I won’t go into the background. We know the origin tale of Zack Snyder‘s original vision of Justice League, and his terrible family tragedy, and the continued tragedy of the studio interference that led to the theatrical release, directed by Joss Whedon (although the theatrical cut still lists Snyder as director, so…). We know the campaign, the reshoots, yada yada yada. But now the question remains: was it all worth it?
I may not have been the core audience for this film pre-release, since I absolutely loatheBatman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and have been getting nothing but sketchy vibes from both Snyder and his hoards of fanboys (our group chat and Facebook feed has been something else this past weekend); but, I will admit that this cut of Justice League is a superior film and actually shows some growth with Snyder and his vision of these characters. He does seem to have learned some lessons from whatever it was he was he thought he was doing with BvS.
With a stumbling first hour (and, look, I absolutely do not care about anything in the Knightmare future at all), this film offers much more satisfying character bits that actually flesh out the characters of Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) and Vic Stone (Ray Fisher), and make villain Steppenwolf’s (Ciaran Hinds) motivation much more clearer, thus increasing the stakes of the film.
Computer animators LOVE animating all these tiny moving metal pieces!
Following the death of Superman (Henry Cavill) at the hands of Doomsday — and boy do we linger on that sequence — Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) set about trying to track down several other metahumans that have been only hinted at, having hidden themselves away from society. Once together, they encounter Steppenwolf at a silo, and, getting promptly beaten, realize the only being capable of defeating Steppenwolf — and, by extension, hold off the coming of the leader of the New Gods, Darkseid (Ray Porter) — is Superman. Resurrecting Superman comes with its own risks, but, ultimately, his reappearance is enough to keep the forces of Darkseid and Apokolips at bay. For now…
If that sounds awfully familiar, it should: the story beats are exactly what was released in theaters some four years ago. The entire first hour of the film is a rearrangement of the later section of the first act of the theatrical cut, with the opening Superman death scream being the impetus for the Mother Boxes awakening– which attracts Steppenwolf’s attention. From there, the film immediately jumps to Batman tracking down Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), while intercutting with the Mother Boxes awakening, and Wonder Woman relating Earth’s first encounter with Darkseid, some five thousands years in the past.
There’s more of ME in this movie! Know who ELSE is in this movie?…
This opening hour is probably the weakest aspect of this new cut: much noise has already been made of the over-abundance of slow motion shots. But that actually isn’t an issue. Snyder views these characters as gods among humans (akin to the NetherRealm video game series, Injustice), so the framing and lingering of them in this context makes sense, and most of the musical cues for Wonder Woman especially are not only distracting, but get overused to the point of being silly. There’s such a self-seriousness with how the film treats theses characters in the first half that it borders on parody; the wailing war-cry to Wonder Woman is so wildly distracting.
While the action beats are more coherent and well structured, there are additions of gore that seem…odd. Case in point, Wonder Woman’s thwarting of a terrorist attack includes her throwing one against a wall; it isn’t enough for her to just knock him out, the end result is a growing pool of blood, and a bloody crater where he’d impacted. Always there seems to be a beat that lingers just a second too longer, the addition of blood that adds nothing more than just its own addition, of shots that add texture, but no subtext. Snyder’s stated that he “makes movies for grown ups” (in this movie that features a man dressed as a bat, water breathers, aliens, and fucking Zeus), but that doesn’t necessarily mean “grown up movies need to include de-saturated color, bloody violence, and Batman saying ‘fuck’ for…some reason?” But then again…this is definitely his movie: goofy musical cues, overly busy armor design, cringy dialogue and all.
…Darkseid is!
But that’s only the first hour. Once the plot is in motion and the movie gets going, it gets going. The Flash and Cyborg are considerably improved by the increased run-time; no longer relegated to bit players, they have actual motivation and development, and that makes the entire rest of the film that much richer. No longer is their relationship boiled down to a few lines of dialogue while digging up Superman’s body; we see how their otherness affects them and brings them together, making their friendly fist-bump at the end actually mean something other than looking cool.
And finally, seeing the Speed Force in a feature film — one that seems to understand how uniquely important the Flash is as a character — was a delight. While people may be more excited at seeing Superman wearing the color black, I was genuinely excited to see him arrive just in time for the final battle, and to hear the new motif that Hans Zimmer had written for him, once again.
