Let's just leave Dawn of Justice for the time being. I
want to talk about how not to fuck up when you make a movie with two of World's
most recognizable characters battling against each other. Superhero movies has its
flaws but you also must admit it is good fun occasionally. Especially for the
American Man-child who grew up with these comic books, they are more than
ecstatic to see their heroes come to life or at least closer.
Now having said that Warner Bros. has incredibly failed
to make billions out of this particular film while Marvel Studios under Disney
has flourished and even good at making their not so well known characters a
profitable movie franchise which in my opinion is both good and bad. I don't
want these movies to over saturate the environment with larger than life
heroes.
Since reboots are a thing, I sincerely hope that my favourite
superhero, Superman will get another chance to have his story told with a great
movie trilogy that sheds light on his incredible journey from transforming to
Superman, his evolution and finally his death as that kind of power makes him a
threat that is validated by his alien origins. The Man of Steel has a
diabolical dual characteristics ie one he is very similar to Jesus Christ and
on the other hand he is an ET, very human looking Alien.
He could be our saviour and he could be our end! There is
no other character in the comic book universe that has such compelling traits.
That is two questions in the opposite extremes as in Religion v Science, Man v
God and with these deep subtext and with a really good excuse to plant them in contemporary
world with current sensibilities to guide, how hard it can be to make a
reasonable well Superman film?
Krypton
Krypton is an allegory for what is happening right now in
our World with the debate over how our greed is impacting our environment
negatively with global warming and climate change. Krypton has to be the moral
story of what happens when you neglect our environment and confuse progress
with pollution! Krypton is a dying planet or rather Kryptonians are slowly
becoming extinct as their core is heating up and the air is getting poisoned
slowly as they debate whether to stay and accept their fate or look for another
possible home planet like earth and settle down their. Jor El, is the leader of
Scientific officer of an aristocratic, class based council of Kryptonian
elders who has been convened to make a decision on the fate of Krypton!
Jor El
As the lead Scientific Officer to the Council of
Kryptonian leaders, he has been constantly warning them over the years
regarding how their accelerated industrial development is slowly killing the
planets by reaching their planets core for energy and how it is impacting on
the temperature and atmosphere. They ignored his reports to support a more
profitable cause that can further the glory of their economy! Jor el
intensifies his search for a possible replacement for Krypton and finding a
suitable planet in our own Mother Earth! After learning about Earth, Jor-El
understands humans, a living planet in it’s infancy and how Kryptonians under
General Zod would consume this planet even it means eradicating the entirety of
human race. Jor El believes that he and his fellow Kryptonians had their chance
in their own planet, that a peaceful co-existence of Humans and Kryptonians is
impossible as they are more powerful, that it is morally wrong to impose
themselves upon humanity as a result of their misgivings. He hides the
information from the council especially from General Zod who has always been a
good friend to him.
General Zod
General Zod is a good soldier for the people of Krypton
and he is willing to do anything to ensure it’s existence. Jor El’s mother is
also a member of the council of elders whose vote on the matter of whether to
leave or stay in Krypton, urges all Kryptonians to accept their fate and be
destroyed causes widespread agitation in the Soldier cadre under Zod while the
rest of the classes adhere to the decision made by the council. Infuriated by
the betrayal of both Jor El and his wife he confronts and demands them for the
codex and the map to earth which Jor El denies. General Zod realizes kills them
both and finds that their newly born son Kal El is missing. He returns to his
soldiers asking them to be ready to leave as soon as possible. The Council
tries to forcibly to dissuade him only to be killed by a raging Zod while let
them know Jor El was crooked to save his own son while denying the rest of
Krypton the same chance or opportunity. Zod and his soldier class escapes from
Krypton in search of a suitable home planet as the small pod carrying baby Kal
El warps to Earth! Krypton explodes like a 100 ton atom bomb creating a spark
so bright that it is visible to Jonathan Kent sitting in the porch drinking a
beer in Kansas, USA. Whereas Zod with tearful eyes is blinded by the light of
his own home obliterates into non-existence!
Jonathan Kent
Jonathan Kent is a man of the book! He is a devout
Christian and his wife Martha an agnostic. They have been married for a very
long time but God hasn’t been kind to them. Jonathan and Martha tried to be
parents but failed due to Martha’s medical condition. A Sad Jonathan takes a
walk alone in his farm after the doctor breaks the news to them leaving Martha
inconsolable. A Giant ball of fire crash lands on his farm. He proceeds to
check it out believing it to be a small duster aircraft. The Kryptonian pod
makes a safe landing and Jonathan sees the gift wrapped baby inside. He is
immediately drawn to the little bundle of joy that is Kal El and takes him home
to Martha. They both decide to keep the child as the Military lands on their
property. Jonathan Kent is very concerned that his adopted son’s alien origins
always trying to keep the young Clark Kent in line or under his control!
