When Tim Burton was given the go to create a Superman film called Superman Lives in 1998 he went all out in freakiness. We'll never know for sure, but what we know is weird enough. Casting Nicholas Cage. Making Doomsday the villain. Giving him electrical powers.
Recently, some toy designers posted concept art to the Man of Steel facebook group. io9 calls it "design Kryptonite," but frankly I've seen stranger concept art for the film.
Back in 1996, Kevin Smith was tasked with writing a script for a film based on the "The Death and Return of Superman" comic book storyline. Eventually, Tim Burton was given the job of directing the movie titled Superman Lives. The release date was 1997 or 1998.
The basic plot is Brainiac and Lex Luthor get together and create the villain Doomsday. He beats Superman to death. Superman comes back to life, but is powerless, so the Eradicator transforms into a battle-suit for him to fight Doomsday. Here are some more things we learn from the concept art.
The basic plot is Brainiac and Lex Luthor get together and create the villain Doomsday. He beats Superman to death. Superman comes back to life, but is powerless, so the Eradicator transforms into a battle-suit for him to fight Doomsday. Here are some more things we learn from the concept art.
1. Superman Would Have Gone Goth And Other Weird Costume Designs
Producer Jon Peters hated the classic blue and red 1978 Superman costume, so he had them ditch it for a black costume. He also hated Superman flying too, but that's another story.
Brainiac blocks the sun. Since Superman's powers are based on yellow sunlight he becomes powerless. Doomsday beats him to death.
Suit concept designs by Chris Samuels for Superman Lives while working with the Hasbro Toy Group years ago when Tim Burton was scheduled to direct Superman Lives (97/98). The designers on the development team at Hasbro Toy Group were responsible for creating designs that could be used in both the movies as well as toys. Working in conjunction with the studios, they developed concepts all the time; Ideas that could be used across both platforms. The team did hundreds of designs for Superman Lives. They also had the design team drawing Supes with cowls, masks, etc.Various costumes were designed for Superman's post-battle with Doomsday.
This suit rendering was one of the concepts for a first "traditional" suit we could have seen Nic Cage wearing.
The Kryptonian Explorer suit, designed by Brian Eun, which got as far as having several sculpts done for it.
The "light-up" suit, aka the Disco Suit, that Superman would have been wearing at the end of the film. As designed by Ben Torres.
2. The Casting Would Have Been Mind-Blowing
Nicholas Cage as Superman? Woody Harrelson as Jor-El? Before Burton came on board Ben Affleck was considered for Clark Kent\Superman.
In this design concept shared by Ben Torres, this could have been Nic Cage's final "light up" suit. Other story items included Woody Harrelson as Jor-El, and Supes having a son.
3. Superman Would Have Had A Ball With His Robot Sidekick
Brainiac and Lex Luthor band together, but Superman is resurrected by a Kryptonian artifact called "The Eradicator" and Kryptonian technology.
Timburton.jp posted concept art from the film of a robotic orb called "K". From everything I've read it's probably the "Eradicator" in it's robot form.
4. Planet Krypton Would Have Been Epic
Designs by Mark Goerner show towering spires, huge statues and a massive platform. These would either have been a flashback or some kind of vision.
These paintings and drawings came from an early preproduction development of Superman. My primary focus was on the landscapes of Krypton and the precipice of Jor Els palace. Images courtesy of Warner Bros. pictures.
Precipice Final
Taza Center Comp
The costumes also would have been out of this world too.
5. The Eradicator Would Have Been A Transformer
Smith's treatment said "The Eradicator for a planned scene in which it transforms into a flying vehicle."
According to the proposed storyline, The Eradicator would wind up helping Superman over the course of the film and eventually turn itself into a suit of armor that would help Kal-El regain the powers he'd lost.
The Kryptonian Explorer, designed by Brian Eun. The design pulled on some ideas from "Superman: The Movie." If this looks familiar to fans, you will find inspirations of this design in Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh, in the DVD cut of deleted scenes. (Remember when he was exploring Krypton?)Other design concepts include the Eradicator changing into a humanoid form and a suit for Superman to protect him from the "lack of" sunlight.
Toy concept art: Special suit made from Eradicator technology that restores Superman’s powers during the darkness on Earth. Encloses Superman entirely to completely hide his identity; creates a powerful new silhouette for Superman. Suit magnifies all of Superman’s traditional powers. Sleek and aerodynamic metallic suit that pulses with light energy (light piping). Includes smooth armor accented with hieroglyphic designs.
“RECOVERY SUIT” SUPERMAN
Toy concept art: Superman wears this suit in the rejuvenation chamber in the Fortress of Solitude. Suit is laden with Kryptonian technology, including triangular-shaped energy ports for “plugging” Superman into the Eradicator technology (for restoration of his powers). Energy “circulates” visibly through the sculpted Kryptonian power matrix (use of light pipe and translucent areas on the figure). Likely to be dark metallic blue with light accent colors.
6. Brainiac Would Have Been A Giant Spider
According to reports, the script's villains would have been a combined force of Brainiac, Doomsday and Lex Luthor.
Artist Rolf Mohr was told by Jon Peters to make a giant spider. Apparently, Tim Burton took a crack at it and made some designs of a disembodied Brainiac head.
It's safe to say that the producers were not too impressed by the Doomsday from the comics and had designs that varied from bizarre to more bizarre.
Even Tim Burton did a design.
Sources
Movie Web
io9
timburton.jp
James Carson
Steve Johnson FX Facebook
Superman: Man of Steel (2013) Facebook
Mark Goerner
Rolf Mohr
Kerry Gammill
