Nic Cage/Tim Burton Superman Details Put Supes in Therapy, and I’m Kind of Into It

You think Man of Steel was moody? How about Superman in therapy because he doesn’t know where his powers come from and he just wants to fit in. It sounds like the never-realized Tim Burton Superman movie was about one step away from being titled Superman: You Can’t Tell Me What to Do You’re Not Even My Real Dad!

Speaking to IndieWire, screenwriter Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) said about the failed project:

I was very much taken by Tim’s approach, which was that Kal-El was not told by Jor-El, before he got put in the little spaceship, who he was or where he came from. So poor little Kal-El, when he winds up on earth, he has no freaking idea where he came from. His biggest fear is that he’s an alien.

Our Superman was in therapy at the beginning of the film. He’s in a relationship with Lois Lane and he can’t commit. Or he was maybe in couple’s therapy. But he can’t commit because he doesn’t know who he is or what is going on with him. He’s hoping that he has some physiological condition that gives him these powers but that he’s still human. It becomes very apparent, though, early in the script, when Lex Luthor uncovers the remnants of the spacecraft, he suddenly realizes – “Oh my god, I’m an alien.” It was all about the psychological trauma of it. I loved it.

And you know what? It doesn’t actually sound that bad to me. Think about it: If your Superman is going to be moody, I’d take a weird Tim Burton story about a kid/man who wants more than anything to just fit in and be normal than whatever the heck Man of Steel was. Gilroy still believes in it, too. He added, “Tim [Burton] would have created a Superman for the ages. I really feel that.”

Maybe we’ll find out more in the upcoming documentary on the project, but the story of Nicolas Cage in a struggle to figure out who he really is? I’m on board.

(via THR, image via )

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Dan Van Winkle

Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.

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