Non-dour color schemes are for poor people!
With some tighter editing and a co-writer capable of tempering Snyder’s more self-indulgent, and questionable, decisions, this would have been an enjoyable theatrical viewing. This movie is a vast improvement on Snyder’s last foray into the DC Universe, and it seems that he learned most of the right lessons from BvS, which seemed to boil down to “make a watchable movie that is enjoyable”.
There’s just enough genuine hope for each individual character by the end of the film to have made the effort worth the trouble. That is, at least until the Knightmare stinger… Ugh. Really, the entire movie could have ended without this addition and have been much stronger, since it would no longer be hinting at a future that would never be explored (but that’s just me). I have been to every Snyder film on opening day since 300 came out — and yes, I went to see BvS opening night — so my criticisms are not to the director, but to specific works, and I would probably have added this to that list as well, and not regretted it.
I legitimately enjoyed this sequence and everything leading up to it.
This film is an impressive achievement, and were circumstances different, and a pandemic not roiling the world, it is doubtful that Warner Brothers would have bothered to revisit this project. While this version hints at projects that won’t come to pass (and that might be a blessing, considering some of the more wacky ideas Snyder was looking to explore in the sequels. WOW.), for what it is — an Elseworlds type of adventure — it is strong. The #SnyderCut even hints at Ryan Choi’s (Zheng Kai) future work as the Atom, or the mere existence of Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix), who probably would have been a big help during the Steppenwolf attacks!
While this is not The Greatest Movie Ever Made, and it’s not even the best DC Comics movie ever made, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a vast improvement, and there’s enough richness in there to have made it worth the time. I genuinely enjoy this movie. Just after that first hour. 4/5 Martian Manhunters Popping Up At The Very End When He Probably Should Have Helped Fend Off The Alien Invasion.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is now streaming on HBO Max.
Oh man, are ya’ll in for a treat! This past weekend was what should have been New York Toy Fair, but Mezco Toyz still brought 3 days of glorious drops — from Superman to Wolverine to an insanely awesome Fantastic Four boxset…
Mezco also showed off The Crow Brandon Lee, G.I. Joe’s Destro (!!) and nearly broke the internet with their reveal of the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Tune in and let us know what you think in the comments!
This week The CW premiered the latest DCU show Superman & Lois and it shares the Arrowverse with the other CW shows. The Man of Steel is reprised by Supergirl star Tyler Hoechlin. The premiere episode takes place at a much later time in the Kryptonian’s life. Kal El is married to Lois Lane, who is played by Grimm’s Bitsie Tulloch. To make things complicated, Clark and Lois are raising 14-year old twin sons — Jonathon (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alex Garfin) Kent — in the bustling city of Metropolis as the couple remain journalists for The Daily Planet…
The first episode is filled with fan service. Some of the nods in the episode are subtle while others are blatant. Siegel and Shuster, Superman’s creators are referenced as well as a nod to the cover of Action Comics #1 and using the “S” symbol with the black like the Fleischer cartoon. Supes makes a trip to Gotham’s ACE Chemical Plant when the audience is given a peak at the villain that will most likely last the whole season. No spoilers but the family ends up going back to Smallville.
There, major changes happen, eventually the locals catch up with the Kents, including Lana Lang (Emmanuelle Chriqui), her husband Kyle Cushing (Erik Valdez) and their daughter Sarah (Inde Navarrette). The episode works well enough that the audience can see the mechanizations begin to work and the plot of the season unfurls. For the most, part the villain remains anonymous but that is not to say there is no conflict or confrontation. There is a decent fight between Superman and the anonymous antagonist.
https://youtu.be/PzGaOCTtXMQ
In general, the premiere episode has action and the visuals are fairly well done and not at all cheesy. The romance between Clark and Lois does resonate and doesn’t cross the line to an overdrawn or overacted relationship. I will not spoil anything if for some reason you have not watched this episode, having said that the dynamic of the twin sons feels similar to the treatment of the comic book characters the Super-Sons. The obvious difference would be that one is not Bruce Wayne Jr.– or in the later series, Damian Wayne and no Clark Kent Jr.
The relationship the brothers have really lends itself into that dynamic, and who knows… maybe a spin-off? Much like what Superman’s symbol means, this premiere gave me hope. Hope that Lois & Clark will be replaced by Superman & Lois. Hope there will crossovers. Most of all; hope that
this is the start of something great. This looks like a job for the CW. Good luck. 4.5/5 Bibles.
