Why The Live-Action Superman: Red Son Movie Would Be A Mistake

Make It Animated

In other words, don’t give us a live-action version of Superman: Red Son – give us an animated take.

Warner Bros. Animation is no stranger to producing excellent adaptations of DC stories. In many cases, their offerings are better than the live-action versions, and that includes both film and TV. So far, they’ve given us a series of movies set in the same continuity. For example, Son of Batman, Justice League: War and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. In addition, there are many standalone films.

An animated Red Son allows for the freedom to bring the story to life in a way consistent with the comic. They even make the effort to match the visual style. It gives comic fans a story they’ve wanted to see onscreen for years while also avoiding the risk of confusing the average moviegoer who’s just beginning to learn about the DC Universe.

Enough Dark Superman

The other major problem with Red Son is it gives us the wrong type of Superman, one which the DCEU seems to want to get rid of. In Red Son, Superman becomes a Big Brother figure, using surgery to transform dissenters into obedient drones. First the Injustice games, and now what’s rumored to be a dark Superman in Justice League – we’ve seen enough of the hero going bad, it’s time for a hopeful Superman.

An animated Superman: Red Son would make a great addition to the animated DC library, and it promises to be better than some of the recent offerings like The Killing Joke. But as a live-action movie? It distracts from where the DCEU’s focus should be, on building a cohesive cinematic universe. Place the attention on the Justice League first, then expand out to the larger world before even considering Elseworlds stories.