Fanfic: Shaping the DC Cinematic Universe Part I

While Man of Steel may not have gotten the glowing critical praise many expected, it did at least make bank at the box office. And thanks to that, a sequel is all but guaranteed. The only question is, where to go? Man of Steel was flawed, yes, but it left the door wide open for an entire DC Cinematic Universe to spring forth. I've done fanfiction on realizing the Justice League on film before, but now that Man of Steel has provided a direction, I feel like taking another crack at mapping the DCU on film, using MOS as the launching pad in a way similar to what Marvel did with the first Iron Man.

Unlike Iron Man, I feel it best that the Superman franchise remain somewhat standalone. While it wouldn't hurt to include easter eggs to tease the wider universe, I feel right now that Superman and his mythos aren't fully developed enough to have him join up with other heroes. He still needs to fully embody the ideal of hope that his father(s) wanted for him. As such, Superman will be handled first in my imaginary cinematic DCU.

Superman's adventures will continue in "Man of Tomorrow." The film will begin with an accident on a space station, causing the station and its occupants to re-enter Earth's orbit. Superman arrives to save the day, and here we see that he's a lot smarter and more confident in the use of his powers. Not only does he save the astronauts, but he also disposes of the debris so it won't hurt any civilians. Essentially, his Metropolis fight with Zod has given him an extreme aversion to killing and a desire to preserve all human life, along with the realization of just how much damage his powers could cause. He's slowly but surely growing into the savior status Jor-El wanted for him.

However, certain civilians and military brass are still untrustworthy of him. We learn that Superman worked in conjunction with LexCorp to rebuild Metropolis, during which time Superman was able to recover the Scout Ship, rebuild it, and move it back to the Arctic, where it's been refashioned into his Fortress of Solitude. Now the true Last Son of Krypton, Superman goes there from time to time to seek council from Jor-El. He laments the isolation he feels at being humanity's savior, and often wonders what the best way to save his adopted race is.

Lois Lane, Perry White, and new photographer and Supes admirer Jimmy Olson support him, with Lois always telling Clark that he's not alone and helping him adjust to his new job at the Planet. When Clark learns about a conflict stirring between two countries at a DMZ, he speeds off to prevent all out war from breaking out. However, his presence only escalates the tension, and causes the two parties to fire at each other. Superman gets in the middle and tries to save lives on both sides, but eventually the U.S. military arrives to call Superman off and scale back the fighting.

Lex Luthor is introduced as the billionaire head of LexCorp, a scientific and engineering genius who believes he embodies the best aspects of mankind-intelligence, ambition, and ingenuity. He's extremely jealous of Superman due to "the alien" having robbed him of his savior status. With the rebuilding of Metropolis, he's working on rebuilding his reputation while trying to publicly defame Superman.

In a televised interview, Lex explains how Superman claims to protect humanity but really thinks himself above it, as evidenced in how he stormed into an international military conflict and made things messy by representing the U.S. He ends the interview by questioning whether the battle with Zod was a ruse to gain our trust, and that he secretly plans to assert his dominance over the Earth by making us all dependent on him, thereby preventing human civilization from ever truly progressing.

Seeing this, Clark is enraged at Luthor's attempt to defame him but secretly wonders if his constant saving is more like interfering. Should he really get involved in humanity's affairs? Do his powers give him the right to intervene? And even if they do, even with all his gifts, is it even possible to save humanity? While Clark contemplates these questions with Lois, his mom, and Jor-El, Luthor is approached by the military to come up with a deterrent to Superman.

After rebuilding Metropolis, Luthor managed to salvage pieces of General Zod's armor. In addition, he took samples of the surrounding rocks from the area of the Indian Ocean where the World Engine began its terraforming, finding the surrounding environment has become an exact geologic replica of Krypton. Finding these fragments highly radioactive, Luthor uses them as a power source for his reverse engineered battle suit, dubbing the new power source "Kryptonite."

Lieutenant John Corben, a survivor of the Metropolis battle with an intense hatred for Kryptonians, is chosen to pilot the armor should Superman ever turn against America. Wishing to see if his hunch about kryptonite's effect on Superman is correct, Lex hires a gang of thugs to act out a terrorist plot, and end up framing Superman for a large bombing. The media blows the incident out of proportion, making Superman look like a villain despite Lois and the DP's best efforts to tell the actual story.