It’s no great secret that 2020 has been a dumpster fire of a year, but traditionally, times of great strife and turmoil yield magnificent works of art, and this year has certainly been no exception.
1. X OF SWORDS (Marvel Comics) – The first comic book that I want to talk about is no great shock but still a bit of a pleasant surprise. Last year’s House of X/Powers of X mini-series by Jonathan Hickman/Pepe Larraz/R.B. Silva reinvigorated Marvel’s stagnant X-Men franchise to a degree that most of us long-term fans had despaired of believing was possible. Everything was new again, seething with excitement and potential. The relentless weekly pace of the twelve issues and the beauty of two complementary art teams with no fill-ins focused the narrative to a degree that made it my favorite run of 2019. However, as soon as the event finished, in the merry Marvel tradition, the franchise immediately fragmented into five or six different titles that were released with such frequency, it wasn’t really tenable for most to even give them all a chance.
So, I was a bit ambivalent when X of Swords was announced. 22 chapters scattered across every title, usually three per week. Yes, Hickman was the “showrunner” or whatever they wanted to call it, and he was writing the major installments with Larraz returning for that already classic HoX/PoX feel, but anyone who’s given them a chance down through the years has been burned on so so many ultimately useless Marvel crossover tie-in “mega-events,” my hopes were still not high. Why not just another tight twelve issues by Hickman and two art teams? I was so so wrong. Every chapter heightened the stakes and propelled the narrative forward at a breathtaking pace, no matter who the creators were. I couldn’t wait for every Wednesday to gorge on another 60 pages of the delight.
There were so many moments that I suspect played well for less experienced readers but that had me clutching my heart while laughing like a madman at the bonkers insanity of the wildly careening plot: Doug’s challenge, Logan’s challenges, Illyana in general, and I mean, Storm just journeying to Wakanda for her sword. That set-up is the definition of event filler. You have to pay $4.99 for this one issue of Marauders that’s Chapter 5 of 22 and the only point is that Storm needs a special sword so that she can eventually be one of ten mutants fighting ten other evil mutants. But Vita Ayala and Matteo Lolli, creators I’ve never even heard of, wring out pathos and deep character depth, really the best I can recall Ororo displaying since Claremont finally took a walk thirty years ago.
And I haven’t even mentioned the absolute glory of how this epic handles Apocalypse as a proper protagonist. Yes, it’s explosive and loud and interdimensional and big and bursting, but this creative crew never loses sight of what binds the tapestry of the folks who used to live on 1407 Graymalkin Lane and have since relocated to a sentient island nation: it’s the quiet human moments, the little beats of self-discovery and revelation, the choices they make that mean nothing will actually ever be the same. 5/5 Swords Across the Multiverse.
2. SUPERMAN SMASHES THE KLAN (DC Comics) – In 1946, when the character was only eight years old, the radio serial The Adventures of Superman aired an arc of episodes entitled “Clan of the Fiery Cross” in which Superman battled the Ku Klux Klan. These were some of the most popular episodes of the series and have now been loosely adapted all these years later into Superman Smashes The Klan a three-part graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang & Gurihiru.
The series takes place in its own Golden-Age pocket-continuity set in 1946 when Superman is still developing as a character and a hero. He doesn’t know about Krypton. He doesn’t know about kryptonite. He can’t fly, so he sprints down telephone wires to save the day. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are on hand, but even more prominent are new characters Roberta and Tommy Lee, whose family has just moved from Chinatown to downtown Metropolis. Their mom is having trouble with English and keeps reverting to Cantonese, much to her husband’s chagrin.
This sets up an extremely compelling duality in which this family finds themselves targeted by the Klan because of their race and get help from Superman, who himself is only now coming to terms with his alien nature and true identity as it relates to the fundamental part of what makes him who he is and what that says about America, the land that he calls home. Yang delivers a pitch-perfect script full of drama, humor, and wonderful character moments, all perfectly executed by the art duo Gurihiru, whose cartoony art style belies the serious nature of the narrative while anchoring it in a lighter tone that makes it easier to digest.
