It really didn't sense that they needed Returns to be a sequel to the Christopher Reeve movies when they could've very easily have done a hard reboot like Batman Begins a year before.
Maybe they thought Christopher Reeve Superman was too iconic to be rebooted or just made it as nostalgia bait.
Making sequels to movies from 30 years after the fact is too late. But for this sequel, it was ahead of its time.
shareOther Superman movies and TV show reflected the eras and times they where made in, the Christopher Reeve movies were the Silver/Bronze Age Superman, Lois & Clark was how Superman was being portrayed in the 1990s, Smallville pure 2000s teen drama, Man Of Steel was Superman Earth One and Injustice, Superman Returns like 78 Supes was Silver Age Superman so it was a few decades behind to where people are with Superman.
shareI think Singer was a big fan of the Donnor film. I think even when he was making Xmen he made one of the actors watch the original Superman movie.
shareYeah and I read somewhere DC offered him tons of comics from the last twenty years at that point but he refused, he insisted on using the Christopher Reeve continuity only.
Problems in using the Donnerverse continuity are you would be off your rocker thinking your gonna come close to what the 78 movie did. Since they were using the same takes from the 78 movie, quite a bit of them aren't where Superman is at, since the Christopher Reeve movies ended we've got newer takes, Lex Luthor was now a public rich figure who runs LexCorp who is a super villain behind the scenes, in Superman Returns Lex Luthor is a wild guy who wants to do real estate schemes with kryptonite, it feels dated it isn't where the character is at, it worked thirty years ago but since then a lot has changed.
Also I think we've moved past the whole Lois loves Superman but not Clark and never knowing he's Superman. Since the OG movies ended we've had Superman reveal his identity to Lois and get married in the comics, Lois knowing he's Superman is what we got in Lois & Clark, Smallville, Man Of Steel, Superman & Lois and My Adventures With Superman, in Superman Returns they've gone the Donner route of her never knowing and loves Superman but not Clark and is in a relationship, which once again makes the film feel ancient because it isn't where the characters are at.
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