Man of Steel is a 2013 superhero film
featuring the DC Comics character Superman. It is a British-American
venture produced by Legendary Pictures, DC Entertainment and Syncopy
Inc., distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and is the first
installment in the DC Extended Universe. Directed by Zack Snyder and
written by David S. Goyer, the film stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams,
Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje
Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, and Russell Crowe. Man of
Steel is a reboot of the Superman film series that retells the
character's origin story. In the film, Clark Kent learns that he is a
superpowered alien from the planet Krypton and assumes the role of
mankind's protector as Superman, but finds himself having to prevent
General Zod from destroying humanity.
Development
began in 2008 when Warner Bros. Pictures took pitches from comic
book writers, screenwriters and directors, opting to reboot the
franchise. In 2009, a court ruling resulted in Jerry Siegel's family
recapturing the rights to Superman's origins and Siegel's copyright.
The decision stated that Warner Bros. did not owe the families
additional royalties from previous films, but if they did not begin
production on a Superman film by 2011, then the Shuster and Siegel
estates would be able to sue for lost revenue on an unproduced film.
Producer Christopher Nolan pitched Goyer's idea after story
discussion on The Dark Knight Rises, and Snyder was hired as the
film's director in October 2010. Principal photography began in
August 2011 in West Chicago, Illinois, before moving to Vancouver and
Plano, Illinois.
Man of Steel was released to the general
public on June 14, 2013, in conventional, 3D, and IMAX theaters.
Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film became a box office
success, grossing over $668 million worldwide. Critics praised the
film's visuals, action sequences and Hans Zimmer's musical score but
criticized its pacing and lack of character development. A follow-up,
titled Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, was released on March
25th, 2016.
Henry
Cavill was cast as Superman and is depicted as being 33 years old
within the timeline of the film. Cavill is the first British and non-American
actor to play the character. He was previously cast in Superman:
Flyby, which was ultimately shelved, and was considered for the role
in the 2006 film Superman Returns, but lost out to Brandon Routh.
Cavill stated, "There's a very real story behind the Superman
character." He explained that everyone's goal has been to
explore the difficulties his character faces as a result of having
multiple identities, including his birth name, Kal-El, and his alter
ego, Clark Kent. Cavill also stated that, "He's alone and
there's no one like him," referring to Superman's
vulnerabilities. "That must be incredibly scary and lonely, not
to know who you are or what you are, and trying to find out what
makes sense. Where's your baseline? What do you draw from? Where do
you draw a limit with the power you have? In itself, that's an
incredible weakness." In an interview with Total Film magazine,
Cavill stated he had been consuming nearly 5,000 calories a day,
training for over two hours daily and plowing protein to pack on the
muscle mass. Joe Manganiello was considered for the role but could
not work out an audition date for the casting director due to
scheduling obligations with True Blood. Cooper Timberline was cast as
the 9-year-old Clark Kent, and Dylan Sprayberry was cast as the 13-year-old
Clark Kent.
Amy Adams came on board as Lois Lane,
reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper and love interest of Clark
Kent. Adams was selected from a list of actresses that included
Olivia Wilde and Mila Kunis. "There was a big, giant search for
Lois," Snyder said. "For us, it was a big thing and
obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning, but
we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was
perfect for it." Adams auditioned for the role three times: once
for the unproduced Superman: Flyby, and the second time for Superman
Returns before landing the current role.
Perry White, Editor-in-chief of the Daily
Planet was played by Laurence Fishburne. Fishburne is the first
African-American to play Perry White in a live-action film. Fishburne
stated that he modeled his character after legendary CBS
correspondent Ed Bradley, stating, "Ed Bradley... was a friend,
a mentor, and a role model for me, particularly because he worked in
journalism, and he was the kind of guy who walked with kings, but he
had the common touch."
