Sixth Time Lucky?

Variety is reporting that the writers of Superman Returns have chosen not to return for the next Superman flick, which is good news, if you ask me. I don't know if the lion's share of the blame belongs to Dougherty and Harris, or director Bryan Singer, but, boy, that was one messed up movie! I probably had my hopes too high, following the amazing job that Christopher Nolan did with Batman Begins, but shouldn't something like that raise the bar? I mean, I have a great deal of fondness for Superman I and II - and a great desire to forget ever seeing III and IV - but in the 21st century, the yardstick is clearly now Nolan's Bat-flick and Spider-Man 2. You don't need to exceed or even match those two gems necessarily, but you have to at least be in the ballpark. (I still consider Spider-Man 3 to be just that, but others will disagree.) And when you consider how important a character Superman is in comic terms, he should be at or near the top of the heap.

So I'm hoping they either ignore Superman Returns or take its sequel in a different direction: more action, better villain(s), and less goofiness. Give us the Superman movie that some of us have been waiting our entire lives for.

Oh, and it didn't take Marvel writer Mark Millar long to throw his hand up and offer his services in providing a Super-screenplay. I personally don't trust the guy enough to want to see that happen - after all, he's the genius who had Captain America surrender at the end of the Civil War mini-series, and we all know how that ended! - but it probably wouldn't be much worse than the last three! Maybe they should ask me to write the damn thing...