At once timeless and classic, SSTK stands as one of the best Superman stories to come along in a very long time and a shining example of the finest qualities that both genre and medium have to offer, telling a story that entertains while actively trying to make the world a better place. 5/5 Immigrant Songs
3. JACK KIRBY: THE EPIC LIFE OF THE KING OF COMICS (Ten Speed Press) – You’d think there’s really nowhere to take it after an instant classic starring the original superhero, but this year saw the long-awaited delivery of one of the greatest stories ever told across the history of the medium: the true and actual story of the life of Jack Kirby…
Tom Scioli has been building toward this in plain sight for the past 15 years, first treating Kirby as genre in the devastating and underrated Gødland, before streamlining his style into a more cartoony pre-aged retro look for G.I. Joe vs. Transformers and Go-Bots, most recently bringing it all home in a stunning act of narrative compression by cramming all 108 issues of Kirby’s legendary Fantastic Four run into only two massive issues, all this though seemingly in service of codifying his situation to tell the life-story of the most important comic-book creator of the twentieth century in Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics.
Scioli writes, draws, colors, and hand-letters the entire book, which opens on Kirby’s childhood as a member of a Brooklyn street gang and quickly moves through his very young entry into the world of cartooning in order to help provide for his family. The early childhood bits are powerful enough, but soon Kirby’s co-creating Captain America, heading off to be an advance scout for the Allies during World War II after drawing enough extra pages that his fans will barely realize he’s overseas, inventing romance comics, then serving as the primary imagination engine birthing the Marvel Universe before heading over to DC Comics for his truncated Fourth World magnum opus, all while battling an increasingly frustrating corporate infrastructure that champions creation at the expense of creator and denies recognition to the white-hot imagination that has given more to the medium than any other.
It was definitely all too much for me to take more than 8-12 pages at a time. Scioli delivers a masterpiece worthy of the epic life that it relates, an inspiration to all who have followed and a call to action to celebrate the man who regularly conjured mythologies through the simple act of sitting down at his table and getting started, every day for decades. Kirby Forever. 5/5 Kirby Krackles
Honorable Mentions: Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, The Green Lantern: Season Two, Locke & Key: In Pale Battalions Go, Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #7, Chu, The Batman’s Grave, The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage, Strange Adventures.
In 1992, DC Comics made the decision to kill their flagship character Superman in a then-new storyline called The Death of Superman. Though a fictional story, the death of such a beloved icon got unprecedented mainstreammediacoverage from CNN, NBC and the like. The comic which features Superman’s death (Superman #75) sold over six million copies and was easily 1992’s top-selling comic.
“The Death of Superman” was divided into three story arcs:
“Doomsday!” which featured Superman’s fight with the alien monster Doomsday and concluded with his epic death.
“Funeral for a Friend” which showed Superman’s fellow superheroes and the rest of the DC Universe mourning his death in different ways.
The last arc “Reign of the Supermen!” saw the emergence of four Supermen trying to take place of the original. One such ‘Superman’ is the subject of today’s article: an African-American male who was inspired by Superman to create his own superhero identity called STEEL.
Steel first appeared in The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993) and was created by Louise Simonson and artist Jon Bogdanove.Other than Superman, the character was clearly inspired by the African American folk hero John Henry, ‘the steel driving man’. According to legend, John Henry tested his ability as a steel-driver in a race against a steam-powered rock drilling machine. John won the race only to die with a hammer in his hand as his heart gave out from stress.
ORIGIN
Doctor John Henry Irons was born in Metropolis. Irons’ parents were murdered when he was young and he promised to protect the rest of his family by becoming rich and powerful. He goes on to attend Yale on a sports scholarship and becomes a brilliant weapons engineer for AmerTek Industries. Despite the wealth and fame he receives, Irons became disgusted when he discovers the BG-60, a powerful energy cannon he designed, fell into the wrong hands and was used to kill innocent people. As the company would have coerced him to retain his services, John faked his own death and came back to Metropolis under the alias of Henry Johnson.
As ‘Henry Johnson’, Irons’ own life was saved by none other than Superman. When John asked how he could show his gratitude, Superman told him to “live a life worth saving”.
During Superman’s fatal battle against Doomsday, Irons, who was still working in construction, attempted to help Superman fight the deadly menace by picking up a sledge hammer, but Irons ended up buried in rubble amidst the devastation.