Michael
Shannon plays General Zod, a Kryptonian general and megalomaniac
with the same superpowers as Superman. Viggo Mortensen was considered
for the role. When Goyer was asked about why Zod was chosen as the
villain, he stated, "The way (Christopher) Nolan and I have
always approached movies as well is you never say, 'Hey, which
villain would be cool for this movie?' You start with the story
first. What kind of story? What kind of theme do you want to tell? So
we worked that out. Then, usually the villain becomes obvious in
terms of who's going to be the appropriate antagonist for that. When
you guys see the movie, the only villain we could've used was Zod and
the Kryptonians. I mean, when you see what the whole story is,
nothing else would have even made sense." Shannon also commented
on his portrayal in comparison to Terence Stamp's original take on
Zod, "To follow Terence Stamp's iconic performance in the
original, it is daunting, but I just focused on one day at a time."
Kevin
Costner and Diane Lane were Jonathan and Martha Kent, Clark's
adoptive parents. Snyder explained his reason for his casting the
on-screen couple is solely for the realism: "I think the thing
you realize when you look at Diane and Kevin, in our decision to cast
them so far, you sort of get a sense of how tonally we're looking at
the movie, and what you realize is that those guys are serious
actors, and we're taking this movie very seriously in terms of the
tone of having those guys. You're talking about having a situation
where whatever the action is or whatever the drama of the movie is,
our first priority is to make sure it's rendered in the most
realistic way we can get at." Lane was the first cast member to
join the film after Cavill. "This was a very important piece of
casting for me because Martha Kent is the woman whose values helped
shape the man we know as Superman," Snyder said in the release.
"We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can
convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers
beyond her imagination."
Russell Crowe was Jor-El, the biological
father of Superman. Sean Penn and Clive Owen were also considered for
the role. Ayelet Zurer played Superman's Kryptonian mother Lara.
Julia Ormond had previously been announced as cast, but dropped out.
Connie Nielsen was in negotiations for the role before Zurer was
cast. Nielsen was later cast as Queen Hippolyta in Wonder Woman.
Antje Traue (below right) was Faora-Ul, General Zod's sub-commander
and a commander of the Kryptonian military, who is completely devoted
and loyal to Zod. Gal Gadot was offered the role but refused because
she was pregnant at that time; this allowed her to be later cast as
Wonder Woman in the film's sequel, Batman v Superman.
Additionally,
Harry Lennix plays Lieutenant General Calvin Swanwick, a United
States Army general officer and the deputy commander of United States
Northern Command. Christina Wren plays Captain Carrie Farris, a U.S.
Air Force officer and the assistant to General Swanwick.
Christopher Meloni was Colonel Nathan
Hardy, USAF. Richard Schiff plays Dr. Emil Hamilton, a scientist who
works with the United States Armed Forces for DARPA. Carla Gugino
portrays the voice of Kelor, the Kryptonian A.I. service-robot.
Michael Kelly plays Steve Lombard, an
employee of the Daily Planet, and Rebecca Buller plays Jenny Jurwich,
an intern of the Daily Planet. Jack Foley, Jadin Gould and Rowen Kahn
respectively play Pete Ross, Lana Lang and Kenny Braverman,
classmates of Clark Kent in high school with Joseph Cranford
portraying Ross as an adult.
Mackenzie Gray plays Jax-Ur, a Kryptonian
scientist who is one of General Zod's followers. Richard Cetrone,
Samantha Jo, Revard Dufresne and Apollonia Vanova respectively play
Tor-An, Car-Vex, Dev-Em II and Nadira, Kryptonian soldiers that
follow General Zod.
In June 2008, Warner Bros. took pitches
from comic book writers, screenwriters and directors on how to
successfully restart the Superman film series. Comic book writers
Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and Brad Meltzer were among
those who pitched their ideas for a reboot. "I told them, it's
not that bad. Just treat Superman Returns as the Ang Lee Hulk,"
Morrison said. "The Incredible Hulk has proven the audience will
forgive you and let you redo the franchise," said Waid.
