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[dbztrk]

I approve!

The things I would do to him.

 

[DMczaf]

How Henry Cavill Beat Matthew Goode and Others to Land 'Superman'

The veil of secrecy over the Superman casting process was such a Fortress of Solitude that not even Henry Cavill nor his CAA agents knew the actor had gotten the role in Warner Bros.' Zack Snyder-directed, Christopher Nolan-produced movie until Sunday morning.

The British actor, best known for this work on Showtime's period drama The Tudors, was in the top three or four contenders since Day 1, says one insider, somewhat fitting since the 27-year old has tried out for superhero roles before.

Cavill was a leading contender for Superman when Warners was reviving the franchise in the mid-2000s. He was on McG's shortlist before the director was replaced by Bryan Singer and the role went to Brandon Routh, and he first came to Nolan's attention when he vied for the role of Bruce Wayne opposite Christian Bale in Nolan’s Batman Begins.

According to sources, Cavill's closest competitor this time around was Matthew Goode, a British actor who was one of the stars of Snyder and Warners' Watchmen comic book movie (he played genius entrepreneur Ozymandias.) Goode was also in contention for the title role in Fox’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and is said to have taken himself out of that race in order to focus on Superman.

Warners and Nolan auditioned actors in Los Angeles, New York, and London in November and December, with someone in the 28- to 32-year-old range as the ideal. In addition to Cavill and Goode, among those who met or were under consideration were White Collar star Matthew Bomer, Social Network's Winkelvoss twins Armie Hammer, True Blood actor Joe Manganiello (scheduling with the HBO show was a factor) and Colin O’Donaghue, who stars opposite Anthony Hopkins in The Rite.

Cavill was invited for a callback in January, where he met Snyder face-to-face for the first time, according to a source.

The final decision came down last week, and the Nolan secrecy machine was in such force that only a handful of execs knew the choice. In fact, many top Warners execs found out only after Cavill had been called Sunday morning.

:lol

 

[Replicant]

You are, you just don't know it off the top of your head. Brainiac, Bizarro, Doomsday, General Zod, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Solomon Grundy, any of those ring a bell?

Nope. Well, I did list Doomsday and that's only because I read somewhere that he was the one who

Spoiler

killed Supes

. I don't read comic that often though. But for some reason I seem to know some Superheroes' villains. I know most of Batman's (with the exception of the new ones) and Spiderman's.

Anyway, any of those guys, are they interesting? What do each one do? As in what are their abilities?

 

[WillyFive]

If WB is worried about audience confusion, then they should play it at the end of the film, just like Casino Royale, after the newness of the film has been established.

Interesting idea.

After all, the ideal reason for a reboot would be to get rid of the bad of the original. Why would you get rid of something that was already good?

 

[Veidt]

abandon superman theme please. it;s been over 30 years. enough thank you.

and i thought john williams did a great job with superman returns.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

It's the same for many superheroes. To those unfamiliar with the stories, they will only know of the villains that come from pop culture (Spider-Man has the Goblin, Batman has the Joker, Superman has Lex Luthor, and Fantastic Four has Doctor Doom), the rest are for usually only known by fans.

nah, Batman actually has, for better or for worse, a pretty wide-range of well-known villains. superman, not so much.

 

[Lebron]

abandon superman theme please. it;s been over 30 years. enough thank you.

and i thought john williams did a great job with superman returns.

John Ottoman scored Superman Returns.

 

[WillyFive]

Nope. Well, I did list Doomsday and that's only because I read somewhere that he was the one who

Spoiler

killed Supes

. I don't read comic that often though. But for some reason I seem to know some Superheroes' villains. I know most of Batman's (with the exception of the new ones) and Spiderman's.

Anyway, any of those guys, are they interesting? What do each one do? As in what are their abilities?

From the top of my head:

Brainiac is a computer from Krypton who holds all the information of the planet. In some stories, he destroyed the planet to make his information more valuable, and he goes from planet to planet, gathering the information, and destroying them to make it more valuable. Smart Darth Vader

Bizarro is a clone of Superman, but he is all messed up, kinda slow but very dangerous. Superman has to convince him he can be a good guy so that he can leave the Earth and live on his own. Could be sad story

Doomsday kills Superman. He is supposed to be indestructible and unstoppable. Superman's battle with him is so epic they both die. Potential for awesome fight scenes

Zod is a dictator from Krypton. He survives the planet by being imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, and then being accidentally released, and goes to Earth to conquer it as revenge to his jailer, Superman's father. Space Hitler

Mr. Mxyzptlk is a crazy guy from another dimension. He is as powerful and his personality can usually be described as the genie from Disney's version of Aladdin. He is unstoppable and unbeatable, Superman has to say his unpronounceable name backwards to force him to go back to his dimension. He is more comic-relief, but he gets to kill Superman. Nightmare Fuel

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Nope. Well, I did list Doomsday and that's only because I read somewhere that he was the one who

Spoiler

killed Supes

. I don't read comic that often though. But for some reason I seem to know some Superheroes' villains. I know most of Batman's (with the exception of the new ones) and Spiderman's.