Shortly after Superman’s death, he finally awoke and crawled from the wreckage, confused and saying that he “must stop Doomsday”.
He recovers from being buried but it is too late as Superman dies in his battle against Doomsday. He also finds out that the gangs in inner-city Metropolis (now without Superman to fear) are waging an intense gang war using BG-80 Toastmasters (an upgraded version of his earlier AmerTek design).
Upon this discovery, Irons made a vow to stop the abuse of his weapons:
“John Henry fought the machine and won. What I’m fightin’ is a deadlier kind of machine — one I helped put in motion. One I’m gonna stop — even if it kills me”.
Irons created and donned a suit of powered armor designed in Superman’s memory in order to stop the gang war, as well as destroy the weapons.
The Reign of The Supermen
Will The Real Superman Please Stand Up?
The “Reign of the Supermen” story arc saw the rise of four “Supermen” ( Most of whom claimed to be Superman reborn). Each one of them represented the embodiment of a different nickname associated with the original Superman.
With his full body suit of armor, Steel represents Superman’s nickname “The Man of Steel “.
The Cyborg Superman represents Superman’s nickname “The Man of Tomorrow” and had a half-robotic body.
Superboy is a teenage clone of Superman created by the genetic engineering corporation Project Cadmus. He adopts Superman’s nickname ‘The Metropolis Marvel ‘.
The Eradicator represents Superman’s nickname “The Last Son of Krypton” and was a emotionless alien wearing a visor.
After the return of the real Superman, Irons was urged to continue fighting crime as The Man of Steel, which was later shortened to “Steel” by Superman himself.
MULTIMEDIA APPEARANCES
TV
Superman: The Animated Series (1997)
John Henry Irons’ first multimedia appearance was on Superman: The Animated Series on Kids WB!. Voiced by actor Michael Dorn ( ‘Worf ‘ from ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation‘), John Henry Irons is introduced as a designer for LexCorp who creates a Robocop-like prototype suit of armor for the Metropolis SCU (‘Special Crimes Unit‘). However, the suit’s neural interface system has adverse psychological effects on its user Sgt. Corey Mills.
After warning Lex Luthor this would happen, Luthor’s callousness on the matter caused Irons quit LexCorp. Encouraged by Superman, Irons worked on perfecting the suit in his private lab with the help of his niece Natasha. Superman is weakened by Kryptonite poisoning in a battle against the cyborg villain Metallo and Ironsbecomes the superhero Steel just in time to save Superman. This animated version of Steel is missing the cape he adapted from Superman, he lacks his ‘S’ chest shield and his rivet guns were replaced with forearm-mounted lasers. Irons appears as himself in the episode “Prototype” and as Steel in the episode “Heavy Metal“.
NOTE: Both episodes were released the same year as the live action feature film Steel.
After the Metallo adventure, Superman gave his official blessing by saying ” Steel, huh? Well, Steel, you’re going to hear THIS a lot so you might as well hear it from me first”. After Steel asks “What?”, Superman extends his hand and says “Thanks”.
Justice League Unlimited (2004)
Steel returns in Justice League Unlimited, this time voiced by actor Phil LaMarr (MAD TV, Pulp Fiction). He is seen as a member of the expanded Justice League. Steel has appeared regularly in the company of Superman and Supergirl. His major appearance is when he attempts to hold off Galatea from destroying the Watchtower. He was later seen with Supergirl in the episode “The Return” where he tries to prevent Amazo from reaching Lex Luthor.
Steel (1997)
Steel makes the jump to the big screen. This will be a sure fire hit, right? Right?The production company behind Steel. The company was also behind ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’, ‘ The Jenny Jones Show’, and ‘ MAD TV’.
The production of a live action depiction of the comic book Steel started with legendary music producer Quincy Jones and his partner David Salzman. As it turns out, both Jones and Salzman were fans of the Steel character. Jones, in particular, found personal reasons to support the project.
Jones stated that he found children’s “perspective on the future has changed for the worse, and I hate seeing young people who don’t believe in the future. Steel—and I don’t want to use that word ‘superhero,’ because he doesn’t fly or anything like that—represents a role model. Let’s just call him a ‘super human being.'”( 2020, Steel (1997 film), Wikipedia).