Morrison's idea was similar to his work on All-Star Superman, while
Waid's was akin to Superman: Birthright. Mark Millar, teaming with
director Matthew Vaughn, also planned an epic eight-hour Superman
trilogy, each installment released a year apart, similar to The Lord
of the Rings. Millar compared it to the Godfather trilogy, in which
it would chronicle the entire life of Superman, from the early days
of Krypton to the finale where Superman loses his powers as the Sun
starts to supernova.
In August 2008, Warner Bros. suggested a
reboot of the film series. Studio executive Jeff Robinov planned to
have the film released either by 2010 or 2011, explaining
"Superman Returns didn't quite work as a film in the way that we
wanted it to. It didn't position the character the way he needed to
be positioned. Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie
for Christmas of this year or 2009. Now the plan is just to
reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at
all." Paul Levitz stated in an interview that Batman holds the
key to the Superman reboot. He elaborated, "Everyone is waiting
for Nolan to sign on for another Batman, once that happens, the
release date for Superman and all other future projects will
follow." In February 2009, McG, who previously planned to direct
Superman: Flyby, expressed interest in returning to the Superman
franchise. August 2009 saw a court ruling in which Jerry Siegel's
family recaptured 50% of the rights to Superman's origins and
Siegel's share of the copyright in Action Comics#1. In addition, a
judge ruled that Warner Bros. did not owe the families additional
royalties from previous films. However, if they did not begin
production on a Superman film by 2011, then the Siegel estate would
have been able to sue for lost revenue on an unproduced film.
The
plot of Man of Steel employs a nonlinear narrative, and tells parts
of the story in flashback. During story discussions for The Dark
Knight Rises in 2008, David S. Goyer told Christopher Nolan his idea
regarding how to present Superman in a modern context. Impressed with
Goyer's concept, Nolan pitched the idea to the studio, who hired
Nolan to produce and Goyer to write based on the financial and
critical success of The Dark Knight.
Nolan admired Bryan Singer's work on
Superman Returns for its connection to Richard Donner's version,
stating that "A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot
of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that's
what I know how to do," emphasizing the idea that Batman exists
in a world where he is the only superhero and a similar approach to
the Man of Steel would assure the integrity needed for the film.
"Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have
nothing to do with each other." Nolan, however, clarified that
the new film would not have any relationship with the previous film series.
Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros.
Pictures Group, spoke to Entertainment Weekly, and allowed a peek
over the wall of secrecy surrounding their DC Comics plans: "It's
setting the tone for what the movies are going to be like going
forward. In that, it's definitely a first step." Plans included
for the film to contain references to the existence of other
superheroes, alluding to the possibility of a further DC Universe,
and setting the tone for a shared fictional universe of DC Comics
characters on film. Guillermo del Toro, with whom Goyer worked on
Blade II, turned down the director's position on the reboot because
of his commitment on a film adaptation of At the Mountains of
Madness, while Robert Zemeckis was also approached. Ben Affleck,
Darren Aronofsky, Duncan Jones, Jonathan Liebesman, Matt Reeves, and
Tony Scott were considered as potential directors, before Zack Snyder
was hired in October 2010. Casting began the following November. Zack
Snyder confirmed both Booster Gold and Batman references in the film,
indicating their presence in the DC shared film universe. When Zod
destroys a satellite, the words "Wayne Enterprises" are
scrolled on the satellite.
Principal photography began on August 1st,
2011, at an industrial park near DuPage Airport under the codename
"Autumn Frost", and later moved in Plano, Illinois on
August 22nd. Zack Snyder expressed reluctance to shooting the film in
3-D, due to the technical limitations of the format, and instead
chose to shoot the film two-dimensionally and convert the film into
3-D in post production, for a 2-D, 3-D, and IMAX 3-D release. Snyder
also chose to shoot the film on film instead of digitally, because he
felt it would make the film, "a big movie experience".
Filming was expected to last for two to three months.
