The launch of the second official Man Of Steel trailer on the 11th December 2012 (see below) ramped up the excitement for the release of the latest reinvention of Superman. With brief glimpses of the epic potential of the film and fleeting shots of the cast, it looked like it was going to be a whole new version of the world’s most recognisable superhero.
It inspired the start of a brand new DC Extended Universe, which has since led on to the likes of Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Wonder Woman. With both Justice League and Aquaman both in the pipelines, it’s going to be a large scale film series covering a large variety of characters from DC Comics. You can read more about upcoming DC Extended Universe films at .
Release date
Man Of Steel had a cinematic release date in the UK of the 14th June 2013. It went on to arrive on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and digital download on the 2nd December 2013, before coming out on 4K Ultra HD on the 1st August 2016 in the UK.
Story
The film delivered a fairly traditional view of the Superman childhood, following his arrival on earth as a baby when his parents managed to fire him off in an escape pod. However, it had a fairly different take on his adult life with an Earth that seemed to threaten to turn on him and a General Zod-inspired alien invasion of epic proportions to deal with.
Cast
The Man of Steel himself is played by newcomer, Henry Cavill (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), who looks like he might actually be a genuine descendant from from the House of El. He’s got pretty big red boots to fill in the wake of Christopher Reeves’ film series and with the disappointing cinematic performance of 2006’s Superman Returns (which wasn’t really all that bad a film, but struggled to make a dent).
The trailer below also shows Kevin Costner (Criminal) in the role of Clarke’s Earth dad, Jonathan, and Diane Lane as his mum Martha. They seem to have a much more pessimistic outlook on life, though, than has previously been the case, teaching Clarke to hide his power because they suspect that the earth isn’t ready to welcome it.
The big addition to the cast was in the role of General Zod, the film’s main antagonist, with the trailer giving us our first glimpses of Michael Shannon (Take Shelter). There’s also brief intros to Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Amy Adams (On The Road) as Louis Lane and Russell Crow as Jor-El, Clarke’s Kryptonian father.
Production
DC Comics, Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures enlisted Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises) as one of the film’s producers and placed Zach Snyder (Sucker Punch) in the director’s chair. Their influence is pretty significant throughout the trailer with a dark and brooding feel, impressive special effects and the feeling of impending doom.
Review
Man Of Steel has got a lot of positives, but it ultimately disappoints as much as it impresses. Henry Cavill is the living embodiment of Carke Kent/Superman, and the production really couldn’t have found a better match. However, his scuffles with General Zod are a bit wayward and while Michael Shannon looks every bit as menacing as he should do, his accent is pretty ridiculous.
The trailer shows off hints of the new, full-blooded assault-on-the-planet performances in the movie, but unfortunately it’s let down a little by the look of the technology on Krypton. Things didn’t get a whole lot better for Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice, but we’re hoping that Justice League will be able to bring things around again.
You can find more about how the film turned out with our full Man Of Steel review.
