Warner Bros. Animation is apparently hellbent on adapting every major comic book storyline of the last 40 years, and now we have the first image from their upcoming take on the biggest Man of Steel tale of the 1990s, The Death of Superman.
It’s going to be difficult to explain quite how big an event this storyline was. I’m talking front page of the newspaper, international coverage on the news, multiple think pieces about what the death of this cultural icon would mean, etc. Seriously, it was a huge deal.
Superman’s death came in the form of grey, bony Hulk Hogan lookalike Doomsday. Eschewing Lex Luthor and Brainiac’s complex plans, the big bad simply punched Supes to death (in the end, he was gone for just under a year). When the moment finally came (in Superman Vol 2 #75) the issue broke sales records, with buyers assuming that this is the kind of comic you could base a pension plan around (they were strange times). It’s also probably the last time that the Superman comic book was properly culturally relevant, which makes it a no brainer for adapting to animation.
It’s such a no brainer, in fact, that, uh, they’ve already done it.
2007’s Superman: Doomsday was the first of the DC Universe Animated original movies and boasted Adam Baldwin as Superman. It was pretty good, too. Surely they wouldn’t tread the same ground twice, right? Well, word is that it’s going to be part of their New 52 storylines, which I guess means they’ll tweak the plot to keep it in line with modern comics continuity.
It’s planned to be the first in a two-parter, as well, with The Reign of the Supermen, which follows the less popular second part of the story in which four Supermen (Boy, Cyborg, Kryptonian and Armored) vied for his mantle, also on the way.
The film is due out in early 2019, but closer to home we’ve got Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay on March 27th, which will apparently come with a preview of The Death of Superman. Until then, though, check out the first image at the top of the page and let us know if you’re looking forward to this one.