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Max Landis On What He'd Do With SUPERMAN

The talented and sometimes controversial screenwriter is penning an origin story for the Atomic Skull in the backpages of Grant Morrison's Action Comics. While discussing that project, he also revealed how he'd approach writing the Big Blue Boy Scout.

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By Mark Julian - 10/25/2012


Landis recently caught a bit of flack for his comments made during MorrisonCon in Las Vegas where he refused to put his movie Chronicle in the superhero category. But this is also the same guy who made the 'mockumentary' short film about The Death and Return of Superman so clearly he's a fan or at least intrigued by the genre. Read on to find out how he'd approach writing Superman.

Do you have a big Superman story that you would like to write one day?

LANDIS: What would I do if I had the keys to Superman? Honestly, my opinion of Superman has always been that he should be a normal guy. In as much the sense, we don't go too cartoon-y, we don't go too far into the idea that he's an alien. We just focus on how [frick]ing weird it would be to be Superman. I would love to write a Superman comic, a series or an arc, which is about how bizarre it is that he's this guy who grew up in Kansas and he finds out that he's an alien. They sort of brush that over constantly, but this is a guy who, if the New 52 timeline works out, grew up watching "Alien," "E.T." and "Independence Day." And then he finds out, "Oh, that's me? I'm from space. I don't feel like I'm from space." That's what's so special for me. He's not a billionaire. He's not a [frick]ing Amazonian princess. He's not even a particularly picked-on guy. He's not Peter Parker. He's just a dude. And to grow into a slightly smarter than average dude and find out you're Superman, that's [frick]ing interesting to me.

Can you imagine if you were Superman dealing with someone like Lex Luthor? You are dealing with villains that are psychotic and want to kill you. It would take a toll on you. Of course you can say with old continuity, he's done this a million times but with New 52, I think there is room to do those stories again. Superman meeting The Joker, a character that can't actually hurt him, but easier scarier than most of his villains because of his disposition, is a fascinating story to write. Imagine if you met The Joker. It would be [frick]ing terrifying.

I feel like he should be a way-in for readers, which is a way that he really hasn't been used as. That's what I'd do with him.

RELATED CONTENT:
COMICS: DC Comics THE NEW 52-One Year Later
Mark Julian Reviews CHRONICLE
Is Josh Trank Really Going To Direct The FANTASTIC FOUR Reboot?


The shorts will feature art from Ryan Sook and will run in Action Comics Annual #1 out October 31st. You can read the interview in full by clicking the source link below.



Source: CBR
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46 Comments
luffycapri - 10/25/2012, 10:52 AM
Why does this new superman always angry and ski, why is Dc comics trying so hard to change superman and make him relateble to us, use not ment for that. And why do these new superman keep making these stupid ant American comments ?
MrShumway - 10/25/2012, 10:57 AM
@luffycapri With that avatar Im surprised you even have the nerve to talk about Superman.

