Warner Bros., the owner of DC Comics, canceled the Superboy television series produced by Alexander Salkind (Salkind produced the first three Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, as well as the Supergirl movie). Although the road was set for the marriage of Lois and Clark, an unforeseen event would change these plans. In a story arc titled " Krisis of Krimson Kryptonite" Clark proposes to Lois she accepts. Thanks to John Byrne's revamp, Lois fell in love with Clark Kent rather than with Superman. In an effort to attract female readers, the Lois Lane/Clark Kent/Superman love triangle, in place since 1938, changed. While the stories continued from Byrne's revamp, sales slowly dropped. However, due to disputes with DC, Byrne left the Superman books and was replaced by Roger Stern. Following that event, DC Comics rebooted their continuity and relaunched the Superman character with the mini-series The Man of Steel, written by John Byrne. Nothing more, nothing less.The story of The Death of Supermans conception goes back to the 1985 crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths. What we get is a somewhat sloppy labor of love from a fan. Yet Death of “Superman Lives” seems more interested in trying to get the skinny on Superman, rather than making a grand statement about the industry, trends in comic films, or the mythos of Superman itself. Schnepp really immerses himself in the inside business of it all. Who knows? The dirty laundry, Superman’s red undies, are here. Perhaps Jon Peters’ idea for vicious polar bears made Warner brass hang their heads. Schnepp purports a multitude of reasons for the ‘90s Superman failure, while sharing anecdotes and art from designers, producers, and Burton and Kevin themselves. But that was 2008, when the market for these films were about to explode, not 1998 when Kevin Costner’s films nearly blew up studios. Jeff Bridges told us so in regards to Iron Man. Lord knows tons of comic book movies have gotten by critically and commercially without scripts. To echo one of the Comic-Con talking heads interviewed, The Death of “Superman Lives” is like a high-level game of “what if?” Maybe this could have been a cool movie. Can a man that is in every essence perfect have flaws? Anxieties? A robot sidekick with rejuvenating powers that would have cost a mint for Industrial Light and Magic to articulate? Everyone that worked on Superman Lives for a couple of well-publicized years in the late ‘90s seemed to think so. The comic movie was meant to be a hip, unexpected take about the death and rebirth of DC Comics’ most beloved, kinda bland hero. With this new doc, Schnepp wants to make an omnibus out of a 20-year-old rumor mill. “Fiercest killers in the animal kingdom,” Smith and even Peters reiterate here. Director Kevin Smith somewhat immortalized the fiasco film in his uninhibited stand-up bit about producer Jon Peter’s insistence on adding spiders and polar bears to Superman Lives’ screenplay. Over the years, pictures of Nic Cage in a Superman suit have popped up online and the Superman Lives Wikipedia page is bursting with notes on productions. The film features a cavalcade of talking heads involved with the production, fabulous production art, and almost regret-inducing home videos. The neat documentary The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? provides ample archival material and funny interviews as director and Supes fanboy Jon Schnepp digs into one of the most popular stories of development hell in Hollywood history. But that’s the thing with comic books: There’s always a demand for more stories. That fact alone is interesting enough pub trivia. Or was it Superman Reborn? Regardless, Tim Burton and Nicolas Cage’s angst-addled, alienated take on the Man of Steel came very close to being released in the summer of 1998. Expensive development, aesthetic over-compensation, a studio already licking too many financial wounds: That is what happened to Superman Lives.
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