New Superman Flyby Concept Art Shows Off Superman and the Daily Planet

By Russ Burlingame

Newly-resurfaced concept art for Superman: Flyby gives fans a new look at the Superman costume planned for J.J. Abrams' abandoned superhero movie, complete with a sketch that bears a striking resemblance to Josh Hartnett, the actor who was planned to play the role in Flyby. The film, which was in development in the early 2000s, was one of a series of Superman projects that never got off the ground, including Kevin Smith's Superman Lives (which would have starred Nicolas Cage and been directed by Tim Burton) and attempts by Brett Ratner and Charlie's Angels helmer McG. Actors who auditioned for the role included Superman Returns actor Brandon Routh and Man of Steel's Henry Cavill.

Interestingly, this costume looks more like the traditional comics costume than the verison seen in other concept art for the movie, which had a kind of Kingdom Come-inspired look to it. In fact, all of this has a fairly traditional look to it.

You can see the tweet below.

"The thing that I tried to emphasize in the story was that if the Kents found this boy, Kal-El, who had the power that he did, he would have most likely killed them both in short order," Abrams told Empire in 2012. "And the idea that these parents would see – if they were lucky to survive long enough – that they had to immediately begin teaching this kid to limit himself and to not be so fast, not be so strong, not be so powerful. The result of that, psychologically, would be fear of oneself, self-doubt and being ashamed of what you were capable of. Extrapolating that to adulthood became a fascinating psychological profile of someone who was not pretending to be Clark Kent, but who was Clark Kent. Who had become that kind of a character who is not able or willing to accept who he was and what his destiny was. The idea in the movie was that he became Superman because he realized he had to finally own his strength, and what he'd always been."

What do you think of the look of J.J. Abrams's Superman Flyby? Sound off in the comments below or hit up @russburlingame on Twitter to talk all things Superman.

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