 

Now you are hitting on the major problem with Superman. His villains aren't nearly as interesting as Batman's.

The best ones are mostly alien threats that bring major death and destruction with them, something they may want to avoid for a bit after going that route with Zod and the other Kryptonians. Also, I'm not sure how well Doomsday, Darkseid or Braniac would translate.

All of which makes it a good idea to go the Superman vs. Batman route so quickly.

 

Metallo is basically the Terminator/Robocop with a Kryptonite heart/power source. It could be done well with themes of lost humanity since the character starts as a man who becomes a machine. I see it as a tragic character.

 

I thought about Metallo, too. There are many versions of the character. Smallville went the route you mentioned. Others have gone with the mercenary who suddenly has the power to beat Superman, but there is still some complexity because he has lost his humanity to get there.

That's a pretty good idea, now that you mention it. Also a good way to involve Luthor without making him the direct villain.

 

So no love for Mister Mxyzptlk or Bizarro Superman?

 

Oh please, no.

 

The great unseen (so far) Superman villain is Brainiac, who, if done right, would be essentially a combination of the Terminator, the Borg, and Darth Vader.



However, any Brainiac storyline is by necessity an alien invasion storyline, and since "Man of Steel" was basically an alien invasion storyline, my bet is Brainiac will be held off until MOS-3 in about 2017.

 

The Jones/Frank "Secret Origin" storyline had John Corben as a soldier who volunteered for the "Metallo" advanced weapons suit program (think Iron Man), but he was by no means a sympathetic character. He was a douchebag tough-guy militant asshole. Also, the armored suit morphed into a cyborg concept thanks to Luthor. I think if he would have started as a sympathetic character, it would have made the transformation from man to cyborg have more emotional depth. Jones dropped the ball on the story in that way.

I thought a great way to insert that into sequel would be to make Corben a military liaison to Superman, a secondary good guy character who is fatally injured during some battle. He's turned into a cyborg near the end as a possible final villain (like Dent in "The Dark Knight") or for a third picture. So, like Dent, a tragic figure. If I could get anybody in the world, I'd get Joaquin Phoenix.

 

http://www.sporcle.com/games/druhutch/no-good-val-kilmer-gifs

 

I am holding out for Krypto the Cat-Barbecuing Superdog.