Shaq in full costume with the film’s writer/director Kenneth Johnson
The screenwriter and director of Steel was Kenneth Johnson. Johnson had previous success in sci-fi television, creating shows like The Bionic Woman, Alien Nation, and The Incredible Hulk. Johnson was originally uninterested in doing a superhero film but film producer Joel Simon described Steel as being different, stating that he was “a knight in shining armor in a contemporary setting” ( 2020, Steel (1997 film), Wikipedia).
With that in mind, Johnson intended to separate the film itself from the comic book series in a number of ways:
John Henry Irons is not presented as a supporting character of Superman. Johnson removed Steel’s cape and the ‘S’ on his chest from his costume to reflect this. However, Superman is briefly mentioned in two scenes:
There is one brief shot of Shaq‘s ‘Man Of Steel‘ arm tattoo with the Superman ‘S‘ symbol.
During the climax, Uncle Joe tells John to be careful by telling him ‘ You ain’t Superman…’.
Steel does not fly like in the comics. He instead uses gadgets like a grappling hook and a specialized motorcycle.
The Steel suit in the movie was created by Greg Cannom. Cannom has won Oscars in make-up for his work in films like Mrs. Doubtfire, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
The Steel suit does not grant Irons super strength. It is established that he generally has above average strength due to his large size (he is seen lifting a slab of concrete, ripping off a locked gate door and lifting grown people several times).
The locale is changed from fictional Metropolis to real world Los Angeles.
None of Steel’s supporting characters from the comics are used. Other than Steel, all the protagonists and antagonists in the movie are of Johnson’s own invention. Only the storyline of a street gang using illegal versions of his weapons is from the comics.
The filming schedule consisted of fifty-one days with thirty-two full nights of shooting in downtown Los Angeles. The shooting schedule presented difficulties for the director due to the schedule of then-superstar basketball player Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal is a huge Superman fanboy and often referred to himself as ‘ Superman’ on the basketball court. Here he is at the world premiere of ‘ Superman Returns’ in 2006.In addition to his arm tattoo, Shaq, at one point, owned a mansion in South Florida with the Superman logo adorned throughout his home. His personal movie theater is covered with Superman films like ‘ Superman and The Mole Men’ and ‘Man Of Steel’.Shaq put the Superman logo on virtually everything in his house, including his bed comforter, basketball court, swimming pool and bathroom fixtures.Shaq even has a life-size Superman replica to guard over his boating dock.
In addition to his arm tattoo, Shaq at point owned a mansion in South Florida with the Superman logo adorned through out his home
Prior to filming, O’Neal was already committed for playing in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and training at the Los Angeles Lakers’ camp in Hawaii. O’Neal had one read-through of the script before the Olympics and then worked with acting coach Ben Martin in between games to work on his character. When O’Neal returned to act with the rest of the cast, he had all his lines memorized.
THE STORY
This film stars Shaquille O’Neal as Lt. John Henry Irons, a 7 foot tall weapons designer for the United States Army whose inventions include high-tech laser guns, protective armor, and sonic cannons. During a demonstration, an accident caused by rogue designer Nathaniel Burke (Judd Nelson) results in the death of a Senator and leaves Iron’s partner Sparky (Annabeth Gish) paralyzed. Irons reveals Burke’s role in the incident in court and Burke is dismissed from the military.
Because his weapons resulted in Sparky becoming a paraplegic, Irons resigns his commission in disgust and returns home to Los Angeles. Very soon, Burke heads to L.A. as well and begins mass-producing Irons’ weapons using an arcade game company called Dantastic as a cover. Burke is intent on selling them to street criminals and , eventually, world-wide militias and criminal organizations via the Internet.
One night, Irons witnesses a bank robbery organized by a group of gang members called ‘The Marks‘ using modified versions of his weapons. Getting Sparky out of a veteran’s hospital, Irons takes her to his own assembled laboratory in his Uncle Joe’s junkyard, where he reveals his plan: Irons and Sparky will create weapons to combat the ones being used by the criminals. Together, they forge a suit of armor and a hammer that contains their combined weaponry. Upon completion of the armor, Uncle Joe proclaims: “Well, I’ll be damned. John Henry Irons has turned himself into The Man of Steel”. With Sparky and Uncle Joe as tech support, John carries out his war on crime and become the armored vigilante dubbed ‘Steel’ by the media.
