It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's... a Huge Problem...

As most of you know by now, the new Superman movie is on track. They've cast Henry Cavill (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0147147/) as Superman and Zack Snyder is set to direct. Christopher Nolan and his wife, Emma Thomas are producing the film. Everything points to this movie being amazing, doesn't it? Despite that, I'm worried. It has nothing to do with the talent involved, it has to do with the character involved.

Superman was once a very well respected movie superhero. Then they made Superman 3 & 4 and like Batman, the character disappeared for more than ten years. But unlike Batman when the character returned, it wasn't nearly as well received. Superman Returns was a decent film, but it had a lot working against it. For one, they used Lex Luthor as the villain once again (even though Kevin Spacey was a really good Lex Luthor). Second, they completely miscast Lois Lane. Giving her a husband and Superman a son was not a good idea.

The bigger problem with Superman though is that he's completely unrelatable. I've always said that Brandon Routh was a great Clark Kent, but he wasn't a very good Superman. It's a lot harder to connect with Superman than someone like Batman. Batman has very human qualities about him even when he's not Bruce Wayne. Superman's scenes only ever involve him in an action sequence or raging against Luthor. There's a large barrier between Superman and Clark Kent and even then, Clark Kent is hard to get to know because he has to keep his secret.

Superman needs to be given more human aspects. For starters, let someone in on the secret. It doesn't have to be Lois Lane, but perhaps Jimmy Olsen? That way Clark/Superman can talk to someone about his life as Superman. What if Superman has major guilt over the people he isn't able to save? Does he have a wall full of newspaper clippings of disasters he couldn't stop? How does he feel about Lois loving Superman, but not Clark Kent? (beyond a few looks of dismay here and there) Despite his human companions, does he still feel alone as the only one of his kind on earth? These are things we could never know about Clark's personality if he couldn't open up to someone.

Even in the TV show Smallville people know about Clark's powers. This allows them to explore a more emotional depth for Clark's character. I'm not saying that they need to tell a "grittier or darker" story with Superman, but they need to make Superman easier to connect with and understand. Despite being a being from another planet, he was raised a human so he needs to display human emotion.

The other problem is the villain. You can constantly use the same villain for every film. Lex Luthor was once a great villain, but now he's turned into a characterture of himself. Lex Luthor also has very little motivation as an antagonist. Why does he hate Superman so much? It just seems because he's so powerful. He's a very one dimensional character. There are plenty of other villains that - if done correctly - could be just as interesting as Luthor. A few examples are Braniac, General Zod, and Darkseid.

The biggest problem with Lex, besides his overuse, is the fact that Superman can't go toe-to-toe with him. How annoying is it that Superman always has to be gimped with kryptonite before Lex can "take him on". What we need is a knock down drag out fight between Superman and an equally strong villain.

Despite there being all these issues with the Superman franchise, with Nolan on board I'm definitely feeling more confident about the new movie. What are your thoughts on Superman. Do you agree with my thoughts above?