Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer discuss a more down to earth Superman for Man of Steel

March 14th 2013, 7:14pm

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Superman is an incredibly strong, out of this world superhero. Fans of Kal-El are fascinated by his origin, morals, and his own reflection on our society. But is it hard to bring Supes to the masses because he’s so hard to relate to? Other heroes are flawed, yet Superman is insanely hard to defeat. Not to mention that he’s an alien, so to speak, who has a hard time fitting in with the rest of society as his “human” alter-ego, Clark Kent.

When MAN OF STEEL was first planned the idea was to ground the Superhero, which was something that hadn’t been done before. The character was taken exactly as his was from his comic origins. Director Zack Snyder talks their take on the Kryptonian: “It’s amazing what [Superman] is capable of but [Henry’s] a slightly more down to Earth version of the character. I don’t think he can hold up a continent… Superman has been broken for a little while.” Is Snyder throwing some Shade at Bryan Singer‘s 2006 SUPERMAN RETURNS?

Writer David S. Goyer added, “He’s a man, but he’s a Man of Steel. It’s very much the theme of the movie, so it’s embedded in the title, which we settled on at the very beginning. He’s human but he’s not human.”

Goyer then goes on to talk about Jor-El (Russell Crowe), and how he will possibly be getting more screentime than those who have played him in the past. There’s also mention of the fleshing out of Krypton, “We try to flesh out Krypton and its different political factions, it’s fauna, it’s science. It’s not a cameo. I think people think he’s playing the Marlon Brando role, which isn’t necessarily the case.”

In the end, they just hope that their vision of Superman is successful with fans. Snyder thinks that the character’s popularity is a no-brainer, “My hope is that we establish him and that he’s a viable, awesome character that everyone is interested in seeing continue. He’s the biggest superhero in the world. Or should it be. He’s Superman, for gods sake!”