30 Years Ago, DC’s Superman Reboot Plans Had Three Terrible Rules (And Almost Beat Man of Tomorrow in a Major Way)

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It’s hard to imagine, but 30 years ago, a very unusual Superman movie was planned that would have caused quite a stir. This was back in 1996, shortly after Kevin Smith directed the indie hit Clerks and the less successful, but forward-thinking Mallrats. Four years earlier, Tim Burton’s Batman Returns had shown Hollywood that big-budget superhero blockbusters could work. Burton and Smith were set to collaborate on Superman Lives, and it promised to be unlike any Superman film we’d seen before.

This article explores the troubled reboot of Superman, detailing the strict and unusual demands the studio placed on the project. It also reveals how this version of the film nearly introduced a major, long-running villain to the big screen before Superman: Man of Tomorrow did.

Kevin Smith Was Supposed to Write a Superman Movie

Before Kevin Smith’s film Clerks came out in 1994, DC Comics created a buzz with its The Death of Superman comic book series in 1992. The comic was a huge success, selling more copies than any DC title before it, and Warner Bros. began thinking about making a movie based on the story. They had two exciting ideas: hiring Kevin Smith, a known comic book fan, to write the screenplay and bringing in Tim Burton, the director of several Batman films, to direct.

Over the years, Smith has discussed the script for Superman Lives and its development, and his comments suggest it’s probably a good thing the movie never actually happened. Adding to that, Tim Burton’s choice of Nicolas Cage as Superman seems strange in retrospect, considering the project’s plans. But even more confusing were the restrictions Warner Bros. placed on Smith while he was writing.

The 2015 documentary, The Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened?, revealed the story behind the famously troubled film. According to director Kevin Smith, producer Jon Peters made some unusual requests for the script – demands Peters later denied while also dismissing Smith as an inexperienced writer. Smith claims Peters insisted Superman couldn’t wear his traditional red and blue suit with the “S” shield, couldn’t fly, and had to battle a giant spider in the final act. Smith shared this same account in his DVD release, An Evening With Kevin Smith.

Jon Peters has refuted these stories, but it’s notable that he also produced Will Smith’s Wild Wild West, a movie famous for being a huge financial disappointment. The film featured a massive mechanical spider in its climax. Interestingly, author Neil Gaiman once mentioned that Peters also wanted to adapt Sandman, but insisted on including giant spiders in that project too.

Kevin Smith & Tim Burton’s Superman Would Have Beat Man of Tomorrow to the Punch

Kevin Smith shared another strange request from Jon Peters during the development of the Superman film. Apparently, Peters insisted Superman battle a large polar bear, claiming they were the most dangerous animals on Earth. It’s still unclear why he wanted this scene, especially with Brainiac already set as the primary villain.

Actually, the fact that Superman Lives was never finished is a good thing. The planned movie would have introduced Brainiac, a major Superman villain, but in a somewhat strange way – a fight with a polar bear. Now, James Gunn’s upcoming Man of Tomorrow movie will finally bring Brainiac to the big screen for the first time, and that moment will have a much bigger impact because audiences haven’t seen Brainiac in a movie before.

Kevin Smith mentioned he really enjoyed seeing Nicolas Cage appear as Superman in The Flash. The scene showed the film’s Flash encountering different versions of characters from across the multiverse. Although Smith and Tim Burton’s Superman Lives movie was never actually made, it’s fun to think that, in at least one alternate reality, their take on Superman did become a reality.

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2026-01-11 02:41