Right now he certainly looks the part. Christopher Reeve and Dean Cain may have spoiled us into viewing the character as a young, relatively slim guy, but traditionally Superman has been a barrel-chested, chisel-chinned, mature man. Artist Alex Ross has always done a great job portraying what I consider to be the iconic image of what the Man of Steel looks like. I think one of the many mistakes that Bryan Singer and the other makers of Superman Returns committed was casting Reeve-lookalike Brandon Routh in the lead. Routh is a fine actor, but it seemed he was too busy channeling Reeve rather than making the character his own.
It is understandable that the studio would want to cast a young actor to spearhead the franchise. If multiple movies are made, someone who is 40 will likely show his age after a couple of sequels. But that is a challenge that every actor must face when playing a superhero who arguably doesn't age as ordinary mortals do. Superman is invulnerable, so would his cells age at the normal rate?
The comics have handled the age factor rather well, so there is no reason to doubt that the movie series could do the same. I would rather see a story with Superman as an established figure, like in the Kingdom Come storyline, than another origin storyline with a 20-year-old who would be better suited to play Superboy instead of Superman.
Some of the best performances of heroes have come from older thespians -- Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Michael Keaton as Batman, George Reeves as the original TV Superman, and others. There should be no fear that Jon Hamm or another actor in his 30s or even 40s could not succeed in playing the part of Superman for ten years or more. Let us hope that Warner Bros. and Nolan do not take the seemingly easy way out and cast a young pretty boy to play the mighty Last Son of Krypton.
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A question for the ages.
And you know what, Michael Cain pulled off a bad ass at near 80...*S* I'm old enough to appreciate a seasoned superhero...*nods*, but alas I'm not the demographic under consideration for most of Hollywood's drivel.
I guess I should be happy that at least they're continuing a Superman franchise, but part of the problem is that they keep trying to reignite it, and then try to reignite the reignition without ever just accepting their latest version and continuing on with it.
I suppose puberty isn't an issue, because the character is just maturing. But "growing old" would be when the body starts breaking down. So arguably Superman can age into maturity, but then wouldn't have to suffer from wrinkles, disease, gray hair, etc.
Did you know there are Lois Clubs all over the world? They meet for lunch every couple of months. Someone must do those Hello, I'm... name tags in bulk for these events. Where was I? Oh yeah, Superman's age which has to be in the mid-70s. How can he grow old if Lois and the others are forever young? I vote for the youngest guy who walks the walk.
I'm already drooling.
My spouse and I are Superman and Lois every Hallowe'en. Him with the open dress shirt with Superman T underneath and the appropriate specks. A lock of hair over his forehead. I wear my little pink business suit, matching pink/white spectator heels, carry a Reporters Notebook and wear a LOIS LANE Daily Planet press badge. Why we alway seem to win a prize is more to do with the originals than us copycats.
Rated.
Lois
We're got a daughter Elana, along the same lines....
Lois
Bob -- I completely agree with everything you said. Superman has been around since the 1930s, most people know the details of his origins. No need for a new movie to reinvent the wheel. Just tell an exciting new story with the character everyone already knows and loves.
Happy Blogging,
Heather
That's sort of what they did with Helen Slater's Supergirl. I recall an interview when they were making it where they said they picked someone very thin and not obviously strong (her arms are quite thin) so that it would make a contrast between what she looked like and how she played. The movie was not a big success, but I blame that on the plot (which was kind of long and winding and maybe not dense enough with super-stuff for some kind of budget reason), not the choice of actress. There's a quite cute scene in there where some guy (her boyfriend? It's been a while) finds out she's supergirl and asks her something about her muscles and you see her flex her arm and it looks really silly, but in a pleasantly comical way that the moviemakers clearly intended.
I like the post
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