In several ways, almost every adaptation of Superman since the 1980s has had to walk in the shadow of the live-action Richard Donner-Chris Reeve films.
As such, whether consciously or not, they’ve adopted elements of the way those films approached the material. James Gunn’s “Superman” on the other hand, more so than Bryan Singer or Zack Snyder’s Superman films, adopts a different approach.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR “SUPERMAN”
One such change is the alteration of the back story revolving around Superman’s origins. While Gunn kept most of it, one small yet crucial change he made is that Kal-El’s parents weren’t exactly the saintly and benevolent figures seen in past iterations – these ones wanted their son to start a new Krypton on Earth and become a potential conqueror if needed to achieve those ends.
The switch, revealed as a twist halfway through the film, goes to the heart of the title character’s arc throughout the film as his identity, beliefs and support system are challenged throughout the story. But it has also drawn criticism from parts of the fandom over its change to the lore. Speaking with IGN about why he made that change, Gunn says:
“I’m a huge Superman fan, so first of all I had to trust myself that I was going to honor the pieces of Superman that we needed to keep the same, and also allow myself to make changes where changes might work and wouldn’t go against the integrity of who the character is.
And so I think that was simply dealing with allowing ourselves to change part of the story in a way that was interesting for the DCU, but that wasn’t something0 that went against who Superman was. And is has been something that’s been played with in the comics before.”
Terrence Stamp’s ‘memory of Jor-El’ in “Smallville” notably changed things up for the character, making him a hardliner who both branded and brainwashed his son at different points to get him to stick to his mission.
​
The comments come as actress Angela Sarafyan has revealed a photo on Instagram of herself in full costume as Kal-El’s Kryptonian mother Lara.