Anyway, any of those guys, are they interesting? What do each one do? As in what are their abilities?

Bizarro (referenced all the time on Seinfeld) is like the opposite Superman who comes from a world where everything's backwards. he's kind of funny.

Brainiac is an evil super intelligent green guy from space who collects cities, shrinks them down and stores them in bottles.

Solomon Grundy (shows up in the chorus of Crash Test Dummies' 'Superman's Song') is a frankestein like zombie.

General Zod is an evil Kryptonian who was imprisoned with his cronies in an extra-dimensional prison called the Phantom Zone before the destruction of Krypton. He's the leader of the villains from Superman II.

Mr. Mxyzptlk is an imp from another dimensional with godlike powers who likes to mess with Superman's head for fun. He can only be defeated by tricking him into saying his unpronounceable name backwards.

They all get referenced in pop culture from time to time, which is why I figured you'd know them.

 

[Lebron]

Brainiac is the only logical villain for the first movie, and if they do a sequel, Darkseid(with Superman being the villain early on).


Yup

 

[ezekial45]

This reminds me, once the the movie comes out, what's gonna happen with the whole Superman licensing/copyright issue. Like is it going to another studio or something?

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

From the top of my head:

Brainiac is a computer from Krypton who holds all the information of the planet. In some stories, he destroyed the planet to make his information more valuable, and he goes from planet to planet, gathering the information, and destroying them to make it more valuable. Smart Darth Vader

He may be different in cartoons than in comics. In the comics he's the greatest villain from a super intelligent race on a planet called Colu.

There are actually a bunch of them, his descendants become progressive less evil until you get to Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Superheroes in the 31st century.

 

[WillyFive]

So what do you guys think of the rumor that Superman could be completely CGI?

He may be different in cartoons than in comics. In the comics he's the greatest villain from a super intelligent race on a planet called Colu.

There are actually a bunch of them, his descendants become progressive less evil until you get to Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Superheroes in the 31st century.

Yep. That's why I said "in some stories". In fact, a lot of the villains are very different from story to story.

 

[Hellion]

No love for Metalo?

His was the best animated story arc.

 

[SimleuqiR]

According to sources, Cavill's closest competitor this time around was Matthew Goode, a British actor who was one of the stars of Snyder and Warners' Watchmen comic book movie (he played genius entrepreneur Ozymandias.) Goode was also in contention for the title role in Fox’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and is said to have taken himself out of that race in order to focus on Superman.

Que?!

 

[krypt0nian]

Brainiac is the perfect choice.

If given my choice however, I'd go with Mongul and Warworld, but I'd need a HUGE budget.

 

[TekkenMaster]

I hope this isn't another origin story. ...Please don't let this be another origin story.

 

[Spotless Mind]

I approve. He's a big step up from Routh in both looks and acting talent.

 

[Replicant]

Thanks for those villain rundowns. Brainiac comic version looks interesting. I think I remember Zod from the 2nd film (with the evil henchwoman). Bizarro looks like roidrage bodybuilder though.

They all get referenced in pop culture from time to time, which is why I figured you'd know them.

I've heard "bizarro" and "brainiac" but I thought those are just terms originating from their original words (bizarre and brain) and not Supes' villains.

 

[Rocket Punch]

Hot dude. I really liked Routh a lot but this guy is not a bad choice at all.

 

[Spike]

They could take it the direction of that Superman Earth One comic.

 

[krypt0nian]

They could take it the direction of that Superman Earth One comic.

They had better not.

 

[Violater]

Why would they change the guy from the first one?

 

[Koodo]

I just went back to the first page and my lust for Cavill somehow grew stronger.

Pre-ordering my tickets yesterday.

 

[krypt0nian]

Why would they change the guy from the first one?

This is a reboot of the series. Superman Returns was a sequel to the first Superman series, so Routh was mimicking Christopher Reeve.

They want to breakaway from all that baggage.

 

[Why For?]

I actually really liked Brandon Routh and thought he was the best part of Returns, but this guy looks good too.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

Stay calm, you have been poisoned.

Thanks for the find. That made the awful chase actually interesting.

 

[Subitai]

The only thing I've seen him in was The Tudors and he was pretty good in that.

Hollywood turns to Britain again. Is there any role we can't play better than an American?

Yeah I thought as Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk he grew his character very convincingly in the Tudors and dealt well with the way the writers morphed his role from season to season. He went from being King Henry's favorite fellow playboy (

Spoiler

even after banging his sister, the princess who just killed her fiancée

) to being the main character in the show with dealing with moral reservations in the political poop storm that was the court when the King started going through wives. You felt a lot of sympathy for all the messes he was thanklessly tasked with cleaning up. Definitely worth watching for him alone. I'm totally behind this pick and if it goes bad, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that it probably wasn't his fault.

