What Chris Nolan Could Bring To Superman

Posted on Tuesday February 9, 2010, 17:22 by James White in Off The Wire

It’s been a tough few years for Clark Kent and his superhero alter ego (or is it the other way round, as Quentin Tarantino had David Carradine argue?) but with the recent speculation that Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan will be helping to oversee Superman’s return to the screen, things might finally be looking up.

Like any decision regarding the Man of Steel, it’s bound to be a controversial one: the character has been around for so long and so many people (including Richard Donner and, more recently, Bryan Singer) have tried their hand at making a movie based on him, to varying levels of success, that no one can seemingly please everyone.

But Nolan has a solid, proven track record with DC/Warners’ other heavy hitter, Batman and while he has no plans to ditch Gotham City for Metropolis (he has his brother and David Goyer are currently working on the script), and likely won’t end up directing whatever new Supes film arrives, I’d argue he’s a great choice to at least help guide the development of Superman’s next step.

While his take on Batman gave a new coat of paint to the character’s origins and brought a much heavier real-world aesthetic to Bruce Wayne’s adventures, I doubt he’d want to push the same thing on Superman. The Dark Knight’s detective side is easy to bring down to a more realistic level, whereas Superman demands a much more comic book-influenced tone. He has powers and he uses them to incredible ends.

But whereas Bryan Singer played up the Good Boy Scout aspects of the character, which left him largely neutered and the film lacking a truly great set piece, Nolan can push for something a little more textured. Not necessarily darker, though – that rarely works for Superman.

Plus, the studio has likely learned from its experience with Tim Burton so many years ago – while his gothic stylings worked well to relaunch Batman, his struggles to get Superman back in the air proved that darker/quirkier isn’t right for the last son of Krypton.

Perhaps Nolan can inject some new life into the franchise – pushing a relatable story (not the whiny, ‘why-doesn’t-Lois-love-me’ line of Superman Returns, but something that speaks to the dual-sided existence of Clark and his caped persona).

And villains. Kevin Spacey took a stab at Lex Luthor, but never quite pulled it off. Compare that to the astounding, Oscar-grabbing work from Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. If Nolan knows something, it’s how to fashion a great take on a comic book baddie. Superman's rogues gallery may suffer in comparison to other costumed crusaders, but there are several great enemies that Nolan could figure out a new take on – Doomsday? Bizarro? Even (whisper it) Zod and co.

While Singer plunged ahead with his attempt to homage and virtually remake the Donner film, we’d like to think Nolan would strike out in another direction and do what Marvel seems to be accomplishing – bringing in big comic writers (like, say Mark Millar, who was pushing his own vision for the character last year) as a brain trust to help him guide Superman. And as for the script itself, it’s not like he doesn’t have easy access to the likes of his brother Jonah Nolan and co-writer David Goyer to pitch and polish ideas. If this truly represents Warners’ plan to get its superhero collection in order, then Nolan’s involvement might also put an end to the Justice League idea – with him having closer control on how Superman develops, perhaps we can avoid the car-crash idea of combining a load of heroes together. Or, if it really must go ahead, at least keeping Batman firmly within Nolan’s powers-free universe for now.

Finally, who hasn’t yearned to see Christian Bale play Superman? Just kidding!