Man of Steel filmed in the Chicago area,
California and Burnaby's Mammoth Studios was transformed into
Superman's home planet of Krypton and myriad extraterrestrial
aircraft. Metro lands on Vancouver's North Shore waterfront hosted
the shoot for the dramatic oil rig rescue that introduces audiences
to Superman. Ucluelet and Nanaimo, British Columbia, feature
prominently in the films first hour, the trademark winter mist and
rough seas are passed off as Alaska in the film. Filming took place
in the Chicago Loop from September 7th to 17th. Vancouver production
took place from September 21st, 2011, to January 20th, 2012. The
Chicago shoot was a unit project, meaning that filming could partake
numerous establishing shots as well as cutaways and may not
necessarily include principal cast members.
Hans Zimmer initially denied popular
rumors that he would be composing the film's score. However, in June
2012, it was confirmed that Zimmer would, in fact, be writing the
film's musical score. To completely distinguish Man of Steel from the
previous films, the iconic "Superman March" by John
Williams was not used.
Man
of Steel features a redesigned Superman costume by James Acheson and
Michael Wilkinson. The costume preserves the color scheme and
"S" logo, but adopts darker tones, and notably does not
feature the red trunks usually worn by Superman.
Zack Snyder said the costume is "a
modern aesthetic". He and the producers attempted to devise a
suit featuring the red trunks, but could not design one that fit into
the tone of the film, leading to their removal from the suit. Because
of Wilkinson's unavailability, Snyder chose Acheson to design the
suit; however he only started developing it, and Wilkinson finished
the development when he returned, and designed the other character's
costumes as well.
Due to the substantial weight a practical
suit would yield, the Kryptonian armor for General Zod was
constructed through CGI to give Shannon freedom of movement. In a
March 2014 interview with Esquire, Wilkinson explained the reason for
the look of Superman's redesigned suit, "A lot of the efforts we
took in the film were to explain why the suit looks the way it does.
We didn't want it to be a random, ornamental decision. We start the
film on the planet of Krypton, which is where the suit comes from,
and we go to great pains to show the suit fitting into the culture.
All of the people you see on Krypton are wearing this chainmail-like
suit, with the same detailing as the Superman suit. Everyone has
their family crests on their chests. The cuff and the boot details
are shared through all of the different characters we meet on
Krypton. So by the time we see Superman in his suit we understand why
it looks the way it looks."
John "DJ" Desjardin served as
the visual supervisor for Man of Steel, with Weta Digital, MPC, and
Double Negative providing the visual effects for the film. Zack
Snyder wanted the film to "appear very natural because theres
some very fantastical things in there and he wanted people to suspend
their disbelief, and we the visual effects team had to make it as
easy as possible for them to do so." Desjardin noted that the
intent in shooting the film was to utilize handheld devices to make
the film feel like a "documentary-style" film. "We had
to think about what that would mean, since we also had to photograph
some crazy action," said Desjardin. "So for a lot of the
previs (previsualization) we did, we'd start to think where our
cameras were and where our cameraman was. A lot of the rules are the
Battlestar Galactica rules for the space cams that Gary Hurtzel
developed for that miniseries, where we want to make sure if we're
translating the camera at all it makes sense. Unless the action is so
over the top, like in the end where Superman is beating up Zod we had
to break it a bit."
Warner Bros. and DC Comics won the rights
to the domain name manofsteel.com, in use by a member of the public,
for use for the film's official website. On November 20th, 2012, for
the release of The Dark Knight Rises DVD and Blu-ray, Warner Bros.
launched a countdown on the film's website where fans could share the
countdown on websites like Facebook or Twitter to unlock an
"exclusive reward". On December 3rd, 2012, the
"exclusive reward" was revealed to be an official Man of
Steel teaser poster. The poster, which depicts Superman being
arrested, generated a positive response and much speculation about
the film's story. On December 10th, 2012, a website appeared at
dsrwproject.com that provided audio signals to be decoded by viewers.