 

[Oozer3993]

Brainiac is the only logical villain for the first movie, and if they do a sequel, Darkseid(with Superman being the villain early on).


Yup

Co-sign 200%. Though I might make an exception for Metallo.

 

[Loxley]

Stay calm, you have been poisoned.

:lol

The xylophones in the background only remind me how dated that music is, Elfman's score doesn't fit with Nolan's Batman at all.

At any rate, this is the definitive Batman theme. In fact, pretty much everything from BTAS is "the definitive Batman ______".

As for the villain, I'm hoping for either Braniac or Metallo. They could go the Nolan route of having a more obscure and lesser-known villain in the first film (Scarecrow & R'as Al Ghul in BB) and then move onto Zod or Darkseid for the sequel(s). If so, Metallo or Parasite would be decent choices, but I think saving Zod, Darkseid or Braniac for the more bombastic sequels would be a good idea.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

The problem with Superman is that I can't recall any memorable villain apart from Lex Luthor and Doomsday. Or maybe I'm just not that very informed on Supes' supervillains.

Lex Luthor has always been one of the most uninteresting villains ever. He just happens to have been around the longest.

 

[dead souls]

I don't give a shit about a Superman movie, but congrats to Cavill anyway. He's fucking awesome and deserves to be a huge star.

 

[effzee]

Wow didn't know he was up for Batman.

 

[krypt0nian]

Lex Luthor has always been one of the most uninteresting villains ever. He just happens to have been around the longest.

Luthor has been the main character in Action Comics for months now and it's been an amazing success.

 

[Ferga]

but can he act it out?

 

[Sai-kun]

I approve.

*faps*

Literally stole my post.

*faps*

 

[krypt0nian]

Literally stole my post.

*faps*

*faps*

 

[scitek]

Can't wait for Nolan's version of a darker, gritty, more realistic Superman.

These two words do not belong together.

 

[Router]

Ok, starting to get hyped now. Interesting to hear Goode and Bomer were seriously considered. I was definitely in Matt Bomers camp. Cavil should be great. I will miss Brandon Routh though.

Don't fuck this up WB.

They could take it the direction of that Superman Earth One comic.

Hell no. It was an interesting take but no thanks. Might as well cast Robert Pattinson as Superman if they did Earth One.

This is rumored to be using a chunk of the plot from Birthright. Which is definitely the right way to go for a new Superman franchise.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

I want to fuck Brendon Routh. I am disappoint.

 

[Penguin]

A lot of interesting responses on this page....

Anyhow, the casting is interesting, not quite sure what to think since have never really seen him in anything, but he looks the part.

Now to hear about the villains.

 

[Eteric Rice]

This is a reboot of the series. Superman Returns was a sequel to the first Superman series, so Routh was mimicking Christopher Reeve.

They want to breakaway from all that baggage.

As long as they keep the same fortress of solitude. That place is fucking magical.

 

[Cafeman]

No Superman film has had a super-powered rogue's gallery enemy. Its been Lex, and made-for-the-films characters. The best were Zod & company.

Superman did have a great fight with his evil self in S3 though.

That's one thing I have enjoyed about Smallville. After enjoying , to some degree, watching pre-Superman interact with Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Metallo, Darkside (this season), Bizarro, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Braniac, and all others that have shown up .. how is this new film going to make a "Superman" 2-hour film interesting?

well, going with an all-new direction is a great start. I hope the script is good enough. I love John Williams theme like everyone, but it should either not be used, or put on the backburner, as someone suggested above.

I have a suggestion for the film. Because I know posting it on the internet will make it happen. After the story is over, have Kal El infected by red kryptonite by whoever the defeated villain is. He starts a rampage. then we see Batman show up and stop him in 1 minute with green krypto gloves in a nasty beat-down. The film ends with a grateful Kal-El offering a handshake to Batman .. and Bats ignores it and just leaves. The End.

 

[Router]

As long as they keep the same fortress of solitude. That place is fucking magical.

Keep the upper level like that but show the lower levels more like in the comics.

 

[FStop7]

I want Terence Stamp (Zod from Superman 2) to play Jor-El in the new movie.

 

[charsace]

Great choice. Henry can act.

 

[bathala]

at the end of this movie they should tease doomsday.
So for sequel its doomsday vs supes (fall of superman)
3rd movie will be rise of superman

 

[pulga]

that's awesome. do you have a high rez wallpaper?

Someone answer the man's question, stat!

 

[charsace]

He probably would have got it if it wasn't for his scheduling conflicts working True Blood.

 

[krypt0nian]

Someone answer the man's question, stat!

Biggest tineye can find