Oh, the origin story. There are many who feel this element of Superman mythology is played out, worn up, and should just freakin' stay home today. That jumping to Superman as just Superman in a movie would be a great idea. I am here to adress that.
First of all, haven't we kinda been throught that already? Remember, the last movie, where they just skipped throught all that and jumped straigth to the Superman story at hand? Well, that could have been, better, couldn't it? While that works for fans of the character, whenever you're trying to sell the audience the character you start at the beggining, unless the character is supposed to be misterious or have a misterious past, like Wolverine. Why, they didn't do that with Spider-Man.
Second of all, dude, it's been 30 years since the last movie. It was released before I was born! And, yes, the Superman origin is a series of sentences that most of the Western World knows by now. He was Born on Krypton. They Sent him away because to save his life. He was adopted ang grew in a farm. And at some point he became a cape-wearing crime fighter. The good part of that is that it is extremely open to multiple interpretations and takes of various angles of the stories. Like, say add a villain(the first movie added Zod, the animated one Brainiac) to the mix.
Doesn't help that the origins is one of the best and most beloved parts of the franchise either.
More importantly, the origin enables the audience to take the ride with the character, to see what shaped him. You knew Spider-Man was gonna get bitten by a Spider, and Batman's parents were gonna get gunned down(I say, as far as played out, this one is even more than Superman's). And yet, the movies where entertaining .
It also allows the filmmakers to address concerns regarding the characters mythology that non-fans would have a problem suspending their disbelief over. Such as the glasses as disguise.
And finally, If you were handed the reigns of such an Iconic franchise, would you now want the full range of expression within it? Would you not want to take it in a direction that is yours? I know some folks wouldn't, like Bryan Singer. He was handed the keys to the Superkingdom, but all he could see was the past attempts. The inbred creative effort of trying to make it as much as it was is what led us to the current apparent quagmire.
No, DO start at the beggining. A sequel or semisequel to Returns would only further complicate things. I'm not throwing it overboard already and saying it's doomed to fail, but I see many a problem and nary a good solution.
A reboot without origin. I enjoy a mindless flick now and then, but without the origin that's bound to happen. If you haven't established (in film) exactly what Superman is about, and how he feels and what are his philosofies, then what? Is it gonna be "I'm Superman, flying around...OH LOOK IT'S DOOMSDAY, SUPERFIGHT!). Like Batman Begins, Superman needs to reestablish that he "isn't your father's Superman". And that can't be done withot cleaning the slate.
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