It was discovered to be related to the film due to the copyright on
the website. By December 11th, 2012, the decoded message led readers
to another website with a countdown that led to the public release of
the trailer. In anticipation of the film, Mattel unveiled a toy line
which includes Movie Masters action figures. In addition, Lego will
release three Man of Steel sets, inspired by scenes from the film;
Rubie's Costume Co. also released a new line of Man of Steel-inspired
costumes and accessories for both kids and adults. The film has
reportedly earned over $160 million from promotional tie-ins.
Viral marketing campaigns for the film
began when the official website was replaced by "deep space
radio waves". The message was decoded to reveal a voice that
said "You Are Not Alone". The official site continued to be
updated with new static files that slowly revealed the symbol for the
film's villain, General Zod. Shortly after, the website was replaced
with a "message" from Zod, who requested that Earth must
return Kal-El to his custody and told Kal-El to surrender within 24
hours or the world would suffer the consequences. A viral site called
"IWillFindHim.com" was released that showed a countdown to
the third trailer for the film.
Warner
Bros. enlisted a Christian-based marketing firm Grace Hill Media to
help spread the Christian themes of the film to the religious
demographics. Special trailers were created outlining the religious
tones. Hollywood studios frequently market movies to specific
religious and cultural groups. Warner Bros. previously marketed films
such as The Blind Side, The Notebook, The Book of Eli and the Harry
Potter series to faith-based groups. Warner Bros. asked Professor
Craig Detweiler of Pepperdine University to "create a
Superman-centric sermon outline for pastors titled 'Jesus: The
Original Superhero.'" Paul Asay of The Washington Post writes
that the "religious themes keep coming: Free will. Sacrifice.
God-given purpose. Man of Steel isn't just a movie. It's a Bible
study in a cape. The messages are so strong that its marketers [are]
explicitly pushing the film to Christian audiences."
Man of Steel grossed $291 million in North
America and $377 million in other territories for a worldwide total
of $668 million, making it the highest-grossing Superman film to
date, and the second-highest-grossing reboot of all time behind The
Amazing Spider-Man (although it did beat The Amazing Spider-Man in
North America). Calculating in all expenses, Deadline.com estimated
that the film made a profit of $42.7 million, for Warner Bros. The
film earned $116.6 million on its opening weekend, including $17.5
million from IMAX theaters.
Its opening weekend gross of $116.6
million was the third-highest of 2013, behind Iron Man 3 ($174.1
million) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158.1 million), and
the third-highest among non-sequels, behind Marvel's The Avengers
($207.4 million) and The Hunger Games ($152.5 million). It also broke
Toy Story 3s record ($110.3 million) for the highest weekend debut in
June (the record was again broken two years later by Jurassic Worlds
opening gross of $208.8 million). Man of Steel earned $73.3 million
on its opening weekend from 24 countries, which includes $4.2 million
from 79 IMAX theaters, setting a June opening-weekend record for
IMAX. However, on its second weekend, Man of Steels box office fell
almost 65%-68% if the Thursday night gross is included putting it in
third place, behind Monsters University and World War Z. Box Office
Mojo called it an "abnormally large drop," close to the
second weekend decline for Green Lantern.
Man of Steel received mixed reviews from
critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 55%,
with an average rating of 6.2/10. Speaking to Fox Business Channel,
Grae Drake, editor of Rotten Tomatoes, expressed dismay over the
critical reception, stating, "As much as I love and respect our
critics at Rotten Tomatoes, I've got to say I am shocked. Listen, the
movie's not perfect but ... I just cannot fathom it. It was a good
movie, you guys."
On Metacritic, the film received a
weighted score of 55 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating
"mixed or average reviews". Audience polls in North America
from CinemaScore for the film tallied an average grade of an
"A-" on an A+ to F scale, with those under the age of 18
and older than 50 giving it an "A". Cavill's performance as
Superman earned mixed reviews, with some critics commenting on
perceived stiffness and a lack of charisma. Richard Roeper of the
Chicago Sun-Times said that Man of Steel covered no new ground with
regard to Superman films, and instead, "we're plunged back into
a mostly underwhelming film, with underdeveloped characters and
supercharged fight scenes that drag on and offer nothing new in the
way of special-effects creativity".
