Superman may as well have died in 1987’s Superman IV The Quest for Peace, since it took several writers and directors numerous attempts between then and 2006 to finally revive him. The most famous attempt, however, belongs to Tim Burton, who came very close to making his own Superman film before it was ultimately scrapped right before it started shooting.
Is your design correct? But we kind of took it off from the more modern ones, where it’s a little sleeker. Titled Superman Lives, Burton’s version of the Man of Steel would have been bonkers, and I mean that in the best way possible. It would have featured Crazy Nick Cage as Superman. Brainiac and Doomsday are villains, and Superman dies and comes back to life, amongst a bunch of other crazy things.
This film was really out there, and that’s part of the reason why fans have been so fascinated with it for years, but also why it was ultimately canceled, which we’ll get to. And you were gonna do Superman, which I was excited about, with Nicolas Cage’s Superman. I said this is gonna be great. Yeah, I was excited about it, too.
The Death of Superman
Yeah, and what went wrong? So, without any further ado, let’s dive in and take a look at what Tim Burton’s Superman Lives could have been like. In the early 90s, comic sales for Superman were lagging, which is why writers at DC decided to do the unthinkable. After 54 years, DC Comics has decided to kill off Superman.
I think they do it just to get money, and then, like, he’s gonna revive in two days. Not only did the stunt dramatically increase sales, but once the public learned that DC was planning to kill a beloved cultural icon, the story received unprecedented media coverage. Superman will die November 18th at the hands of a villain named Doomsday.
Superman Reborn
This is why the death of Superman would lay the foundation for Superman’s return to the big screen. Originally titled Superman Reborn, this version of the script saw Lois and Clark struggle with relationship problems, as Clark’s dual life as Superman prevented him from committing fully to Lois. After a battle with Doomsday and as Superman dies in Lois arms, he finally professes his love to her, as his life force jumps to her body, eventually resulting in a virgin birth.
Their child dramatically ages 21 years in 3 weeks and becomes the new Superman before going on to save the world. Obviously, Warner Bros. didn’t go for this, and another writer was brought in to try again. This version of the script introduces Brainiac as the main villain and makes him the one responsible for the destruction of Krypton, which is what brings him to Earth to destroy the last son of Krypton.
Kevin Smith Superman
To do that, he creates Doomsday, who, you guessed it, kills Superman. However, prior to that, a subplot features Clark visiting a psychiatrist to help him cope with his dual identity. Obviously, this script had issues of its own, and as Warner Bros. debated how to proceed, they just happened to be meeting with indie filmmaker Kevin Smith about a couple of other projects.
During this meeting, the topic of Superman Reborn came up. Prompting Smith to ask to read the script. This is a horrible script. I mean, it was just really, really bad. When he met with WB again, he straight up told him he didn’t like it before being asked what he’d do differently, and I was like, oh, well, I changed the title.
Jon Peters Superman
It wasn’t Superman born. I want to call it Superman Lives. I thought that sounded cool, plus. Fletch Lives had always sounded cool to me. Smith was hired and then paired with producer Jon Peters in what has become the stuff of legend. And I have to give credit where it’s due because it is just as legendary as Peters’s rise from hairdresser to movie producer, which began with Peters designing a short wig for Barbra Streisand to wear in the 1974 comedy For Pete’s Sake.
Shortly thereafter, the two began to date, and Peters leveraged his new romantic relationship with her. To produce Streisand’s next studio album, Butterfly, and film, A Star Is Born, despite having no experience doing either. I’ve been a hairdresser for 17 years, and uh, I’m also a hustler. He’d go on to produce Batman 89, which would see him clash with Tim Burton repeatedly on set, as he’d force his ideas on him, just like what he’d eventually do to Kevin Smith on Superman Lives.
Jon Peters’ Directives
Not only can you thank Peters for Batman fighting a goon with swords, but the entire climax at the cathedral, on Burton during the middle of shooting, as Peters commissioned production designer Anton Furst to create a 38-foot model of a cathedral without telling Burton and without rewriting the script to include the new set piece.
Burton was understandably furious but had to keep shooting and work the cathedral into the script. As he filmed Nicholson taking Vicki Vale up the cathedral steps, Nicholson kept asking where they were going and why, to which Burton replied, Burton replied, we’ll talk about it when you get to the top.
And that’s because Burton had no answer for him because he didn’t know himself, as he had to rewrite the script on the fly thanks to Peters. None of this really mattered in the end since Batman 89 was a massive success, which inspired Peters to try and buy the rights to Superman if and when they became available to try and repeat that success.
When Warner Bros. carelessly let the rights to Superman expire, Peters swiftly swooped in and bought them up. Thus, it becomes the thorn in the side of every filmmaker who would ever try to make a Superman movie again. Famously being banned from the Man of Steel set by Christopher Nolan. What happens occasionally with some producers is they want to play director, but they often lack the vision and talent to be one, hence why they’re producers.
