Warner Bros. has released a first look image from Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman film Man of Steel. The photo (see the larger version after the jump) shows Henry Cavill as Superman in the new costume.

Of course, it’s impossible to judge based on one image, but so far we like what we see. The image is desaturated of color. This may be the style of the film, or just this particular image. Designer Anthony Tackett (www.tackettdesign.com) bumped up the color on the official image to the appropriate level for the flesh tones. I think the comparison below shows the difference in color. The image on the right shows the primary colors we’re used to seeing in a Superman costume.

The original, desaturated image (left) compared to the full-color image.

The press release and full image from Warner Bros.:

BURBANK, CA, August 4, 2011 – Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have provided the first look at the new Man of Steel, revealing star Henry Cavill as Superman in the film from director Zack Snyder.

The film also stars three-time Oscar® nominee Amy Adams (The Fighter) as Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane, and Oscar® nominee Laurence Fishburne (What’s Love Got to Do with It) as her editor-in-chief, Perry White. Kent’s adoptive parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent, are Oscar® nominee Diane Lane (Unfaithful) and Academy Award® winner Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves).

Squaring off against the superhero are two other surviving Kryptonians, the villainous General Zod, played by Oscar® nominee Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), and Faora, Zod’s evil partner, played by Antje Traue. Also from Superman’s native Krypton are Lara Lor-Van, Superman’s mother, played by Julia Ormond, and Superman’s father, Jor-El, portrayed by Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator). Rounding out the cast are Harry Lennix as U.S. military man General Swanwick, as well as Christopher Meloni as Colonel Hardy.

Man of Steel is being produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder. The screenplay was written by David S. Goyer, from a story by Goyer and Nolan, based upon Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.

Currently in production, Man of Steel is slated for release on June 14, 2013 and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Here’s the full image. Click on it to see it in all it’s glory. What are your thoughts? Do you like the new look?

Amy Adams has been cast as Lois Lane in Zack Synder's new Superman film.

For the past few weeks, everyone has been asking my opinion on the latest casting rumors for Zack Snyder’s Superman film.

Among my friends and family, I am considered the expert on all things Kryptonian. I have been reading Superman comics since my youth. I even wrote my master’s thesis on the dual nature of the Clark Kent / Superman persona. (True story.) I have Superman statues in my home, a Superman action figure on my desk at work, and I have seen nearly every Superman film and television series made.

Now Snyder is planning to reboot the series, much as Christopher Nolan did with the Batman franchise in 2005. He’s pretending that all the previous films are not there, and building a new Superman story for moviegoers.

He’s starting from scratch. That means a brand new cast. And with every announcement, someone is pontificating about how the actor or actress selected will affect the film.

But I don’t think it’s fair to judge a film by its casting (or its choice of director for that matter). It’s like trying to judge a meal based on the ingredients in the kitchen. Sure, I may hate mushrooms, but if you do it right I might love the sauce.

So it is with the Superman reboot. And I’ve kept relatively quiet about the casting choices.

Sure, I twitched when I heard they were casting a Brit in the iconic superhero role. But aside from Stardust and The Tudors, I haven’t seen much of Henry Cavill. So I’m willing to cut him some slack. After all, until this year’s Academy Awards, I had no idea that Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) is from Australia. And he apparently has a heck of an accent when he’s not playing an American.

For the casting of Jonathan and Martha Kent, my opinions are split. Diane Lane is (in my opinion) too young — and way too hot — to play Ma Kent. I keep thinking of her 20 years ago as a rock singer in Streets of Fire. She was amazing. I can’t imagine her as Martha. Casting Kevin Costner as Pa Kent, however, seems pretty spot-on. You can’t get a more American-Heartland-homespun-type than Costner.

Then, this weekend, news came out that Snyder had picked three-time Academy Award nominee Amy Adams to play Lois Lane. I love her work, and I have enjoyed her in everything from Enchanted to Julie & Julia to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

She’s (pardon the pun) super. But is she Lois Lane?

I’ll ignore the physical here. After all, makeup can make anyone look like anything. So, I’ll forget the fact that her red hair and fair complexion don’t match the traditional look of the character.

She certainly has some acting chops, and she’s always a delight to see on screen. But every film I’ve seen her in she has been cheerful and perky. Granted, I haven’t seen some of her more serious work. So I’m going to say… maybe. It might work.

