A few days ago I read the most recent version of the shortlist for Domino in the next Deadpool movie, and saw my new current obsession (please watch “San Junipero”) Mackenzie Davis back at the top. “This is fine,” I thought, “but I’d rather see a woman of color in the role and also I’d rather see her in the DCEU as, I don’t know, Batgirl. Or… Kon-El!”
I love 90s era DC Comics, as you probably know. Death of Superman was the first major event I remember in my comic-reading life, and I devoured the Reign of the Supermen trades as soon as I could. Since the DCEU seems to be roughly following the 90s Superbook plots (Snyder is clearly a fan), and Death of Superman basically happened in Batman v. Superman, I thought… well, why not a Reign of the Supermen movie!? But let’s update things and make it interesting, sort of similar to what they’re doing in Rebirth right now in the comics.
So here we go.
The Man of Tomorrow
Henry Cavill
Easiest one. Cyborg Superman very purposefully looked like Superman, even though he was Hank Henshaw (sorry Supergirl fans… though I love what they did with Hank there). So clearly you cast Cavill, give him some robot-face CGI, call it a day.
The (Wo)man of Steel
Rutina Wesley
John Henry Irons is great, but it’s easy to slot Natasha into this spot. Age her up a little, and she can have the same story as the original version of John Henry. I’m a big Rutina Wesley fan; she looks like a person with the strength to walk around encased in steel, but has the acting chops to handle the deeper story (ps check out Queen Sugar). Sold.
The Last Son of Krypton
Jung-woo Ha
I actually had the most difficult time with this one. On one hand, the Eradicator purposefully made itself look like Superman. On the other, how many Henry Cavills does one movie need? Given that Superman shows up again at the end (or in pt. 2 or whatever) I think 2 is enough. Plus why make a complicated narrative even more complicated with that? So I went a little off book with this one. I liked Jung-woo Ha in The Handmaiden, which, in all honesty, is the only thing I’ve ever seen him in. But I think he’d do well as a character with shady motivations and complex morals.
The Metropolis Kid
Mackenzie Davis
Don’t call her Superboy (or Supergirl, for that matter). She’s the one who started this whole exercise. She’d be a great genderswapped Kon-El (IMO there’s no need to use traditional Kryptonian naming conventions if she gets her name on Earth and, besides, she’s half Luthor anyway, you could always change it to Kon L). I think she’s got the attitude for it, and the look, even beyond her iconic style from Halt and Catch Fire season 1, and could play it either as punk!femme or a little androgynous. Or better yet, a genderqueer/non-binary Kon.
This is just the Superpeople, not the supporting cast. I assume things would be trimmed a bit and the only new DC hero that would really need to be introduced would be Hal Jordan (maybe I’ll fancast a Zero Hour movie next…) so they could just play with who they have. Reign of the Supermen is one of my favorite stories in the DC universe, and I’d love to see it done (well) on the big screen.