The Boston Globe's Ty Burr wrote, "What's missing from this
Superman saga is a sense of lightness, of pop joy". The
Washington Post's Ann Hornaday stated that with "Hans Zimmer's
turgid, over-produced score", the film "is an exceptionally
unpleasant viewing experience". For The Denver Post's Lisa
Kennedy, the chief problem with Man of Steel is the "rhythm and
balance in the storytelling and directing" which resulted in a
film that swings "between destructive overstatement and
flat-footed homilies."
Kofi Outlaw, Editor-in-Chief at
Screenrant.com, gave Man of Steel a 4 out of 5 star review, stating
that "Man of Steel has more than earned its keep, and deserves
to be THE iconic Superman movie for a whole new generation". He
would go on to name Man of Steel the best Superhero movie of 2013.
Jim Vejvoda of IGN gave Man of Steel a 9 out of 10 while praising the
action sequences and the performances of Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe
and Michael Shannon. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave it a 3 stars
out of 4, saying, "Caught in the slipstream between action and
angst, Man of Steel is a bumpy ride for sure. But there's no way to
stay blind to its wonders." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood
Reporter said rebooting the franchise was unnecessary, but that the
film was confident enough and Snyder's attention to detail careful
enough that audiences could overlook another reboot.
In a review on Roger Ebert's website, Matt
Zoller Seitz awarded the film three out of four stars, calling it an
"astonishing movie" and praising the conflict between Clark
and Zod. But he criticized the film for not having more personal and
intimate moments between Clark and Lois. In 2014, Empire ranked Man
of Steel the 286th greatest film ever made on their list of "The
301 Greatest Movies Of All Time" as voted by the magazine's readers.
Reaction to the film among comics creators
was mixed. Those who enjoyed it include Jeff Parker, Heidi MacDonald,
Ethan Van Sciver, Christos Gage and former Superman writer Dan
Jurgens. Among its detractors were Joe Keatinge, Sean McKeever,
Gabriel Hardman and Mark Waid. MacDonald praised the film's action,
drama and leads Henry Cavill and Amy Adams. Van Sciver singled out
Cavill in particular for praise. Gage called it the best Superman
film since 1980's Superman II. Hardman said that he liked a lot of
the mechanics but did not connect with the characters, which robbed
the story of tension. Waid, who wrote the origin miniseries Superman:
Birthright, criticized the film for its overall "joyless"
tone, and for Superman's decision to kill Zod, a criticism echoed by
other creators.
Writer Grant Morrison, who wrote the
critically acclaimed miniseries All-Star Superman, expressed mixed
reaction to the film, saying that while he "kinda liked it and
kinda didn't", it did not present anything new, as he would have
preferred a "second act" type story with Lex Luthor instead
of re-establishing the character by presenting information we are
already familiar with. (Though Lex isn't exactly something new).
Morrison also questioned the need for a superhero to kill, as did
artist Neal Adams, who suggested that other avenues were open to
Superman when Zod threatened innocents with his heat vision, such as
covering his eyes. Adams further took issue with Superman's failure
to move the final battle with Zod away from the heavily populated
Metropolis, as the character did at the end of Superman II.
