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Alright, Man of Steel rewrite.
I hope you guys have been enjoying it so far.
If you have not seen Parts 1 and 2, or maybe just haven't seen them in awhile,
I would really recommend going back and watching them again.
The link is in the episode description.
But, maybe you don't have time, so here's a quick recap of everything that has happened so far.
If you don't need it, you can go to this time in the video. Okay.
First act was pretty similar to the original Man of Steel's.
Story still starts on planet Krypton, although there's a lot less of it.
Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van have a son named Kal-El.
A general named Zod attempts to overthrow the Kryptonian government,
because the planet is dying and they aren't doing anything about it.
Jor-El launches Kal into space so that Kal can escape the dying planet. We don't hear anything about a Codex or anyone killing anyone else; that's all we get.
Flash forward 25, 30 years.
Kal, or as he's known on Earth, Clark, is bumming around the world,
finding himself and using his superhuman abilities to save people from disasters.
He learns about an alien ship in the Arctic. Clark travels to the ship,
and onboard, learns about Krypton from a hologram of his father.
Jor-El tells Clark that a Kryptonian general named Zod is on his way to Earth,
and Clark needs to find a way to stop Zod before he destroys the planet.
And, before Jor-El can tell Clark the rest of the story and give Clark the Superman suit,
a reporter named Lois Lane, who has secretly been following Clark, is attacked by the ship's security.
Clark is forced to leave his father and save Lois, but, after saving Lois, because he fears being discovered, Clark runs away.
So, Clark goes to the desert to train. Lois finds Clark in Smallville.
Zod goes looking for the pod Clark came in. He threatens Martha Kent.
Clark gets angry, and starts a fight with Zod, Faora and Nam-Ek in the middle of Smallville.
Clark is not wearing the Superman suit because he never got it, he's wearing, like, gray sweatpants.
Zod and his forces are wearing their Kryptonian armor, but they don't have capes,
they fight in the middle of the town. Clark is angry. He's not really caring about collateral damage.
He wins the fight. Zod, Faora and Nam-Ek retreat. Clark thinks he saved the day, but then, when the dust settles,
he realizes that all of the people of Smallville are scared of him because they just see him as another dangerous alien. Okay.
Usually in videos like these, I like to focus pretty heavily on story structure and plot,
but, I want to use this video to focus on what I believe is one of Man of Steel's biggest missed opportunities.
The traditional slam-dunk of the origin story—his suit.
I am going to discuss the second half of Act 2 of my Man of Steel rewrite series, in relation to Clark's super suit,
because in my opinion, the Man of Steel suit did not work.
Now, I'm not talking about the look of it. I more or less like this suit's design,
the big, giant "S" was a powerful statement,
and it felt like a big improvement over the small, Superman Returns "S."
Thought the material the suit was made of felt new. I didn't love the lack of red shorts,
but, like I've said before, I can live without them.
No, I'm talking about the suit as a symbol of Clark and his character development.
Every recent superhero origin story I can think of does the superhero suit roughly the same way.
The hero starts the movie without any sort of heroic identity.
Throughout the course of the movie, the hero is tested, and as a result of those tests, the hero develops that identity.
The hero then makes a conscious effort to create some sort of suit that's symbolic of who the hero believes they are,
and what they are trying to achieve through heroism.
In the good superhero origin stories, there is always a specific reason why the suit looks the way it does,
that is a result of choices made by that character, that reflect the personality of that character.
Except for Spider-Man...maybe. I tweeted recently (twitter.com/nandovmovies, please follow),
asking you guys why specifically, like what the in-universe explanation was, for why Spider-Man's costume is red and blue.
Just because those are strange choices, and I got a couple of answers, none of which were definitive, so, you kind of got to leave his out.
But, let's look at some of the other ones.
In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne decides to become a vigilante in an effort to take back Gotham City.
So, he creates an armored suit, using Wayne Industries technology, ninja weaponry, and ties it all together with a bat theme.
Because he wants to strike fear into the hearts of criminals.
It is everything important about that character coalescing.
In Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve Rogers decides that he can't sit on the sidelines of World War Two any longer,
so he steals some military equipment, and his Captain America stage show costume,
and combines the two into the first Captain America suit.
Steve both wants to fight in the war but also understands the values of becoming a symbol and his responsibility to represent America.
In Iron Man, Tony Stark is forced to create a mech suit out of stolen Stark Industries weapons to escape his captors,
and eventually, improves upon the original design by upgrading the technology and giving it a paint job, because Tony wants to save the world in style.
