Zack Snyder has been making a name for himself in film for some years now and his fanbase is growing exponentially with each film he directs. His impressive catalogue includes the Dawn of the Dead remake, 300, Watchmen and next months Sucker Punch. All superb and (mostly) all visually stupendous. Snyder studied visual art before becoming a filmmaker so the man know the value of the image. Couple this with his penchant for ramping up the adrenalin during action sequences and you can be assured that this time around Superman will indeed be far more than a family drama with some minor side story about bad guys. Yes, this time we will get to see Superman punch the crap out of just whoever his enemies might be.
In the comics the man of steel is dynamic and challenged by some of the toughest character creations ever set to paper but on film we've had Lex Luthor (brilliantly played by Gene Hackman but no real threat), Nuclear Man (a laughable waste), Zod (brilliantly realised but too early for the movie making technology of the day to really do the battle between Supes and Zod any justice at all, and most impressively, Superman himself. In Superman III Supes was split into an evil Superman and Clark Kent with super powers. The battle was easily the most impressive of all Superman's onscreen fisticuffs as it had real emotional depth. But sadly the previous outing, Superman Returns lacked any such challenge. So when you think of how Snyder handled the battles between King Leonidas's hoplite 300 and Xerxes hordes or the deft direction of Rorschach fighting a SWAT team in Watchmen you can imagine what is in store.
Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Inception) was given control of reinventing the Superman world after the sullen mood of the previous outing and was so impressed with Snyder's vision and ideas that he handed over total creative control to Snyder and went on to continue work on the Dark Knight Rises. Now if someone like Christopher Nolan has enough faith to hand you over complete control then you know something is going right.
Batman and Blade scribe David S Goyer is in charge of scriptwriting duties so he rounds out an incredibly impressive creative trio who could not be more qualified to handle the return of the most famous superhero of them all (speaking as a lifelong Batman fan, that's hard to say). Nolan, Snyder and Goyer have all promised that The Man of Steel is a complete reworking of the Superman legend with an original take on his origins and powers. Many of the lighter issues are to be addressed (such as Superman being a goody two shoes boycott constantly and his solitude as an alien on earth. As to who the villain (or villains) will be is anyone's guess so far. Most rumours circulate around General Zod (another powerful Kryptonian) but Archenemies such as Braniac have been around for at least as long in the comics so it is anyones guess. One thing is sure, Superman's enemy this time will be able to fight him. We will see smackdown's, of the highest order.
Superman: The Man of Steel. Even the title is sending out a message. This is Superman, he is hard, we are going to show you just how hard and you won't believe how. With Snyder's stylized, powerhouse visuals and direction and Goyers writing ability it can't go wrong.