Will The Real Man Of Steel Please Man Up?

Okay, it's been around twenty-four hours since the release of the photo from Zack Snyder's "Superman Man of Steel". Now that the excitement has leveled off (hasn't it?) let me share some observations with you.  

From the picture it looks like Supes is having a bad day at the bank vault. Maybe he didn't have valid ID for a withdrawal? Where would he keep a wallet in a suit that tight anyway? Scrutinizing the picture, I noticed two things: One, Henry Cavill's facial expression makes him look oddly like a constipated Ben Stiller. And two, I thought I detected some Gil Kane influence going on with Cavill's pose.

While my fellow comic book geeks will get the Gil Kane reference, allow me to explain it for the people who have real lives. Gil Kane (1926-2000) was an influential comic book artist who drew every genre from westerns to sci-fi to superheroes. Kane's stint on Spider-Man resulted in one of the best interpretations of that character; in fact, several of Kane's poses were referenced in Sam Raimi's Spidey films (Spider-Man 2, in particular). So now you know I really do have too much time on my hands.

Back to the photo: What can we really tell from it? Not much, and I'm sure that was the studio's intent; give us just enough to whet our appetite. Looks like this Man of Steel is beefier, sporting some attitude. That's not a bad thing. But with Christopher Nolan involved I hope they don't go the Dark Knight route with Superman. Batman lives in the shadows, after all; Superman is the bright beacon of hope.

I pray the destruction depicted in the photo (whether it's actually from the film or just a staged publicity shot) portends an action-packed Superman movie. I thought that was a big reason why they hired Zack Snyder in the first place; for his action expertise. Say what you want about "Sucker Punch", it did have some impressive action set pieces. Come to think of it, that is all I have to say about "Sucker Punch".

Here's hoping Snyder and company don't sucker punch us with celluloid Kryptonite when "Superman Man of Steel" mans up in theaters in 2013.