Anyway, Landis is a retarded douchebag who doesn't know the first thing about Superman. If I ever meet him I'll be sure to give him a good beating on behalf of all the Superman fans.
luffycapri - 10/25/2012, 11:16 AM
True, but the smallville Clark Kent character is more kind and less darker than this new superman 52. Oh and sorry about the grammar in the first comment, I'm using my phone to make theses comments.
jumpingtheshark - 10/25/2012, 11:20 AM
Max Landis is a world class doucher. After his Twitter comments concerning TDKR and his @ replies to me (several) and other fans I have no respect for him. He is just another rich, spoiled Hollywood brat. If it wasn't for his dad he would have nothing.
SolidSnake007 - 10/25/2012, 11:27 AM
Superman was never just a normal guy... He has the entire Kryptonian database that was implanted in his head. Knowledge that humans wouldn't even be aware if it. He's not a normal guy, he just pretends to be...
HellsHammer - 10/25/2012, 11:31 AM
Jumpingtheshark
Curious what he said to you.
myparentsaredead - 10/25/2012, 11:38 AM
I'm so sick of Max Landis. I loved Chronicle, but every time he talks, particularly in his Death Of Superman vid, he comes off as so pretentious. He may've made a great movie, and his point is sort of pot on, but he's so full of himself that I cannot in any way have respect for him.
myparentsaredead - 10/25/2012, 11:38 AM
*spot
TheBatman3000 - 10/25/2012, 11:46 AM
i get what he is saying...because in the very core of it...he's a kid that grew up in a farm....and are people mad about his superman vid thing...because that shit was awesome..and so freaking funny lol
FlannelGuy26 - 10/25/2012, 12:00 PM
To expand on what Landis said and opportunities with the New 52...it be cool to see Clark early in the game. He discovers he's super strong, fast and can fly, but he has these other extra ordinary powers. When does your mind stop wondering? Ok, now I can shoot heat from my eyes and freeze people with my breath. I think a moment where someone is dying in his arms, and he just hopes, struggles, that maybe deep down, he can heal someone with a touch. That's when he realizes there's a line to what he can do.
Tomontherun99 - 10/25/2012, 12:08 PM
The general gist of comments here seem to be: "this guy has a different opinion to me so we hate him".
OdinsBeard - 10/25/2012, 12:16 PM
jumpingtheshark@ nailed it.
drellik - 10/25/2012, 12:21 PM
let me start by saying that Max Landis is a complete dumbass. Just look at the f*cking picture he took. His death/return of Superman was funny, at times, but he comes across as such an arrogant douche with a glass of scotch...wtf. also, most will disagree with me, but gimme a break, Chronicle was not that good.

that being said, i agree with him here. it's superman's human side that intrigues me the most. his power, his greatness...i love all that, too. but the story of a regular guy getting to that point...the journey of a Kansas farm boy...that's what's awesome.

@FlannelGuy, I agree.

@Tomontherun, I disagree. Max Landis is an asshole.
sciencefriction - 10/25/2012, 12:30 PM
*($) you, you hipster, lame ass movie maker. You're just more Hollywood trash to be cast off in a few years.
INSTANTJUSTICE - 10/25/2012, 12:30 PM


Landis has proved to me that Superman is still boring.
ComicsBornAndBred - 10/25/2012, 12:32 PM
at Max Landis wants to with Superman is called "The Early Seasons of Smallville". Smallville was a good show, not great. Although, it was far from perfect, its earl years depicted a great vision of what its like when you're a human young man who discovers he's an alien. Clark Kent thought of himself as human almost the entire series. Superman is a human who isnt human. He's a human who's biologically an alien. He has within him the human spirit. Smallville did a great job with that. Clark dealt with these vast alien threats, contained all the knowledge of the universe, and was seemingly a god, but he still went home to his parents and friends and didnt PRETEND to be human.....he was human. He never thought of himself as a god. He was a human with extraordinary abilites. A human with great moral values derived from his upbringing. Smallville did a great job with this. Don't hate, its true. Even with allits foibles it depicted a great Clark Kent in his early stages.
INSTANTJUSTICE - 10/25/2012, 12:33 PM
FlannelGuy26: "Ok, now I can shoot heat from my eyes and freeze people with my breath. I think a moment where someone is dying in his arms, and he just hopes, struggles, that maybe deep down, he can heal someone with a touch. That's when he realizes there's a line to what he can do."


