The Henry Cavill-Zack Snyder Superman Suit

Well, there they are, at last. Some clearer-- though not better-- photos of Henry Cavill cavorting in character as Superman, the first and greatest superhero of them all. I haven't checked out everyone else's opinions on the Superman suit for the upcoming Man of Steel movie because I don't want mine diluted or influenced in any way. Here we go!

I don't hate it. In fact, I like it better than the one Superman's going to be sporting in the funnybooks from now on. But I can't really say I'm in love with it, either.

The photo from the MTV Splash Page site where Cavill is walking towards a couple of other actors portraying what I assume are villains makes him look fairly ridiculous, probably because crew members are standing around him in civilian duds and the scene appears to be staged in a strip mall parking lot where one of the stores is being renovated. Not very heroic or godlike. Just a dude in a rubber suit, possibly going to grab a pack of smokes out of his Ford Fiesta while entertaining at a children's party in a Chuck E. Cheese.

Then there's the capeless one, the one where Cavill is air-punching. It affords a better look at some of the suit's detailing. The little markings around his hips. What are they supposed to be? Kryptonian athletic wear branding? Kal-Adidas? K-Nike? I kind of like it without the cape, though. If you're going to change the traditional look, why not go all the way and really change it? I have the feeling he'll be wearing the cape for filming, though. No point in wearing it during blocking or all the other between-scenes stuff they have to do for huge movies. And small ones, as well.

These photos really don't do it justice. They look so crappy, so poorly light-balanced and composed, I might have taken them. We haven't seen the suit in motion, we haven't seen how Zack Snyder is going to frame these shots, or how they'll light them and we haven't seen how Cavill is going to carry himself as Superman. The body language and film photography will go a long way towards determining whether or not this suit helps Superman fly, or becomes his kryptonite necklace.

There you have it. The great traditionalist doesn't hate the new suit and suggests they could have taken it further. Surprised? I know I am. I'm going to be interested to read a few blogs about the suit now. It will be a while before I can catch up with you guys, though. The Snyder factor more than likely means I'll be giving this flick a miss in the theaters and catching it on cable a couple of years. And then I'll update you on whether or not this suit really works.

I have to leave you now. No hard feelings. We all have our little faults. Mine's in California. Oh, but before I go...

The Daily Mail site has some shots where someone-- possibly connected to these "MDCU" people-- has used a little Adobe Photoshop to add color and a badly rendered cape to these photos, plus the red pants. It amazes me how obsessed with Superman's red pants these sites are. Superman goes commando. Superman's underwear. Superman's Junk Protection (as if he needs any). What's wrong with these people? Why no love for the spit-curl? That's missing, too!

Let's all look at Henry Cavill as Superman why don't we?

There it is, the picture you've all already seen! It's the first image of Henry Cavill as Superman from the upcoming Zack Snyder movie Man of Steel. Or is it Superman: Man of Steel? It's all about Superman, I take it. As a Superman fan and a loudmouthed jerk with a stupid blog about comic books, I feel I have to add my opinion to the hoopla and hullabaloo no doubt going on right this minute.

Cavill looks the part. As for the costume, the movie is still two years away, and I haven't seen Cavill-Superman in action. That will be the real test. If he can project Superman's power and charisma and basic likability and the special effects people give some weight to his landings so he seems like a superhero and not a featherweight CGI homunculus, it will work. From what I've read the movie is still in pre-production so this might not even be the final version. If everyone screams loudly and long enough, they might change it. I'm not in love with it-- I don't like my Superman looking as though he's just come from a Kryptonian funeral-- but I don't hate it, either. In fact, I prefer it to the suit Superman will wear in the new DC reboo-- er-- relaunch. Those ugly boots really kill that one for me.

This photo is the perfect Zack Snyder image, though. Dark, artificial, polished to the point of looking like the inside of a particle accelerator and projecting almost as much warmth, ultimately jumbled and confusing, a shallow exercise in a certain aesthetic over substance. I've seen two Snyder movies, 300 and Watchmen, and neither of them appealed to me. Actually, 300 made me physically ill. I don't think I was in its target audience demographic and it played mostly as the opposite of everything I like in a movie-- I tend to prefer story over plot, characters over types and conversation as opposed to screaming out bombastic nonsense. On the other hand, Man of Steel has an unimpeachable cast. And with Snyder at the helm, it's not likely to be a snoozefest like Superman Returns.

Still, the first thing I thought of when I saw how shiny the new Superman costume was:


Snyder and company might want to do everything they can to avoid coming any closer to this.