The military gives Corben the go ahead to use the armor, and in the resulting fight Superman is heavily weakened by the suit's kryptonite core. In a desperate bid to defend himself, Supes punches Corben through a wall, severely injuring him. Feeling ashamed and exposed, Superman flies off, admitting to Lois that he might have jumped the gun on the world trusting him and that he should go into hiding. Luthor has Corben rebuilt as a cyborg, using parts from the armor and the kryptonite to power an artificial heart. Corben is hailed as a true hero, while Superman is nowhere to be seen.

Clark thinks about how the kryptonite made him actually feel vulnerable for the first time in his life, so after all this time he doesn't feel so alone. He and Lois deepen their relationship, during which time Clark realizes that his upbringing and relationships with Lois and others make him truly human. Luthor's  criticisms of his saving efforts were legitimate because Clark was drifting away from humanity. As a result of killing Zod and nearly destroying Metropolis, Clark was focusing too much on his alien nature and savior status that he forgot that, amid all his powers, he's still human.

Knowing this, he accepts that he can't force his will on humanity, and the best way to guide the people is to embody humanity's ideals. All his life he was a Man of Steel, but to truly be Superman, he must become a Man of Tomorrow. This means he has to practice these ideals regardless of what humanity thinks of him, bringing new meaning to Jor-El's speech about the humans eventually joining him in the sun. Meanwhile, Corben grows insane when he realizes his new machine parts have made it impossible for him to feel anything. Fearing the loss of his own humanity, Corben decides that he's above it and goes on a rampage through Metropolis.

Superman comes out of hiding and fights Corben, with their battle being intense but a lot smaller and more personal than the Zod fight. Supes goes out of his way to minimize collateral damage and protect civilians, all the while getting weaker from the kryptonite exposure. When the people see this, they realize they were wrong about Supes and rally behind him. Eventually, Clark rips the kryptonite out of Corben, deactivating him (basically putting him in a coma). Supes collapses, near death, but the people of Metropolis hold him up and expose him to sunlight, restoring him. Superman is now wholly embraced by the public as a savior.

The military collects Corben's body and cuts Luthor's defense contracts. Thanks to Lois, Clark learns of Luthor's role in Corben's creation and confronts him. Luthor talks about how he is the true Man of Tomorrow, and that the people rallying behind him is only proof that they are simple minded and can't appreciate his genius. Thanks to his lawyers and PR department, he's removed any connection between him and the bombing that framed Supes, so even Lois's story won't matter. The two enemies reaffirm that this rivalry is only beginning. As Superman enjoys the trust of the public, Luthor makes it his personal goal to kill Superman. He continues tinkering with fallen Kryptonian tech recovered from the Metropolis fight, and as the film ends we see that he accidentally sets off a homing beacon that summons Brainiac to Earth.

The third and final film in the trilogy, "Last Son of Krypton," will begin with a flashback showing Brainiac, a humanoid supercomputer from the planet Colu obsessed with obtaining knowledge, kidnapping the Krypton city of Kandor. He envelopes the entire city in a force field and traps it in a pocket of Phantom Zone space. Usually, he would blow up the planet afterwards to ensure he was the only one possessing this knowledge, but his detection of the planet's unstable core makes him leave. This is what causes Jor-El to realize Krypton was dying, imparting this knowledge to Zod and leading to the rift between them that causes the events of the first film's prologue.

In present day, Brainiac detects the presence of Kryptonian tech on Earth, arriving to collect Krypton's last son. He meets with Luthor, and the two form an alliance. In order to incapacitate Superman, Brainiac manufactures a creature with the DNA of several Kryptonian animals to fight the Man of Steel. He names it Doomsday, and sets the creature loose on the world. Clark and Lois realize their love for each other and get engaged, just as Doomsday's rampage reaches Metropolis. Superman and Doomsday begin an all-out brawl that ends with both combatants dead. The world mourns the loss of their savior, Lois in particular. Luthor commissions a statue and a memorial for Supes, but in secret steals his body for Brainiac.

Finding it interesting that Superman's cells contain Krypton's codex, Brainiac uses a makeshift Genesis Chamber to clone another Kryptonian. Luthor hopes to use this process to create an army of Supermen, consolidating his power, but Brainiac says the process was an experiment and can't risk any Kryptonian knowledge ending up in the hands of a human. He has Superman's corpse placed in Kandor, and when Luthor tries to betray him, Brainiac absorbs Luthor into his being. Unwilling to be taken over, Luthor's consciousness fuses with Brainiac to form Lexiac, who decides to use the Superman clone to convince the public of Kal's ressurection. This is secretly a distraction so Lexiac can bottle Metropolis and destroy the Earth, the same as he's done with countless worlds.