Many reviewers have stated that Man of
Steel is a religious allegory, especially since Warner Bros. set up a
website www.manofsteelresources.com that contains "a nine-page
pamphlet entitled Jesus The Original Superhero". Justin Craig
compares Kal-El's struggle to the passion of Christ, stating that
"Kal-El is more than willing to sacrifice himself to save the
people of Earth. Originally reluctant to reveal his identity and
powers to the world, Supes decides to turn himself over to Zod to
save humanity from annihilation." Craig also states that there
is an allegory to the Trinity within Man of Steel: "Jor-El
returns to Kal-El on Earth as a ghost, guiding his budding superhero
son on his journey to salvation. Before Jor-El sends his son off to
Earth baby Moses-style, he tells his wife that, like Jesus, 'He'll be
a god to them.'" Paul Asay of The Washington Post writes that
"Superman floats in space with his arms splayed out as if nailed
to an invisible cross," a fact that Craig also mentioned in his
assessment of the film. The protagonist of the film is also 33 years
old and seeks "counsel at a church." Writing for The
Huffington Post, Colin Liotta compared Zod to Adolf Hitler, citing,
"He feels his vision for a pure Krypton (i.e. a society like the
one Hitler envisioned with his eugenics program) is the only answer
for survival."
The success of Man of Steel started Warner
Bros. plans of an extended universe featuring other DC Comics
characters. In July 2013, Snyder announced at San Diego Comic-Con
International that the sequel to Man of Steel would have Superman and
Batman meeting for the first time in a cinematic format. Cavill,
Adams, Lane and Fishburne signed on to reprise their roles. Snyder
stated that the film would take inspiration from the comic The Dark
Knight Returns. In August 2013, Ben Affleck was announced to be
playing Batman (and the internet has a hissy-fit), while Gal Gadot
was cast as Wonder Woman in December 2013. Later in December, Chris
Terrio was hired to rewrite the script, due to Goyer's commitments in
other projects. In January 2014, it was announced that the film had
been delayed from its original July 17th, 2015 release date to May 6,
2016, and in May 2014, the film's title was revealed to be Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice.
While the film was originally envisioned
as a sequel to Man of Steel, it developed into a somewhat separate
entity. The date was moved again to March 25th, 2016. Snyder later
stated that he "think[s] in a way Batman v Superman is Man of
Steel 2", but added that a future standalone Superman film was
not in development. In October 2014, a Batman v Superman sequel was
announced with an intended release between 2016 and 2020. In August
2016, The Wrap reports that the studio has announced that the sequel
is now in development as a top priority for the studio and getting
the character right for audiences is of tantamount importance.
In 2014, it was reported that David S.
Goyer is developing a prequel TV series titled Krypton. In December
2014, it was confirmed that the series is in development and will air
on the Syfy network. Later it was announced that the series will be
produced by Goyer and written and executive produced by Ian Goldberg.
Goyer has also confirmed that the series will take place
approximately 200 years before the time period of the Man of Steel
film. In May 2016, TV Line reported that Syfy has given the official
pilot order for the series, and that Damian Kindler will be the
showrunner, Goyer co-executive producer, and Colm McCarthy will
direct the pilot.
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Henry
Cavill was cast as Superman and is depicted as being 33 years old
within the timeline of the film. Cavill is the first British and non-American
actor to play the character. He was previously cast in Superman:
Flyby, which was ultimately shelved, and was considered for the role
in the 2006 film Superman Returns, but lost out to Brandon Routh.
Cavill stated, "There's a very real story behind the Superman
character." He explained that everyone's goal has been to
explore the difficulties his character faces as a result of having
multiple identities, including his birth name, Kal-El, and his alter
ego, Clark Kent. Cavill also stated that, "He's alone and
there's no one like him," referring to Superman's
vulnerabilities. "That must be incredibly scary and lonely, not
to know who you are or what you are, and trying to find out what
makes sense. Where's your baseline? What do you draw from? Where do
you draw a limit with the power you have? In itself, that's an
incredible weakness." In an interview with Total Film magazine,
Cavill stated he had been consuming nearly 5,000 calories a day,
training for over two hours daily and plowing protein to pack on the
muscle mass. Joe Manganiello was considered for the role but could
not work out an audition date for the casting director due to
scheduling obligations with True Blood. Cooper Timberline was cast as
the 9-year-old Clark Kent, and Dylan Sprayberry was cast as the 13-year-old
Clark Kent.