Martha Kent
Martha Kent is a loving mother to the alien. His alien
body and mind slowly adapts to his powers and abilities. Growing up, Clark Kent
is a bullied child, moody and depressed as he battles weird hallucinations and
visions. The Little Young man has trouble understanding his powers slowly
pulling away from his peers. Martha is the one thing in his life that guides
him through his tumultuous young adult age where he threats to leave home if
Jonathan doesn’t reveal him the reason to make him quit his football career.
Jonathan says it’s unfair and reveals the truth to Clark about his origins and
how he came to be. Clark sets out on a journey to learn about his origins. He
goes on a hunt in search of the mother ship that took him to earth. On his
final day in Kansas, he saves Lois Lane and her friends whom went to the same
school in Smallville and leaves town.
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is actually elder than Clark Kent. She used to
his one year senior. Lois is smart, quick witted, pragmatic person who even in
her high school years stood out from the rest. She was relentless in her
actions and always had a realistic view of life. She has had feelings for Clark
Kent in High School who even dated for a brief time. She was always in love
with Clark Kent. But ever since he left her for good after Clark hit the road.
She moves to Metropolis to pursue journalism studies and fell in love with a
fellow student and has a child. They both move to Metropolis and he lands a job
at Daily Planet and gets Lois hired with a little help from his father Perry
White. She gets fired from Daily Planet after she reports about an unauthorised
drilling operations conducted in secret by LexCorp in the Alaskan region. She
quits and starts her own news website with an 8 year old kid to raise! But
Perry White offers her the chance to run Daily Planet’s internet counterpart as
a part of modernising the age old company! She agrees under the condition that
she gets to investigate the Alaskan-LexCorp story. She follows the tracks of
LexCorp to finally reach their base in the Alaskan region which happens to be a
sort of giant spaceship. As soon as she reaches the place, before she could
conduct a brief investigation a giant storm is about to hit the place and all
the other personnels working their leaves the base. But Lois Lane gets stuck in
the storm and is rescued by Clark Kent. He leads her to his mothership and reveals
his secrets to Lois that he is on a reconnaissance mission to find out about
his true identity! They together meet the holographic uploaded consciousness of
Jor El and Lara. Jor El introduces Krypton to Clark and Lois whom they
misunderstand to be his girlfriend. He ends with how Kal El could be a symbol
of hope for mankind with his powers. His mother introduces him to his powers,
his suit that can be hidden from plain view by wearing a glass! She tells him
how sad she was when she found out what would happen to her son once Krypton
went under. Jor El also warns about the raw Kryptonite that was used as fuel to
power the spaceship. Superman first tries out his flying skills and then
destroys the ship and leaves with Lois Lane.
Richard White
He is the son of Chief Editor of Daily Planet, Mr.Perry
White. He loved both Lois and their son and is a really good family man. He
struggles with alcoholism at which point Lois leaves with their son. Ever since
he has been trying to reconcile with Lois who leaves him for good. She quits
her job at Daily Planet and becomes the chief of Daily Planet website with the
help of Perry who recommended her for the job after she split up with Richard
so that she has no monetary problems when it came to his grandson’s wellbeing.
After her trip from Alaska he sees her with Clark Kent, her high school sweet
heart and raises a threat of stealing his family. As Richard is disgruntled
with the entry of Clark Kent into their lives, is bribed by Lex Luthor to keep
an eye on Lois Lane and her new boyfriend. He makes the deal with Lex Luthor as
a means to stay close to the family and lies to perry that he was working on
the same story as Lois regarding the Alaskan drilling and learns from Lex
Luthor about the possibility of an Alien among us and the discovery of an
unidentified mineral and suspect the fact that Clark could be the Alien.
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a cunning, scheming, seething businessman
who hails from a family of oil tycoons and as the young heir to the giant
conglomerate, a position he recently inherited from his dead grandmother, Lex
with huge ambition decides to aggressively branch out his company into other
business operations like weapons design and manufacturing. He desperately needs
to settle down a project with the American Government that could make him
billions of dollars. He learns about an Unidentified Flying Object that crash
landed 30 years before in the Alaskan region. Professor Hamilton who has been
working on a weird phenomenon project at FBI, who shares the information with
Lex Luthor to secure the financing for his research project regarding the
spaceship. Lex Luthor traces the location of the landing to the Kent farm in
Kansas and meets with Martha Kent who immediately dislikes his fake behaviour. He
discovers the space pod of Kal El hidden beneath the barn. Lex Luthor follows
the track of the space pod and believes it to be a part of the ship found in
Alaska with weird kryptonian signs on both of them. Luthor decides to meet with
Clark Kent who has been working with Lois Lane for the Daily Planet website.