While the Superman clone sucessfully convinces everyone Supes is back (all but Lois, who sees right through the clone's more violent behavior), Clark is ressurected in Kandor via a regeneration chamber. He's greeted by his Uncle Zor-El and cousin Kara, named after an ancestor who crashed in the Earth Scout Ship. Kara is a natural birth like Kal, the result of the Kandorians resorting to natural reproduction in the absence of the codex. With Clark having come through to Kandor, the portal to our world is temporarily open, but only wide enough for one or two people to go through. Zor-El pleads with Kal to take Kara with him, to give her a better life than here.

Kal and Kara breach the pocket Phantom Zone and escape Kandor, finding themselves aboard Brainiac's empty ship. They return to Earth and confront the clone Superman, who on orders from Lexiac is now destroying parts of Metropolis to distract from him readying the force field tech and Phantom drive. Kal and Kara battle and defeat the clone, alerting the public the real Superman is back. Lexiac sends a missile into the sun to destroy Earth, while trapping Metropolis in the pocket Phantom Zone. Kal and Kara escape, with Kara leaving to destroy the missile while Supes battles Lexiac, first on Earth and then on his ship.

Supes separates Lex from Brainiac and defeats the evil machine, while learning that the pocket Phantom Zones are only stable on board the ship. He restores Metropolis and finds a suitable planet to restore Kandor. Kara decides to stay with her parents to rebuild Krypton on this new world, where they are free to continue their civilization away from Earth while learning from the mistakes that doomed the original Krypton. Clark will communicate with Kara via the Fortress to check up on them, thereby becoming the bridge between two peoples Jor-El wanted.

Luthor's alliance with Brainiac and Doomsday and his role in creating the Super-clone become public thanks to Lois, and as such Luthor is awaiting a full criminal trial. Clark remarks how, thanks to his death and his reunion with Kara and the Kandorians, he fully experienced first hand what it feels like to be mortal, while also being happy that he's no longer Krypton's last son and that his people can live on. But he does not belong with them, and chooses instead of marry Lois. As the personal saga of Superman comes to a close, his adventures in the wider DC film universe are just beginning. Throughout the trilogy, the DP will get news of other heroes popping up throughout the country, foreshadowing how Superman has inspired not only regular humans, but other heroes as well. Their stories will be told in Part II of this epic fanfic, which I shall unveil later.

Man of Steel review

It's been two weeks since the return of the king. No, I don't mean Lord of the Rings. I mean Superman, the world's first superhero, who was recently rebooted in Zach Snyder's Man of Steel. I've seen it twice, and this is a movie not to be taken lightly. Beside the fact that it's overly serious, in stark contrast to the tongue-in-cheek Chris Reeve films, this film has had a largely mixed reaction from fans and critics. Debates raged whether it succeeded in modernizing Supes, or even if it was an accurate representation of the Superman they grew up with.

So with all the different opinions out there, I spent a lot of time just thinking about this film.  On the one hand, I heavily enjoyed the film's attempt to update Superman's iconic mythos. On the other hand, I have to admit, especially on second viewing, that the film is not perfect. But does it deserve the absolute hatred that some people are giving it? Personally, not in the slightest.

Solely based on the plot and its execution, I enjoyed this film heavily. It's probably the hard-core sci-fi buff in me talking, but I was in love with the opening scenes on Krypton. One thing I felt writers never really utilized that well was the fact that Superman was an alien. They knew it, but never really took advantage of it. This film, to my delight, did. Not only did we get to see a fully realized Kryptonian society, but the flaws that led to its destruction. By introducing all the sci-fi aspects first, our suspension of disbelief is established and the film's epic scale is shown. However, this prologue is also very character driven, as evidenced by the relationship between Jor-El and Zod and how their conflict sparks Jor-El's decision to send his son to Earth.

The emphasis on the alien side of Superman's character drives the rest of the film. This Clark Kent is more of a nomad, wandering the Earth deciding what he should do with his life and his powers, constantly plagued from being a child of two worlds. Frequent flashbacks help sell this conflict, especially ones showing his powers manifesting as a child and a talk with his dad as a teen. They provided an emotional core to the film that, amid all the sci-fi, also grounded Clark's character and sold his human side amid his alien nature.

When Zod re-enters the picture after Clark discovers his destiny, it ties the whole story back to the Krypton prologue. Clark is now forced to not only reveal his alien nature to humanity, but also to choose which people he should side with, allowing the internal conflict that's been eating at him to come to a head. The threat of Zod and his plan to terraform Earth into a new Krypton is as much an internal struggle as it is a physical one. As such, the action sequences have an added weight to them beyond just showcasing the raw power of Superman and his Kryptonian brethren.

