Does ‘Sucker Punch’ Spell Doom For ‘Superman: Man of Steel’?

Does the poor reception of Zack Snyder’s ‘Sucker Punch’ mean trouble for the director’s next project, the Superman reboot movie ‘Man of Steel’? Join us as we discuss the issue.



Right now the Interwebs are all ablaze with debate over Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, which debuted this past weekend (read our review HERE). The film – previously heralded as one of the most anticipated films of 2011 – ultimately got KO’d as both a critical and financial dud.

That hard hit already has the fanboy community clogging website comment threads with prophecies of doom in regards to Snyder’s next film, the Superman reboot, Man of Steel.





Here at Screen Rant we’ve recently been critical of the fickle opinions of fanboys when it comes to comic book movies, and the reactions to each casting and/or development announcement about Man of Steel have certainly proven some of our criticisms. Every single decision about this Superman movie seems to piss off a section of the fanboy nation: General Zod and Lex Luthor as possible villains; Henry Cavill as Superman; three-time Academy Award Nominee Amy Adams as Lois Lane; even Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent and Diane Lane as Martha Kent. Certain sections of fanboys have been crying that it is all “Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!” and that Superman is doomed before cameras even start rolling on his latest cinematic outing, which Snyder has promised will envision the character in a more grounded and realistic way (unlike many of his other films).



Zack Snyder being tapped as the director of Man of Steel was always a controversial choice among fanboys – surprising, really, considering that Snyder was heretofore known primarily as ‘the fanboys’ director,’ after delivering film adaptations of Frank Miller’s 300 and Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen that were both extremely faithful to their respective source material in terms of aesthetic and story. Heck, back at Comic Con ’09 I even saw Snyder hop into a boxing ring to accept the “Fans Award” for the loyalty he showed to comic book source material – how many directors get that much love from geeks?

Still, even with all the debate over Snyder helming Man of Steel, fans (for the most part) initially took solace in the fact that Chris Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer – the team behind both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight – would be overseeing the script and development of Superman’s next onscreen outing. As discussions in our comment threads progressed, the prevailing attitude was that a Snyder/Nolan pairing would be one of mutual benefit: Snyder’s knack for visuals and action would combine perfectly with the Batman team’s knack for unique and engaging storytelling, resulting in a Superman film that would explore the character in fresh and exciting ways, while still delivering the epic action people want to see from the most powerful superhero of them all.


This is your brian after viewing 'Sucker Punch'.

Now that Sucker Punch has…er, sucker punched even the most ardent Snyder fans with a story and film that is overly ambitious at best, exploitative and shallow at worst (you be the judge), it seems that people have forgotten all about the fact that the Nolans and Goyer tackled the initial job of crafting Man of Steel‘s development and script, despite Chris Nolan ultimately “handing off” the picture to Snyder in order to focus on his third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. In the days since Sucker Punch has been released, I’ve personally read hundreds of comments on dozens of sites, all echoing the assertion that Zack Snyder’s apparent failure with the first film he both wrote and directed automatically spells doom for ‘his Superman movie.’

This is, of course, not at all the case.

Un trabajo no tiene que ver con otro. Snyder es bueno, lo que depende, es de qué proyecto tomen. And by the way, para nada me interesa ver Sucker Punch.

mmm yo difieron un poco eso... un buen director dirige bien cualquier cinta.. creo yo..

o no se man, es q talvez creo me pasa con Spielberg... ese man conviertio una biografia como la de Frank Abagnale , aburrida.. un texto q ninguna editorial quizo publicar ... este mae la convirtio en un cinton...!

Si creo q a veces el director no va con el genero... no veo a Burton dirigiendo una comedia con Jim Carrey por ejemplo... pero si haria q Jim Carrey se v iera tetrico y espeluznante! XD