Steel was released in the United States on August 15, 1997. Steel was considered a large box office bomb on its release with an estimated budget of $16 million, the film grossed just over $1.7 million at the box office. The film grossed less in its entire run than Batman & Robin (1997) made in its first weekend.
Movie Facts
“It’s Hammer Time”. That’s an actual quote from the movie.
Certain scenes like his first night of super saves and a scene he stands still as bullets deflect off his armor are eerily similar to Superman: The Movie (1978).
Batman gets a shout out in two scenes:
Steel disappears during a police chase and one cop insinuates that he has gone to ‘The Bat Cave‘.
When John’s little brother Martin (played by singer Ray J) finds out his secret identity, Martin enthusiastically says he wants to help and be John’s sidekick in the future with his own cape( ‘ Man! I could be Robin! ‘).
Producers couldn’t find a 7 foot tall stunt double for Shaquille O’Neal. As such, Shaq performed all of his own stunts.
The scenes in which Irons forges his armor and reveals the helmet as the last completed piece are reminiscent of Iron Man (2008) in which Tony Stark does the same thing 10 years later.
To get a feel for the urban aspects of the script’s dialogue, Ken Johnson took a copy of the script to South Central Los Angeles and spent a day with a group of kids to make sure that the language and slang of some of the characters sounded more authentic and believable.
Kenneth Johnson originally wanted Wesley Snipes to play Steel. However, Warner Bros. felt that casting a popular athlete like Shaquille O’Neal would help sell more toys and merchandise.
One of the main henchmen ( Singer) was played by actor/writer Kevin Grevioux. Grevioux would go on to co-create the Underworld film franchise starring Kate Beckingsale.
As well as acting in the film, Shaquille O’Neal also contributed to the soundtrack for the film as a rapper. The single “Men of Steel” has him featured alongside other rappers KRS-One, Ice Cube, B-Real, and Peter Gunz.
John Henry’s seeming inability to “make free throws” refers to Shaquille O’Neal’s poor free throw shooting in the NBA.
DC ANIMATED MOVIE UNIVERSE
The Death and Return of Superman comic storyline had been adapted into a number of animated films ( most of which feature Steel) . The most recent animated adaptation was released as a two-part film, The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen, in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)
John Henry Irons appears in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. Voiced by Khary Payton ( ” Teen Titans“, “Teen Titans GO” ), John is seen as a construction worker wielding a hammer. While defending a co-worker from an Atlantean, he ends up being saved by Superman at the construction site. Superman flies away to deal with the pending threat, not knowing he had just changed Irons’ life.
The Death of Superman (2018)
John Henry Irons next appears in The Death of Superman, voiced by Cress Williams ( “Black Lightning“). After his life changing experience in Thorne of Atlantis, Irons is now a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist. He is also a hardcore Superman fanboy (He constantly wears a Superman t-shirt under his lab coat). After Superman’s death in the film, Irons is seen preparing his Steel armor during the mid-credits scene.
Reign of the Supermen (2019)
John Henry Irons appears again in the sequel Reign of the Supermen, with Cress Williams reprising his role. Six months following the death of Superman at the hands of Doomsday, four new Supermen have emerged and become controversial to the world. Lois Lane begins investigating the new Supermen by gathering information from different sources. Lane befriends Irons after she easily discovered his secret identity. Irons has officially adopted the name Steel and comes into contact with the other Supermen.
Steel makes a non-speaking appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. He is among the heroes fighting against Darkseid’s Parademons. His current fate is unknown as he was either killed or erased from existence when the Flash had to create another Flashpoint.
For my second week of quarantine reading, I want to go big, ramp the scale up as legendary as possible. This sentiment is so ambitious, my Wednesday Night Mass reading actually spilled over into Thursday night.. and thus we have SuperEaster Sunday, but that is just fine…
Our first selection is SUPERMAN #400, cover-dated Oct. 84, a monster milestone anniversary issue that you could have had off the spinner rack for $1.50. I first purchased this book thirteen years ago when I went to Comic-Con but had such a legendary day that day (shook hands with Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis; got imagination-charged to bursting by Grant Morrison when he told me I had to write this novel that happened to have the same title as a throwaway word he had tossed out in SEVEN SOLDIERS; got extremely intoxicated during Ellis’s ninety-minute talk…) so that by the time I made it to midnight and read this issue, it didn’t make as much of an impression as it would have at any other time in my life.
