Superman: Legacy Needs A More Comic-Accurate Superman

When it comes to Superman and Clark Kent, as fans we’re well beyond the need for an origin story. We’re past the need for a young Clark Kent. There’s no need for the farm or small-town USA. What audiences do need is something we never got out of the Snyderverse’s Superman. Zack Snyder may have sprinkled in a few characteristics to Henry Cavill’s Superman but it was hit or miss. Some fans liked the grittier and alienated Clark. That version was written that way to build to humanity’s need for the Man of Steel. In more recent comic books, that might be the Superman fans have come to know. It’s not the one they’ve come to love. Now that James Gunn has been given the keys to the city of Metropolis, how does he avoid the same issues with Superman: Legacy?

There’s no easy solution. The biggest issue Gunn will face is right in the title, legacy. Superman is iconic and fans have fallen in love a few different times. Whether it was Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, or anyone in between every iteration will always draw comparisons to the ones audiences fell in love with. Everyone goes on to love what Marvel has done with the MCU but there’s a huge reason why fans weren’t as divided. Before the MCU there weren’t many instances of these characters live on screen. Think about the DC movies of the past. People are always comparing Batman, Superman, Catwoman, the Joker, and more to previous versions. The one thing they’ve all had to contend with is how well the actors/actress portrayed those characters.

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So, again the question is, how does James Gunn avoid this with Superman: Legacy?

Simple. He can’t. The only thing he can do is make the most comic-accurate portrayal and hammer it home. It wasn’t Henry Cavill’s fault his version of Superman didn’t take off. Zack Snyder just outpaced the audience in what they expected out of the character. His whole story was built around the lack of trust after General Zod invaded Earth. The only problem is he skipped the crucial steps of what makes the Man of Steel who he is. Humanity’s distrust in the hero could have easily been portrayed while still building the character fans have always known.

Maybe we’re past the days of “It’s a bird, it’s a plane” or “truth, justice, and the American way” but Clark has always been a man of virtue. He is DC’s version of Captain America. Despite being from another planet, he’s always been written as the “all-American” and wholesome character. The small-town hero who would put out fires that the fire department couldn’t contain, rescued a cat from a tree, or stopped a bank robbery was never established in the Snyderverse and that could be where he failed.

Had Snyder written those into his shared universe it may have gone a bit better. If he established this in the character early on the script for Batman v Superman could’ve looked much different. After gaining the public’s trust, Lex Luthor steps in to sway public opinion of Superman claiming his motives are only to gain trust while reminding people the events of Man of Steel. Teetering to the point of distrust in the public eye, Luthor threatens to reveal his alter ego. Then, after all he’s done to gain people’s trust Clark has a moment where he fears for his life with Lois is about to be shattered, he becomes the man we see in BvS, it would’ve made more sense.

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From there, all they would’ve needed was Bruce Wayne to keep an eye on the whole situation the way only Batman can. In his infinite distrust of society and anyone with powers, Batman steps in to keep Superman from harming a civilian, Luthor slips away to unleash Doomsday, and the ending could’ve been kept the same. You could’ve touched on the things that made Clark great, still had an out of place and distrust for Superman, and still had the big fight at the end.

The problem with the Snyderverse’s Man of Steel wasn’t that it was bad, it just skipped ahead. If Superman: Legacy does the character any good, it has to be spelled out in the Clark Kent fans have grown to love. Batman v Superman took Clark and made him look more like a brooding Batman instead of an emotionally defeated Superman.

It still wouldn’t be perfect, but it would’ve hit more plot points that were true to the character. Superman: Legacy needs to avoid this mistake by bringing in those same comic-accurate characteristics. It won’t be just die-hard comic book fans that will know the whole story as they did in BvS. It doesn’t need to be dumbed down for a wider audience, but it does need to appeal to casual fans and die-hard fans alike.