Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... another update!
Also, please no Richard Pryor, although I should hope that would go without saying.
Looking forward to more, as always!
A vindication for Richard Donner! Good for him - he richly deserves this second chance. IOTL, at least, he struck me as the opposite of George Lucas - surrounded by either incompetents, or simply those who had no idea how to make the right kind of movie - except for his chosen few (like Mankiewicz), and triumphing and creating a great film through hard work, clear vision ("Verisimilitude") and force of will.But with Superman breaking all records, and earning them more money than they could’ve dreamed of… as much as they hated to admit it, they couldn’t afford to lose him. Donner was allowed to stay and finish what he started.
This is also some very good stuff. Lois Lane knowing about Superman's secret identity ahead of schedule will be a shot in the arm to the by-now stale and ultra-predictable comics, and it will allow both of their characters to develop in interesting ways (very different ones from OTL, no doubt, given that this is several years pre-Crisis - assuming that there even is a Crisis ITTL).ColeMercury said:Donner instead decided to end the film with Lois still knowing that Superman was Clark Kent. While this was very controversial at the time, it ultimately resulted in the comic books finally having Superman reveal his true identity to Lois Lane the year after the film’s release.
A new Batman! Given that this is pre-Miller and pre-Moore, the primary source of inspiration for a "darker" Batman would be the O'Neil/Adams years. Though certainly, it would look and feel very different from all of the Batman movies of OTL. As for Wonder Woman, if you can get her onto the big screen, that's quite an achievement! I suspect that any WWII setting would be nixed after 1941 bombs - if it bombs. People (both ITTL and on this thread) will want Lynda Carter to reprise her role, and she is still young enough in the early 1980s...ColeMercury said:Once it was clear that the success of Superman was not a fluke, DC Comics swiftly moved to compound their success and organised in conjunction with Warner Bros. for a new film version of Batman to be made. Tentative talks were also begun regarding eventual film adaptations of Wonder Woman and The Flash.
I agree, and this landmark reception will also give Superman ammunition that it does not have against certain other superheroes IOTL, particularly his eternal opposite, Batman (who has, of course, had two massive hit movies IOTL).ColeMercury said:All the same ingredients that give Star Wars such a universal appeal are there -- it seems to me that the only thing that prevented Superman from getting such a reception was that it came nineteen months later.
You don't appear to have mentioned who is playing Lois Lane - are we to assume it's Margot Kidder? If so, do the more harmonious relations between all parties ensure her full return in Superman III? Creating a new arc for her should be a nice challenge.ColeMercury said:Because they're not reshooting most of the film, Superman II is released as per the original schedule in December 1979. I don't quite know what the plot of Superman III will be, but Brainiac is the villain and it also provides some of the background for Supergirl's origin story.
Also, please no Richard Pryor, although I should hope that would go without saying.
Looking forward to more, as always!