If writer Mark Millar has his way, the proposed reboot of the “Superman” franchise would be an eight-hour, three-movie epic along the lines of “Lord the Rings.” The film would follow the Man of Steel from his birth on the planet Krypton to the end of his life as the yellow sun of Earth turns red, goes supernova and Superman loses his powers, he tells Empire Magazine.
Millar said he’s been working closely with an unnamed director to fashion the epic script and try to get his vision for the Man of Steel brought to the big-screen.
“It’s gonna be like Michael Corleone in the Godfather films, the entire story from beginning to end, you see where he starts, how he becomes who he becomes, and where that takes him,” he said.  “The Dark Knight showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now.â€
“The problem with Superman Returns was like releasing Star Wars in ’77, The Empire Strikes Back in ’80 and then waiting 28 years to release Return of the Jedi, it wasn’t relevant,” he continued. “I understand what Bryan Singer was trying to do, to pay homage to Richard Donner’s original vision, but I think you should pay homage by doing something completely different.â€
Millar, who wrote “Wanted” and the upcoming “Kick Ass” has the comic-book credentials to write the film. Millar’s vision would be to film all three films at once and then release one film a year for three years to tell the epic story.
No word yet on if Warner Brothers has taken the bait on this potential epic story for the Man of Steel.
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This would be an awesome undertaking and one I could easily support. Taking the entire mythos from beginning to end. Very cool.
Part of the problem with Superman Returns, in my mind, is that Superman is generally seen as a “light” superhero and Returns tried to make him a “less light” superhero by having him father an illigitimate child with Lois Lane. That is SO many shades of wrong.
Now, the idea of telling the story of his entire life, since he can never really die, short of being buried in a lead casket filled with kryptonite, has potential for greater drama because he will be forced to watch people he loves die many times.
Sounds like a real downer of an ending though. Superman just standing there waiting for the sun to die?
Meh.
Why can’t they just do a simple Superman movie where he fights a super villain and wins? This 8-hour “epic” is just a ploy to get paid for three movies. Millar is a Joss Wheden-wanna be. He’s one of the reasons comics are unreadable these days.