Actually, that’s been my reaction to most of the news coming out of Snyder’s Superman reboot. It’s all so… maybe. It could be good. But I refuse to get my hopes up.

And now word has come through that actors Michael Shannon and Edgar Ramirez are being considered as villains in the film. I’m not sure what to think of either of them, as I have no idea which parts they might play. People keep guessing Zod as a villain, but Snyder flatly denied that. So my guess is either Bizarro or Brainiac.

At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s fair to judge Snyder’s Superman film until we see it in context. Who knows? He might have a great new take on the characters.

Whatever Snyder decides to do, I hope he brings something new to the story without throwing out the decades of Superman canon.

If he does it well, I’ll be willing to admit that all my fears were for nothing.

Smallville promotional image ©2010 CW

Over at DC Comics, they released this promotional image for the final half of the final season of Smallville on CW. Though I only watch the show on occasion these days, I have to admit that the iconic imagery is engaging. The Superman symbol behind Clark (Tom Welling) really stands out.

But it’s the reflection beneath him that gives me chills.

This is a great promo. It captures the spirit of the series that grabbed me in season one, the idea that this was the beginning of something amazing. Seeing Clark Kent as he developed his powers and began to learn about himself gave us new insights into Superman.

But, as the series continued to unfold, it turned away from canon and built its own Smallville mythos that had little to do with the comic books. Characters were introduced into Clark’s life way too early. Heroes and villains appeared who should never have existed before Superman. And, worst of all, the series made a fatal mistake of turning into a typical CW teen soap opera.

Even so, part of me wants to see how it all ends. As much as it pains me, I may have to start watching Smallville again just to see how this whole mess sorts out.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Is Superman going to get the Dark Knight treatment?

According to the folks over at Deadline Hollywood, Christopher Nolan is being tapped to be a mentor of sorts for a third reboot of the Superman film franchise.

Following his successes with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, one can’t blame Warner Bros. for thinking he could help revive the franchise. After all, it’s been over three years since Superman Returns hit the screen to critical and fan ennui. Maybe he could make a difference.

But let’s not rush to assume this is a good thing. Isn’t this pretty much the same thinking that got WB into this mess in the first place? Bryan Singer, who had turned the X-Men mutants into household names, was given free reign to create Superman Returns as an homage to Richard Donner‘s work on the original films.

The result of Singer’s work was as hotly contested as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. And no wonder. They both tell of Christ figures having a child that religious conservatives or comic book zealots consider blasphemy.

Now Nolan is entering the Superman picture. While Nolan’s plate is undoubtedly too full (including a third Batman film) to allow him to direct, the WB is hoping some of his vision (and box office mojo) will rub off on the Man of Steel. But what could Nolan do to make Superman more poular? Make him darker? Make him more brooding? Let’s hope not.

The Superman franchise definitely needs a fresh approach, but I hope they don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. The art direction in Superman Returns was solid, setting Superman in a Metropolis that was both modern and timeless.  Likewise, the score is a classic that needs little to no tweaking.

I would like to see more of the impact of Superman on society. The key to Superman is not in who he is or what he does, but the affect he has on others. He inspires. He makes us want to be better. There’s a reason why he’s in Metropolis, a City of Tomorrow, rather than Gotham.

For my money, the one thing the Superman movies have missed is the one thing that made the television show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman so good. Lois and Clark are reporters and they used their reporting skills to uncover the villain’s plot every week. For some reason, the films seem to ignore that fact — except as a plot device to get Lois into trouble. Work in more investigative journalism and adventure for the human characters (including Clark). Save the big action for the climax.

Villains I want to see: Brainiac, Metallo, Parasite, Lex Luthor and Bizarro. I’m not suggesting using all of them in one film, but they could certainly play off each other the way Joker and Two-Face did in The Dark Knight. Wouldn’t you love to see Kevin Spacey as Luthor becoming the catalyst that alerts Brainiac to Superman’s existence?

However the WB and the newly minted DC Entertainment handle this, I hope they understand that Superman is not irrelevant or out-of-touch with the modern world. Just because he’s good and pure doesn’t make him less interesting than Batman. His power to inspire is the key to making him relevant.

Ignore the cynics and ask yourself: What Would Superman Do?