Shawn S. Lealos is an entertainment writer who is a voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has written for Screen Rant, CBR, ComicBook, The Direct, The Sportster, Chud, 411mania, Renegade Cinema, Yahoo Movies, and many more.
Shawn has a bachelor's degree in professional writing and a minor in film studies from the University of Oklahoma. He also has won numerous awards, including several Columbia Gold Circle Awards and an SPJ honor.
He also wrote Dollar Deal: The Story of the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers, the first official book about the Dollar Baby film program. Shawn is also currently writing his first fiction novel under a pen name, based in the fantasy genre.
To learn more, visit his website at shawnlealos.net.
Supergirl is the second DCU movie for James Gunn as he works to build his movie slate for the comic book line. The first movie was Superman, which received positive reviews from critics and was a minor box office success. Supergirl is off to a rougher start, with low opening weekend box office and less critical praise. While the critics' and audience responses seem mixed, Gunn might want to look at a movie that came out 20 years ago for what to beware of with comic book properties.
It has been 20 years since Bryan Singer tried to relaunch the Superman franchise with Superman Returns, and it was a massive disappointment that ended Superman's future in movies until Zack Snyder arrived to attempt the next revival. Singer had some good ideas for his Superman relaunch, and he found a perfect person to play Clark Kent/Superman, but there were just too many problems in calling this an actual Superman movie.
While Gunn wants to create a DC movie and streaming world where everything feels different, yet somehow connected, there are some lessons to be learned from why Superman Returns failed. Being different can be good, as Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy showed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but when it comes to comic book movies, there are certain lines fans won't accept.
Superman Returns was released on June 28, 2006, and it brought Superman back to the big screen for the first time since the 1980s. Bryan Singer was coming off of directing the first two X-Men movies, so he had a handle on what made superhero movies good, as X2 remains one of the best in the genre all these years later. However, when he went to make Superman Returns for Warner Bros., he ignored what he did for the X-Men franchise, and the movie failed because of it.
Singer had the right idea when he came in to make the movie. He chose to ignore Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Superman III has its fans, mostly thanks to Superman fighting an evil version of himself, but the movie focused too much attention on comedian Richard Pryor, who never seemed to fit into Superman's world anyway. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace remains known as one of the worst superhero movies ever released.
Singer decided to create his movie as a continuation of the first two Superman movies, and he had Superman leave Earth to find the remnants of Krypton. The film then picks up five years later, when he returns to Earth and finds Lois Lane is engaged to Perry White's nephew Richard, and she has a five-year-old son named Jason. She has also won a Pulitzer for her article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."
There were a lot of good ideas here, but the biggest problem came with the structure of the story. There was almost no action in a Superman movie. There is a lot of drama between Superman, Lois, and Richard, and the idea that Lois's son is Superman's. Kevin Spacey was great as Lex Luthor, and Parker Posey is always great, but this battle also doesn't really matter. The movie is mostly drama with no thrills, and that was the last thing the return of Superman after 20 years should look like.
Superman Returns ended up with a 72% Rotten Tomatoes score, which was "Certified Fresh," but remains low for a tentpole Superman movie. However, worse for its reputation is the fact that the audience score was only at 60%. The movie made $391.1 million, but with a budget of over $200 million, it wasn't enough to warrant continuing on.
Superman Returns was a lackluster return for DC Comics' greatest hero because it wasn't a good superhero movie. However, it did have the perfect man in the lead role. Brandon Routh came in and delivered a role that brought back memories of Christopher Reeve, and it was obvious that Singer found the perfect replacement for the world's best Superman actor. Routh was great as the awkward Clark Kent, and he was even better as the heroic Superman.
It was disappointing to see such a great performance in a movie that left so much to be desired. Luckily, Routh found his way in the world of comic book movies, first taking on a role in the indie comic book adaptation Dylan Dog: Dead of Night and then taking on a small villain role in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. He got his biggest role playing The Atom in the Arrowverse, with appearances on The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, delivering more great superhero action.
James Gunn is off to a slightly rocky start in the DCU. Superman was a great movie, and while its $618 million box office was less than past superhero movie expectations, it is actually up to par with many comic book movies released in the 2020s. Creature Commandos and Peacemaker season 2 have gotten good reviews on streaming. However, with Supergirl off to a rough start, Gunn faces his first turning point since starting his DCU.
Milly Alcock has received positive reviews for her performance, but most of the negative reviews have been about the darkness in the script and the lack of wonder and optimism that Superman held. However, that is what Gunn wanted, to show different versions of heroes, with Superman as optimistic and Supergirl willing to kill if needed. The next movie, Clayface, is pure body horror.
However, while Superman and Supergirl are different in terms of what a hero does, they never once made the mistake that Superman Returns made 20 years ago. Both movies are full of action and comic book touches, and neither movie tries to be something it's not. James Gunn knows what makes comic book movies special, and while all his films won't always succeed, they at least know what they are.
