Marvel boss Kevin Feige's advice for the DCEU: Follow Richard Donner's Superman

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is currently promoting his latest movie, Ant-Man and The Wasp. Screen Rant caught up with him and asked for advice on how he would get the DC Extended Universe "back on track". Feige was hesitant to give a reply, but did offer an example that he thinks everyone should follow.

"They're great characters, they're good comics, they've got great history," Feige said about DC. "I'm not shy about saying, Richard Donner’s Superman I still think is the paradigm by which we all still should follow. It's all there."

Richard Donner is the director of the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie. It's a classic that according to Feige, everyone making superhero movies should be taking inspiration from. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has said in multiple interviews that she was influenced by Donner's Superman as well.

Earlier this month the Avengers: Infinity War writers offered their own advice how on they'd "fix" the DCEU. They said that Warner Bros. should focus on the less popular characters and used a Justice League quote to say they should "save one" hero at a time.

SOURCE: Screen Rant

195 comments

Dudesday

June 27, 2018

Translation: Boring Superman Returns Re-Returns.
https://i.imgur.com/7YdR3Ei...

UltimateEdition

June 27, 2018

Oh Fuck off

Iss

June 27, 2018

I don't like this superman It doesn't really make me feel something, there are many persons that like it but I'm not really one of them

thefallen83

June 27, 2018

Audiences change, time and situations change. Bringing *that* Superman to today's world won't work. Could result in some cheesy, out-of-place character. The all-smiles Superman is not canon. Fite me.

ZaQueerdo
June 27, 2018
And yet for a lot of people *this* Superman clearly isn't working either, which is part of the reason the franchise is in the sorry state it is. The problem is one of execution and competency.

MarcelM

June 27, 2018

still have that piece of crap as your profile pic?

LordStickMax

June 27, 2018

except i really don't like the donner's movies as much as i like man of steel and BvS. soooo...

Kerk Lastnameless
June 27, 2018
You gotta know when you're in a strict minority.
1. LordStickMax
  June 27, 2018
  understood. however, you have to the admit there is some pretty dumb stuff in the donner movies. stuff thats not even in superman's power set.
  1. Kerk Lastnameless
    June 27, 2018
    Sure. That's not the point tho. You gotta get the spirit of the character right. Jenkins did, and she went on the record that Donner heavily inspired her movie. It's in the execution mostly.
    1. LordStickMax
      June 27, 2018
      yeah but i think thats what people don't understand about man of steel. it literally has the events of the first two donner movies but does it in a realistic way and shows them make clark kent into superman. where as donner just goes, here's superman, he's the best ammirite? even jenkins had wonder woman go through more growth.
    2. Kerk Lastnameless
      June 27, 2018
      What you don't understand is that MoS did not connect with a lot of people on the emotional level, and being an origin movie had nothing to do with it. You can keep hitting people over the head with the sign that says "realism", it won't make them care about the protagonist.
    3. LordStickMax
      June 27, 2018
      i suspect much of that is people's preconceived notions of what superman should be. my favorite version is still the animated series from the late 90s
    4. Kerk Lastnameless
      June 27, 2018
      So you gonna blame the public for not connecting with the protagonist, not the filmmaker, right?

jrvc

June 27, 2018

have to laugh at this comment section. If people wouldn't be so hell-bent on believing those portrayals they have made up in their minds (Reeve as the ultimate boy-scout and Cavill as the opposite of that, to put it lightly) they could see how many similarities there are between them...

Maybe we should all rewatch some movies?

thefallen83
June 27, 2018
Millennials, bro. They ruin everything.

Kouglof

June 27, 2018

Nobody say Donner's Superman 1 is not excellent, nobody says Christopher Reeve is not a legend, but this is not 1978 anymore and you cannot copy Christopher Reeve's template. Despite being an excellent director and the father of the X-Men cinematic universe, even Bryan Singer couldn't make a good Superman movie following the "template", even Kevin Spacey playing Superman's nemesis couldn't save the movie.

Kevin Feige is the competitor of WB & DC, even if he's doing great for his own company, you can't take him seriously. I'm sure he's laughing hard on how WB's executives listened him for Josstice League when he was playing good friend with Geoff Johns, it's like: "Hey guys, remember how good was Donner movies? Take my advice and do it again!". Donner didn't even finished his second movie, he was fired and his work was hacked by Richard Lester who was good for nothing except Beatles movie.

"I love truth and i’m a big fan of justice". I was in Bat-team before DCEU, now I don't know if I can even go back to Bat-team since Josstice League.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

https://static.comicvine.co...

myzterius
June 27, 2018
I loved that superman returns scene, thats something superman would say to release the tension and make the travellers feel at ease. Still kind of funny, because who wants to hear that shit now, people just want to get the hell out lol.
1. Kouglof
  June 27, 2018
  I respect your love for this Superman Returns scene, but in this kind of situation this line would not make the travallers feel better.
  In the real world (without Superman), what would happen if this line is said by the pilot himself? The pilot is the real world hero (like are the firefighters or policemen), but in people's mind he would be a deep-sea dumbass.
  That's why the "template" suggested by Kevin Feige did not work and would not work again in 20XX.
  Please, don't make Henry Cavill's Superman cheesy and cringy again.
  1. myzterius
    June 27, 2018
    But you have to understand that its not the real world. Superman says cheesy lines sometimes, whether its comics, animation, or movies. Making him super serious all the time is out of character, and its one of the reason why snyders vision didnt connect.
BenderRodriguezIII
July 2, 2018
The reason it failed was because the movie and story was cr@p not Superman. Superman needs a good story around it not change the character as per Hack Snyder.

Nahuel Benvenuto

June 27, 2018

What an idiot, it took him 10 years to make a good movie, who is he to talk?

Katie Flaten

June 27, 2018

Didn’t they do that with Brandon Routh’s Superman Returns already back in the 2000’s? That movie was almost unwatchable. I personally love the take on Superman in this current universe. But I guess I’m in the minority.

Kouglof
June 27, 2018
https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

K_Man399

June 27, 2018

They instead followed TDK because that made them more money. That kind of movie was perfect for Batman like Donner's Superman is perfect for Superman. Then they failed and then tried to make a MCU esque movie and failed again. WB needs to respect the DC characters. I see potential in Henry Cavill but he's just not been given the right material and direction.

June 27, 2018

It is easy to recall looking back at it but the first thing DCEU should have done is ESTABLISH JOHN STEWART...This was such an easy call. He was hugely successful. You already know the crowd knows Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Put a prominent John Stewart on the big screen and eight years ago you could have brought Denzel in as John Stewart. You also could have ushered in teamwork and maybe given him help from Hal or Hawkgirl. What I am saying is two or three heroes could have appeared in one film ushering in the change in attitude. Giving us the same stories over and over, and then we get a killer Superman, and a Batman who loves guns. Then a manhood measuring contest between Batman and Superman, and then we get Wonder Woman as their savior, when if you would have had a decent Green lantern showing you could have had a good Superman battle with Green Lantern, which is much more equipped to defeat Superman and have Superman still hold his credibility...

Light PK

June 28, 2018

Don't ever follow this advice

Kenny Kraly Jr

June 28, 2018

That's not what Kevin meant if you read closely. He means the DC characters staying true to who they are. He didn't mean copy the story he said the formula.

Lee Sharp

June 30, 2018

Problem with the DCEU Superman is the crap they pulled in BVS and part of MOS too... he's basically a New52/Injustice Gods Superman hybrid... Donner's is to campy for now but its still a lot closer to Superman that friggin' Snyder's version ever was... Donner's actually respected the Superman character and his legacy as well as the Superman characters around him.