Clark is a bit more confident than his old self and slowly trying to be a part
of Lois’s family. After Jonathan loses his battle with Cancer, she moves in
with Clark in Metropolis but soon returns to Kansas as she hates the city.
Professor Hamilton
Professor Hamilton used to be an FBI Agent. But with his
degrees in Astrophysics and Biology, he seemed to be in the wrong place. But he
was sure that he could get the bureau interested in a project investigating
inexplicable phenomenon and he believed that he could unearth the mysteries
regarding an alien ship that landed 30 years ago and forces the bureau to cut
budget after elaborate spending on an unrealistic project wasting the bureau’s
money costing it’s time. He gets fired from the bureau only to be hired by
LexCorp who is also after the same Alaskan ship. Unfortunately for the doctor,
the ship destroys itself a day after it’s discovery during a bleak storm but
still the Professor is able to salvage Kryptonite from the ship. Lex Luthor is
ecstatic at his discovery and begins in expensive and elaborate research and
talent to weaponize Kryptonite. He begins work on a special kind of suit
powered by the Kryptonite. He reveals the secret of the unidentified aircraft
in the Alaskan region and how it exploded before they could investigate it! As
he ignores questions of the origin of the ship he expressed his concerns
regarding foreign aircrafts secretly landing in American soil. He urges the
Government to take necessary action as a stunt for improving his image in the
American Media. He is the kind of person who could be a scientific advisor to
the government in a post-super hero world.
Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne hasn’t aged really well. He still limps and
uses a kane to walk around. He questions his Batman alter ego and what good it
had done to Gotham! He feels like he lost so much for a city so lost. Alfred
dead, he is pretty much alone in his life and he has completely stopped his
vigilante run. Nowadays he is concentrating more on his business side busily
working to keep his father’s company on top with Lucius Fox running the show
for him. He constantly feels guilty for taking along Robin for his crime
fighting and how it had an adverse effect on him eventually turning him into
the Joker. His company faces serious competition from LexCorp for securing the
Government funding for their advanced weapons research project. He puts his
detective abilities to find what’s Lex Corp upto and discovers his plans for a powerful
suit for soldiers that gives them extraordinary powers. But Lex Luthor being
the mastermind he is wins the trust of Bruce Wayne and points him in the
direction of Superman and how he is a threat to mankind! Bruce Wayne decides to
work with Lex Luthor also collaborating on the armor project. There he learns
the truth about Kryptonite and it’s mysterious origins and how it is being used
as power source for the suit as it doesn’t deplete at all.
Breaking down the trilogy
First movie is an origin story with Clark Kent being the
main focus of the story. An expository detail of the relationship between Kal
El, Zod and Laura is critical to the plot to have a bleak tone to the origins
of Kal El. As a young human boy growing up in Smallville, Kansas he tries to fight
his supernatural powers as it leads to make him believe that something is wrong
with him, that he is not a normal person, which depresses him as he always been
an outcast. The Alien slowly finds his footing in this world with the love and
care of the Kents and also doctor psychologist who wants him to take a break
from college and go see the world. Clark Kent has an emotional epiphany about
Earth and its children. He has a renewed compassion for his fellow beings.
About the same time, Jonathan is diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer and he wants Clark
to know the truth about himself. After the death of his dad, Superman sets out
to find the ship he came to Earth which crash landed in Alaska 30 years ago. He says his goodbyes
and sets out in search for the truth.
In Alaska after discovering his lost ship, Kal El meets
the holographic uploaded consciousnesses of his parents who guide him through
the history of Krypton and who he really is! Jor El introduces us to the story
of Krypton and its eventual destruction. He also warns Kal about Zod and his
army that is looking for a new world to settle in and Earth is more than just
habitable for Kryptonians making it a primary target. Whereas as his mother
tells him more about Krypton and how the society is divided into classes and
reproduction had become an industry with having your kids designed to your
needs and with certain super skills to fit in seamlessly in a world as
competitive as Krypton. He tells him he is the first naturally born human in a
very long time which also makes him an illegal and is punished by killing it to
conserve resources for better citizens. She also makes the pivotal introduction
of the Superman suit with S being a Symbol of hope and also happens to be the
family emblem of the El’s. She also gives him a ring with kryptonian
inscriptions that when put on immediately transforms into his superman suit. He
also explains to him how the Earth’s Sun is much younger and how it could
charge him up more than usual leading to incredible power and skills. She tells
him to get out of the ship after a tearful goodbye so that Kryptonian
Technology can be kept out of Military’s hands that can cause devastative
consequences. Much like Terminator. Clark rescues Lois from Alaska who also
happens to be the second person to know the truth about Superman. She invites
him to Daily Planet website as a trainee journalist offering him to be close to
news body that covers the happenings in the world so that he can have an eye on
people everywhere and help them out if necessary, put super skills to use.