Michael
Shannon plays General Zod, a Kryptonian general and megalomaniac
with the same superpowers as Superman. Viggo Mortensen was considered
for the role. When Goyer was asked about why Zod was chosen as the
villain, he stated, "The way (Christopher) Nolan and I have
always approached movies as well is you never say, 'Hey, which
villain would be cool for this movie?' You start with the story
first. What kind of story? What kind of theme do you want to tell? So
we worked that out. Then, usually the villain becomes obvious in
terms of who's going to be the appropriate antagonist for that. When
you guys see the movie, the only villain we could've used was Zod and
the Kryptonians. I mean, when you see what the whole story is,
nothing else would have even made sense." Shannon also commented
on his portrayal in comparison to Terence Stamp's original take on
Zod, "To follow Terence Stamp's iconic performance in the
original, it is daunting, but I just focused on one day at a time."
Kevin
Costner and Diane Lane were Jonathan and Martha Kent, Clark's
adoptive parents. Snyder explained his reason for his casting the
on-screen couple is solely for the realism: "I think the thing
you realize when you look at Diane and Kevin, in our decision to cast
them so far, you sort of get a sense of how tonally we're looking at
the movie, and what you realize is that those guys are serious
actors, and we're taking this movie very seriously in terms of the
tone of having those guys. You're talking about having a situation
where whatever the action is or whatever the drama of the movie is,
our first priority is to make sure it's rendered in the most
realistic way we can get at." Lane was the first cast member to
join the film after Cavill. "This was a very important piece of
casting for me because Martha Kent is the woman whose values helped
shape the man we know as Superman," Snyder said in the release.
"We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can
convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers
beyond her imagination."
Additionally,
Harry Lennix plays Lieutenant General Calvin Swanwick, a United
States Army general officer and the deputy commander of United States
Northern Command. Christina Wren plays Captain Carrie Farris, a U.S.
Air Force officer and the assistant to General Swanwick.
The
plot of Man of Steel employs a nonlinear narrative, and tells parts
of the story in flashback. During story discussions for The Dark
Knight Rises in 2008, David S. Goyer told Christopher Nolan his idea
regarding how to present Superman in a modern context. Impressed with
Goyer's concept, Nolan pitched the idea to the studio, who hired
Nolan to produce and Goyer to write based on the financial and
critical success of The Dark Knight.
Man
of Steel features a redesigned Superman costume by James Acheson and
Michael Wilkinson. The costume preserves the color scheme and
"S" logo, but adopts darker tones, and notably does not
feature the red trunks usually worn by Superman.
Warner
Bros. enlisted a Christian-based marketing firm Grace Hill Media to
help spread the Christian themes of the film to the religious
demographics. Special trailers were created outlining the religious
tones. Hollywood studios frequently market movies to specific
religious and cultural groups. Warner Bros. previously marketed films
such as The Blind Side, The Notebook, The Book of Eli and the Harry
Potter series to faith-based groups. Warner Bros. asked Professor
Craig Detweiler of Pepperdine University to "create a
Superman-centric sermon outline for pastors titled 'Jesus: The
Original Superhero.'" Paul Asay of The Washington Post writes
that the "religious themes keep coming: Free will. Sacrifice.
God-given purpose. Man of Steel isn't just a movie. It's a Bible
study in a cape. The messages are so strong that its marketers [are]
explicitly pushing the film to Christian audiences."
The Boston Globe's Ty Burr wrote, "What's missing from this
Superman saga is a sense of lightness, of pop joy". The
Washington Post's Ann Hornaday stated that with "Hans Zimmer's
turgid, over-produced score", the film "is an exceptionally
unpleasant viewing experience". For The Denver Post's Lisa
Kennedy, the chief problem with Man of Steel is the "rhythm and
balance in the storytelling and directing" which resulted in a
film that swings "between destructive overstatement and
flat-footed homilies."