They pretty much nailed that idea in the first Superman film, then destroyed it with time-travel.
ComicsBornAndBred - 10/25/2012, 12:34 PM
I don't think Lanis understands Superman. To be honest, I think the fact that he's Hollywood kid, perturbs his view on comics and heroes. I think it taints his view. Writers like Geoff Johns and Brian Azzarello who grew up just in love with comics, greatly understand them. Johns' Superman stories are legend.
ComicsBornAndBred - 10/25/2012, 12:36 PM
I can't take the guy seriously. No offense look at him. He jokes around too much with his mockumentary. Superman is a deep character. He just seems like everything's a joke to him. He does seem like a hipster @sciencefriction hahaha
FlannelGuy26 - 10/25/2012, 12:48 PM
INSTANTJUSTICE: Haha, I knew someone was going to eventually bring up that scene

"All those powers...and I couldn't save him"

And I meant to back myself up and elaborate on that scene, but you know how it is on a smartphone. But I mean more or less, a scene with someone, bleeding, shot, dying in his arms. And he just struggles, screaming, "COME ON! DO SOMETHING!" You see Clark's temples begin to burst, waiting.

I just think elaborating on the idea he continues to discover one power after the next. When do you think it ends?
soberchimera - 10/25/2012, 12:57 PM
Chronicle was vastly overrated, as are any of the found footage films, which is a subgenre that is dumbing down the filmmaking industry exponentially. The Death and Life of Superman mockumentary wasn't that great either, so why do we give a shit what this prick thinks in the first place.
codydriscollsrightarm - 10/25/2012, 1:30 PM
@Tomontherun99

Best [frick]ing comment ever, man.
SpideyQuad - 10/25/2012, 1:31 PM
This is the best interpretation I've seen for Superman since before John Byrne ruined him (in my eyes).
SpideyQuad - 10/25/2012, 1:35 PM
For writing out loud, you kids are looking at things through your eyes. You fail to realize Superman has been around for decades literally. My idea Superman started in the 60s and went into the 70s to just before the movie.

A lot of this stuff you talk about just came out in the last 15 years (krypton's database), heck we didn't even have computers when I was reading Superman.

In you guys need to chill out just because someone didn't like a Batman movie. You talk about avenger fans.
SpideyQuad - 10/25/2012, 1:40 PM
I really need to read the stupid responses before I respond.

Learn to read child, he said if he wrote.

I'm not even one whole page down, and over half the comments are completely ridiculous. "He's a douche, because he doesn't like what I like". "He's so into himself, because he made a good movie".

Sorry, but you guys are the ones that are coming off as douches. Now all of you off to your rooms until I tell you you can come out.
SWelch - 10/25/2012, 1:40 PM
If you want to know why Superman works read It's A Bird. It is a great graphic novel by Vertigo Comics. Written by Steven Seagle and artt by Tey Kristiansen.

An amazing work on how a comic wrter who is offered to write Superman but feels he isn't a prevelant anymore and starts to explain why he shouldn't work all he while his personal life is crumbling around him.
DatScarletPimPerNeLL - 10/25/2012, 1:52 PM
Would Superman be afraid of the Joker....really?
rbfn04 - 10/25/2012, 1:52 PM
@MrEko bravo, fam! You get Superman.
indigobolt956 - 10/25/2012, 1:58 PM
@luffycri what anti-american comments?? Dude i love america i was born n raised here but its not perfect our diets are deplorable, our government IS corrupt our econemy is roating beneath our feet
SolidSnake007 - 10/25/2012, 2:49 PM
He has the entire Kryptonian database from it's entire history and all it's knowledge including that of all worlds it's ever encountered given to him by his father Jor-El.... thought you would have known that Superguy... Or did you not watch a single Spuerman movie?
holeymonkey - 10/25/2012, 3:42 PM
comics are different to the movies....that's why Superman hasn't got a bastard son in the comics.
holeymonkey - 10/25/2012, 3:43 PM
As for what Landis said, John Byrne pretty much did that in the 80's.
BlueDemon - 10/25/2012, 3:59 PM
Max Landis isn't that bad. i don't understand all the hate.
Dynamo - 10/25/2012, 4:31 PM
I really like max landis, and if any if you watched his videos you'd know he's actually a massive Superman fan.
titansupes - 10/25/2012, 4:33 PM
Landis.

