Man Of Steel: Will Henry Cavill Make Superman Cool Again?

There was a time when Superman was the most famous superhero in the world. He might very well still be, but you wouldn’t know it in America. At Halloween, Batman and Iron Man costumes usually far outnumber the Superman costumes.Of course, the success of other superheroes has largely been driven by the movies. The Batman movie franchise is by far the highest grossing box office superhero franchise in the U.S. with close to a $1.9 billion total gross. The Avengers franchise is next with a $1.7 billion total gross.Where is poor Superman on the list? Well, he’s way down below Spider-Man, X-Men, and Iron Man. Superman has only accumulated a paltry $518 million at the U.S. box office. The Dark Knight by itself made more than all the Superman movies combined at the box office.Now, in fairness, most of the Superman movies were released in the seventies and the eighties before tickets prices reached the inflated levels where they sit today. But the fact that Superman has only had one movie in the last quarter century sort of proves the point of his waning popularity.So what went wrong with Superman? Things started our pretty well with Superman and Superman II, as Christopher Reeve proved to be a likable and convincing Superman. Then, for whatever unfathomable reason, Warner Bros. decided to go the silly route with Richard Pryor in Superman III. And we don’t even want to think about Superman IV.Still, a couple bad movies shouldn’t kill a franchise. If the Dark Knight could rise after Batman & Robin, then Superman should be able to fly after a Quest for Peace. Unfortunately, when Superman got his shot again, Superman Returns didn’t reinvent Superman like Batman Begins reinvented Batman. Instead, Brandon Routh tried to channel Christopher Reeve and played bumbling, clumsy Clark Kent.For any actor, it’s probably a huge challenge to play the dual role of the world’s most powerful superhero who disguises himself as the world’s biggest nerd. The risk is that the audience will see Superman as klutzy Clark Kent in a costume, rather than seeing the powerful superhero. Brandon Routh came across as more Clark Kent, than Superman.Where Henry Cavill has the chance to succeed is that judging from the trailers, he looks and acts the part of Superman. Henry Cavill is definitely Superman, not Clark Kent in a cape. Just like Christian Bale made it cool to be Batman, Henry Cavill could bring that same coolness factor to Superman.