And speaking of the action: it's simply breathtaking, as befitting Zach Snyder. Not just the opening coup on Krypton, but three separate battles between Superman and his fellow survivors. A fight with Zod's lieutenants Faora and Nam-Ek in Smallville, dismantling Zod's World Engine in the Indian Ocean, and the final Metropolis battle with a spiritually broken Zod are all standouts. Not only do they succeed due to being external manifestations of Clark's struggle, but they're also a treat to watch. At long last, we get to see Superman punch something, and show off the immense power that has made him worthy of being the world's greatest superhero.

Unfortunately, for as much praise as I give the action, it's also one of the film's biggest weaknesses. I began to notice on my second viewing that these sequences do tend to go on a bit too long. After a while they turn into giant explosion fests, and lose any emotional connection in favor of causing as much destruction as possible. In addition, the pacing is often erratic and leads to not only overlong action sequences, but flashbacks and character beats that feel rushed. Snyder seems mostly occupied with getting Clark into the suit as fast as possible, so his entire story arc in the first half is sped through to get back to the Zod storyline.

I feel that if the smaller moments were longer and the action beats shorter and more compact, the film would probably work better. Thankfully, the sheer enjoyment of the action beats and the emotion conveyed by the actors during the character moments prevent the film from being lackluster. It's flawed, for sure, but not to the point where it affected my enjoyment of the film.

What really sells the film, above all the issues with action, pacing and characterization, are the actors. No actor here gives a bad performance. Henry Cavill makes a great new Superman for the modern era. He may not yet embody the wholesome, entirely good archetype that Christopher Reeve did, but he is tough enough for a modern action super hero while still projecting that same friendly demeanor inherent in Superman's character.

The supporting roles are all fantastic, with Russel Crowe, Kevin Costner, Michael Shannon and Amy Adams all standouts. Crowe plays Jor-El as a hard core father willing to sacrifice everything for his son's safety, even as a hologram in death. Costner's Kent is the loving foster father who humbly bears the responsibility of raising a son with extraordinary powers.

Shannon kills it as Zod, bringing a surprising amount of depth to the character by making him genetically conditioned to protect Krypton. In his mind, he's as much a hero as Kal-El, making his battle with Supes a personal conflict about what it means to be a savior. Adams plays Lois as one of the strongest female roles in a superhero movie. She changes the classic dynamic with Clark by making her intelligent and resourceful enough to discover Clark's identity from the get-go. As she learns more about Clark and becomes the first human he opens up to, it's no wonder the two develop a romance.

The aforementioned pacing and character issues, however, prevent this romance from every truly being developed. But since this is an origin story, it's better that the actors at least show there's a strong, realistic attraction. The famous Lois-Clark relationship is only beginning, and the film does build a solid foundation for the two (literally) star-crossed lovers.

But even after all this analysis, there's still the lingering controversy about Superman killing Zod and the destruction from their battle. Many say it's too un-Supermanlike, making the character irresponsible, dark and brooding. Personally, I don't see what the big deal is. While I do agree that the action does go on too long, it's perfectly realistic in a world where super beings clash. Superman here is still the Superman we know, wanting to preserve human life at all costs. He's just a little rough around the edges.

In this film, Supes is a rookie who is still getting used to using his gifts in public for the first time. Not to mention he's using them against beings just as powerful as him. When it came to Zod, he had no choice but to kill him. Not only was Zod threatening a family, but he would have destroyed the whole world if Supes didn't stop him then and there. Killing Zod will make Supes realize he needs to use his powers more wisely in civilian populations, leaving a lot of potential for sequels.

And speaking of sequels, I loved how the film was open ended enough to open the floodgates for a DC film universe. Unlike the horrible Green Lantern film and the standalone Batman trilogy, this film went all out on the fantasy aspects. Easter eggs like LexCorp and Wayne Enterprises showed that familiar characters exist in this world. There is so much potential going forward with this franchise it's unbelievable. But just looking at this film by itself, Man of Steel is an exciting, energetic update of the Superman mythos.

It's not perfect, since like I said it suffers from some pacing and character issues that tamper with the effectiveness of both the action and character beats. Still, what's presented to us is great stuff. It's entertaining without being completely mindless, but the action and scale are large enough to satisfy mainstream moviegoers. This is definitely a new Superman for a new generation. It's a better effort than Superman Returns, finally makes the character relevant again, and is the strongest film from DC since the Batman trilogy. As someone who didn't think much of Superman, I can proudly say that not only has this film made me believe a man can fly, but it's made me care for him too.