Man of Steel: Nolan and Goyer Know Darn Well How Superman Shaves

UPDATE: Thanks to the comments thread both here and at Hitfix, we can see that a blogger claimed responsibility for the "treatment" that Hitfix has read back in 2011. Since Hitfix is generally not so easily taken in, we believed their story at face value. Thanks to those who pointed out the story was a fake.

The folks over at HitFix have got their hands on one of the original treatments for Man of Steel--a proposal document from screenwriter David S. Goyer and producer Christopher Nolan that was used to convince Warner Bros. to allow them to make the film. There are a lot of little differences between the original treatment and the finished film, not least of all is the revelation that when Superman was making his way around the country with a beard and an attitude, he was doing so as an undercover investigative reporter. Certainly there was nothing in the final version that would preclude that from being used in the future, but it's certainly not explicitly said. And, following a variation on a story that appeared in the actual film, they answered one of those questions that a lot of people had with the film...

He goes home to Smallville to see his parents. He's been away, working as a freelance journalist around the world. He picks up the mail that's been stacking up while he was gone and one of the letters is a job offer from The Daily Planet. Maybe the funniest detail of the entire treatment is only funny in the wake of the omnipresent and annoying "How does the Man Of Steel shave?" ad campaign. The exact quote from the treatment -- "Clark leaves for a shower and a shave, using the mirror to bounce his heat vision back onto his face."

Of course, that's how it's done in the comics, and when the Gilette campaign began, we had a lot of readers on social media responding to us that there was really no need to ask the question since we all knew it already. Turns out, so did the writers! I wonder whether the scene was removed after Gillette signed on board as a sponsor...? Check out our interviews with Mayim Bialik and Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, all of whom have alternative theories for how Superman might shave.