There is a sequence where he learns about a plane about to crash into a
building and Superman saves the day by defeating the hostages and safely
landing the jet in the middle of a field. He finishes the deed and reaches back
in the office to cover the story for the website himself. He avoids writing
stories about Superman and takes a special interest in Bruce Wayne and his
collaboration with Lex Luthor wondering why two fierce rival companies are
joining hands for a project and what could it be? He sneaks into a charity ball by Lex Luthor
and runs into Bruce Wayne. They have a quick discussion about Batman as it’s a frequently
asked question to anyone from Gothan and how he has grown to be a killer over
the years and how batman had been the Hero for Gotham for so long that the city’s
ills had taken it’s toll on him. Bruce Wayne retorts with questions of Daily
Planet hailing Superman as a saviour while he is a powerful alien with great
powers that could be a threat to Metropolis. Lex Luthor cools down the duo and
invites them to the Television screen where a weird message is flashing on TV
with a giant Alien looking creature demanding the surrender of one of it’s
citizen or else to face the consequences if they were to refuse! Three
Kryptonians, one Lady, one dude and one monster in their scout ship looking for
Earth, for Kal El and most importantly the codex that is essential to
establishing a diverse class of people in the resurrected Krypton on Earth. Kal
El saves people and earth from the Kryptonians in three different parts of the
world while devastating these giant cities to rubble and debris. He kills the
three Kryptonians and also blocks the sending of vital information regarding
the location of Earth being sent to Zod slowind down their arrival. Lois Lane
also lends a hand with rescuing children from a school including her own while
superman battles the monster in downtown Metropolis while destroying half of
it. This battle has many implications rather than just being a giant action set
piece. This incident leads the people to suspect Superman is a curse or a gift.
An Internation defense consortium is set up among the affected countries with
the support major world organizations to have Superman under their control and
how he has to cooperate and work in tandem with the local authorities when it
comes to his actions. They want Superman to continue the savior service of
Superman but also yearns for a leash over him for a certain sense of peace.
This leads to Superman publicly refuses to be in their control and how it too
could have the possibility of him being used as a weapon when he is asked to
interfere in a Middle East war scene to rescue American soldiers while killing innocent
Iraqis. This leads him to a moral conflict and that is the time he meets with
Kryptonians with criminal intents and him meeting completely isolates his image
in the world making them believe Superman had swapped sides. Bruce Wayne is one
of them because Gotham is one of the destroyed cities. Lex Luthor organizes
public opinion against Superman and demands the creation of a military watchdog
unit just to respond to the threat of Superman also launches the prototype of a
new type of suit for soldiers that could technologically superior to other
military units by years. Batman is one of them, steals the prototype and with
the help of Lucius Fox turns it into a badass ironman/batman combo suit with
the voice changer and lit eyeholes.
Superman is God for some and is also the devil for people
who don’t understand him, his roots. It’s just too much for their tiny little
minds. Lex Luthor is envious of superman’s powers and wants to bring him down
to his level and persistently creates conflicts for Superman. Batman was on the
brink of a violent breakdown and Superman pushes him over. Once the Military
watchdog takes over under the supervision of Lex Luthor they want Superman to
takedown Batman in Gotham to prove his loyalty to the cause. Not just that,
Bruce Wayne also learns about a top secret Government project that wants to set
Joker and a couple of other enemies of his free on a secret mission which leads
him on a collision course with Gotham City Police. James Gordon is the new Commissioner
of Gotham now and he wants Batman to stop because he has been violating his
moral code to not kill anyone and has started slaying criminals recently which
is a direct contradiction to what James Gordon belief’s. He doesn’t stand in
the way of Bat’s brand of Justice as it is incredibly efficient but also stacks
up the file on Batman’s killings. The Media also paints Batman in a dark way
even though the only people he ever killed were hardcore criminals. As public
opinion rages against Batman and the need to bring him before law like how it
was done to Superman finally having the Man of Steel himself to bring the dark
Knight to justice. Batman dawns his brand new Krypton powered suit that gives
him the firepower to fight Superman. Battle of epic proportions leading
Metropolis like damage to Gotham while the scheming Lex Luthor reveals his
Frankenstein in the resurrected Monster Kryptonian with a brand new name
Doomsday. General Zod had reached the outer boundaries of our Milky Way and he
aids Lex Luthor with the tools and research for the Doomsday project as he
realizes that Superman himself could clean the place for him before he reached
or at least the Humans hate him making him turn to his fellow beings the true
ones. Doomsday kills Superman while Batman is damaged not dead. Wonder Woman
helps them out in the final battle to defeat Doomsday and save the world but
the death of superman and the need to have a defensive front to protect earth
as a whole from such alien invasions a league of extraordinary men and women is
constituted with Professor Hamilton in charge under the direct control of
General Swanwick who is the representative of the U.S. Government to ensure
justice in these fights against enemies of epic proportions.