Jon Peters was no different, and with no director yet attached to Superman Lives to steer the project, he got to live out his fantasy as he told Smith he didn’t want Superman to fall. His iconic blue, red, and yellow suit instead he wanted. actually, why don’t I just let Tim Burton tell you they wanted to have him on, Like Michael Jordan shorts, right?
Kevin Smith’s Script
Like, oh, no. They said to like this. The costume designer and I were looking at each other like We almost died. They go, um, we see him wearing corduroy as Superman. Like corduroy, I don’t even understand. Those are elements from another planet. They don’t have corduroy on Krypton. Then they said, maybe give him boots, but you know, like, uh, on the side of a van, like, like with flames on it.
Smith, being simply a screenwriter for hire, was forced to do whatever was requested of him. Although he tried to get around such restrictions like the no flying rule by having superman streak across the sky in a blur, creating a sonic wave. Boom. Peter’s other idiotic requests are well known, such as Superman having to fight a giant spider.
And he’s like, Do you know anything about spiders? And I said, I mean, no. And he said, Well, they’re the fiercest killers in the insect kingdom.
Brainiac having to fight polar bears at the Fortress of Solitude. And he says, Yeah, you know anything about polar bears? And I said, No, I don’t. He’s like, Polar bears are the fiercest killers in the animal kingdom. Laughter and applause Giving Brainiac a robot sidekick that sounds like Dwight Ewell from Chasing Amy.
I said, really? You want the, the robot to sound like a gay black man? Laughter And giving Brainiac a space dog companion like Chewy. We need Chewy in this movie. And I was like, you want
Smith’s script featured Lex Luthor sending a signal out into deep space, inviting any and all aliens to come visit Earth with knowledge of Superman. Brainiac answers the call and travels to Earth to meet with him before the two team up to destroy Superman. In this version, Brainiac is after a powerful Kryptonian robot of sorts, known as the Eradicator, that Jor El has sent with his son to protect Earth.
It’s kind of like Times Square, so they’ve got TVs everywhere or whatever, and then like they all just go, they’re just taken over, and there’s a big Bat symbol. And then he comes on and he gives them this message of encouragement while Superman’s body is teleported to the fortress of solitude, where the eradicator brings him back to life, sheathing him in a robot suit formed from the eradicator itself.
This suit also simulates Superman’s powers for him, which are currently not working due to the sun being blocked out. Eventually the Eradicator gives his life to destroy the machine, blocking out the sun, thus restoring Superman’s powers who goes on to fight a giant spider inhabited by brainiacs consciousness.
Nicolas Cage
It’s safe to say that there are a lot of fantastical elements in this script, and a lot of it feels more like what you’d find in a cartoon rather than a live action film, which would have been challenging and expensive to achieve in the 90s with the limitations of visual effects at the time. While Kevin Smith wrote the script with friend and colleague Ben Affleck in mind to play the Man of Steel, The screenplay would eventually end up in the hands of Nicolas Cage, who absolutely loved it.
Cage, a huge comic book fan himself, is actually a Coppola, as in Francis Ford Coppola, who’s his uncle. When Nick embarked on his acting career, he made a conscious decision to change his last name, aiming to steer clear of any accusations of nepotism associated with being Coppola’s nephew. In fact, you’re, you’re, you named yourself after an action hero.
The Cast of Superman
Yeah, Luke Cage, yeah. African American superhero. He was Luke Cage, Power Man. Now, contrary to popular belief, Tim Burton did not cast Nick Cage as Superman. Nick Cage cast Tim Burton. Originally, producer Jon Peters was set to hire diehard directors. to director Rennie Harlan. But Cage wanted Tim Burton to direct the film instead and said he’d sign on if Tim did.
Tim, meanwhile, was coming off a couple box office disappointments and was desperate for a hit. So with that, both he and Cage signed on, each getting pay or play deals for 5 million and 20 million respectively. That meant that they’d be paid whether the movie was made or not. And in one of the only times I’ve agreed with Peters on the casting of Cage, he said he felt he could convince audiences Superman came from outer space.
I can’t argue with that. Burton would go on to state that it would be the first time you would believe that nobody could recognize Clark Kent as Superman as Cage could physically change his persona. And while I think the late, great Christopher Reeve pulled this off pretty brilliantly, it definitely seems to have been lost in recent portrayals of the character.
I call it the Dean Cain Clark Kent, where Superman just throws on a suit and glasses, but basically acts exactly the same. Even Henry Cavill, who delivered a commendable portrayal of Superman, leaned towards the Dean Cain Clark Kent. Clark Kent style when playing the reporter. The fun of this character is the radical difference between the portrayals of both Superman and Clark Kent, and so far I think only Christopher Reeve has been able to pull this off convincingly.
