I, for one, am very excited about the possibilities of the new Superman movie. I am choosing to have faith that Christopher Nolan and Zach Snyder can do Superman as well as Nolan did Batman.

Which brings up an interesting question - who should play Superman? Or, more accurately, who should play Clark Kent? Because, as we all know, if you cast Clark Kent properly, you will have a terrific Superman.

My vote is Zachary Levi (aka Chuck). (Think about it for a second...you can see it, can't you?)

What do you think?

Yeah, I'm excited about a new Superman movie too. I really enjoyed the new Batman movies by Christopher Nolan.
Yes, I can see Zach Levi as Superman. I love the show, he's got the build and he can do humor (Chuck is more a comedy than a spy story IMHO).
AND I think Brandon Routh did a great job on Chuck. I liked his acting very much. We didn't get to see much of real acting in Superman Returns, which was part of the problem with the movie.
Also, I like Tom Welling in Smallville. He's grown into the role.
OTOH, I think the new Superman movie needs an unknown to pin a fresh franchise on. Tom's too old now, Brandon can't do a second reboot, it would be too weird and Zach is endearing in his goofiness, but it wouldn't work for a big screen movie.

Artemis

Victor Webster is a relatively unknown actor who has did a syndicated series a while back with John Shea.

Recently he's played the role of Kate Beckett's possible love interest in an episode of Castle earlier this season. Of course, this was the only episode I've missed this season.

I'm not real familiar with his 'chops' as an actor, but I've always felt that he had 'the look' for a Superman. He also seems to exude that 'nice guy' vibe.

He's a pretty big guy, so I think his Clark Kent would be more like George Reeves who was quite a bit bigger than his cast mates, than Chris Reeve who was tall, but not bulky.

I too look forward to what Christopher Nolan comes up with, though I do hope that we don't get another origin story, nor would I like to see Lex Luthor as the main villian.

Lex Luthor has been done too much. I would rather see Luthor as the man behind the scenes; directing the evil without being out front. That fits better with my own view of who Luthor is.

Tank (who has to remind everyone that the most critical casting will, of course, be Lois)

Yeah, I saw that Castle episode and I thought he looked familiar. Definitely a good choice. He did action in the series with John Shea.
Good idea, Tank.

Artemis

Well, I'm not sure who would be a good choice, but I do hope that they choose to honor the most recent comics where Clark is a "real" person and not a goofball. I think one of the reasons the recent Spiderman and Batman movies have done so much better than the last Superman movie is because they made Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne "real" people. I don't want to see another stupid, idiotic Clark that acts he has no clue about the world. Come on... A man that stupid (or who acted that stupid) couldn't be a reporter. (But then we here are LnC fans and already know that.)

I'm probably the only person who liked Brandon Routh in the recent Superman movie. I think it was more a case of the writing letting him down than him not being able to act the part.

Just my $0.02.

Don't get me wrong, Iolan, I loved the movie. And I thought Brandon did a good job, but I just wish they had chosen to make him a "real" Clark. I actually think he did have a few shots that came much closer to that than Chris Reeve ever did.

Making him more like a "real" Clark would have made the movie worse for me.
Superman Returns was in the tradition of the Donner movies. In contrast to L&C, where the guy without suit and glasses is Clark without glasses, I always had the feeling that the movie guy without the suit and the glasses would be Superman without his suit.

That's also a problem I have with quite a few of the movie fics. Quite often they aren't Superman (movieverse) but Lois and Clark (TV series) in a movieverse disguise, some even liberally sprinkling the L&C stock quotes in (for example, Clark is who I am, Superman is what I do).

I find both takes on Superman/Clark interesting and was quite happy with Routh's Superman and Clark.

I remain skeptic about the Nolan thing and the apparent trend in Hollywood to make everything "dark, cool and edgy".

I believe this or something like it was also in the comics after the John Byrne revamp.

True, but the revamp was after the first several Superman movies -- in those movies, Superman was who he was, Clark was who he pretended to be. Superman Returns was in that same Chris Reeve tradition. So if you're gonna write movie fanfic, you've gotta work with their versions of the characters.

Personally, I don't like that version, but then I'm not a Superman fan. I'm a Lois & Clark fan.

Actually, I've realized lately that the only time I can work up any interest in a version of Superman is when Lois is in on the secret. It's that "two of them against the world" vibe that I love. Smallville is there now (finally!!!), and I'm liking it a lot more.

PJ

ADAM BALDWIN FTW!!! he's buff, he's cute, he could pull off the nice guy and still be heroic!!!

I thought of Baldwin too - he dresses up reasonably well (in Chuck, and as Hamilton the evil lawyer guy in Angel) and the latter showed that he can fake being super-strong reasonably well. It would be a very different look for the character, but that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Plus, Adam has already been Superman when he did the voice in the creepy Doomsday movie. I just need them to pick a buff guy after those string bean androgeny boys they've had for the movie and the tv series.

I'd really like Clark Kent to be Superman.

Nah. Who would ever believe that a mild-mannered reporter was a superhero?

(Sorry. Just couldn't resist. )

ML

I read some rumors that the actor who plays Alcide in True Blood is being considered. I'm not sure about the acting, but the body... rawr

<chuckle>

My thought? At the risk of suggesting the obvious, how about Dean Cain? At least he is passed the point in life where he would be accused of looking more like "Superboy". He might need to work out a bit and lose a little weight to get back into "super shape," but I can't deny that he made an excellent Superman once upon a time. Why not again?

Joy,
Lynn

Actually, Dean made an excellant Clark Kent, his Superman was only so-so.

The two things that disqualify Dean for such a role in a major movie would be his age (he's in his forties and that would never do for the movie franchise people); and his height. Being barely six feet tall he just isn't impressive enough in costume. He was perfect as Clark Kent but Superman can't be looking up at his cast mates.

Tank (who would love to see Teri as Lois but knows that TPTB aren't looking for a mature, established Lois Lane, ie: she's too old also)

Clarification accepted and agreed with. I agree that his Clark Kent was better than his Superman; but his Superman was passable, and his Clark was, IMHO, better than any other Clark I have yet seen or heard (This includes Bud Collyer, George Reeve, Christopher Reeves, and Kirk Alyn). Although George Reeves Clark was believable, Dean's was just so much more personable.

His height isn't insurmountable (so to speak)...If they can turn tall men into hobbits and dwarves, it wouldn't take a whole lot of movie magic to add a few inches to Dean's height.

His age would be more problematic as far as the folks in La La Land are concerned. However, the topic for this thread is "who do YOU want to be Superman" (capitalization as in thread topic), not "Who should Hollywood have as Superman" I agree that Hollywood would never hire Dean for the part, but even so, he's who *I* would like to have it!

Tell you what, Tank...If people can play fantasy football, we can make a fantasy movie! If you let Dean be Clark/Superman, I'll let Teri be Lois -- she can even have short hair. Deal?

Joy,
Lynn

If you can swing the short hair... Deal!

Tank (who never let it be said he was not a team player)