So, here’s the deal: Under the ever-watchful eye of editor Julie Schwartz, noted seventies Superman-scribe Elliot S! Maggin pens a tale about how the legend of Superman spans the ages and then they get basically every top artist of the day to drop in and illustrate a sequence. Howard Chaykin does the cover. Joe Orlando on opening sequence. Frank Miller and Lynn Varley deliver five pages of news footage that are completely a test-drive for what they’ll spend all of 1985 working on, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. More interiors from Al Williamson, Marshall Rogers, Wendy Pini, Michael Kaluta, Klaus Janson, pinups by Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Brian Bolland, John Byrne, Walt Simonson, Berni Wrightson, Steve Ditko, Mike Grell, Moebius, Bill Sienkiewicz, and then 10 damn pages of Steranko montage carrying us into the far future to send us out. This is a stunning stunning collection of talent and easily the best pre-Crisis issue of Superman that I’ve ever read. I recommend it to one and all without reservation. Mercy.
All right, next deal and speaking of Frank Miller, I never finished that SUPERMAN: YEAR ONE mini-series that he did with John Romita, Jr. and Alex Sinclair last year. It was the kind of thing where the Wednesday that #3 dropped, there were eight other books, and I ran out of gas like ten pages into that last issue at 3:00 in the morning. So, I o go back and reread #2 then power right on into #3. Y’all.
This series is nuts. I was super-concerned before it debuted that Miller’s apparent disdain for the character, as evidenced in the conservative-capitalist version who tore such a swath through THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, was going to make this a very cynical read, but there’s lots of hope. It’s just cut with that hard-hitting noir prose Miller’s been pumping out for decades now. I find the series for the most part enjoyable, but it’s totally bonkers. I usually don’t divulge interior plot details on new books to give folks time to read them, but this one’s been out for a few months, so let’s just take a look at #2 for a minute.
Here, check out this panel (just below!). A silhouette, brooding in the middle of the night. Without context, it’s a nice, quiet little beat. Nothing too bizarre at all. Miller’s hard-boiled style, cultivated through DAREDEVIL and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and SIN CITY, cutting through just fine. But would you like the context? This is our boy young Clark Kent finding his way in the world, who, straight out of high school enlisted in the Marines and is now in Sniper School because he was such a crack-shot during basic training; the brass singled him out as an excellent sniper candidate. Kent never misses!
So, it turns out the Last Son of Krypton did some wet-work assassination before settling down as a reporter in Metropolis? Not to worry, because before we have to follow this narrative thread to its inevitable moral conundrum, Clark goes for a swim in the ocean and runs into classic mermaid supporting character Lori Lemaris and then the rest of the issue turns out to be a huge battle against her father Poseidon and his Kraken versus Clark for the heart and soul of Lori and Atlantis. Check out the JRJr./Sinclair two-page spread of Atlantis in all her demolished glory. This issue is all over the place but in a glorious messy way.
Then, #3 turns out to be the only one that kind of veers back on track to what one expects. Clark finally arrives in Metropolis and we meet Lois & Jimmy & Perry & Luthor and so forth. I won’t talk about the last section because it reeeeeally opens up, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Wasn’t expecting Miller to provide so much heart to this character at this point in his career and was pleasantly surprised. If you can get your hands on the physical copies of these things, they’re printed out in over-sized tabloid format and a joy to hold in your own two hands.
I ended the evening by going through #3 and #4 of GILGAMESH II, the old Jim Starlin series that I started last week. Highly recommended. Starlin writes and draws peak-career original science-fiction that Steve Oliff colors with taste and restraint. I’m not going to talk about the plot at all because you really ought to check it out for yourself, but it’s going to be a bit of a hunt because it doesn’t look like these guys have ever been compiled, so you’ve got to track down the original 48-page prestige-format issues (cover-price $3.95, quite a comparison with what that will get you today)(or last month I mean, ooof!). I guess maybe DC never collected this because Starlin would have been right out the door to start steering the Silver Surfer over toward INFINITY GAUNTLET? I don’t know, but this is a wonderful series and very much worth tracking down.
And thus Easter gives us another high-quality Sunday NightMass. I’ll see you next week for more glory and would love to hear about anything that you’re enjoying yourself! Stay safe, and take care of each other our there.
