Superman has a spotty film history, to say the least. Though many fondly remember the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films, the third and fourth movies in the franchise are better off being forgotten. Superman Returns did little to make the son of Krypton any new fans, and while Zack Snyder's Man of Steel was commercially successful, it too has its fair share of detractors.
Now Superman is set to face off against Batman in what will be the starting point for a DC cinematic universe, with Superman front and center. That being said, Superman's film history could have been a whole lot weirder if a script written by a pre-Lost J.J. Abrams had become a reality...and it almost did.
In 2002, Abrams submitted a script for a new take on DC's flagship superhero. Simply titled Superman, it would have been the character's triumphant return to the big screen, though one that would have likely enraged more than a few fans.
That's because, despite some of the liberties taken with Superman in Man of Steel, Abrams took far, far more in his first draft for this unproduced film. For starters, Krypton isn't destroyed in the film, with Superman instead sent to Earth in order to elude his evil uncle and angry, General Zod-esque cousin. Superman's father, Jor-El, actually travels to Earth to study the Kent family in order to determine whether or not they would be good parents to raise a young Superman.
And then there is Lex Luthor. No longer the brainy CEO of Lexcorp, the character is instead a CIA agent who spends his time chasing down UFOs...and who is also a Kryptonian sleeper cell.
It is just as dumb as it sounds. No matter how great the action scenes sounded on paper or how clever the dialogue between characters turned out to be, fans would have crucified Abrams for the creative liberties he took with Superman's established mythology. And that's without even mentioning face-palm worthy moments like Papa Kent dying from a heart attack when he learns of Superman's first heroic deeds or Clark Kent as a college student changing his major to journalism after he bumps into Lois Lane at a frat party.
Despite some the strange plot decisions, it's hard to deny the action scenes described in the first script do sound pretty incredible. There are giant Kryptonian mechs that destroy major world landmarks, Kryptonian ninjas inspired by The Matrix and the armies of the world united with Superman to fight off the Kryptonian war machines. Superman, in a rise to fame montage, saves Air Force One, stops a volcano, rescues people from a tsunami and more.
Abrams also put a lot of thought into Krypton itself. Scenes between Kryptonians would have had the aliens speaking a fictional language with subtitles displayed for the audience. From what's on display in the script, Krypton feels much more like a real place, especially when compared to the version of Superman's home world on display in Man of Steel.
Of course, there was a reason Abrams focused on creating a captivating Krypton. Abrams planned for the film to kickstart a trilogy, a trilogy that would eventually have Superman travel to his homeworld in order to fulfill a prophecy as the leader of his people.
And that was all in the first draft of the script. The second draft, now going by the title Superman: Flyby, fixes some of the various elements that wouldn't have worked in the first draft and reduces the size and scope of the movie to make a product that might actually be filmable. Gone are the Kryptonian ninjas and the destruction of world landmarks. Instead, the final battle takes place in Metropolis between Superman and a giant Kryptonian mech.
There are numerous other changes as well. Lex Luthor, for example, isn't a CIA agent in the second draft. Instead, he's simply a conspiracy theorist who tracks down UFOs on his own time. When he discovers a crashed Kryptonian pod, he "mind melds" with the machine and becomes enlightened, losing his hair in the process. From there he is set on the path to become the Luthor comics fans are more familiar with, even running for president.
Abrams made some changes to Krypton as well. Perhaps as a means to reach a happy middle ground with fans, a significant portion of Krypton is destroyed in the second draft, a move that would put the planet on the path of eventually being destroyed entirely in later films like fans would have expected.
Present in both scripts is Superman's death and resurrection, albeit without any involvement from Doomsday. Considering Superman's most significant comic arc in the past three decades had been the Death and Return of Superman, all the parties involved felt the need to include the character's death and return on film as well.
It sounds like it could have worked, and it almost did. Joseph McGinty Nichol (or McG, as he is known) and Brett Ratner were both attached to direct at one point. McG dropped out, then Ratner, then McG again, and though Abrams offered to direct his script, Warner Bros. wasn't having it. Costume designs were made, casting decisions were being considered and plenty of concept art was created. You can see the art Phil Saunders did for the project throughout this post and on his website.
So who would have starred in the film? Nothing was ever set in stone, but a huge number of names popped up throughout the film's development. Surprisingly enough, future Superman Henry Cavill tested for the role, but actor Matt Bomer was eventually seen as Ratner's favorite choice. Other actors trying for the part of Superman included Paul Walker, Jude Law, Ashton Kutcher, Hayden Christensen and Brendan Fraser, but none of those panned out due to concerns over the long-term commitment a trilogy of Superman films would entail.
Both Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. were being considered for the role of Luthor, with Scarlett Johansson tossed around as one of the top choices for Lois Lane. Shia Labeouf and Justin Timberlake were each pegged to play Jimmy Olsen at one point.
But the movie simply wasn't to be. Just as with Tim Burton's cancelled Superman Lives film starring Nicholas Cage before it, Superman: Flyby would never see the light of day, despite all the work that went into the project. Budget concerns, production woes, internal feuds, McG's reluctance to film in Australia (and his ironic fear of flying) all contributed to the project never taking off.
Instead, Superman's cinematic revival would be taken in an entirely different direction with Bryan Singer's 2006 Superman Returns. The film wasn't received well critically or commercially, and it would be another seven years before Zack Snyder's Man of Steel would see release.
The DC cinematic universe could have been a dramatically different place had Superman: Flyby been made. That being said, J.J. Abrams probably isn't too upset his vision for a Superman trilogy never became reality. He's gone on to tackle Star Trek, Star Wars, Mission Impossible, Lost and more, and now his name is synonymous with quality in Hollywood. Had Superman: Flyby been made, that might not have been the case.
