SUPERMAN RETURNS

June 26, 2006  

On June 28 the movie Superman Returns opens in theaters across the country. Can this $200 million-plus reprise of the comic book superhero that first appeared June 1938 in Action Comics # 1 be the movie that saves Hollywood as Superman saves the world? How can a fantasy superhero like Superman still attract such a following in a country and a world that has changed so much in 68 years? What enduring message does Superman communicate to people who still read Superman comic books and buy tickets to see Superman movies?

Movie theater attendance has declined steadily the past two years, down approximately 14 percent since 2004. Even Spiderman 2 in 2004 couldn't save the day. Widescreen, High Definition (HD) televisions, home theater sound systems, and shorter times from theater exhibition to DVD release are keeping people at home. With a new HD DVD format on the horizon, the outlook for theater attendance isn’t good. 

Reliance on the big-budget blockbusters to sustain profits increasingly has disappointed movie investors and theater owners. Nevertheless, with each new big-budget release comes hope for a turnaround. The percentage of positive reviews on RottenTomateos.com for Superman Returns, staring Brandon Routh as Superman, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, and Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, currently is 79%. If this is any indication, it could be a big hit. But will it be a big enough hit? Does Superman still have the appeal he once had?

The superhero phenomenon in American comic book pop culture grew out of the hardships and poverty of the Great Depression in the mid-to-late 1930s. Superman followed The Phantom, which first appeared in February 1936. Batman came along in May 1939. Captain Marvel first appeared in February 1940. Young Americans of the Great Depression-era looked to these new superheroes for a sense of justice and as champions of the oppressed during a difficult and often unjust time. 

During World War II, superheroes grew in popularity, surviving paper rationing and the loss of writers and illustrators to service in the military. Publishers responded with stories in which superheroes battled the Axis Powers and the introduction of patriotically themed superheroes like Marvel’s Captain America.

The popularity of comic book superheroes has waxed and waned over the decades, gaining and loosing new heroes along the way. In August 1962 Marvel Comics introduced Spiderman in Amazing Fantasy Vol. 1 # 15. First in comic books then in movies and on television the same basic stories of how these superheroes came into being and their crime-fighting exploits have been retold over and over again. In Superman Returns there is little doubt about the triumph of good over evil, that Superman will find a way to protect himself from Kryptonite, or that Lois Lane won’t recognize Clark Kent’s face when she looks at Superman.

From their beginnings, comic book superheroes have predominantly been muscular young men, with alternative identities—everyday people with a regular job and a reasonably normal life, but who were strong superheroes that only appeared when there was an emergency, or a life-threatening situation. Unlike Indiana Jones or James Bond, who resemble real-life people, most comic book superheroes have been larger than life and possessed powers and abilities beyond those of normal human beings. Many, like Superman, possessed superhuman powers, such as the ability to fly. Others, like Batman, had no superhuman powers but possessed extraordinary intellect and athletic ability. All disguised their true identities with a costume.

Today, state of the art motion picture special effects allows these superheroes to perform as the artists who have drawn them attempted to suggest. Neither the superman George Reeves played on television in the 1950s, nor the superman Christopher Reeve played in the Superman movies from 1978 to 1987 moved anything line Spiderman did in Spiderman 1 and 2 or Brandon Routh will in Superman Returns. But if Superman Returns is a blockbuster hit, special effects alone can’t explain its success.

It’s arguable that special effects is what has made these superheroes more popular than ever. As special effects capabilities have improved Hollywood producers have relied more on them than good storytelling to sell movie tickets. We only have to watch Independence Day 1996, The Day After Tomorrow 2004, and War Of The Worlds 2005, to see how fantastic special effects alone can’t sell tickets.

If Superman Returns is a big success it will be because it successfully couples good storytelling with good special effects, and because Superman is still an icon people relate to. But is Superman still viewed as a symbol of justice and a champion of the oppressed? Does “truth, justice, and the American way,” still resonate with the American, or for that matter foreign, moviegoer? Movie profits are very much dependent these days on how the movie does overseas, and I doubt that when we capture Osama Bin Laden we are likely to find a bootleg copy of Superman Returns in his DVD collection. 

More important, can we infer anything from Superman’s continuing popularity about American society as we once could, or has he just become another action movie hero like Indiana Jones or James Bond—great characters supported by a good script and eye-popping special effects that sell lots of tickets?

These are not easy questions to answer. It’s difficult to know what’s in someone’s mind when the watch a movie. It’s difficult sometimes to know what’s in our own minds when we enjoy or dislike a movie. Good movies, indeed any good story, appeals to people on multiple levels, including the subconscious. 

Superheroes, I suspect, have been around since the arrival of modern humans. I can imagine some Homo Sapien 40,000 years ago in a cave somewhere in France telling others stories about a man with superhuman abilities who defeated whatever it was they feared most. Despite how advanced our modern civilization has become, despite how much we have learned to master our environment, we still have our frailties and weaknesses. Like our ancient ancestors we can still look at our own frailties and weaknesses and imagine a man (or woman) who is like us but without those limitations. We still like to fanaticize about a Superman.