However, I think Cage would have given us something new, fresh, and unique with his portrayal of both characters, and really knocked it out of the park. Nobody would think this is Superman. The rest of the casting was pretty solid too. Kevin Spacey was eyed for Lex Luthor, which we’d eventually get to see in Superman Returns.
Superman will never WRONG! Christopher Walken was Burton’s first choice to play Brainiac. And Chris Rock was cast as Jimmy Olsen. Chris Rock came into work one day on Dogma and was like, guess who’s playing Jimmy Olsen? Who would have played Lois Lane is a little more up in the air. Producer Jon Peters wanted and claims he approached Sandra Bullock, who turned them down.
Well, Tim Burton suggested he wasn’t interested in casting her for the part. Other names thrown around were Courtney Cox, who played a similar character in tabloid reporter Gale Weathers in Scream, and Julianne Moore. Unfortunately for Kevin Smith, the first thing Burton wanted to do once he was hired, which he had done on the previous two Batman films, was bring in his own writer to shape the film more to his style.
And Strick, who had previously worked with Burton on Batman Returns, was brought in. Strict script contains several notable changes from Smith’s version for one. Superman doesn’t even know he’s an alien from Krypton until later in the film. He and the public believe he’s a genetically enhanced superhuman, hence his name, Superman.
It also features Brainiac and Lex Luther amalgamating into the super villain known as Lexic. The Eradicator is also reimagined in this version and renamed to K. Tim had a brilliant idea to have Kay start out as almost a teddy bear. Kal El was a baby when he got into the craft to come to Earth, and as Kal El grew in the spaceship on his journey to Earth, he’d have this little teddy bear, a companion, something to comfort him a little bit.
And K had the abilities to morph and to change to suit his needs. Superman also doesn’t really do a lot of Superman esque things in this film either, which might have been Jon Peter’s influence. And after Superman dies and comes back to life, he basically becomes a version of Batman, as he wears an armored suit fitted with a plethora of bizarre gadgets to take out criminals.
Both Warners and Cage hated this draft, which is why Warners forced Burton to fire Strick immediately. I kind of interrupted him. I saw where it was going. I said, Tim, you’re firing me. He’d be replaced by Dan Gilroy, writer and director of Nightcrawler, who was tasked with not only improving the script, but getting the budget down, too.
While the script continued to be rewritten, pre production charged ahead at full speed with the construction of sets, the design and testing of costumes, and of course, Jon Peter’s persistent meddling. Just like on Batman 89 with the Cathedral, over Burton’s head again, going straight to the art department and forcing them to copy the cover of a National Geographic containing a picture of a skull for the design of Brainiac’s ship.
Peters also would bring kids into the art department office and have them write the concept drawings on the wall to see if they’d make for good toys. Around this time, Warner Bros. found itself on a cold streak after producing a string of successful films. Schumacher’s infamous Batman Robin, which Burton would blame for not only sinking his Superman film, but destroying his Batman franchise as well.
Superman Lives Canceled
It was at this point that Warner Bros. got cold feet, as the budget for Superman Lives had ballooned to an absurd 300 million if it were to go forward. Not only that, but internally they voiced concerns that Tim Burton’s vision might alienate audiences, just like what happened with Batman Returns, which led to the film underperforming at the box office.
Your guess for why they didn’t voice these concerns before? or he was hired are as good as mine. And with millions already spent on the film, Warner Brothers decided to bite the bullet and cut their losses, officially cancelling the project with only a few weeks to go before the start of production.
Much of the budget that was slated to go towards Superman Lives, as well as Jon Peter’s infamous Giant Spider, would be diverted to the production of Wild Wild West. Which is a shame, because if you listen to Nick Cage talk about the film before it was cancelled, you can tell how excited he was to be a part of it, and how invested he was in the project.
I know this movie will appeal to all ages, but I particularly want to say to children, you know, it’s okay to be different. Uh, and you know, kids are in class getting called weirdo. Don’t feel bad, because you know, Superman’s a weirdo. You know, he’s from outer space. So I hope there will be elements that will be unique.
And I think with Tim Burton, there will be. And I think it’ll have a lot of soul. That’s what I’m going for. And if you listen to his thoughts after it was cancelled, it’s clear he’s still a little sour that it never happened. Will Superman come back? Oh, I don’t know. I’ve sort of Totally let go. Yeah. I’m not.
And who can blame him? Because Superman Lives would have given us a truly ambitious and unique take on the Man of Steel. And even though this film was never made, it continues to capture our imaginations to this day. Do you still see yourself as playing Superman? No. Not at all. I think you would have been a good Superman.
Thank you. I think that’s one of the great tragedies of cinema history that that doesn’t happen. I think we were robbed. Thanks for watching everybody and don’t forget to like and subscribe to Bullets and Blockbusters for more great content.
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