When DC Comics recently announced that their Free Comic Book Day offering would be Superman-themed to tie in with the release of Man of Steel the next month, nobody much was surprised.What was arguably more vexing was the idea that while the book will include a sneak peek at Man of Steel #1 by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee, the main feature will be a reprint from the Geoff Johns/Richard Donner/Adam Kubert Superman: Last Son of Krypton graphic novel.Given that the Johns/Donner stories are no longer canonical in the New 52, and that the costume doesn’t resemble the Man of Steel outfit as much as it does the classic Superman: The Movie duds, it’s a bit hard to understand that motivation, unless there was something in there that DC or Warner Bros. thought would resonate with fans of the movie.While General Zod and his forces are the film’s central antagonists, we wondered what else might be connected back to the Johns/Donner story, which was written around the time of Superman Returns and featured many echoes of that critically-panned film, including a falling Daily Planet globe and a “son of Superman” subplot.Arguably, the most interesting aspect of using that particular story for promotional purposes and/or story inspiration is the involvement of Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner, whose influence was felt very strongly in Superman Returns but who hasn’t even been mentioned with regard to Man of Steel. Donner’s relationship with Warner Bros. over the years has been spotty at best, having been forced off Superman II and replaced with another filmmaker, only to have Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut later released on DVD and Blu-ray and gain favor with viewers and seemingly Warner Bros. as the “preferred version of the movie.Donner’s Americana, whitebread version of Superman also doesn’t seem to resonate with the way superhero movies are made anymore, and has been cited as one of the major problems with the Bryan Singer-directed Superman Returns.Skipping through the story, though, what did we see that seem like something we might encounter in the film?
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