What. A. Dick.
jumpingJellybeans - 10/25/2012, 5:11 PM
Isn't Peter Parker just a smarter dude... LOL, if anything that's what Superman ISN'T.
RSDhillon - 10/25/2012, 5:53 PM
Ohh, I never thought of this. I agree with what Landis has said here.
RSDhillon - 10/25/2012, 5:56 PM
And I am not too familiar with Landis. I just agree with everything he said up there.
SolidSnake007 - 10/25/2012, 6:57 PM
@ManOfSuperguy-(I'm not trying to be a dick here I'm really asking a genuine question) Isn't the Fortress of Solitude made from the Eradicator who is the preserver of all Kryptonian knowledge and information? SO wouldn't Superman have access to all that information? (Not saying it is downloaded into his brain or anything)I always thought of Superman as being highly intellegent because of that. Why would anyone suspect that he is of average intelligence?

Also I don't think that Peter Parker is as smart as Reid Richards but he is a natural genius, maybe not on the level of Mr. Fantastic or Dr. Doom though.
Ancar - 10/25/2012, 7:55 PM
I'm happy this guy will never write a Superman story. He knows nothing about the character. Everything he spoke was just made. Read Four Seasons, asshole!
KNIGHT3000 - 10/26/2012, 6:36 AM
His mockumentary was WACK! You could tell he just looked at the pictures and didn't read the whole story, because he was too busy f#cking up the story to give it any proper justice. He was just having fun with his celebrity friends sh!tting on a classic story. He really came off as a douche. I can't believe they would let that same Ass actually write a Superman story, after he totally retold and raped an already good 1.

I mean I get it, he was trying to be funny, but he wasn't.
KNIGHT3000 - 10/26/2012, 6:39 AM
The more I hear/read Landis talking about Superman just proves he knows NOTHING about Superman. He's talking about what he would like Superman to be... Like Bryan Singer. WOW Landis even looks like a Douche
KNIGHT3000 - 10/26/2012, 6:43 AM
If I were ever going to make a mockumentary about something I didn't like, I would be sure to get my facts straight so I don't make me and all my celebrity friends look like misinformed Clowns, and it would actually turn out to be a good mockumentary, based on my facts being straight alone. Even if people thought I looked like a douche, it would be undeniable how good it would be.
EtriganTheDemon - 10/26/2012, 9:05 AM
@KNIGHT3000.

You do know it's a MOCKUMENTRY, right?
From what I saw in the post above and the video, he knows his Superman, because Superman is not a hard character to understand.

And, did you really just call The Death of Superman a good story? DC stole everyone's money with that P.O.S.
KNIGHT3000 - 10/30/2012, 8:29 AM
EtriganTheDemon

Mockumentaries are supposed to be funny, his was WACK! When Mocking something, its best to know all the details to make a successful mock. All I saw was him laughing uncontrollably while telling the story incorrectly.

And yea man, I said it, DEATH AND RETURN OF SUPERMAN was so awesome they made a best selling hard cover book, a best selling soft cover book, retold it at least 3 different ways in animation, all of which weren't as good, they tried to make a movie of it(never happened though), they introduced new characters that are awesome like Superboy, It allowed a lot of DC's smaller heroes to step into the forefront, some of which have their own shows today, like Green Lantern, Arrow, Justice League, Legion, Young Justice.

Oh yea, did I mention its the single biggest thing to happen in comics to this day, not killing Steve Rogers, nor revealing Peter Parker's true identity, Not even Alan Scott's coming out the closet could compare to killing Superman.

Maybe you don't like Superman, and thats ok I guess, But to say the 1 story that brought so many back to DC is no good, is pure ignorance. DC was literally failing in their Superman sales, until this story. This story was in fact so good, It single handedly dropped the value of all comics made since due to how much more they had to print outside of their usual numbers.

Sounds like you and that Landis geek need to do more research when talking sh!t
KNIGHT3000 - 11/1/2012, 7:54 AM
I did like CHRONICLE though

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