And I will bet, that at a certain point, a little more than halfway through Captain Marvel, Carol learns some dark secret,
leaves the Star Force, and decides to recolor her suit to differentiate herself from either side in the Kree-Skrull war.
They all do it. Getting the suit is part of a conscious decision made by the hero.
It represents growth. And that's why the hero almost always gets it somewhere between the midpoint of the movie and the end of Act 2.
By that point in the story, the hero has been tested, and has decided what they want to do, and what they want to represent while doing it.
And yet, in Man of Steel, for a reason I honestly cannot comprehend, Clark gets the suit 50 minutes into the movie—at the beginning of act 2.
It boggles my mind. And not only that, but he is given it by Jor-El.
Jor-El summarizes the first 20 minutes of the movie, and at the end of his exposition tour,
Jor-El gives Clark the complete Superman suit.
And Clark takes it. For no good reason besides, might as well.
Having the suit doesn't change Clark's actions in any meaningful way,
This isn't like Spider-Man, where Clark makes the suit so that he can fight crime.
Not only does the Superman suit not hide Clark's identity or serve any function,
Clark doesn't do anything with it immediately after he gets it.
Clark takes the suit home and hangs out in Smallville for some amount of time. Clark doesn't fight crime or save people from natural disasters.
Clark treats the Superman suit like a free shirt he won at a raffle, but it doesn't really fit,
so he probably won't wear it, but he'll take it home anyway because hey, free shirt.
And yeah, the symbol on the suit symbolizes hope, but we only know that because we're told it does by Jor-El, and then later, Clark.
That symbolism is never demonstrated—not only is Clark not incredibly hopeful in Man of Steel—
there really isn't any indication that anyone outside of Lois and a handful of Army men really even see Clark for long enough to notice the symbol at all.
He wasn't on TV or photographed in this suit, so that it becomes a meaningful part of his identity going forward.
The best explanation for what the suit represents is Clark's Kryptonian heritage, which is the time when Clark receives the suit, doesn't mean very much to him.
Clark just learned what Krypton was. And even the finer points of the suit don't have any real significance.
The blue, red, and yellow don't stand for anything, and in fact,
not to nitpick (not unlike my podcast, Mostly Nitpicking, please subscribe),
the blue, red, and yellow seem really out of place, since Krypton doesn't seem to have any color whatsoever,
so then why does the Earth suit not just come in the traditional Kryptonian brown?
It doesn't matter. This movie works pretty much exactly the same way if Clark doesn't get the suit at all.
We lose the "it's an 'S'" line that leads to Lois calling Clark "Superman,"
but it doesn't matter here, since barely anyone calls him that in the movie anyway.
The suit really exists for two reasons. First, if Clark is wearing it on the poster,
people unfamiliar with the movie will know that Man of Steel is actually a movie about Superman,
and second, to sell toys, shirts, and costumes. It serves practically zero narrative purpose.
And it should. Superman is—debatably—the most popular pop culture figure in the world from at least the last hundred years.
The only ones I think that even get close are Batman, Spider-Man,
and Darth Vader. Everyone knows who he is. And I kind of think the movie took that for granted.
Like, everybody knows what the Superman suit looks like, so let's just put Clark in the Superman suit as quickly as we can, so that he can be Superman.
But I still think narratively, there is value in building to that.
So, in this rewrite, every aspect of the Superman suit is going to have meaning.
Clark isn't going to be given it, he's going to make it. And that happens over the course of two scenes.
Two. But first, we have to get through the rest of Act 2. So,
we discussed this in my Justice League rewrite, but, the section following the midpoint,
where things get worse, is typically called "the bad guys close in."
Zod and his forces have retreated back to their ship. Zod now knows that if he wants to find the Codex,
he will first need to find Clark. Faora suggests a second attack.
Zod says, "No. You saw how they looked at him. They don't know who he is.
Kal has been hiding. And they're afraid of him. We don't need to find Kal. They will bring Kal to us."
So now Zod addresses Earth. After the Smallville fight. He's a little less threatening,
Everyone that matters already sees Clark as the enemy anyway because of the Smallville fight,
so all Zod needs to do is tell the people of Earth that "the alien is hiding among them.
And he needs to surrender himself." Clark is worried of what will happen to him and his mom if he doesn't turn himself in.
Clark weighs his options, and complies with Zod's demands.
Lois is captured, because she has information about Clark,
and since Lois is the only person outside of the oil rig crew that Clark saved,
and, one of a few people on Earth that doesn't hate him right now,
Clark surrenders directly to Lois. They go to Zod's ship. Clark gets depowered because of the ship's atmospheric composition.
