Superman Lives: The Superman Movie You Never Got to See
I don't know how many people out there know about Superman Lives. It's not exactly the best kept secret of the industry but it's not as if the average guy on the street would know what you were talking about if you brought it up. After all we are talking about a movie that never ended up being made. So first a quick recap.
Superman Lives was actually one of several "5th Superman" movies that got started and stalled in between Superman IV The Quest for Peace in 1987 and Superman Returns in 2006. After Quest came out to less than stellar success it killed off the current plans for the next Superman chapter. Other stalled projects include Superman Reborn which would have told the "Death of Superman" story from the comics. As well as Superman:Flyby and a rumored Superman vs. Batman movie that were both in pre-production in the early 2000s. Each of these movies has a crazy story behind it and makes for a fascinating look at what could have been but right now we're focusing on Superman Lives.
A fake billboard in I Am Legend is the closest we've ever gotten to a live action Superman vs. Batman
One of the reasons that Superman Lives has reached such heights of infamy is due to the fact that cult writer/director Kevin Smith was hired to write a draft and later used his experience with the movie as material for his Q&As that he has become famous for. You can watch him talk about the movie below, but be warned of the NSFW language you would expect from Kevin Smith.
So why am I bringing up this failed Superman project that stalled out a decade and a half ago? Because things keep surfacing. It is unbelievable how far they got into prep-roduction on this movie before calling it quits. You want to see a teaser poster for the movie? They had one of those.
Want to see what Superman looked like? Here you go:
Oh did I forget to mention that the plan was the cast Nicholas Cage as Superman? (You would know that already if you had watched the Kevin Smith videos above) That's right. Nicholas Cage as Superman with Tim Burton directing. To be fair at the time that this movie was being made Cage was fresh off The Rock with Sean Connery and winning an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas. And Tim Burton was still the man who had made the best Batman movie of all time, but today these creative decisions seem stunning to someone first hearing about the movie today.
If that's not enough Superman costume for you, there were also plans to have a costume, different from the classic Superman costume in the movie. It was to look like this:
We even got a prototype of the suit built that lights up and flashes. Test videos of the new suit have leaked as well.
At the point that the movie was canceled there were even designs for the tie in toys that would be released.
Even today, we continue to find out new things about this movie that was never made. Just last month some concept art was released from some of the concept designers that were working with Hasbro. Sketches to see how many costumes they could cram Superman into over the course of one movie to sell as many toys as possible.
Supposedly this was the more traditional Superman costume that would have been worn at the beginning of the movie.
Then transitioning into this suit which has been called the "Kryptonian Explorer" suit.
And finally the light-up suit for the grand climax of the movie.
Its rumored that all in all, about $30 million dollars was spent on this movie before it was eventually shut down.
Superman Lives was actually one of several "5th Superman" movies that got started and stalled in between Superman IV The Quest for Peace in 1987 and Superman Returns in 2006. After Quest came out to less than stellar success it killed off the current plans for the next Superman chapter. Other stalled projects include Superman Reborn which would have told the "Death of Superman" story from the comics. As well as Superman:Flyby and a rumored Superman vs. Batman movie that were both in pre-production in the early 2000s. Each of these movies has a crazy story behind it and makes for a fascinating look at what could have been but right now we're focusing on Superman Lives.
A fake billboard in I Am Legend is the closest we've ever gotten to a live action Superman vs. BatmanOne of the reasons that Superman Lives has reached such heights of infamy is due to the fact that cult writer/director Kevin Smith was hired to write a draft and later used his experience with the movie as material for his Q&As that he has become famous for. You can watch him talk about the movie below, but be warned of the NSFW language you would expect from Kevin Smith.
So why am I bringing up this failed Superman project that stalled out a decade and a half ago? Because things keep surfacing. It is unbelievable how far they got into prep-roduction on this movie before calling it quits. You want to see a teaser poster for the movie? They had one of those.
Want to see what Superman looked like? Here you go:
Oh did I forget to mention that the plan was the cast Nicholas Cage as Superman? (You would know that already if you had watched the Kevin Smith videos above) That's right. Nicholas Cage as Superman with Tim Burton directing. To be fair at the time that this movie was being made Cage was fresh off The Rock with Sean Connery and winning an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas. And Tim Burton was still the man who had made the best Batman movie of all time, but today these creative decisions seem stunning to someone first hearing about the movie today.
If that's not enough Superman costume for you, there were also plans to have a costume, different from the classic Superman costume in the movie. It was to look like this:
We even got a prototype of the suit built that lights up and flashes. Test videos of the new suit have leaked as well.
At the point that the movie was canceled there were even designs for the tie in toys that would be released.
Even today, we continue to find out new things about this movie that was never made. Just last month some concept art was released from some of the concept designers that were working with Hasbro. Sketches to see how many costumes they could cram Superman into over the course of one movie to sell as many toys as possible.
Supposedly this was the more traditional Superman costume that would have been worn at the beginning of the movie.
Then transitioning into this suit which has been called the "Kryptonian Explorer" suit.
And finally the light-up suit for the grand climax of the movie.
Its rumored that all in all, about $30 million dollars was spent on this movie before it was eventually shut down.
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