I'd Really Like to See... Geoff Johns write the next Superman film

This originally appeared as part of Zoom In Online's weekly "I'd Really Like to See..." blog series on December 11, 2008. Since a new Superman film is in the works, I thought it might have some good relevancy today.. even if we know Geoff Johns isn't going to be the scribe. Dammit.

A couple of months ago, Richard Donner (the original man to bring the Man of Steel to the silver screen) endorsed comic book super writer/man-god Geoff Johns for a job writing the next Superman film. I also noticed that his quote was picked up all over the place for weeks afterward, but nobody really took a deeper look why he would be a perfect fit. Geoff Johns has many qualifying characteristics. Not only is Donner endorsing him, but Donner also mentored the guy in his early days in the entertainment industry. Wizard Magazine has just named Johns’ run on Action Comics Best Book of 2008 and now he'll be redefining Superman’s origin in an upcoming miniseries. But for me personally, there is one primary reason above all that makes Geoff Johns the one and only man for this job: he made me believe Superman could be riveting.


For years I had always been turned off to Superman stories because, more often than not, they were no more than knockdown, drag-out fights. That’s great once in awhile, but frankly it can get old. I can only watch Superman and some random big-bad punch the crap out of each other so many times before I switch off. That’s the kind of film I feel the alleged Mark Millar script would end up being - while he can tell a good yarn once in awhile, he seems to be very much a disciple of the “bigger is better” school. The key to writing good Superman stories is to not write about Superman, but to write about Clark Kent or Kal-El. Johns has proven he can do this and do it well by focusing more on the supporting people in Kal’s life. While we all know and love the likes of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, Johns has worked to increase emphasis on people like Cat Grant, Steve Lombard and the Legion of Superheroes, and reestablishing villains with previously convoluted histories like Brainiac, Bizarro, and Toyman.

While it seems evident Johns would write a spectacular Man of Steel movie, what kind of story would we be in store for? First and foremost, Lex Luthor shouldn’t be a prominent villain. Although Luthor is a formidable and outstanding villain, we’ve seen enough of him in the movies (he was only missing from the Rule of Three abomination Superman III, and even then Robert Vaughn was playing a character pretty similar to Luthor anyway) and would be much better served as a greater threat looming behind the scenes.

Similar to Weyland-Yutani in the Alien films, Lexcorp could be mysteriously behind a sudden influx of meta-human criminals overtaking Metropolis – engineered villains like Metallo or Parasite in films that could culminate in a new Superman Revenge Squad in a later film. A film featuring Brainiac as the villain would be terrific, especially considering how Johns’ recent arc revitalizing the character was my personal favorite comic book arc of 2008. However, that angle would be too rooted in the Superman mythos to be introduced before first establishing some of Superman’s history before coming to Earth.

Even if this theoretical film were to prominently feature Luthor in the forefront as the villain, Johns has proven he’s a master craftsman with his steady hand retooling the mythos of The Flash, Green Lantern, and, of course, Superman. As much as I would like to see Brainiac on film, I’d be happy with Johns writing even if they used a villain as lame as Titano. Same goes for any of the other superhero franchises he’d like to get his hands on -- just as long as he still has time to write the comics.