Zod and Clark talk. The talk goes pretty much the exact same as it does in the original movie.
The only thing I want to change is that along with having drop ships and the World Engine,
Zod also already has the scout ship with the Kryptonian babies inside.
If Zod already has one, that means that he doesn't need the scout ship on Earth and it will remain in the Arctic.
This ship will function as Clark's Fortress of Solitude for future films.
So, Clark learns the truth about Zod, mountainous skulls;
Lois stages the breakout with the help of the Jor-El hologram.
Lois escapes via the pod, but it is damaged, and she is spiraling towards Earth.
Clark gets a version of the pep talk from Jor-El about how he can save everyone.
They don't talk about the Codex or anything like that. Specifically,
Clark asks if he'll be able to save Lois, and Jor-El tells Clark that he can do anything.
Clark closes his eyes and jumps out of the ship, and makes the cross, because symbolism.
Now, this scene goes exactly the same way, but the context is completely different,
since Clark doesn't yet know if he can fly. He didn't have the first flight scene from Man of Steel.
Clark is acting purely on instinct and hope. He needs to save Lois because it's the right thing to do.
And, he is willing to potentially sacrifice himself. And as Clark is falling,
he uses his arms to steer himself, and he's able to thrust himself forward.
Clark realizes that he's flying now, and this makes Clark feel good.
He flies over to the pod, rescues Lois, then drops her off.
Then, Clark immediately flies away, to the Fortress of Solitude.
He is completely alone. The people of Earth fear him. The last Kryptonians hate him.
And, Earth is going to be destroyed. All is lost. So, Clark enters the ship and is greeted by the Jor-El hologram.
And yeah, the Jor-El hologram is the character I was alluding to earlier in this series as the one I want to stick around in the future.
In Man of Steel, Jor-El is deleted by Zod, but I like the idea of Jor-El hanging around for a bit longer.
Can't solve every problem for Clark, like he doesn't have all of the information necessary to extract the Codex from Clark's body,
but he can provide some guidance. Explain characters like Brainiac or Darkseid when they show up,
and, maybe in the future, Lex or some other villain who hasn't already killed Jor-El can delete the hologram.
Which, in that context, would pack a serious emotional punch.
But really, I want Jor-El aroud for this scene. So Clark enters the ship.
He's greeted by the hologram.
"So, you stole the Codex."
"Clark, this Codex is the relic of a society that had lost its way.
You see, on Krypton, everyone was born with a predetermined purpose.
You were bred, even before birth, to serve a role in Kryptonian society.
A scientist, a warrior, a leader. But your mother and I believed everyone needed the freedom to choose their own path.
So we had you. Krypton's first natural birth in centuries.
And I stole the Codex, and infused it into your DNA. So you could save Krypton."
"So that's what I am? I'm a savior?"
"No, Kal. You must choose your own path. You can save Krypton,
or you can let Krypton go. You can be a bridge between the people of Krypton and the people of Earth.
Or you can go back to living among the people. It is your choice."
"They'll never accept me. They think I'm a monster."
"It doesn't matter if they see you as a monster. They cannot tell you who you are. No one can."
Then Jor-El delivers the haymaker line of the movie, a line from the best Superman movie of all time,
"You are what you choose to be. You choose. What do you want to do?"
Clark pauses. "I-I just want to help. I know I was born on Krypton,
but these are my people. I want to keep them safe."
"Then show them that."
Jor-El reveals a brown Kryptonian suit, with the crest of the house of El on its chest, similar to the one the Jor-El hologram is wearing.
"This is the symbol of the House of El. It stands for hope.
Use it to give them hope."
"Thank you, but I want mine to look different than Zod's. Everyone needs to know that I'm on their side."
"But what would you suggest?"
Clark thinks, he remembers back to the Smallville fight. People he saw that were trusted.
He thinks of firefighters, and policemen, and EMTs. Clark says,
"Blue. And red."
Jor-El nods, and a new suit is created with those colors, as well as the yellow-and-red emblem.
It has no cape—none of these suits do—and Clark realizes something.
"Why yellow?"
"The sun. To remind you who you are. Your power lies not in your strength,
but in your ability to be a light. I think you finally see that. Now go to them."
Clark steps out of the ship in his new suit, he has his flight moment, and he flies to Kansas.
And, yeah, the "you are what you choose to be" line is lifted directly from The Iron Giant,
the best Superman movie ever made. I know, it's cheating,
but it's a great movie. And it very well may be the best Superman movie ever made.
