“Superman: Red Son” is an Elseworlds comic book story written by Mark Millar (published in 2003) which reimagines Superman’s origin to have him land in the Soviet Union instead of Kansas, America. The hit story, a favorite amongst many Superman fans, was recently pitched to Warner Bros. by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“Kong: Skull Island”), but rejected… or so he thought.
A conversation between Mark Millar and Jordan Vogt-Roberts via Twitter has revealed that Jordan pitched the “Superman: Red Son” idea to Warner Bros. a few months ago, but was knocked back. To Jordan’s surprise, Mark Millar reveals however that he’s heard whispers that the studio is pitching the “Red Son” concept to other directors.
This thread is giving me tangential pangs of what-could-have-been for the version of Red Son I pitched that will sadly never get made. Oy.
— Jordan Vogt-Roberts (@VogtRoberts) June 27, 2017
Did you hear WB pitching directors Red Son? Two diff pals in last 2 months. This truly is Putin’s America.
— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) June 27, 2017
Could Millar have his wires crossed? Is Warner Bros. really considering a live-action “Superman: Red Son” film? Would this be something Superman fans would want to see on the big screen?
I remember thinking a while back that if DC had really wanted to be different from Marvel, then instead of a Cinematic Universe, where every movie is connected, make stand-alone film adaptions of their best books or concepts. Red Son, Kingdom Come, All-Star Superman, Injustice, Dark Knight Returns, Young Justice, etc. Kind of along the lines of how they used to make their DVD animated movies. Just really good, one-and-done, stories. Doing this now would probably just confuse people.
Here’s a novel idea… How about we get an actual, honest to goodness Superman film out first before we start dinking around with elseworlds crap? I mean, MOS, and BvS are practically elseworlds themselves. This character deserves a good film that celebrates, and embraces who he is. Not the crap that Snyder tried shoving down out throats, and certainly not Red Son.
Exactly, Snyder films have been poor – average. MOS was ok but never really enters my bluray player as much as Superman The Movie. Hope they put a line through it all after the rubbish looking Justice League & start again. The Spiderman films are much better produced films than Snyders Superman. Costume average, production dark, no humility of character & music terrible. Bring back John Williams iconic score, I mean Star Wars films wouldn’t be the same & Superman needs that score employed in his films.
1. This is just Mark Millar talking BS again. He did the same thing after Superman Returns, saying that he and his friend-director were going to do the next Superman movie. To which WB/DC responded: “uh, what?”
2. Adapting Red Son for the big screen and expecting it to do a billion dollars is crazy. The majority of moviegoers will walk away saying, “sooo Superman’s a communist?”
I’d be okay with an indie company producing it. That way not everyone will rush to see it and get confused about the story like you’re saying. Just the ones that understand will go see it.
Now I’d imagine this coming in animation form, but for the love of God I can’t take MM seriously and besides we need to get the current DCEU up and running continuity-wise. Concentrate on Superman in JL and make a sequel to MOS. That is much more wanted at the moment.
I wonder if Warner Brothers is afraid of a straight-ahead Superman film. As a Superman fan, I enjoyed MAN OF STEEL and BATMAN V SUPERMAN (especially the extended edition). I liked the different take on Superman and I love Henry Cavill’s portrayal of Superman and Clark Kent. However, as much as I enjoyed both movies, the fact of the matter is that those 2 films are divisive. So the last thing Warner Brothers should ever do is make a live-action adaptation of Superman: Red Son. We don’t need to confuse the general public about Superman’s true character. We need a… Read more »
I’m not sure the world is ready for a communist Superman…
(Even if the original version kinda/sorta was one.)
I would like an animated film, but that’s it. It’s probably a load of nothing anyway.
There is a motion comic you can watch online. It’s pretty good.
I don’t know the phrasing seems more like a jab at President Trump than anything else.
I would absolutely love to see a Red Son movie. But I also kind of agree with cpm72586. Besides the old Christopher Reeve movies there hasn’t been any honest to goodness Superman movie. I love Henry Cavill as Superman. But the story lines are trying to push a dark side on Superman. Can’t he just be the hero without having to kill or be a bad boy. But contrary-wise we need a Red Son movie. Other than the motion comic.
Animation is the only way this works. I don’t put much stock in this.
There are other one off stories that can potentially fit into this universe though such as All-Star superman and maybe kingdom come as a final film.
A communist Superman movie?
I think I’ll pass on seeing that film if it gets made.