And right now... On Lorenzo's Desk at Warner Brothers lays the greatest Superhero Movie Ever To Be Made!
Published at: Oct. 18, 2000, 5:09 a.m. CST by staff
Hey folks, Harry here, and boy oh boy... If Warner Brothers actually ponies up and has the balls to make the film I'm gonna tell you about... Dear God, it is one helluva movie.
SUPERMAN was supposed to be dead at Warner Brothers... but really what they meant by that was... DEATH OF SUPERMAN / That whole Doomsday thing was dead. They'll never stop development entirely on the man of steel... He means too much to the coffers of the public holding Warner Stock to be completely forgotten.
However, the development process has been very very hush hush... Very much on the qt. Well, I teamed up with Houdini... the world's greatest escape artist to free this information for the likes of you and me.
Now I know many of you comic fans are familiar with a writer/artist by the name of Keith Giffen. He created an immensely popular DC character by the name of LOBO (not the AICN aging lycanthrope). And for years we've heard about a Lobo script, and how the property was in development. Well...
About 4 weeks ago a 17 page scriptment written by Keith Giffen landed upon the desk of one Jon Peters and one Lorenzno DiBonanventura. Well Nanobot 01, instantly reported that there was a scriptment for SUPERMAN that Lorenzo was very excited and charged for...
Well the next 3 weeks began an immense campaign to learn as much as possible about these 17 pages. Contacting spies from around the globe. Moriarty made seven attempts on Lorenzo's office himself, but the Mastiffs in the sewers beneath Warners... and then there was Eastwood walking around with a 357 Magnum keeping Moriarty at bay.
That was when suddenly a name from long long ago came to mind. Houdini. It has been over 3 and a half years since Houdini made his presence known. Now, while Nanobot 01 coordinated Lorenzo, the janitor, the security team, the assistants and secretaries coming and goings timed to a fine art... it was determined that it would be impossible. Houdini said, "Noone besides Lorenzo himself can get in there."
EUREKA! That's it!
Houdini is a master hypnotist, and through Nanobot 01's onboard speaker system... Houdini was faxed the 17 pages right out of the office. Muhahahaha... Next up... A.I., though according to Nanobot 01, there is no A.I. script at Lorenzo's office... Bummer.
Yeah yeah, I know... you don't care how we got it... You just want to know how it is.
Well... Keith Giffen's SUPERMAN scriptment is nothing short of being the most ambitious and thrilling concept I've yet seen for a Superhero film.
Superman's foe in the film isn't Braniac or Lex Luthor or any of the typical Superman stable of bad guys. Instead, Keith created a story in which an alien mafia organization that... well... that wanted a resource... very common on earth... but is the greatest most thrilling drug known in existence in their sector of the galaxy.... So they hire Lobo to visit Earth and Kill Superman.
The differences between Lobo and Superman keep this film alive at a breathless pace. It also instantly opens up 2 franchises...
The other great aspect is it opens up the vast scope of the D.C. universe... that Superman is really a global protector... not just Metropolis. I also like that the film takes place in a pivotal place in Clark and Lois' relationship where they are just beginning to see each other as something more than friends and associates. I love that Lois' sister is here... That Jimmy Olsen is basically a teenager/early college age. That Perry White smokes cigars. That the Daily Planet has a globe.
I love how Lobo is an utter badass scuzzy bastard... but in a really blue collar sort of way. I love the epic scope of the battle... as it is everybit as large in scale as DOOMSDAY's battle... but moreso even... and I love that we visit other planets, alien cantinas.... Lobo's asteroid home... Using the term TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE to describe the visual aesthetic of Lobo's home. I love Lobo's spacehog, his terminology about 'fraggin' and how he smells Superman on Lois' breath... and how damn violent this gets.. but still how at moments it has that feel of innocence and fair play and the right sense of duty.
The film would be expensive (and I mean real expensive), but that is exactly as it should be. Do we want Superman fighting regular criminals? No, we want him fighting battles where he can't beat the guy he's fighting, because as mild mannered humans ourselves... we need that sort of association to feel for the lug.
I love how Lobo's word of honor is absolute... I love how he sticks to the letter of a contract. How he drinks brews, smokes cigars, who's smoke will cause a regular man to pass out.
I have always loved Kevin Smith's script for SUPERMAN LIVES, but I never really cared for the basic Doomsday... DEATH OF SUPERMAN storyline. Sure it sold a billion issues of the comic... but that was speculation by folks that were investing and buying multiple copies in the prayers of financing college educations and a trip to Vegas.... not that the story was inherantly great.
Now... Will we ever see this? I can't imagine that the script will be done in time for the pre-strike universe of film. BUT... This film must be made. When you see Lobo haul off and hit Superman upside the jaw and you see him skip across the bay of Metropolis and into the base of a bridge leaving an imprint of his body shape in steel below.
For some strange feeling I kept picturing Benicio Del Toro as the voice of Lobo... Maybe it's just me. I can't even think or a really solid Supes (besides Bruce Campbell of course hehehehe) Oh... and Superman wears his SUPERMAN COSTUME, flies and has heat vision, cold breath.... and all of that. Well, basically... that's where it's at. My understanding is that Keith Geffin is at work on the script now. Personally... I can't wait! This read like a dream.