Even though none of the characters are Superman, it is very much about who Superman is.
And fans of The Iron Giant and Superman, I don't think they would see using this line as some kind of fan service just shoved into the movie.
Not only would this be more of an homage to that movie,
but that idea, of that finding your own destiny, is exactly what this movie is building towards.
And, what the original Man of Steel was building towards.
The problem with the original Man of Steel is, a lot of the characters were telling Clark what to do.
But I never feel like any of them really gave Clark a choice.
So I think it's fine for characters like Zod and Jor-El to say "you can save Krypton,"
but I think it's really important to draw a line between Zod and Jor-El.
Zod is forcing Clark to save Krypton, but Jor-El wants Clark to decide what he does on his own,
which is why Jor-El's the good guy. So, Clark lands in Kansas.
Walks up to Kent farm. Martha is sitting in the living room.
She notices Clark's new suit.
"Wow, look at that."
"My father made it for me. The one from Krypton."
Martha looks at the "S" on Clark's chest.
"Of course. What does the 'S' stand for?"
"It's the symbol of the House of El. On Krypton, it means hope."
"Well,"
a pause,
"It looks like an 'S'."
"Yeah, it looks like an 'S'."
"And, the colors."
"I need to show everyone that I'm not like Zod. I want people to know that I'm on their side."
"It's good, but...it's missing something. I think I know what."
Martha walks into the hallway and starts searching through a closet.
"When your father and I found you, you were wrapped in this blanket.
We kept it. Wanted you to be able to hold onto a little piece of wherever you came from.
And you loved it. Slept with it every night. Even used to tie it around your shoulders and run around in the yard.
You eventually got tired of it."
Martha finds something in the closet, and pulls it out. She walks back over to Clark.
"But your father and I kept it.
Figured you'd want it one day. I know it sounds silly, but I think this is what you're missing.
And look."
Martha hands the blanket to Clark.
"It matches."
Clark looks down and sees a red blanket that bears the same 'S' symbol as Clark's suit.
Clark unfurls the blanket. It's vibrant and hangs down to Clark's feet.
Martha motions to his shoulders.
"I was figuring...maybe you could..."
Martha points to her eyes. Clark smiles.
"Right."
And Clark fastens the blanket to his shoulders with his heat vision.
So Clark walks out of the house. Each shot is a close-up of a different part of Clark.
His shoes, his fists, the symbol. While his mother says,
"I know that you used to get angry at your father, because he thought that he didn't want you to use your powers.
But, he didn't want you to hide forever. He wanted you to be able to show yourself to the world when you were ready."
Clark stands, square in front of Kent farm. The new cape hangs over his shoulders, down his back.
The music swells up, a gust of wind passes through the field,
an American flag flies in the background as the wind picks up the cape and it starts waving behind Clark.
Martha says,
"He would be so proud."
Clark has finally become Superman. He hugs his mother, and walks out into the driveway.
Clark looks back. Martha says,
"Show them who you are."
Clark smiles, and flies away. And that's Act 2. Clark has found his place in the world,
now all that's left to do in Act 3 is save it. As always, thank you to everybody who continues to support the channel on Patreon.
You guys are the best. If you want to see your name up here,
get access to videos early, other cool stuff, throw in literally any amount of money at patreon.com/nandovmovies.
You have no idea how much I appreciate it. But, if you want to get some idea of how much I appreciate it,
I'm going to be doing a Patreon-specific Q and A in the next couple weeks, so, keep an eye out for that.
As always, I have to plug my podcast, Mostly Nitpicking. Every week,
me and my co-host D.J. pick apart a piece of pop culture by looking exclusively at the details.
Last couple weeks, we've been doing The Amazing Spider-Man 2,
which is something. And like, The Amazing Spider-Man movies aren't terrible,
it's just that the things that are weird about them are so strange,
that it's hard to buy into the rest of the movie. That's not important, but, you can find us wherever you find your podcasts, we are Mostly Nitpicking.
And as always, follow me on Twitter, @nandovmovies. It's where I talk about new videos that are coming out,
like the Man of Steel rewrite series Part 4, which should be coming out very soon,
where I talk about movies I've seen, and give them little mini-reviews.
It's where—this year—I made my Super Bowl movie trailer predictions.
And I completely nailed Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel,
And those tweets, with the screenshots, are from the past,
so it's very, very strange. I can't believe I got all of them right,
having called all of those shots in the past, as opposed to writing them in the future and lying to you guys.
So, it's really impressive. I'd recommend following me, twitter.com/nandovmovies.
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Awesome.